6/24/2023 0 Comments Red azalea by anchee min![]() I understood that without English I would never get far, so my dream was to become a receptionist, and so I started to learn English from watching Sesame Street. "At the beginning, I just wanted to get a job. And I didn't speak English, but I was willing to work hard." ![]() I wrote to ask her if I ever could have a possibility to come to America, and I thought I had nothing to lose by asking. "And then one day I got a letter from my friend, the actress Joan Chen, and she was in America, and a lightbulb just went off. I was not allowed to go to school, and my salary would be $5 per month." "The next eight years, I worked as a 'borrowed worker' from the labor camp, and then menial jobs, and I just saw no future. ![]() "She handpicked me to train me to play in her campaign movie to take over China after Mao, and after she was arrested, I was considered her trash, and I was denounced, and was like a cooked seed - I would never have a chance to sprout," Min recalls. Min tells NPR's Rachel Martin that her life in China ended because of her relationship with Madame Mao, a former actress and the wife of Chairman Mao Zedong. ![]() Her followup, The Cooked Seed, picks up nearly 20 years later as she arrives in America with $500 in her pocket, no English and a plan to study art in Chicago. How?Īnchee Min's best-selling memoir Red Azalea told the story of her youth in China during the Cultural Revolution. ![]() Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Cooked Seed Subtitle A Memoir Author Anchee Min ![]()
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