Common Reading Fall 2008
Colors of the Mountain, Da Chen

The Florida Southern College Common Reading Program provides a shared intellectual experience for all members of the community, promoting campus-wide dialogue. We are pleased to announce Colors of the Mountain as the Common Reading assignment for fall 2008.

This book will serve as a text in the Examined Life Seminar (EXL) course, which all first-year students take. Themes from the book will be used throughout orientation and during the semester.  You’ll also have the opportunity to hear Da Chen speak when he visits campus in September!  Additionally, the themes raised by Colors of the Mountain will be explored throughout the academic year in lectures, films, exhibits, and other courses.

From “Colors of the Mountain and the Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution” By Dr. John Santosuosso, Professor of Political Science

Da Chen’s moving life story in part takes place during a unique time in Chinese history, the Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution. This revolution is unlike any other because it was not launched to overthrow a government but rather was instigated by the head of the government, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist party of the Chinese People’s Republic.  To understand why Mao did this and how it affected Da Chen, his family, and friends, it is helpful to explore briefly China’s past.

The philosopher known in the West as Confucius (551-479 BCE) created a foundation of Chinese culture that still shapes it in a dramatic fashion. While Chairman Mao’s China was very different from that of the one Confucius knew, many Chinese viewed him as an Emperor figure, the symbol of the nation.  Although Da Chen portrays him rather unfavorably, and nearly all Chinese believe the Cultural Revolution was a tragic blunder, even today the majority of Chinese credit Chairman Mao as the man who destroyed imperialism, created the modern China, and made the rest of the world respect it.

The end of the Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution finally gave Da Chen and other Chinese the opportunity for a better future.  Da Chen’s family strongly supported his efforts to get an education.  He in turn knew he had the responsibility to do so in order that he could protect and take care of them.  Nevertheless, it was never easy for any of them.  Remember, there usually are no college recruiters in China.  Traditionally, universities could accept fewer than 5 percent of the applicants, although the government is now greatly increasing expenditures to make education more accessible.  For the positions that might offer a chance at technical education and advancement, the army also must turn people away.  The Chinese are aware that success in life seldom comes easily.

Read the full text of “Colors of the Mountain and the Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution” by Dr. Santosuosso

FSC is committed to raising awareness and generating action within our community. As part of this commitment, we have developed SAGA (Student Awareness Generates Action), a campus-wide initiative emphasizing thematic areas. SAGA is designed to enhance your educational experience while preparing you to make a positive impact on society.  Our Common Reading Program is designed to unite our community’s activities and actions with themes in the book related to our 2008-2009 SAGA theme—Poverty and Hunger.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Are Da's school experiences—for example, his feelings about being excluded from the Red Guards and reactions to Han and his gang—similar to incidents that might be experienced by every school-age child, or are they unique to his circumstances? How do they differ from the experiences of your childhood schooling?
2. Da's life is shaped by the overwhelming political force of Communism, yet the book is also a simpler story of a boy growing up. Describe what experiences you have in common with Da even though you don't live in such a strictly regulated society. How does Da determine his own life?
3. The Cultural Revolution directly affects Da and his family. Give some examples from the book that describe the poverty and threats from the community that Da and his family experience. Do you know of people in similar situations, through your own personal experience or local/world events, or do their circumstances seem unique to China during the Cultural Revolution?
4. Why do you think religion was prohibited and intellectual exploration suppressed in Cultural Revolution China?  Discuss examples where this is happening in other parts of the world today.
5. Da objects strongly to the corruption and bribery rampant in the commune, yet when he is forbidden to continue his education, his father, an acupuncturist, treats the principal's ailing father, and Da is allowed back into school. Da's father is also treated well at the reform camp because of his medical skills. Do Da's father's actions compromise his integrity?
6. Da Chen, now in his late thirties, is a successful university professor and lawyer. Why does he present his story through the eyes of a child? How do his perceptions and feelings as a young boy shape his depiction of life in China? Would others in his family have told the same story?