A Pig Mistress Research Paper

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What went wrong? How did I end up as a pig mistress?
Compared to thousands who suffered bitterly and perished, I was not in the worst state - still alive.
Barely.
But this wasn’t how I imagined my life. I was supposed to be a rocket scientist.
It was the summer of 1969. The Great Cultural Revolution had thrown all of China into chaos. For many, it was a living Hell.
Like millions of college students, against my will, and thanks to the merciless political wind, I had been swept to this Army farm.
After six months toiling at various tough fields’ jobs, I had been assigned, again, against my will, to be a pig mistress.
At noon, the scorching sun, beating down on earth, was relentless. Without a trace of breeze, our farmland was more like a steam pot.

Each small step required tremendous effort as I stumbled across a courtyard towards a pigpen fifty yards away. Humid steaming air made breathing difficult. Sweat dripped off my forehead onto my glasses. Two wooden buckets, combined much heavier than my ninety-pound body, hung across my shoulder on each end of a bamboo pole. Inside these buckets swished a mixture of barley, buckwheat and water algae that I had laboriously cooked on a two-foot high clay stove. Under the crushing weight, I could hardly keep my …show more content…
Like the other five girls, I wore a brilliant red skirt with glittering gold and silver threads. Red bows dangled on my braids. I was so excited to perform as if I were the center of the universe. When our folk music slowly came on I took graceful steps and danced on the stage. In a circle, five of us knelt facing Liying, at the center. She held a cardboard model of a big red sun. When the music changed to a fast pace, Liying stood up slowly, causing the sun to rise. Taking our cue, five little red flowers — the rest of us — began to grow. We slowly rose up, too, stretching our arms like sprouts reaching towards the sun. We circled, bouncing in our praise to our great Chinese Communist

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