A powerful and passionate memoir for young readers, Ting-xing Ye tells, through the eyes of a child, the moving story of growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution.

When Ting-xing Ye was born her aunt declared, “Ah Si shi ge lao lu ming” – Number Four will have a difficult life – for the signs were unlucky. Events soon bore out this cruel prediction.

Here is the true story of fourteen-year-old Ting-xing’s tumultuous life turned upside down by China’s Cultural Revolution. After the death of both her parents, Ting-xing and her four siblings endure the brutality of Red Guard attacks on their schools and even their house as they struggle against poverty and hunger. At sixteen, Ting-xing herself is exiled to a prison farm far from home.

Full of personal and historical detail about this dramatic period in Chinese history, My Name is Number 4 has at its centre the feisty and courageous Ting-xing, fighting to survive as a young woman caught up in events beyond her control.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page

Ting-xing Ye, born in Shanghai in 1952, was an English interpreter for the Chinese government before leaving China in 1987. Her memoir, A Leaf in the Bitter Wind, has been published in nine countries. She is also the author of the award-winning Throwaway Daughter and White Lily. She lives in Orillia, Ontario.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page