Ji-li begins junior high school in September after waiting for more than a year. She is happy to find out that no one from her former school is in her class, so she can start fresh without anyone knowing her class status. Her homeroom teacher is Zhang Xin, who seems gentle and young and has beautiful handwriting. Ji-li is excited about her new school, even though it’s not the one she had hoped to attend.

After a couple of months, however, Ji-li finds that she is disappointed with her classes, which are boring and haphazardly taught, with no textbooks, “only hastily complied mimeographed handouts” (162). In English class, they only learn phrases like “Down with imperialism!” and “Long live Chairman Mao!” and nothing about the grammar of the language. The students are unengaged and disruptive, while the teachers are bored and apathetic. One day, the teacher instructs them to study on their own during the next period. One student, Bai Shan, asks if he can go home to study. The teacher says yes, and Ji-li remembers another time when Bai Shan stood out for his behavior: He led the boys in the class to do what the gym teacher asked them to do when at first no one seemed likely to follow instructions.