Previous
Ji-yun Jiang
Du Hai is an elementary school classmate of Ji-li Jiang, An Yi, Yang Fan, Yin Lan-lan, Deng Yi-yi, and Zhang Jie. His mother, Sang Hong-zhen is the Neighborhood Party Committee Secretary. When the Cultural Revolution begins, Du Hai discovers that his mother’s position and his family’s red class status allow him to bully Ji-li and An Yi with impunity because their class statuses are black. Along with Yang Fan, he leads the committee of school children who openly criticize and publish da-zi-bao against Ji-li’s Aunt Jiang Xi-Wen. And he’s the student who openly publishes Ji-li’s class status among her peers. Fortunately, she does not cross paths with him again after she leaves elementary school, and she’s unsure of what happens to him after that point.
Du Hai Quotes in Red Scarf Girl
The Red Scarf Girl quotes below are all either spoken by Du Hai or refer to Du Hai. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3: Writing Da-zi-bao Quotes
Du Hai took the lead. “Down with the bourgeois Jiang Xi-wen! Long live Mao Ze-dong Thought!” he shouted. We repeated the slogans. Then Yin Lan-lan recited, “Our great leader, Chairman Mao, has taught us, ‘Everything reactionary is the same; if you do not hit him, he will not fall. This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish by itself.’” Her voice was loud and forceful. “Today, we proletarian revolutionary young guards have come to revolt against you bourgeoisie. Jiang Xi-wen, this is our da-zi-bao. You are to post it on your door now.” She shook the white paper in front of Aunt Xi-wen’s nose.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4: The Red Successors Quotes
“My father’s class status…?” I did not see what Du Hai meant at first. “You mean what did my grandfather do? I don’t know. I only know that he died when my father was seven.”
There was a trace of a grin on Du Hai’s face. He stood up lazily and faced the class.
“I know what her grandfather was.” He paused dramatically, sweeping his eyes across the class. “He was a—LANDLORD.”
“Landlord!” The whole class erupted.
“What’s more, her father is a—RIGHTIST.”
“Rightist!” the class was in pandemonium.
I was numb. Landlord! One of the bloodsuckers who exploited the farmers! The number-one enemies, the worst of the “Five Black Categories,” even worse than criminals, or counterrevolutionaries! My grandfather? And Dad, a rightist? One of the reactionary intellectuals who attacked the Party and socialism? No, I could not believe it.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Graduation Quotes
The junior high school entrance examination dreaded by all of us was gone. What a relief! […]
Du Hai sat on his desk roaring with laughter. To him, and to Yin Lan-lan and to the others who were not even sure of graduating, this was wonderful news.
But as I watched Du Hai, my elation suddenly evaporated. Yes, I would have a whole summer to play. But without an entrance exam, how would they pick the students for the elite schools? Ever since third grade, I had been counting on getting into Shi-yi, one of the best junior high schools in Shanghai. Then I had planned on attending an elite high school, and then one of the famous universities. Without an entrance exam, how could I be sure of getting into Shi-yi? What could I do to make up for my family background?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Red Scarf Girl LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Du Hai Character Timeline in Red Scarf Girl
The timeline below shows where the character Du Hai appears in Red Scarf Girl. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Destroy the Four Olds!
...for spreading Four Olds, since the word “yang” attached to anything means “foreign.” Another classmate, Du Hai , quickly joins her attack and he sounds much more serious. He accuses An Li...
(full context)
Chapter 3: Writing Da-zi-bao
Many students crowd the playground. Du Hai points out the da-zi-bao of a classmate nicknamed Pauper (Deng Yi-yi). It has Principal Long’s...
(full context)
...that her teachers have intentionally tried to corrupt her and the other students. She remembers Du Hai calling her a teacher’s pet, and she wonders if she is one. But then she...
(full context)
...mulberry leaves from her trees to feed their silkworms. With da-zi-bao and paste in hand, Du Hai and Yin Lan-lan lead the students toward her house. Ji-li hides at the back of...
(full context)
...Xi-wen opens the door. She’s not wearing makeup, and she looks haggard and nervous as Du Hai leads his classmates in chants and slogans. Then Yin Lan-lan denounces Xi-wen as bourgeois, tells...
(full context)
Chapter 4: The Red Successors
...hateful things about her, or what she might have done to deserve Yin Lan-lan’s and Du Hai ’s anger. When the teachers return to the classrooms, their lessons now focus exclusively on...
(full context)
...biography. Her status is office worker. Her dad is an actor, not a Party member. Du Hai interrupts, demanding to know her father’s class status. She doesn't know. But Du Hai does,...
(full context)
Du Hai , Yin Lan-lan, and Yang Fan all become Red Successors. They very obviously enjoy bossing...
(full context)
As the class bell rings, Du Hai tells Ji-li that she must come talk to the Red Successors in the gym after...
(full context)
...Ji-li is no longer the chairman of the class—or anything else. She vows that she, Du Hai , and Yang Fan will not put up with any of Ji-li’s “landlord tricks.” Ji-li...
(full context)
Chapter 5: Graduation
...Even worse, she says students will all be assigned to neighborhood schools. Ji-li won’t escape Du Hai and Yin Lan-lan after all. Teacher Gu tries to encourage Ji-li to be patient, promising...
(full context)
Chapter 9: Fate
...Wei’s struggle meetings. But then, the girls realize that the crowd chants the name of Du Hai ’s mother, Neighborhood Party Committee Secretary Sang Hong-zhen. Squirming into the crowd, they see her...
(full context)
...understands the seriousness of his allegations. And she doesn’t like Sang Hong-zhen or her son, Du Hai , either. She can’t help but gloat a little. An Yi agrees—the wheel of fate...
(full context)
Chapter 10: Junior High School at Last
...Yi fear little more than finding themselves in class with Yang Fan, Yin Lan-lan, or Du Hai . As the chairman dismisses the children to their classrooms, An Yi and Ji-li make...
(full context)
Epilogue
...Yi never left the city and grew up to work in a factory. So did Du Hai . Lin-lin became a doctor serving at a factory clinic. But when the clinic closed,...
(full context)
