As a teenager, Lijia Zhang worked in a factory producing missiles designed to reach North America, queuing every month to give evidence to the "period police" that she wasn't pregnant. Facing an oppressive routine of guarded compounds and political meetings, Zhang's disillusionment with "The Glorious Cause" drove her to learn English. She flaunted her intellectual independence - wearing bright, Western-style clothes and helping to organize the largest demonstration by Nanjing workers during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. By narrating the changes in her own life, Zhang chronicles the momentous shift in China's economic policy: her factory, still an ICBM manufacturer, won the bid to cast a giant bronze Buddha as the whole country went mad for profit.Written in English, "Socialism Is Great!" is a testament to Zhang's personal triumph over the controlled existence that was supposed to be her destiny. Read Less