Cultural Revolution
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is set during the time known as the Cultural Revolution in China. This historical event helped to supply the framework for many of the conflicts faced in the novel. The Revolution of Chairman Mao Zedong "began in 1966 and continued until the dictator's death ten years later". The Cultural Revolution in China was "intended to stamp out the educated class and . . . old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits".[10] In order to do this, "hundreds of thousands of Chinese intellectuals [were sent] to peasant villages for re-education",[9] and within the years of "1968-1975, some twelve million youths were 'rusticated'."[10]
Dai Sijie's past
Dai himself was re-educated, and "spent the years between 1971 and 1974 in the mountains of Sichuan Province".[10] He emigrated to France in 1984.[12]
