THE ADVENTURES OF LI CHI

Li Chi is a Chinese folk hero, a myth of a man who subtly and effectively counters the Communist regime. He set out on his path of intrigue at the age of twelve in his home village when he painted pro-people, anti-cadre murals. To get rid of him, the Party sent him to the Art Institute, and then to an outpost he never reached, achieving the summit of his fame through pictures of the Hui (a minority group) in Lanchow, with the controversial ""Red Smoke"" receiving critical kudos and blows, with Li Chi's stock rising and falling mercurially accordingly. Li Chi is something to watch indulging in that non-party pastime, romantic love, or becoming a wily late bloomer in the ""Hundred Flowers"" campaign. However, a book of him for the uninvolved may seem more of a political curiosity than a reading experience.