Forbidden City

By William Bell
Rationale by Jing He
Grade Level and Audience:
Forbidden City is a great novel for students of grade 9-11. The protagonist of this
novel is a 17-year-old Canadian boy, Alex, who lives with his father and then goes
with his father to China where he witnesses the demonstration held by Chinese college
students. Students of grade 9-11 will definitely resonate with Alexs hidden distaste
toward the adults ways of speaking and doing things around him. However, what will
hook the readers most is the interaction between Alex and those Chinese students
demonstrating and fighting for freedom and democracy. Students of grade 9-11 are
reaching a development stage of achieving social responsibility according to
Havighurst (1972). Students will be curious about why and how the students insist on
their beliefs and how Alex will be influenced and changed by what he sees. Alexs
psychological development will arouse empathy and thinking from students. After
reading, their own responses to the questions related to social equality and human
rights will probably be achieved.
This novel is planned to read and discussed in a Chinese classroom, which will make
best use of the Chinese background of the story. Students will be curious about and
interested in the descriptions of Chinese culture from the perspective of a western
teenager. They will easily make comparisons between the images of China in 1989
and the contemporary China.
Plot Summary
Alex is a 17-year-old Canadian boy who lives with his father Ted after his parents get
divorced. He is interested in military stuff and Chinese history, so he is very excited
when his father tells him he can go to China together. Ted is a cameraman and he is
assigned by this boss to China to help his colleague report Gorbachev's official visit to
Beijing. However, they don't know they will witness and be involved in the great
historical events that sweep China in the spring of 1989.
After they arrive in Beijing, Alex makes acquaintance with a Chinese man, Lao Xu,
who is assigned by the government to help the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
When his father gets busy working, Alex explores the city of Beijing by bike,
sometimes with Lao Xu. As he gets bored and lost in a city where people speak a
different language, he even attends a Chinese language school to learn Chinese.
In May, Chinese university students begin to gather on Tian An Men Squire,
demonstrating and demanding for democracy. At the beginning of the event, Ted and

his co-worker are excited being able to recording something different about China but
they never expect what will happen next. The government decides to use armies to
stop the demonstration and punish those students who are involved in. Peoples
Liberation Army is sent to arrest the students and even kill citizens.
As the movement turns violent, Alex gets lost in the chaos and loses contact with this
father. He witnesses the massacre done by PLA toward Chinese citizens in which his
Chinese friend Lao Xu is killed in front of him. Alex is shot in the leg and rescued by
a group of Chinese students. The students hide him in Xin-huas (one of the students)
home for several days and then decide to help him go to Canadian Embassy with the
hope that Alex bring the tapes and videos that record what happen out of China.
Xin-hua and Alex disguise themselves as workers transporting a washing machine and
begin the dangerous journey to the embassy. Finally Alex manages to reunite with his
father in the airport while Xin-hua is killed when PLA finds out she is a university
student.
Theoretical Support and Redeeming Values (Why this book should not be
banned in a Chinese classroom)
The beginning part of the novel mainly focuses on Alexs new experiences in China.
A lot of descriptions about Chinese characteristics, such as Chinese way of greetings,
table manners, language, history, schools from the perspective of western boy provide
Chinese students a different way to see their own culture. They can find the
differences between Chinese and western values and beliefs, and explore how Chinese
culture changes in recent years. Living and learning in a globalized world, its
significant for us to expose students to diversified cultures and at the meantime learn
about their own culture from the perspective of outsiders. Students are under the
process of building their identities, which are definitely inseparable from the cultural
foundations.
According to Piagets development theory, Alex is in formal operational period (12
years to adulthood). This is when adolescents use logic for abstract thinking. They are
able to reason about abstract propositions, objects, or concepts that they have not
directly experienced. Alex has his own distinct belief in heroes and human rights
before he gets involved in the incident. However, his former beliefs are corrupted
completely. Those who are armed and heroic in wars are not admirable anymore,
while those students who fight for the freedom and democracy against violent
oppression become heroes in his eyes. Students in real life are faced with various
questions about the society they live in, and by reading this book they are able to
reason about social justice and responsibility and this process will help them achieve

their own answers.

Based on Kohlbergs theory of stages of moral development, Alex has reached stage 4,
when individuals think it important to obey laws and social conventions, before he
comes to China. He doesnt want to cause any trouble while he thinks his father is
immature by risking violating the laws and conventions to just get some good pictures.
As the demonstration goes on, Alex meets those students who dare to break the
martial law to demand changes of current policy and equal rights for general people.
Those students obviously achieve the stage 5 of moral development: they believe laws
are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid edicts and those that do not promote
the general welfare should be changed. Lao Xu, Alexs Chinese friend who used to
believe in PLA and governments justice is totally shocked when he saws what PLA
does to common citizens. His previous beliefs collapse, however, he pushes himself
out to condemn their insane actions and gets killed trying to stop the violence. His
behaviors also bring him to a stage 5 and even stage 6 when individuals act because it
is right.
Alex fits in the fourth stage in Eriksons theory of psychosocial development. During
this stage, assertion of independence and identity occurs during the transition between
childhood and adulthood. With each new experience, the adolescents identity begins
to solidify. Not only Alex, but also those students of his age face with the collapse of
their beliefs in humanity and the collapse will destroy their own definition of their
identity. After Alex goes back to Canada he destroys all his military collections. As
the sentence on the cover says, after the spring of 1989, their lives would never be the
same, those young adults who involve in or witness the incident have to face with
huge challenges reconstructing their beliefs and identities.
Achieving social responsibility is the final development task in Havighursts
development theory. This task involves discovering ones role in a society and
participating as a member of the community, state and nation. Before Alex gets
involved in the incident, he sets his own role as an outsider. He is horrified by the
violence and desires to escape from that. However, later he witnesses the death of his
friend and then he is rescued by the Chinese students, and he realizes that he is part of
the whole thing and feels obliged to let the world know the truth by videoing and
recording what happens. Alex changes from an indifferent outsider to a participator
who is terrified and meanwhile ashamed of his own indifference, and then transfers to
a responsible insider who has established his own role as a member of the society
regardless of his different nationality.
Base on the analysis above, we can conclude that this book is of significant values to
students. Profound researches have made it a commonly accepted belief that we
should allow students to read literature that meets their needs and interests. Chines

students can easily connect to this book from the aspects of cultural collisions, as well
as their own psychological, social and moral.
Literary Qualities
The book is written in the form of Alexs journals in concise language that will make
young adult readers easy to engage in reading. The plot is direct and well developed
with tense atmosphere of crises. Though some readers will think the beginning of the
story is kind of slow, the first several chapters will hook readers who are interested in
a different culture.
The protagonist Alex is fully developed with detailed descriptions of his inner world
from the first person point of view. While general students can easily relate to the
protagonist, Chinese students can find something in common with Lao Xu, Xin-hua
and other Chinese students regardless of different ages they are in.
The writer is very skillful in creating and describing settings. With detailed
descriptions along with a map (designed by Alex in the story), the readers can
immerse themselves in the scenes. Students will find various themes in the story,
including justice, freedom, social responsibility, dedication, friendship, courage, etc.,
which students can easily relate to their own life.
The book was awarded Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Childrens Book Award in 1991 and
is often included in reading materials for North American schools. Readers rated it 4.2
out of 5 on Amazon.com, 3.6 goodread.com, and 4 on books.google.com.
Potential Problems
The biggest challenge is that this story is a fiction based on a historical event. Students
will be confused about what is true in history since the official statement of the event
will be extremely different. They may cast doubt on their previous beliefs in the
government and social justice.
To solve this problem, the students should be given freedom to research on their own.
They should be encouraged to collect information from various resources and share
their ideas in class. Pressure may come from the school and government, but we
should let students realize that whether its true or not, we should learn from the
story/event and never make the tragedy repeat in our real life.
Teaching Methods, Activities and Assignment
1. Reader Response
1) Group discussion
a. What is Chinese culture like from Alexs perspective? Whats his attitude to

b.
c.
2)
a.
b.

Chinese people he know? Does the attitude change as the story goes on?
What kind of person is Lao Xu in Alexs eyes? Do you think he is a typical
Chinese at that time?
What do the students demand by demonstrating? How do things change in
current time?
Writing
Have you ever been in a different culture? Whats your feeling toward the
differences?
What common traits can you find on the Chinese students Alex has encountered?
In what ways they are the same as or different from students in your generation?

2. Comprehension
1) Generating your own questions
Each student generates 3 questions and share with a group. Group members will
answer each other the questions and then select several best questions to share
in a large group.
2) Mind map making
Students work in a group on a mind map that covers characters, settings, and
plot of the story.
3. Literary Evaluation
1) Socratic seminar
What themes are conveyed from this story? How are they embodied?
2) Sketch map drawing
Create a map of a specific setting and indicate where the characters are.
Reflection and Comparison: Is the writers description of the places same as
what Beijing was like in 1989? Search information to support your point.
3) Writing
What literary elements make it a good story? What are some drawbacks?
Alternative Reading
Lowry, Lois. (1993). The Giver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
References
Bell, William. (1990). Forbidden City. New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf.
Bushman, John H. & Haas, Kay Parks. (2006). Using Young Adult Literature in the
English Classroom. New Jersey: Pearson
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Involved/Action/Rationale_BridgetoTerabithi
a.pdf
http://www.psychologynoteshq.com/development-tasks/
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/piaget.html

http://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-City-Novel-Modern-China/dp/0440226791
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88509.Forbidden_City
https://books.google.com/books?id=kUHd2_WqL8wC&sitesec=reviews