2. How does the protagonist change from the beginning to the end of the novel?  What does this character learn about himself (or herself) and about how the world works?

i think that the character changed a lot from the  very beginning of the book till now. At the beginning she thought that her life was perfect, and it seemed like she was always happy. But now it's the opposite. Theres a quote in the book that tell about what she is feeling right now, and its on page 60. And it says: " For more than a year I had waited at home, and depressed by all the news of fighting, and by the struggles at mom's and dad's work units." and on a website that gives more information on the cultural revolution http://www.history.com/topics/cultural-revolution. It says that "1.5 million people were killed during the cultural revolution." So that shows how much people suffered for loosing someone they loved, or just how difficult it was to live during this time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_bubble.

I choose this picture because it represents how at any given  moment something can just pop, Things that are beautiful and what seems to be perfect like the soap bubble.. And one day it could just disappear, such as dreams or even how your life used to be, and how it can change to be completely different from today. But even though we may of had lost it, we never now what will happen next. How sometimes your sacrifice won't be as big as the thing that is coming, We can't see the future, so we never know how amazing things will turn out... Just like in the book, her life is completely different from what it used to be, but I think that things will turn out better then how it started for her.