Colors of the Mountain tells the story of Da Chen, a young boy who comes of age during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution in China. In writing about the difficulties and triumphs of childhood, Da's touching memoir also explores the fascinating history of China during a time of great upheaval. Da, born in 1962 in the small village of Yellow Stone in Southern China, begins his story by detailing the deprivation his once respected family endures as a result of the political situation in China.

As a result of the political reforms of The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the lives of Da Chen and his family were forever changed. In asserting his power and ideology, Mao sought to change the way that Chinese people thought and lived. In the area of education, intellectuals were chastised and the rural farmer was touted as the ideal teacher. As Da Chen explains in his memoir, "School was chaos.... Teachers could do almost nothing to remedy the situation for fear of being branded a stinking intellectual or a counterrevolutionary" (p. 114). In addition, various land reforms were enacted during Mao's long reign that enabled the government to confiscate property and redistribute it among the peasant population, leaving landowners with nothing but harassment from the local community. According to Mao's ideology, class determination was extremely important and it was far better to be labeled a poor peasant than a landlord in Communist China. Landowners, like intellectuals, represented a way of life that Mao Zedong saw no place for in the revolution.

Da's grandfather, once a landowner, loses his property and is publicly humiliated and beaten. His father is fired from his teaching position and is sent away to labor camps. His mother fears for her children and their futures and advises them "...to be quiet, stay out of trouble, and wait for better days to come" (p. 4). His siblings are eventually forced to leave school by the local bureaucracy and sentenced to grueling work in the fields. Da himself is moved in and out of school, accused of counterrevolutionary activities, and subjected to the cruel taunts of his classmates. Although everyone suffers, the family never loses its sense of dignity. Da's extraordinary spirit and tenacity is a testament to his family's strength and love. He triumphs in his pursuits, eventually earning a place at a prestigious university in Beijing. He excels in school, discovers friends who accept him despite his family background, learns to play the flute and violin, and masters the English language.

Da's story includes moments of hardship, but it also includes such joys as traditional New Year's feasts and beautiful rural landscapes, and the camaraderie of his friends and family. In writing Colors of the Mountain, Da reveals both the story of a boy coming of age and the larger story of a country in turmoil. His life experiences are inextricably linked to the land in which he lives.