Wild Swans - Jung Chang

Within the last few days, I have realised that when it comes to certain things I am completely ignorant about what is going on in the world around me. This realisation has come about after finishing ?Wild Swans? and becoming aware of that fact that an entire country deceived the world for a number of years about what was actually happening within it - suppression, unnecessary punishment, dictatorship and complete control of thinking. It has astounded me that this could possibly have happened within a country with a population of around 1,260,000,000. Before the actual review, I?ll outline some of the (very!) basic ideas behind the Communist Party. This might ...  Read the complete review

'Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China' is probably the most memorable and emotionally affecting book I have read. It is the autobiography of Jung Chang. It tells the story of three generations of Chinese women, and is thus also the biography of Chang's mother and grandmother. It spans the years 1909 to 1992, and chronicles the social history of the country through the Manchu empire, republicanism, the rule of Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese invasion, communism and the infamous 'cultural revolution'. The lives of the women are eventful, turbulent and often tragic, shaped by the constantly shifting political and social cultures in which they live. ...  Read the complete review

Wild Swans maps the changing history of China, from the old era of empires and dynasties through the years of Mao's communism. Jung Chang's family history renders that huge tract of history personal and comprehensible - it is easy enough to become alienated by dates and figuers, but this work brings the place and the period to life. There may be some plot spoilers in here, I'll try to keep it minimal. Chang's grandmother - whose name means Jade, was born out of an arrnaged marriage, and had her feet bound. (A hideous practise, I'll spare you the details.) She became a concubine to a warleader, and after he died, she fled, taking her ...  Read the complete review

This is an extraordinary book by an extraordinary writer. Jung Chang traces the history of her Chinese family through three generations with a poignancy that makes you want to cry and a humour that makes you want to laugh out loud!! The book is long and requires some perseverence to begin with as Jung Chang delves through reams of Chinese history. However, when the biography really begins and the intricate lives of generations of Chinese women unfold, I promise that you'll be transfixed until the final page! ...  Read the complete review

Don't be put off reading this book by the sheer size of it as I was initially, because by the time you have finished reading it (and it won't take long, I promise you, because you won't be able to put it down!), you'll wish that it was even longer! Wild Swans is the true story of a Chinese family through four generations. Jung Chang tells her story with sensitivity and in such a way that the interest of the reader is maintained. This book mixes poignancy with humour and even horror at some of the descriptions of the sufferings of the Chang family. Jung Chang moves us through the generations of her family in a series of short stories, ...  Read the complete review