Book 45: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Book 45: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
Author: Jung Chang, 1991.
Genre: Memoir. Biography. 20th Century History. Politics. China.
Other Details: Paperback. 696 pages.
In Wild Swans Jung Chang tells the story of three generations of her family in China. Born in 1909, Chang's grandmother, Yu-fang, had her feet bound in infancy and in 1924 become the concubine of a powerful warlord. Her mother, De-hong, was raised in luxury and then struggled during the years of conflict between the Kuomintang and Communists. De-hong and her husband eventually rose to hold high positions within the Communist Party before both were denounced and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. As a teenager Chang had been totally committed to Mao and for a time became a member of the Red Guard before doubt crept in fuelled by the excesses of Mao's policies and the constant purges. In 1978 she won a scholarship to study in England, where she has lived since.
Alongside the biographies of her grandmother and mother and her own autobiography, Wild Swans provides a snapshot of the turbulent political and social changes that have taken place in China during the first three-quarters of the 20th Century.
I found this a powerful, heart-wrenching account. It is one of those books I have been intending to read for ages and had expected it would prove quite dry. However, I found it a highly engaging read that was hard to put down. Jung Chang has a very accessible style and it is easy to see how Wild Swans attained bestseller status as well as receiving critical acclaim and various awards. It remains banned in Mainland China due to continuing censorship.
My knowledge of modern Chinese history is pretty minimal though I was aware from my study of art history that the Cultural Revolution had overseen the destruction of much of the art, architecture, literature and other artefacts of Chinese history. The crimes against people chronicled within Wild Swans are deeply disturbing. I had not really comprehended the extent of this before reading the book. However, equally upsetting was the way in which this rich and ancient culture and even at times the land itself was destroyed to serve a political agenda. One of the women at our reading group had visited China after her first reading of Wild Swans some years back and confirmed this sense of loss of a sense of history.
Wild Swans proved an excellent choice for our reading group format as it triggered a great deal of discussion about its themes.