Author: Jung Chang

Publisher: Touchstone

Pub. in: August, 2003

ISBN: 0743246985

Pages: 544

Measurements: 8.4 x 6.1 x 1.3

Origin of product: USA

Order code: BA00686

Other information: Reprint edition
ISBN-13: 978-0743246989

Wild Swans has become a bestselling classic in thirty languages, with more than ten million copies sold.

Wild Swans was written in 1991 by Jung Chang, a Chinese woman now living in England. In 1988, Chang's mother visited her daughter in Britain and told her the in-depth story of her own life and the life of her mother, Chang's grandmother, through China's turbulent 20th century. In the introduction, Chang reveals that she had always felt an inclination to write, and her mother's revelations and encouragement gave her a broad topic, and incentive. The story chronicles her family over three generations in post-imperialist and Communist China. The book illustrates not only the experiences of Chang's family, but also provides an outline of the changing political and social climate in China during the 20th Century. Wild Swans is effective as a passionate memoir and as an historical reference.

Wild Swans begins with a description of Chang's grandmother's life in Manchuria during the warlord era, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Chang's grandmother lives for some time as a concubine to a warlord general with whom she has one daughter. She is confronted by the trials of raising a daughter in a culture and era in which women had little to no say in their own lives and those of their children. Living in Manchuria, Chang's mother grew up under the political authority of the Japanese and then the Kuomintang. Chang's mother yearned for a sense of pride in her country and for equality among Chinese. She joined the Communist cause in her mid-teens with the belief that the party could unite the country and bring justice and equality to the people. Chang's mother and father, a young Communist official, met and fell just as the government of China changed hands. They were married and given posts in the newly established Communist government. Chang herself was born three years after the birth of the People's Republic. The trials of Chang and her family, her father, mother and five siblings, through the various campaigns and purges of the Communist Era, including the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution become the main focus of the novel, which ends when Chang accepts a scholarship to study abroad in England.

Wild Swans provides an inside view of how the good intentions of China's Communist party were twisted and distorted in such as way that they eventually led to the torment and persecution of many of its members. The Chang family is hounded in campaign after campaign to rid the country of the influence of anyone deemed to have capitalist aspirations or connections. Chang uses the experiences of her family as a jumping off point to describe the ridiculous criteria used to determine who these 'counterrevolutionaries' were, and the suffering and heartache these campaigns brings to millions of Chinese people.

As well as describing her own experiences and those of her family, Chang includes short stories of the experiences of people in different social positions including peasants and officials higher that her parents. She succeeds in providing the reader with a more in-depth view of the effects that the changes in China's social climate had upon its people. The stories highlight the positive experience enjoyed by few and the negative experiences of others. In this way, she creates and understanding with her reader and convinces them that one of her main objectives in writing Wild Swans and sharing her experiences is to paint an accurate portrait of her country.

Chang writes in a very effective manner. She often describes what she and her family members were feeling at the time, but for the most part does not let her emotions get in the way of providing a concise chronicle of events. By doing this, she has allowed her readers the freedom to develop their own opinions and feelings toward the characters and events in the story.

One underlying theme in Wild Swans is the absolute power wielded over the Chinese by Mao Zedong, the Communist party leader. In most respects, Chang provides the reader with her own opinions regarding the changing policies of China, but does not attempt to persuade the reader to share them. The exception is her description of Mao. Chang paints her own portrait of Mao's character, while explaining to the reader how her views of the Great Helmsman evolved and changed with each new hardship his policies brought to her family and to the country in general. Chang describes how she came to realize that Mao is was the God she has been brainwashed to have absolute faith in, but a tyrant whose main objective was to secure his own absolute power over China.

Chang's work is very relevant in the study of post-imperial China. As well as describing person experiences, it follows China's changing social policies and gives insight into the lives of Chinese people from all walks of life during these times. The main focus of Wild Swans is the lives of three women in China making the novel even more pertinent. Most historical and personal accounts of life in 20th Century China are written by men. By reading Wild Swans, one can take away an idea of the politics of China over the past 80 years, and a wonderful story of adventure and courage in the face of unimaginable hardship.
- From quoting Clare Prowse

Target readers: History lovers or students, specialists, especially those interested in Chinese social history during the decades leading up to the Communist revolution.

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