Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China | Jung Chang

Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China | Jung Chang | Accurate Historical Fiction

books:

Wild Swans : Three...

	Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China Jung Chang Touchstone, 2003 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 353 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Wonderful!!!!!

My husband and I are adopting an infant girl from China in roughly a year's time. Therefor, I have been reading literature on China non-stop to try to educated myself on my future child's homeland. This book is phenomenal and is written from the first hand perspective of three generations of Chinese women. From the grandmother's era of bound feet and concubines, to the mother's era of working for the Communist party and an obsession with Mao, to the daughter's plight to find herself in a new China and the foreign land of Britain. Beautifully written and very, very moving. I absolutely loved this book and it is one of my absolute favorite books about the history and culture of China.
Nina Little

for more information click here

Accurate Historical Fiction

I read "Wild Swans" along with several other fiction and nonfiction books before I went to live in China for a 2-year assignment with a multinational corporation. No book better prepared me to understand the Chinese people and the history they have seen in their recent past. China is a country that is changing faster than we can comprehend in the West. But this change is only a continuation of the enornous changes that have occurred in the last century. "Wild Swans" takes us into the lives of 3 women of very different times and allows us to see and understand their day-to-day lives in the context of the times in which they lived.
The book helped me to be able to look at the Chinese of all ages and know the history and living conditions that they have experienced in their lives. To understand one's frame of mind is a gift of understanding that helped me in my social life and business dealings in this fascinating country. My 2-year assignment ended too soon and I opted to return for 3 more years later.
I recommend "Wild Swans" to anyone who wants a better understanding of China. I have not found another book to equal it in insight into the Chinese mind.

for more information click here

Extraordinary

Exquisitely written. Though this book was highly recommended to me, I was somewhat intimidated by its historical range, difficulty in pronouncing and remembering names and places (Tolstoy comes to mind), and the painful period it covers. Chang writes so clearly and deliberately (again Tolstoy comes to mind) that none of the above mattered. I raced through it. I had read a lot about the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath as it was happening but nothing in depth. I have since purchased Mao: The Unknown Story.

How could we not know...

I read this book back in 1994 and it is still one of my most favorite writings. It is one of the few that I loan out and WANT back. It has a permanent place on my bookshelves. As I read it,I had to keep reminding myself that this is NON-fiction. How could I have grown up (born 1951) and not know what a different life was being experienced elsewhere!

This was the first of many books I have read on China, some fiction some non-fiction and it has had a lasting impression on me.

AN INCREDIBLE STORY!

for more information click here

Eye opening

Before I read this book I had limited knowledge of china's history, specifically when Mao was in power. This book does a very thorough job of explaining this period of history in china when Communism took root. It is a heartbreaking story of a family of women and the tragedies they suffered.
Some parts of this book where details of every little battle and riot could have been left out if you asked me. Overall it is a good education of China's history and the level of brainwashing that was "forced" upon a group of people whose aim was to create a better country.

for more information click here