Shop and Purchase: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

This book was recommended to me by Keith and Jaqui from South Africa – it was wonderful! This is a true story about three generations of women in China. It covers a vast amount of Chinese History from their family perspective and stories. It spans from 1909 to 1978 from life among the warlords, various wars, Chiang Kai-shek, Communism, Mao, the famine, and the Cultural Revolution. I was spellbound by this book. When I started this book, I knew nothing about China except that I liked the tea, the food, and an occasional fortune cookie – I was completely ignorant of it’s torrid history, communism, and most importantly – Mao. Not only did the book tell the story of women’s role in China, it was a story about family ties, and tradition. Jung’s grandmother was concubine for a war lord, Jung’s mother was a senior Communist official, and Jung was brought up in the middle of the Cultural Revolution. The book really gave you a great glimpse into Communism – the fundamental ideas behind it, and what happens when the wrong person has all of the power. For about 80% of the book – I was in disbelief that these things really happened – most of it was absolutely unthinkable to me. The only downside to reading this book is that it makes you want to go to China! Of course that’s one of the few countries that’s not on my itinerary this year! So – I have already decided that I will have to come back and do China for a month or so! If you want to learn more about Chinese history, wrapped among a touching story about family – then pick up this book…it was a great read!

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Suffering will make you a better Communist”

“Father is close, Mother is close, but neither is as close as Chairman Mao”

“As a child, my idea of the West was that it was a miasma of poverty and misery, like that of the homeless “Little Match Girl” in the Hans Christian Anderson story. When I was in boarding nursery and did not want to finish my food, the teacher would say ‘Think of all the starving children in the capitalist world!’ In school, when they were trying to make us work harder, the teachers often said ‘You are lucky to have a school to go to and books to read. In the capitalist countries children have to work to support their hungry families.’”