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Wild Swans
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Wild Swans (1991) (edit title/settings)

Three Daughters of China

by Jung Chang (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

A new edition of one of the best-selling and best-loved books of recent years. The publication of Wild Swans in 1991 was a worldwide phenomenon. Not only did it become the best-selling non-fiction book in British publishing history, with sales of well over two million, it was received with... read more

Summary edit see section history

Jung Chang is a teen during the reign of Mao. Her autobiography tells of her hardships, her involvementes and her eventual escape during this time period in China. It also tells of her parents and great grandparents involvment in Mao's China, following three generations. This heartwrenching... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Jung Chang is a teen during the reign of Mao. Her autobiography tells of her hardships, her involvementes and her eventual escape during this time period in China. It also tells of her parents and great grandparents involvment in Mao's China, following three generations. This heartwrenching novel is brutally honest and the fact that its non-fiction makes it both harder and better to read. Jung Chang now lives in the U.S and the different way of life is obvious when compared to life in China at that time.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Jung Chang: Narrator of the book which chronicles her family through three generations. She grows up in Communist China and is a young woman during the Cultural Revolution
  • De-hong: Jung's mother, a Communist High ranking official
  • Yu-fang: Jung's grandmother, a former Concubine
  • Wang Yu: Jung's father, a high ranking Communist Official who joined the Party in its infancy
  • Dr. Xia: Jung Chang's grandmothers' second husband. A famed physician
  • Chairman Mao: Head of the Chinese communist party
  • Zhou Enlai: Premier of the Communist regime-the only practical member of the top administration
  • Mrs. Ting: Vindictive high official known for making the lives miserable of those she has personal grudges with. A force of power during the Cultural Revolution.
  • Mrs. Shau: A Rebel party leader in Jung's father's department
  • Liu Shaoqi: Mao's number two officer until the Cultural Revolution.
  • Nana: A friend of Jung's
  • Lin Biao: A high officer in the Communist government under Mao
  • Cousin Hu: A cousin of Jung's grandmother who is forced to hide with her family during the reign of the Japanese.
  • Mme. Mao: Mao's wife who is famous for throwing the country into upheaval to satisfy her own destructive agendas.
  • Xiao-fang: Jung's youngest brother
  • Mr. Ying: Add a description of this character.
  • Bing: A male friend of Jung's
  • Mr. Kuang
  • Jin-ming: Jung's oldest brother
  • Kuomintang: The Republic of China, let by Chiang Kai-Shek
  • Khrushchev: Russian Communist leader
  • Xiao-hong: Jung's sister
  • Yong
  • Dong
  • Dr. Jen: A doctor in Jung's hometown
  • Zhang
  • Nixon: President of the United States
  • Tao Zhu
  • Xiao-hei: Jung's middle brother
  • Lu Xun
  • Chen Boda
  • Chen Mo
  • Miss Tanaka: Japanese teacher of Jung Chang's mother, whom her family hides when Japan is overthrown in Manchukuo
  • General Xue Zhi-hong: Jung's Grandfather-chief of police in the warlord government of Peking 1922-24
Show all 34 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “I loathed these expeditions and hated the fact that our labour, and our whole existance, was being used for a shoddy political game.”
    Jung Chang
  • “The restraints which had kept them silent about politics before still prevented them from opening their minds to us. Now it was even less possible to speak. The situation was so complex and confusing that they could not understand it themselves. What could they possibly say to us that would make us understand? And what use would it have been anyway? There was nothing anyone could do. What was more, knowledge itself was dangerous. As a result, my siblings and I were totally unprepared for the Cultural Revoluion, although we had a vague feeling of impending catastrophe.”
    Jung Chang

First Sentence edit see section history

At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general, the police chief of a tenuous national government of China.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 165 of 1271 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Arcadia, and followed by American Psycho.

This is book 11 of 96 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Trainspotting, and followed by The Great Gatsby.

This is book 58 of 94 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by Jessica, and followed by The Catcher in the Rye.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Jung Chang (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Margareta Ekilof (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Date: September 1991
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 720

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: CT1828.C478 A3 1991
  • Dewey: 951.04

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