Born in 1952, she lived through some terrible times when her family was renounced by the Communists, while Chang joined the Red Guard like any good young Party member. Chang was very bright, and received an excellent education under the regime. Her family, in the beginning anyway, led a middle-class rather privileged life, at least until they came under suspicion by the Communists of being traitors to the Party. Eventually, Mao felt education was unnecessary, and because of suspicions, Chang's father was arrested, her mother was placed in detention, and Chang was sent to work as a peasant in the country. Chang stayed in the country for several years, reunited with her family, and finally some of the sanctions were lifted. She could only work though, the universities were shut, and she could not continue her education. Education was no longer relished in China, and Chang's experience shows how far China had come. It was turning into a modern country, and yet the rulers were even more stringent than empires of earlier times, and they held the people back in education and socially. The people were supposed to blindly follow Mao and his "Little Red Book" or else. The people endured harsh treatment, non-stop harassment by the Red Guard and others, and lived essentially in fear of the Communist regime. When she finally could attend a university, she was assigned coursework, rather than choosing a major that interested her. She writes, "Mao had said that 'education must be thoroughly revolutionized.' This meant, among other things, that university students were to be assigned to courses with no consideration for what they were interested in - that would be individualism, a capitalist vice" (Chang 454). Thus, while China seemed to be progressing, Chang's life shows historically that the Chinese were less free and more oppressed than they ever had been, and that modernization under Communism did not guarantee a better life for all. After a fight to not be sent back to work at the factory after she earned her degree...
This shows how far women had come in China - this type of career would certainly not have been open to her grandmother, or even her mother. She eventually won a scholarship to study in the West, and did not return to China to live.
S. demand. Before leaving China, Chang began to seriously question Mao and his methods, and after she left, she realized just how repressive the government was, and that she would not return to China to live. Today, long after Mao's death, China has made it into the 21st century, but it is still a repressive and controlling dictatorship, essentially, and this book helps put the country and its leadership in perspective.
Wild Swans Three Daughters of China Juan Chang's Wild Swans Three Daughters of China is a delightful combination of a historical epic of China from 1924 to 1978 and a novel that unfolds the story of 'Three Daughters' (Juan Chang herself, her mother and maternal grandmother) within that same historical period. The book begins by giving the reader a view and insight into life in China in the 1920's through the
During the Kuomingtang era, women's role in society expanded substantially. Jung explains that her mother worked within the communist underground and married a young communist who eventually became an official in Chengdu. The role of women in this era was expanded to the greater liberties permitted under Kuomingtang governance. They shared in the burdens of their husbands and had greater control over their lives, and their relationships. However, they were
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Wild Swans is the story of three generations of women in China in the 20th century. The author is Jung Chang: her autobiography comprises the last third section of the book; the first two sections are devoted to telling the story of her grandmother Yu-Fang and her mother Bao Qin. Instead of writing a straight autobiography, Chang chose to begin her story two generations back—the
It was a new means of defining a control over the cultural aspects of the society. Mao had envisaged a cultural background that would rise from the middle class, the social level on which the Communist Party based its electoral and strength. Given the tight control exercised by the communist party through all its regional, local, and national mechanisms, a new sense of fear and submission affected the society.
Furthermore, governments were making education more secular in nature due to the growth of scientific thought (loyno.edu). As a result, Religion was viewed skeptically by many people, particularly educated ones at the time. The youngest son is skeptical. He sees the problems of the society, but holds himself above them. His unwillingness to engage in life around him causes him to be easy prey for the evil one who does
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