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.
Each of the women is different and unique, and each represents a time in China's history when there was great turmoil and upheaval, and the author shows how this affected their lives. Yu-fang lived at a time when China was changing from a feudal society with outdated customs (such as foot binding), into a more modern society that was struggling with social issues like poverty and political issues such as democracy and convoluted rule by many different people. The author notes, "The world in which he [the general] had flourished was becoming a thing of the past" (Chang 35). The world in China was changing, and that is one of the fascinating things about this book, it not only covers the changes in people's lives, but the man historical changes in the country, too.

In conclusion, this is an epic story of a remarkable family, but more than that it is the story of a country going through remarkable changes in a very short time. The family is resilient enough to flow with the changes around them, and strong enough to stand up to adversity, turmoil, and change. Their changing lives shows the many changes happening in China during the time, and the many hardships the Chinese faced, both cultural and political from the beginning of the 20th century and beyond. It is also a story of strong, intelligent women who were not allowed to reach their potential in a country that essentially saw women as second class citizens. Chang returns to China to visit, but remains in the West - the only place where she could truly reach her potential as a woman, a scholar, and a voice of the Chinese people.

References

Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughter of China. New York: Doubleday,…