Jung Chang's "Wild Swans"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Jung Chang's "Wild Swans: Three Daughter of China" tells the epic story of her grandmother, mother and herself by focusing on their childhood experiences, educational opportunities, family, including love and marriages, social and political roles and some harrowing experiences while living under different political rules including Communism. The author points out that the first generation is Chang's grandmother, Yu-fang, born in 1909, when China is still a feudal society, with many social customs that have now disappeared, such as binding the feet of young girls. The paper relates that Chang, born in 1952, grew up terrible times when her family was renounced by the Communists; however, Chang joined the Red Guard and, when she finally could attend a university, she was assigned coursework rather than choosing a major that interested her.

From the Paper:

"De-hong [the mother] lived through World War II, Japanese atrocities, and the end of the war. She became deeply involved in the Communist Party after marrying a young Communist. Different from her mother, she was involved in political decisions, worked outside the home, and raised her child, Chang, mainly by nursemaids because she was so busy with her job in the Communist regime. She shows how China was changing, and women were becoming far more involved in the society and in the political process. She also rejected the young man her family had picked out for her to marry, something her own mother could never have done. As the author notes when her mother leaves the family home, "In my grandmother's time, leaving home like this would have been out of the question.""

More papers on Jung Chang's "Wild Swans":

• Book Review # 141469 : "Jung Chang's "Wild Swans"
• Book Review # 121069 : "Chinese History in "Wild Swans"
• Book Review # 105518 : "Wild Swans"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: