Rating: 
Summary: Transforms historical facts into real life experience.
Review: This book guides you through the life of three incredible women who lived AND survived in China.
From one generation to the other life in China changed from black to white.
Starting in imperial China, with a grandmother who had her feet bandaged to keep them small and who was
forced to become a warrior's concubine, it goes on with the mother who dedicated her life to the construction of
communist China and ends up with a grandaughter who was absorbed by the communist
system, suffered its brutality and was able to overcome it.
The most remarkable feature about this book is the authors ability to show the
reader what everyday life in China really meant. The book combines historical facts with personal experience.
Although the reader may well be aware of the historical events that occured in China, this book transmits life uncertainty as it is.
It is shocking to verify how excess power deviated the search for a better life into the destruction of identity.
A great book for anybody willing to feel, rather than understand,China in this century.
Mariana Diaz. Mexico City
Rating: 
Summary: A tragic & moving story sure to make one understand China!
Review: This heart-rending account, rivalling Shakespeare for its theatricality and tragedy, is all the more remarkable not because it actually happened to real people but rather that these were among the more privileged examples of Chinese women.
I recommend this book to your readers very strongly.
Rating:
Summary: a classic
Review: this is a beautiful book. maybe even my favorite of many classics.it is the story of three women, strong and united with a determination that will get them through the hardships of China from the early nineteen hundrens to the present. optimism and love for each other and their family, as well as tears and sadness, get them through their lives as well as the tyrannical reign of Mao, a powerful dictator of China. i am partly struck with wanting to share this book with you, and invite you to read it, (though it is certainly not children's fiction, but mature, adult fact) or to keep it like the treasure it is to me and i'm sure many others. if you do read it, covet it. is a bargain for what you get in return.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Through 500 pages Dr. Chang weaves an epic tale of history, family relationships and personal struggle using readable prose and heartfelt emotion. On a par with Margaret Mitchell's (albeit fictional Gone With the Wind) portrayal of the South and much better than Haldor Laxness' saga of Iceland, Independent People, Chang gives a pertinent history of the world's most populous nation.
You will get absorbed into the cultural and political milieu of China of the 20th century, with references to civil war, Chinese nationalism, Japanese and American intervention, world wars and, of course, the rise of Communism. Dr. Chang provides astounding authorship which is unmatched in my experience.
I simply cannot wait for her biography of Mao Zedong.
Rating:
Summary: Contemporary Chinese History brought alive
Review: Chinese history has always been uncharted territory for me. I learned about the Civil War, the Kuomintang, all through oblique references from books that covered other, larger events that concerned Western authors.
Yet, it is a persistent question - how did this country of emerge from a myopic Communist rule into two decades of unprecendented growth and subsequent transformation into one of the largest economies of the world? Its economic achievements is nothing short of a miracle, yet it was born of a most painful gestation.
It was in this tumultous period of China's 20th century history that Jung Chang chronicled her family's fortune as they were buffetted by the raging forces of chaos that engulfed the country. They lived through the Sino-Japanese war in Machuria, under Japanese occupation, the civil war between the KMT and the Communists, and finally had to endure two and a half decades of Chairman Mao's tyranny.
Here, the author describes first hand experiences about how Mao's "Great Leap Forward" brought the entire nation to the brink of starvation in his attempt to raise steel production to the levels of Western nations. And this was not all - the tragic tale continues about how the personality cult of Mao allowed the Cultural Revolution to terrorize the entire population and to send millions into reformation camps. Her family suffered denunciations and forced labour as they were tyrannized by Mao's Red Guard.
These memoirs are fascinating because it helps me understand a little more of China's recent past, especially the violence and terror from which the society has emerged.
(...)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent in all respects
Review: Wild Swans is a must read for nearly everyone (Young children being the only excluded category).
You can not help but be captivated by the story and so the book is a quick and easy read. But there is much more. Wild Swans is highly educational on multiple fronts. There is a history of China's societal culture. There is a history of China's political culture. But there is also a great deal to be learned about the impact of power on those who hold it and those who lack it. Further, there is a great deal of sociological knowledge to be drawn from; particularly as to the interaction between government and mob mentality.
A profound book, a pleasure to read, I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Wild Swans is an inside look at China in the 20th century. Chang writes about her own life as well as the lives of her grandmother and her mother. Most of the book focuses on the Cultural Revolution and how it affected the general populous. Chang is a master story teller as she relives the fear and anxiety that was China during the 50's, 60's, and 70's.
I personally could not put the book down. This book makes you thankful that you were not born in China during Mao times. China is now under a much more sane administration but an understanding of current Chinese culture requires the insightful look that Chang provides in this book.
This book is ultimately about human nature and betrayal for power. While reading it, I saw Mao China as a real life 1984. I felt sorry for China and grew to appreciate the great strides that they have made in spite of Mao and in spite of communism.
This book is highly suggested to anyone with any interest in China, Communism, or cultural studies. It is also recommended to anyone who thirst for a true scary story. May not be suitable for children below high school due to some graphic violence.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Beautiful
Review: Historical scholarship is tragically lacking in carefully detailed accounts of modern (twentieth century) Chinese history, but Jung Chang's book, Wild Swans, makes up for that. It is basically a history book, carefully chronicling the major events in China once Mao Zedong rose to power. Chang uses her grandmother and her mother to move the narrative along and give some personal accounts of the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, etc. These personal touches make the book readable, while the historical information give it its substance.
This book is great for anyone who wants to really understand modern China, although it is probably not the best read for someone who wants a more personal narrative. This is definitely a historical study with some personal details interwoven in the timeline, but it is nonetheless a beautifully written and engaging book. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This book is a true story, telling life stories as seen through the eyes of the author's grandmother, mother and herself. And what a story.
If you want a book that somehow sums up everything good and bad about humanity, this is close to being that book! Someone else said this would make a great film and they're right.
Anyone remotely interested in politics will appreciate this book. This book is incredibly important; revealing so much about how a country can fall into the abyss and yet still have such incredible people in it to come back again.
Stalin and Hitler are universally hated, but for some reason people still refer to the Chinese 'Cultural Revolution' without irony. This book should hopefully reveal just what a meaningless term that was, and the madness of Mao. Idealistic commie students: this is a reality check. Another reviewer said that this presents Communism as bad: I say, it is the nature of the Communist system itself that let leaders take power. Anyway, enough about politics.
This book also tells you about China: its tradition and beauty. The juxtaposition between the love and good hearts of the characters and their repression lends it greater pathos and resonance. The family members of course aren't perfect. But that just makes their stories more interesting!
'Wild Swans' also shows movingly how love for one's family can help one endure and face the most terrible scenarios. However there is not meant to be a 'message' as such. True life is stranger and more unpredictable than fiction. This story truly proves it.
If you imagine someone today sending out a secret journal from North Korea, then you might have some notion of why this book is so important and gripping. But that honestly is not the whole of it. The truth is, it is the fact that the members of the family didn't slavishly follow the rules all the time that makes them so interesing.
One might say 'I don't care too much about China' but the issues faced happen to everyone. It's just that this book makes my so-called problems seem more easy to handle.
Buy someone this as a present, because anyone who reads it will love it. I still can't believe it's not fictional. It is moving. It is staggering. It's life.
Rating: 
Summary: Divided opinion
Review: I would like to divide my opinion on this book firmly into the negative comments and finish on the positive comments, as whilst reading this book so many thoughts came to me that I have to organise them somehow!
One thing I disliked about this book is purely down to my personal opinion and anybody who disagrees is welcome to. I disliked the fact that while there was a lot of interpretation and comment on exactly how Mao TseTung's rule affected people (asking why people gave into the demands, why they gave up their previous ideology etc) there is very little exploration of why Communism/Socialism was portrayed/instigated in this form. Bearing in mind that those from Western cultures (as I am) are likely to view Communism as the greatest political idea possible, I still disagree that incidents in countries such as China and (what was then) the USSR are necessarily all there is to Communism. Personally I feel the book would have benefitted from a little more interpretation of 'communism' itself, e.g. Why it becomes so popular, how Mao twisted the basic Marxist theory into a view that once the people had food and housing they did not need anything else (namely freedom of expression). Lastly, I think the book has slightly too much historical description in it. Without the interpretation I mentioned above, the historical facts are rather too statistical, too much like reading from a textbook.
Now the positive. Believe it or not I actually loved this book! By the end I truly felt like I had been on the journey with the people. It is long, but it covers a vast amount of history. I think the length of it makes the book weigh on you and brings the story home to you much more than a short story would. I think it is very important that people know about this - I had heard of The Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the Shanghai People's Commune, Mao, Deng, Zhou and Jiang, Chiang Kaishek and the Nanjing Decade. However, none of these things had really had any impact on me until I read this book. I did not know what a truly devastating effect the Cultural Revolution had on China. For more detailed reading of such an appalling, mind-blowing (sorry to sound crass but I cannot think of a better word) event I strongly recommend 'China' as part of 'Access to History', written by Michael Lynch. (sadly I don't think this is available on Amazon). Finally, I noted in my review of 'Chinese Cinderella' that I preferred that book to 'Wild Swans' - I have since realised that although I love 'Chinese Cinderella', it was only valuable reading because I had read 'Wild Swans' and knew the background history. This is a real epic of a book.
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