Rating: 
Summary: A Common Mao
Review: Mao Zedong is the result of centuries of evolutionary development in dictators. His transmogrification of China from 1949-1976 was remarkably original, yet frighteningly common to other dictators. Jung Chang's Wild Swans unraveled the mystery of China's Communism and Maoist regime through a compilation of the lives and experiences of her grandmother, mother, and herself. Chang described the Chinese culture and the values contained by the Communists which facilitated Mao's rule. These values were part of "the greatest horror of the Cultural Revolution," because they were "carried out by the population collectively" (498). Her provocative narration describes her internal struggle to understand the society at large and make sense of the sudden change of events. The initial plot delineates conflicting feelings about the old culture, by expressing disapproval of foot binding, concubines, and female inferiority. Yet, this true story then focused on Mao's dynamic regime that stifled freedoms. When Chang embraced Communism, the reader felt a sense of appreciation and support for this system. However, when the Party changed, the story incited similar reactions. The indoctrinations described in the book and the self-criticisms and public denouncements that peaked in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s were appalling. These campaigns were "designed to serve no other purpose than to create a people who had no thoughts of their own" (271). Mao had infiltrated the minds of his people and forced his deification unto them. Chang's gradual change in perspective and growing doubt were a shock to the reader and gave an understanding of the situation in China. In a sense, Mao gained control with a new type of economy that had the support of the peasants, yet he was only another emperor or king, comparable to King George III, Queen Victoria, Mussolini, or Hitler. The means of control are the same for all these dictators and so is the human susceptibility to subservience.
Rating:
Summary: A journey in time
Review: I read this book as I travelled through from Japan to China and through China to Mongolia. I didn't really see a great deal of China and felt that I learnt a lot more from the pages of WILD SWANS. From the first numbing pages that describe the barbarous practice of foot-binding and thoughout the book's long history that spans a century and three female generations, I was hooked and blinded to life outside WILD SWANS. I was wholly absorbed and felt for once that I was being educated at the same time. This is a book for lovers of fiction who feel they should know more about history. A brilliant, moving gritty, chilling saga all the better for being true, and also an enlightening treatise on a century of Chinese Socio-political history.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic journey paved with history
Review: I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a sad but beautiful story about womens' struggles during the communist revolution in China. This book contains three generations of stories in one! I was constantly engaged in what was going on.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative and repetitive
Review: For anyone interested in learning about China during the Cultural Revolution, this is a very good book. Chang is adept at portraying the mass hysteria fueled by the government that consumed the Chinese people and ruined so many millions of lives. Reading this book, you definitely begin to realize the scope of this 'revolution' and the profound consequences that it had on the people and culture. However, Chang gets very repetitive about a third of the way through the book- after that, you won't miss much by putting it down. She tells us over and over that 'At this point I didn't realize that Mao was wrong. But something seemed not right.' These are not her exact words, but that pretty much sums up the general idea. It feels as though Chang is trying to absolve herself of any participation in the revolution, even though it was so clearly out of her control. Final synopsis: A very well written book, but it loses track of its message. Required reading if you want to learn about the human toll of the Cultural Revolution.
Rating:
Summary: the best of the chronicles of the Cultural Revolution
Review: Among the growing genre of exposes about China's recent political convulsions, this book outclasses them all: with remarkable depth and beautiful writing, it combines solid history with acute psychological insight. It is an ideal and unflinching introduction for anyone who wants to understand contemporary China. Once I opened this book, I became so absorbed that it was as if my life was put on hold until I could finish it. Nothing, not even Solzhenitzn's Gulag Archipelago, explains the human toll of totalitarianism as well as Chang's book does. A literary masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing story
Review: I read this book right before my 6 week trip to China. It is long - but worth it. The story is unbelievable and just contiues to get better. It gives a clear picture of the lives of many people in China. It was a wonderful history lesson for my western mind!
Rating:
Summary: How did she survive?
Review: What a fascinating book, and a great introduction to this period in Chinese history. But how did this generation of Chinese children survive the nightmare? If something like this had happened in our country, would we have a generation of responsible adults now? Hell, I barely made it out of junior prom alive.
Rating:
Summary: China - before, during & after Mao
Review: This is the best memoir about China that I've read (including both "Life and Death in Shanghai" and "Red Azelea", both of which are excellent). The writing is wonderful! But more, the story evolves through 3 generations, from pre-Communist China, through the days leading up to the October 1949 Communist state, the early days of Communist China (including very important, personal factual accounts about the so-called "Great Leap Forward," etc.), through the Cultural Revolution, and into the dawn of post-Mao China. It is written from an almost unique point of view, by a daughter of 2 Communist Party members, both mid-level cadre. The daughter, now living in the West, brings to the memoir a clearly deep and abiding love of China, of the Chinese people. Although she gives credit to the Communist Party for things done right, esp in the early years of the revolution, she also takes dead-on aim at the party's (and esp its highest leaders') acts that caused incredible suffering for tens, hundreds of millions. It is a wonderful book. If you have an interest in Chinese history, in Mao's China, and the dawn of early post-Mao days -- then find this book and read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Hollyhood Style
Review: I read Wild Swans in 1995. It was a wonderful book, especially appealing to Western readers, because it was dramatic and with Hollywood Style. I recommend readers who love Wild Swans also read Life and Death in Shanghai, China Blues, Flying High Out of a Tibetan Valley and Daughters of China. It would be interesting to see different styles and read different stories about China during Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Style, rated high mainly by Westerners
Review: I read Wild Swans in 1995. Since many of my American friends rated this book highly, I tried to read it again two years later, but I could not finish it. Something is missing in the book from a Chinese point of view. Many of my Chinese friends who are all great writers, have the same opinion as mine: it was written in Hollywood style to appeal to Western readers, but it does not appeal to Chinese readers and writers. I like "Life and Death in Shanghai", "Daughter of China" and "Flying High Out of a Tibetan Valley" better than "Wild Swans". Those three books are true to life.
|
