frankspencer's post/list (see below)
...prompted me to beg you to read 'Wild Swans' by Jung Chang. I know China is all over our TVs at the moment, what with olympics, earthquake etc. but this book gives a REAL insight into the country through the lives of three generations of women: Jung Chang, her mother and her grandmother. Jung Chang grew up during the Cultural Revolution, her parents were pretty high ranking party members from the days of the Mao revolution and her grandmother was concubine to a Warlord - beat that! Their individual and collective stories make a heart-stopping history of China throughout the 20th century.

Some of the stories will make you weep but this is a mind-changing book and so well written. Our daughter read it when she was about 16 or 17 and loved it and no-one I know that has read it found it anything other than startlingly brilliant and moving. It looks long, but it's a real page turner.

Jung Chang was one of the very first Chinese students allowed to study abroad (York University if you're interested), which should give you an idea of her intellect, but don't let that put you off. Go to Amazon NOW and make it the one book that you read as a result of this QOTW - you will thank me.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Mon 19 May 2008, 16:59, 13 replies)

hmmm
being "one of the very first Chinese students allowed to study abroad" might speak more of her political connections than any outstanding intellect.
(haberman is singing in the changes, Mon 19 May 2008, 17:12, closed)

HEAR HEAR
everyone should read Wild Swans. it is a beautiful, moving, incredible, wonderful terrifying book.
(Celebgil, Mon 19 May 2008, 17:17, closed)

I have two copies of Wild Swans...
The first was chewed / eaten by my dog at the time, who also liked to get his teeth into a good book...... :o/

Yep, very enlightening and emotional read.
( Tourette's ( . )( . ) has a monkey hair in her fried egg, Mon 19 May 2008, 17:23, closed)

Same here! great book.
I must read it again along with her book about Chairman Mao.
( girlinthehole, Mon 19 May 2008, 17:50, closed)

I loved it
But skimmed the final section - her autobiographical bit. The part that most interested me was the grandmother's section and it made me seek out similar books - well, at least books set at a similar period in time, but entirely fiction. So I followed it up with things like Memoirs of a Geisha (yes, I know it's a different country, but sufficiently 'foreign' to Western culture for me on an Far East reading kick), Falling Leaves, The Binding Chair, A Gesture Life, Empress Orchid and so on.

But avoid Margaret Drabble's Red Queen - she should stick to writing English Literature Companions.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 19 May 2008, 18:49, closed)

...
Wild Swans is terrible - designed to sell by the bucketload to middle class people who want to feel good about themselves. It's the intellectual equivalent of magnolia paint.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 20 May 2008, 9:18, closed)

is she the one who wrote
Mao: The Unknown Story?
That was quite shite. Hugely biased and badly-written.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 20 May 2008, 9:34, closed)

^I heard it was very biased.
But then again having lived through the attrocities she would be.

And Enzyme, how would reading about other people's suffering make me feel good about myself?
( girlinthehole, Tue 20 May 2008, 11:25, closed)

@chickenlady
there's a sequel to 'empress orchid' now, 'the last empress' I'm halfway through it, it's pretty good.
(Celebgil, Tue 20 May 2008, 11:27, closed)

Seconded
Wild Swans kicks ass.
(grandmasterfluffles Come to my Armageddon party on, Tue 20 May 2008, 11:47, closed)

BGB
Well, perhaps I phrased it badly. What I meant was that it panders to all kinds of vague off-the-shelf "Bad Things are Bad, M'Kay" nonsense; it's completely meretricious.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 20 May 2008, 12:46, closed)

@enzyme
I'm surprised at you sir!

Have you actually read it? I won't repeat myself, but have to say that ANY and ALL books, especially autobiographies are the product of the time and place that the author was born and brought up in. Their viewpoint may not be totally objective, but it is their's and, where an attempt at objectivity is aimed for, should be credited as such.

Anyway, it's a damned good read and was the first book I'd read about China from an insider's point of view. There are a few billions stories in China - this is one but it is a valid one.

[retreats to kennel]
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Tue 20 May 2008, 14:05, closed)

@Che
Well - I'm full of surprises!

I wouldn't neessarily expect it to be objective - my problem with it is twofold (and bear in mind that it's well over a decade since I read it, so my memory may be a little hazy).

The first is the way that it blurs biography with fiction. It's fair enough to say what happened to such-and-such a person; but reconstructing making up whole conversations is strightforwardly mendacious. (She does do that a couple of times, IIRC. If not - apologies.)

The second is the utter lack of moral nuance. Mrs Ting is Evil. Mao is Evil. Blah-di-blah. Essentially, the criterion for moral judgement is whether or not someone fits into the mould of Western liberal democracy. It's a very black-and-white worldview which, as well as being childish, often ignores the context in which stuff happened. It's like Star Wars with chopsticks: the goodies are the goodies (and they also happen to be her relatives) and the baddies are the baddies and never the twain shall meet.

"Validity" or "invalidity" - whatever they mean - don't enter the question.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 20 May 2008, 17:13, closed)