When I was in China in March, I was discussing books over dinner with a good friend of mine you will meet in Beijing, John Wu. We both love to read. He asked me if I had read Jung Chang’s famous autobiographical book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.

I said, “no, but tell me about it.” He did, and I noted that I it sounded interesting but was not sure I would like it because it sounded too much like a chick book for my liking. He said I should still check it out.

I did. I loved it. Every single word of its 508 small print paperback pages. Without question, one of the best books I have read on China to date.

I strongly recommend you consider it for your Spring quarter book review. While I would also normally alternatively recommend that you bring it with you to China to read during your down time there, I can’t/won’t do so, as the book is (still) banned in China.

What is it about? The true life story of a grandmother who was a concubine to a warlord in China, the mother who went through and survived the Cultural Revolution, and the daughter (Chang) who grew up in China and then became the first Chinese women to be allowed to study in Britain and receive her PhD.

The following reviews from the book’s back cover are dead on in my view:

Wild Swans is riveting. It’s blindly good: a mad adventure story, a fairy tale of courage, and a tale of atrocities. You can’t as they say, put it down. –Newsday

[Chang's] family chronicle resembles a popular novel that stars strong, beautiful women and provides cameo roles for famous men. But Wild Swans is no romance. It’s a story …. about the survival of a Chinese family through a century of disaster. — The New Yorker

Here are my five take-aways from the book:

1. I had to re-define the term “strong person” after reading this book. I thought I was strong. I am not, and I can’t hold a candle to the three women who are the subject of this book. I am and will always remain a girlie man in comparison to these three amazing women.

2. I learned some interesting things about foot-binding. Ouch. Amelia and Scout (my two young daughters), you are safe.

3. I (finally) know more about and better understand the Cultural Revolution in China, how it destroyed lives, how its deleterious effects still linger today in Chinese society.

4. Mao Zedung — Okay so he may have started off a decent guy. And yes, he did a few good things for China and the CCP. But he also appears to have over time turned into one of the biggest a******* of the 20th century. He has often been described at 30 percent wrong and 70 percent right. But my goodness, I would argue that his 30 percent wrong is a big under valued 30 perecent and what, oh, only 30 million people (probably more) starved because of this fellow’s ego? His wife, Madame Mao, appeared to be even more of a nutcase that did even more damage to China and its people than Mao. These folks flat out destroyed people and families and did not lose a wink of sleep over it. I wish I could be more diplomatic and respectful in my language about this fellow and his wife, but after reading this book, I can’t.

5. Re: No. 4 above, Chang’s Wild Swans was so good my next book to read will be her 800 page plus, Mao: The Unknown Story that she co-wrote with her husband (a British historian). Normally I stay away from such treatises as I can’t find the time or sustain the interest to make it through them, but I find myself wanting to learn more about what made this guy tick. This book by Chang is also banned in China. It has received mixed reviews from the academic crowd. It sounds like the book will be a bit of a biased screed against Mao, but at least a screed on the side of the angels so I will give it a go.

As I read Wild Swans I learned that my wife read the book years ago. She too, loved it.

Like I said …’Swans‘ rocks. This is a book that will pull you in at page one and not let you go.