Michael Accurso
The book, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, is a intimate memoir and a piece of history that shows life through generations. This book shows us the change and evolution of China through the lives of three women. Allow me to give a brief synopsis of who these women are so that it is easier to understand the story.
The first woman that we live through is Yu Fang. Yu Fang’s father is looking for a way out of their miserable life so he arranges for her to be a concubine for the general. The general leaves her for many years and in his absence, she is lonely and constantly worried. Once the general returns, she gets pregnant with her daughter whom the general’s wife tries to take as her own until Yu Fang
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As the book went on, I slowly began to lose a lot of interest, and I really was just hoping the book would end. My interest mostly began to dwindle at chapter 15. This chapter talks about the Cultural Revolution and Mao. They begin to talk about how Mao felt threatened, so he banned 39 artists, writers, and scholars for denunciation. (page 277). I don’t see really how this plays an important part in the main characters’ lives. It then goes more into detail about how Mao organized his own personal chain of command, and how people, like Mr. Chi, were arrested for denunciation. (page 282). I really couldn’t find the will to continue reading this book after this chapter. I want to hear more about the personal family struggle that the main characters had to endure. The reader probably doesn’t care much about Chairman Mao’s fears of unloyalty or strict laws that he had created. At this point in the book, it starts to feel more like a factual history book, not an account of family history and struggle. I personally have never been a fan of politics, and I have never been interested in politics, so, in chapters 16 and 17, when I started to read about the reds, blacks, and grays, I was very uninterested and confused. In order to keep the reader going, especially in a book this long, you need to make sure that you are engaging your audience with things that they want to read. Chang does a poor job of doing this, in my opinion, when she switches over
The Memoir Spider Eaters by Rae Yang is her personal account of her life during the Maoist revolution. In addition, she reminisces about her trials and tribulations during her active participation in the culture revolution and the great North Wilderness. Her family also had various misfortunes due to these changing ideological beliefs spread by the revolution. This memoir illustrates in great detail what Yang experienced under communist rule. Spider Eaters opened up a door to a young girl and her families struggle to be good Samaritans under communist rule and their final disillusionment of the revolution they whole heartedly believed in. Yang and her family struggled with the vast ideological changes during the Maoist Revolution, in turn,
When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform
The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).
According to the Online Dictionary, the “Chinese Cultural Revolution” is defined as “a movement in China, beginning in the year 1966 and led by Mao Zedong, to restore the vitality of communism in China.” To begin, the Chinese Cultural Revolution performed a significant role in establishing the setting and conflicts in the novel of “Red Scarf Girl”. The setting of the story took place in the city of Shanghai, specifically throughout the course of two and a half years from the year 1966 to 1969. The protagonist and narrator of the story, Ji Li Jiang, was a 12-year-old Chinese girl who lived as a wealthy resident in the brownstone apartments of Shanghai. As the story progressed, Ji Li developed alterations in her relationships with her peers at school, the perception of her goals and responsibilities in life, and knowledge of her family history in relation to her class-status in the community. Therefore, throughout the course of the story, it was evident that significant changes and development of the relationships, perceptions, and knowledge of Ji Li Jiang occurred as a result of the events that she experienced.
In Jan Wong’s entrancing expose Red China Blues, she details her plight to take part in a system of “harmony and perfection” (12) that was Maoist China. Wong discloses her trials and tribulations over a course of three decades that sees her searching for her roots and her transformation of ideologies that span over two distinctive forms of Communist governments. This tale is so enticing in due part to the events the author encountered that radically changed her very existence and more importantly, her personal quest for self-discovery.
This memoir of Ma Bo’s sent shock waves throughout China when it was published and was even first banned by the Communist Government. This passionate story paints a clear picture for what the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution was really like. Many Chinese living today can attest to similar if not identical ordeals as expressed in Ma Bo’s story. The toils of being a young Red Guard in inner China were experienced by many if not millions. The horrors and atrocities were wide spread throughout the country, not just in Inner Mongolia. The experiences illustrated in Blood Red Sunset uniquely belong to Ma Bo’s entire generation of mislead Chinese. As expressed in the books dedication the Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution was a time of much confusion in china. The memoir Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang illustrates the chaos of that time. Ji-li’s experiences during this time period led to her point of view changing. Ji-li starts the Cultural Revolution full of progressive thoughts, but this quickly turns to confusion, and leads to an important choice, something that impacts the rest of her life.
Chang strategically divided the book into three parts to show the progression of race, land, nationhood, and politics. The author then further divided the book into chapters that contribute to providing an answer to his initial research question.
As China faced new international pressures and the change to a communist society, gender relations transformed women from servants of men to full independent workers, who finally became soldiers of the communist state. In Jung Chang’s novel, Wild Swans, the three women – grandmother Yu-Fang, mother Bao-Qin and daughter Jung Chang – exemplify the expected gender roles of each generation. I will argue that Confucian society presented few economic opportunities for women to support
Blood Red Sunset is a record of Ma Bo 's life and which stunned people all through China when it was distributed and was even prohibited by the Communist Government for a set time. This story paints a picture for what the Chinese Cultural Revolution truly was. Chinese living today can bear witness to if this was the life that they had at this time to persevere amid the Cultural Revolution comparable if not indistinguishable experiences as told in Ma Bo 's story. The drudges of being a youthful Red Guard in inward China were experienced by many if not millions. The revulsions and atrocities were across the board all through the nation, not simply in Inner Mongolia. The encounters outlined in Blood Red Sunset have to deal with Ma Bo 's whole
Questions have been raised on whether Chinese parenting raises more flourishing children than Western parenting. Despite what people think, in Amy Chua's essay “The Roar of the Tiger Mom”, she portrays the differences between the beliefs of Chinese parenting and Western parenting. Chua introduces the views of a Chinese parent compared to the views of a Western parent. The methods used by Chinese mothers in raising their children are drastically different from Western mothers. Each defends their methods and believes the other group is doing their job poorly. In the end, both types of parents just want one thing-- successful children.
This could show the author biases about the idea of liberation and freedom for women in China is different from other countries. Even though he doesn't talk about women, he does give present clear evidence that this book would be about the modern maleness of being a stronger
I found this reading quite interesting, last semester I took a history class and we went into Chinese American history. We didn’t go too in-depth in the class and this reading opened up more experience and what it was like to be a Chinese American in the 19th century. One thing I learned from this reading in the “Ah Quin Diary” was how poorly the Chinese were treated by white people. In one part of the diary Ah Quin mentions how he fell into a hole and his watch got wet and when he went to the boss, the boss laughed at him. Not only that but in another section of the diary he talks about the disturbing conditions of living, Ah Quin briefly mentions how he was unable to sleep because bug would bite and crawl all over him at night. Another thing
The author of The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck, ingeniously describes the traditions of a Chinese woman in the early nineteenth century through the character O-lan. It is traditional in the Chinese culture to have the parents arrange the marriages for status purposes. During the marriage, the man oversees all the decision making, while the woman must heed to whatever the husband instructs her to do. O-lan possess these characteristics, which constructs the ideal (perfect) Chinese woman. Instances that portray this is when O-lan marries Wang Lung and enters a farming life and bears two sons, Wang Lung moves the family South, and takes a concubine later in his life, while O-lan follows obediently. Pearl S. Buck illustrates O-lan as the traditional
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is a family memoir written by Chinese author Jung Chang spanning a century in Imperial China, through and past the Cultural Revolution. The book recounts the lives of three women in China via biographies, these women being Chang’s grandmother, mother, and lastly her own autobiography. Chang begins the book by recounting the biography of her grandmother, Yu-fang. Yu-fang’s family was poor, and so her father planned to have her be taken as a concubine by General Xue Zhi-heng, a high ranking warlord, in order to gain status which was significantly important for their quality of life. At the age of fifteen she had a wedding ceremony to the General, and they spent several days in each other’s company before he left for six years.