1984
هذه الكلمة تكفي لوصف الكتاب
جحيم جورج اورويل على الأرض in practice

يقول البرت اينشتاين 'The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
كلما قرأت أكثر ازددت جهلا
أيعقل أن كل ما في الكتاب حقيقي؟! يا لسذاجتي

ملحمة بجعات برية تؤرخ لصين القرن العشرين من خلال أجمل سيرة ذاتية يمكن قراءتها.
تبتدأ يونغ شانغ من حيث توقف ويل ديورانت في قصة الحضارة: الشرق الأقصى الصين.
تتبع حياة أجيال ثلاث، جدتها وأمها وهي. ولأن والديها كانا مسؤولين في الحزب الشيوعي، وهي كانت من الحرس الأحمر، وجدها كان جنرال حرب، فسنتعرف على الأحوال السياسية والاجتماعية والاقتصادية للبلاد.
لكنها تفيض إنسانية ورقة.
لكأنك تقرأ تاريخ أسرتك أنت.
كم تختلف حياتهم، عائلة غير عادية في بلد غير عادي بالمرة، أعتقد أن القرن العشرين كان الأكثر صخبا في تاريخ الصين.
الايام الاخيرة للامبراطورية الصينية ثم الكومنتانغ ثم الاحتلال الياباني ثم الحرب الأهلية ثم الجمهورية الشعبية، الاصلاح الزراعي والطفرة الكبرى للأمام، والمجاعات والثورة الثقافية ..
بلد يغلي بالأحداث

كم تأثرت بوالد يونغ شانغ، رجل المبادئ في بلاد نسيت المبادئ.
نشاهده شابا حالما بتغيير الصين وإنهاء الفقر، الحزب الشيوعي طريقه لتحقيق الحلم، ولما يصير مسؤولا رفيعا، يكون مضربا للمثل في الأمانة وتحمل المسؤولية، لكن الحزب سيتخلى عنه، الحزب في الثورة الثقافية ليس له صاحب
يعترض على ماو بصوت عال
وهنا الكفر
يذوي شيئا فشيئا
يؤمر بحرق كتبه التي هي كل ثروته
يصاب بالجنون
قصته تمزق القلب ولاتنسى
يذوي شيئا فشيئا بعد أن فقد كل شيء
وهو الذي خدم الحزب والثورة والصين بروحه وجسده

وتشاركنا يونغ شانغ تجربتها النفسية في ظل الفاشية
أجمل ما في الكتاب، وهو بالذات ما ستبرع يونغ شانغ في حكايته أكثر من غيرها من الكتاب.
نشأت يونغ شانغ على "عبادة" ماو- الأخ الأكبر نسخة الصين، درست مقالاته في المدارس، حفظت نصوصه، عملت مع كل الصينين في جمع الفولاذ لتحقيق رؤاه المتطرفة، ثم ما فتأت أن انضمت للحرس الأحمر في الثورة الثقافية لتكون مجندة ماو بشكل رسمي، ما الذي تتوقع غير ذلك؟
حرم عليها الاتصال بالأجانب أو قراءة غير ما هو مسموح من الكتب، نالت وجباتها في مطاعم شعبية وليس في جو أسري "برجوازي" تمنعه الثورة، لم يكن والداها متواجدين أغلب الوقت.
لم تشك قط في ماو
لكن مع خروجها من الطفولة العمياء، تبدأ تلاحظ، تفتح عينينها، وشيئا فشيئا ،ببطئ وحذر شديدين، يبدأ الشك، ويتصدع السور في نفسها.
يشارك ملايين الصينيين يونغ شانغ في التجربة هذه، نحن نطلع هنا على حياة جيل كامل في ظل ظروف لا ترحم.
نلاحظ في الكتاب، تلك النبرة المشمئزة من كل ما هو صيني، لكنها بالذات هي ما يميز صينيي القرن العشرين والثورة. من الطبيعي أن لاتتوقع كتابة خالية من الانحيازات بعد كل التجارب القاسية التي عاشتها العائلة نموذج المجتمع الصيني.

قراءة التاريخ بشكل قصة إنسانية لهي أفضل طريقة للفهم والمشاركة الوجدانية.
نعرف أن الصين ازدهرت وانطلقت بين دول العالم المتقدم بشكل إعجازي في ظل الماوية، وماو يبدو عظيما من الخارج، لكننا لن نعرف القصة كاملة حتى نسمع من الصينيين أنفسهم كيف كانت الحياة، لا من السياسيين المدفوعين.

أضمه لفئة الكتب ذات الأثر المدوي في النفس
واجب القراءة
هذا كتاب تقرؤه لتفهم الدنيا
مرة بعد مرة
لتعرف الحدود القصوى لما يمكن لحكومة فعله
لتسمع قصة أخفيت بحذر
وتستلهم مع جورج أورويل ما يخبؤه المستقبل..

At first I did not want to voice my opinion of this book since it cut so near to the bone and was such a profound shock to read in 1993. It was, however, the first book, after reading Isabelle Allende, that kept me awake for several weeks afterwards. No other book ever managed to achieve that.

It certainly is a depressing book, no beating around the bush about that, but also such a courageous introduction to a life of people shut away behind the veil of communism. My overall impression of the book was that it must have been equally painful for the author to write it as it was for her family, three generations of women, to endure the horrific takeover of Mao Tse Tung in China. As with all Communist rhetoric, so many noble promises were made to people, freedom of oppression being the biggest, and innocent poor people believed enough in the idea to die for it. Those who did not want to accept it, were killed as well - in their millions.

However, people such as Jung's father, who staunchly believed that it would bring change for the good, staggered back in horror when the first real implications of Communism hit their lives. Freedom was the first privilege to be revoked on all levels of human existence. All intellectuals( against the revolution) were either interned or killed. They all lost their jobs and their standing and their respect in society were publicly destroyed. They were declared enemies of the state.

The equalization of society also did not happen seamlessly and the population would soon find out what it really entailed. The educational- and health systems crashed completely. Expropriation of land was part of the plan. Landowners were brutally murdered, land-grabbing became the order of the day. Land redistribution soon led to the most staggering overgrazing and erosion of fertile land over millions of hectares. Large parts of China became an instant man-made desert. Poverty and famine increased substantially and exponentially. Thirty million people died of hunger alone, which was a well-kept secret for almost forty years.

Jung Chang writes on p166:

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Although the Communists were apposed to torture in theory and on principle, officials were told that they should not intervene if the peasant wished to vent their anger in passionate acts of revenge(against the farm owners).

People such as Jin were not just wealthy owners of land, but had wielded absolute and arbituary power, which they indulged in willfully, over the lives of the local population. They were called e-ba ( ferocious despots).

In some areas the killing extended to ordinary landlords, who were called 'stones' - obstacles to the revolution. Policy towards the 'stones' was: 'When in doubt, kill.

'My father thought this was wrong and told his subordinates and public meetings, that only those who, unquestionably had blood on their hands should be sentenced to death. In his reports to his superiors he repeatedly said that the Party should be careful with human lives, and that excessive executions would only harm the revolution. It was partly because many people like my father spoke up that in February 1948 the Communist leadership issued urgent instructions to stop the violent excesses.

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The narrative describes how an entire nation was terrorized, traumatized and intimidated into submission by various methods.

Everybody living in a free country should read this book. The only way to understand real freedom is to get to know life when it is taken away - and almost always by the very same people who used the idea to win them over to a new dispensation.

Although it was an exhausting book to read, it opened the dark, horrible side of the so-called 'freedom-fighters' and communism to the world. It is written in such a way that the history lesson flows easily along the narrative, which was compelling. You need time for this book, and lots of courage. However, it was beautifully written. One of the best books I have ever read!

This book changed my life and my choice of books completely!

Listen to this Podcast with the author about this book.

عبارة عن سيرة حياة ثلاث سيدات صينيات بدءا من الجدة ثم الأم والحفيدة
تتناول فترة ما قبل حكم ماو وما بعده وسياسة الإذلال والتخلف
التي عاشها الشعب في كلا العصرين من خلال عذابات هذه الأسرة نموذج لما عانت منه الصين خلال هذه الفترة المميتة !

من شدةجاذبية هذا الكتاب والمآسي التي حملته روعة السرد أنهيتها في خمسة أيام
كنت أقرأ دون توقف ودون أن أشعر بنفسي
لأن تاريخ الصين كان غائب عني
هالني ما كان يحدث فيها
ولا يمكن لأحد أن يقرأ الكتاب دون أن تسرقه الدهشة إلى نهاية الكتاب

Όλη η σύγχρονη ιστορία της Κίνας μέσα από τις αναμνήσεις της συγγραφέως και της οικογένειάς της. Δεν μπορώ να χαρακτηρίσω επ' ουδενί το βιβλίο ως μυθιστόρημα, είναι καθαρά βιογραφικό. Ξεκινάει από τα ήθη και έθιμα που επικρατούσαν στις αρχές του αιώνα περιγράφοντας βασικά στοιχεία της ζωής της γιαγιάς της (μακάρι να ήταν πιο μεγάλο αυτό το κομμάτι) και συνεχίζει με την ιστορία των γονιών της και τη δική της περιγράφοντας τη ζωή τους κατά τη διάρκεια του κομμουνισμού στην Κίνα.
Αν και έχει πολλά ιστορικά γεγονότα μέσα καταφέρνει να είναι σε πολλά σημεία αρκετά συναισθηματικό. Επίσης μου άρεσε που με κάποιο τρόπο κατάφερε να με κάνει να καταλάβω τον τρόπο που "σκεφτόταν" και ενεργούσε ο Κινέζικος λαός τα χρόνια του Κομμουνισμού και την απόλυτη λατρεία προς τον ηγέτη τους, και το πώς σιγά- σιγά άρχισε να σκέφτεται διαφορετικά.
Είναι όμως δύσκολο βιβλίο και θέλει χρόνο και προσοχή- μου πήρε σχεδόν δύο βδομάδες να το τελειώσω, σχεδόν σε κάθε παράγραφο υπήρχαν προτάσεις που τις διάβαζα δύο και τρεις φορές.

Wild Swans presents the story of three generations in the life of the author's family, which covers most of the 20th century, as well as the amazing social, political and economic changes occurring in China as a whole. We move from the portrait of a concubine with bound feet to a woman who worked alongside her Communist Party husband to bring Party ideals to fruition, then on to the granddaughter who is among the first of her generation to be allowed to leave the country to study.

Along the way, there are the classics of any family story,love and hate, birth and death, marriage with unimaginable struggles, and gradual worsening of life on a regular basis. The details should be read. Most of us who grew up in the 50s and 60s have some memory of hardships in China. We really didn't know and it is important to know about the history of China, from pre-Communist times to the present as it explains so much.

Highly recommended as a big step in education about China in the 20th century through a personal history.

Addendum: I plan to read the introduction to the 2003 edition as I've heard it adds some valuable insights to the intro and epilogue available in the original 1991 edition I own.

A family memoir that is both educating and moving. Wild Swans is quite successful in mixing personal history with national one. That being said, I have to say that it was the personal history that interested me the most. Getting to know a bit more about the more recent history of China was certainly welcome, but what really moved me were the personal stories of the three generation of women from the Swan family.

This is definitely one of those books that are hard to forget. The writing style is simple, straightforward and elegant. The narrative follows the lives of three Chinese women in chronological order and it is written by the youngest of them. I loved getting to know each one of them, but perhaps the grandmother the most. As I said, their life stories are written down in a chronological way starting with the grandmother, moving onto the daughter and finishing with the granddaughter. There is so much going on in this book, that I have a feeling it would be difficult to follow if the narrative wasn't chronological.

For me personally, Wild Swans was a page-turner but one of a touching and profound kind. One of the most amazing thing about this book for me is that it is a non-fiction. It is hard to believe at times that so much can happen. Yet, life is said to be stranger than fiction. Reading it, I kept thinking " Oh, this really happened!". Perhaps some aspects of this book are what could be called stylized autobiography and perhaps some parts were left out, but I personally don't care. I was quite happy with the book as it is and feel no need to question the author about the petty details or wonder if she perhaps changed some event to make it more favorable to her family. I know some readers expressed their doubts over her parents keeping out of communist purges but you know what? Memory is partly subjective and this is a memoir not a history book. I think we shouldn't question author so much. I truly believe that Jung Chang told her story (and those of two other generations of her family) in a truthful and honest way.

This is a memoir and a very personal one. Having read it, I felt as if I had established some kind of personal relationship with the narrator of the book. Perhaps it is because of the way the story is told, in a very simple way, very similar to the way friends tell their stories between themselves. I guess that the photographs play a role too. Being able to see the female protagonists of this memoir makes them seem even more real. This is certainly one of the most intimate memoirs I have ever read, perhaps even the most intimate one. There is something so honest about the narrative voice, one feels this authors doesn't want to hide anything. She writers about the good and the bad. To me it makes this book seem quite honest and objective.

The connection between female family members is at the center of the book and I like how the author focused on those family ties. You can feel the connection between family members and the love "the wild swans" feel for each other. The special and sometimes complex connection between a mother and a daughter is described honestly but warmly.

“When he asked my grandmother if she would mind being poor, she said she would be happy just to have her daughter and himself: 'If you have love, even plain water is sweet.”

Personally, this was one of the most emotionally engaging reading experiences. The range of emotions was great, at times I feared for the heroins of this book and at times I laughed at their ingenious actions. I felt bewildered, surprised, sad, melancholic, fascinated, amused and happy while I read this novel. I actually can't think of an emotion that I didn't experience.

There is a lot of historical and cultural information in this book. It would be an interesting read for anyone interested in Asian culture. If you enjoy reading this book, you'll found out a way to learn about modern history of China. The author is very critical towards some political figures (Mao) and towards the dark side of communism. Although I found this part of her writing interesting, it was the human aspect of the book that impressed me the most. I would go so far as to call this book an ode to women's spirit.

This is the story of the lives of three generations of Chinese women.All three endured great suffering during their respective eras.It was appalling to read about the cruel practice of foot binding of young girls,which resulted in permanant damage.

The author lived in Mao's China,and describes the repression unleashed during those years.The book is too long,however,and at times feels like an anti Mao propaganda piece itself,targeted at a Western audience.

Could have done with a lot of editing.

Էս գիրքն ավելի շատ օգնեց ճանաչել ու հասկանալ չինացիներին, քան ապրածս երկու ամիսը։ Հիմիկվա ապրելաոճի էնքան պատճառահետևանքային կապեր են երևում։ Տխուրն էն ա, որ նման գրականությունն արգելված ա Չինաստանում, ոչ մեկ չի կարդում, ջահելությունը նորմալ տեղյակ էլ չի Մաո Ցզեդունից ու իր արյունարբու ռեֆորմներից, քաղաքականացված չի ու մեծամասամբ ջահելությանը մեկ ա։ Իսկ գիրքն էնքան կենդանի էր գրած, ստիպում էր ապրումակցում, տեղ-տեղ հուզվել, կատաղությունից ատամները կրճտացնել ու մեկ-մեկ (հազվադեպ) ուրախանալ կին հերոսների համար։

4.5 stars

If you're looking for your next powerful, personal memoir then look no further guys, I got your back! Wild Swans is the story of three generations of women told by Jung Chang: her grandmother, the concubine of a warlord, her communist mother, and herself. The book is super lengthy and heavy (as is expected) but I think it's so worth it, as you get the full picture of what life was like under Mao. Hint: it was terrible.
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I was awestruck by the amount of time and research Chang put into her memoir; even the parts about her grandmother's early life felt rich and compelling even though she obviously wasn't alive to witness it personally. She goes to extreme lengths to make the average reader aware of the height of control Mao held over the entire Chinese population, describing perfectly (and terrifyingly) the brainwashed state of the nation. I was appalled at the way Mao managed to turn 900 million people into a weapon against themselves, sowing fear and misinformation to create a constant state of unrest and war.
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This book book belongs to a series called 'Stranger than...' and honestly it's so accurate: it had more gore and horror than a freaking Stephen King novel. It can definitely get a little hard to swallow, because what you're reading seems so wild, like a horrifying dystopian novel and then you're smacked in the face with a reminder that this is true life, this actually happened to real people. Truly eye-opening.
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In amidst all the horror, you do have the amazing resilience and bravery of the Chang family to keep you going. I was enchanted by Chang's slow disillusionment with the regime and her drive to escape it and create something better!
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My only complaint is that it was a bit TOO long, some stuff was repeated unnecessarily, plus the writing is obviously very straightforward as it is non-fiction, and I missed the flowery, poetic language of fiction.

Un libro autobiográfico ,una leccion magistral contada en primera persona de la Historia China del siglo XX.

اعتقد ان هذا المولف لايعد عملا روائيا اكثر منه عملا تشخيصيا لحالة سياسيه مر بها تاريخ الصين خلال القرن العشرين ، العمل يحكي قصة 3 اجيال تعاقبت على تاربخ الصين ، جيل الجدة الذي عاصر حقبة الامبرطورية الآيله الى السقوط آنذاك ، وبداية حكم الوطنيين ، وجيل الأم الذي عاصر نشأة وسقوط الجمهوريه الوطنيه وكذلك نشأة الحكومة الشيوعيه ، واخيرا جيل المؤلفه الذي عاصر جزءا من الحرب الاهليه بين الوطنيين والشيوعيين وبداية الحكم الشيوعي للصين وقصة الانتكاسات التي رافقت سياستي الطفره الى الامام والثوره الثقافيه ، ما ميز العمل ايضا هو توثيق تاريخ الصين سياسيا واجتماعيا حتى فترة الانفتاح على العالم الخارجي اي عام 1979 وهو العام الذي غادرت فيه الكاتبه بلادها نهائيا بعد حياة مريرة قضتها داخل الصين في ظل الحكم المزاجي لباني الصين الشيوعية الحديثة الزعيم ماو تسي تونج .

Un libro que se debería leer teniendo muy presente distopias como 1984; por desgracias este libro no es una distopía, sino que recoge la Historia de China del siglo XX. He aprendido muchísimo con este libro, pero también es una llamada de atención de lo crueles y horribles que pueden llegar a ser algunos regímenes políticos, y la importante función que tienen en ellos la manipulación, el adoctrinamiento y el fomentar odios para poder aprovecharse de ellos.
Imprescindible para aquellos interesados en la Historia del siglo XX.