Gostei imenso de conhecer estas 3 grandes mulheres. E, como adoro história do século XX, gostei imenso de ficar a saber mais sobre a Revolução Cultural Chinesa e sobre Mao Tsé-tung.

(σελ 259) Ήθελα πολύ να το διαβάσω αλλά δυστυχώς είναι η δεύτερη μου απόπειρα και πάλι δεν τα καταφέρνω να το τελειώσω. Ενώ ξεκινά όμορφα, μετά προχωρά σε τόσες λεπτομέρειες για την πολιτική ιστορία της χώρας εκείνη την εποχή σε σημείο να χάνετε λίγο από την κύρια ιστορία των τριών ηρωίδων. Μπουκώνει και κουράζει πολύ. Συγνώμη κυρία Jung Chang. Ίσως κάποια στιγμή στο μέλλον να κάνω και μια τρίτη απόπειρα μπάς και έχω αλλάξει μυαλά ως τότε και καταφέρω να φτάσω μέχρι τέλους.

My heart ached every time I picked up this book to read. It rang page after page of unspeakable acts delivered to and through the everyday lives of the people of China under the rule of Mao. The only real hope conveyed in the book was Chang's beautiful depiction of the places where she, her mother and her grandmother had lived. She captures the smallest detail and creates a clear picture for her reader. I believe this book grants us a view of what it is like to live in a Godless society.

Thick. Voluminous. Its Flamingo edition has 696 pages. I laid it aside many times. I didn’t know how to finish it , but I wanted to heap it soon onto the other books read and unread; I was obsessed with the other new books I had splurged on. When I gave it a shot for the third time; I was so already excited that I was close to its real-life –saga ending. Then, I was stuck again, in some harrowing parts I had to understand by heart and turn over in my mind . There, I trudged along. I was almost cross-eyed at the figures and facts I could grasp no more , tearing my hair until I could let out a deep breath. ( Heavy sigh) Finally, I was done . My verdict: I SHOULD HAVE READ IT ALL ALONG WHILE I WAS DEEPLY ENGAGED IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA DURING OUR NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Its vivid details could have been mesmerizingly engaging, heart-breaking, and eye-opening. Besides, I came back to my senses that communism turns out to be an ineffective form of government after all. Also, out of my ignorance, somehow, I brushed upon some historical facts about Mao Zedong, the man I have been curious about, or I could have been looking up to because of his numinous image.

One of the big challenges for a writer, particularly an autobiographer, is to write all the blow-by-blow accounts to make the book appear accurate and credible. There are instances that some are laconic with their stories; they only choose the situations which could be appealing to their audience. ( It’s a matter of marketing strategy, I guess.) Who could dare write a book that is so full of dramatic but petty details? Of course, padding the book could be intended to impress its audience. And I don’t think it’s Jung Chang’s intention. Never mind its mind-boggling and undermining Chinese names of persons, places, and technical words buzzed if you don’t have these ears for language . You will still be abandoned to the waves of negative emotions each daughter draws off- pain, endurance, hopelessness, despair, cruelty, savageness, you name it. Whoa, woe to you. Sit tight! Make sure that you have this empty chest.

After all, the book is not just about novelizing Jung Chang’s experiences but a way of letting go of the past. She used this as the instrument for cauterizing all the feeling and thoughts she had pushed to the darkest corners of her mind for a long decade under Mao Zedong’s said totalitarian government. Also, through this book, she had rectified all the injustice her entire ancestors, particularly her parents and grandma, had suffered for a long time. She had the chance to clear of all the political mud slung against her families that went down in Chinese history, which was eventually expurgated after Mao Zhedong’s political failure. At the same time, she had the chance to reminisce about the good memories which shaped her up as a strong and intelligent woman. However, as far as I know, the New China has not recognized the essence of her book yet out of jingoism. In fact, it was banned when it was published in 1992.

This book has been translated into 37 languages. No doubt. Quite apart from its heart-breaking themes, it is worth reading because it opens our mind. It will probably change our view points of the social issues in our contemporary era. You will understand that every country has different culture when it comes to family, society, and politics. So, you might come to realize that all the cultures could be immoral but stuck up in a time warp, especially when human dignity is already trodden. Everything is changing as is nature. Nonetheless, after all, I can’t cry bloody murder if such backward culture existed before ; it even did in our country, elsewhere. (Heavy sighs) Dare I say that we humans are still underdeveloped even up to this day, or it is just a matter of the philosophy of relativism? Look what is China now. North Korea. Some Middle East countries. The armpits of Africa. Even in state-of-the-art European nations. Now the issue is Brexit if you are aware of its referendum.

The book’s theme Cultural Revolution disabused me of that communism is not politically, socially, and economically feasible at all in a country that needs big social changes wherein all people should be ideally equal. I have been enlightened as an idealistic citizen that humans are fallible, that there is no such Utopia in a modern world. Evils have been part of the natural laws since the world began. ( heavy sigh)

Ever since I took to history subject, I have never had the clear details on Mao Zedong’s life. I was just tipped off that he was a cruel president of China , that he killed many babies, that he was revered as god. However, Jung Chang did not describe him much in the book. She was too euphemistic about him as though she still respected him despite all the pains China had suffered. In the end, I was not satisfied. I am still more curious about him . Who is Mao Zedong? Fiddlesticks, a red thick biography about him that I always see in a premier book store is now sparking my curiosity. The good thing is Jung Chang and her husband Jon Halliday wrote a biography about him : Mao: The Unknown Story. Interesting! As a matter of fact, she wrote another biographies about Empress Dowager Cixi and Madame Sun Yat- Sen. I hope to luck out and find them!

بجعات برية

هذه سيرة مؤلمة، مثقلة بعذابات ثلاث نساء صينيات، المؤلفة يونغ تشانغ والتي فرت من صين ماو، وتزوجت رجلاً بريطانياً، ووالدتها والتي عانت مع والد المؤلفة تحت حكم الشيوعيين، رغم أنهما كانا شيوعيين من البداية وقدما تضحيات كثيرة للحركة الشيوعية، وأخيراً جدتها والتي عاشت في أواخر الحكم الإمبراطوري للصين وكانت جارية ومن ثم زوجة طبيب.

من أجمل كتب السيرة الذاتية، والذي يشرح لنا صين القرن العشرين، وكل الأهوال التي حطت على هذا البلد، من بلد تحت الاحتلال الياباني وقد قضمت القوى الكبرى أطرافه، إلى بلد تمزقه حرب أهلية بين القوميين والشيوعيين، إلى بلد يرزح تحت حكم الشيوعيين بقيادة ماو، وكل تجاربهم الاجتماعية والاقتصادية والتي سببت المجاعات والصراعات الداخلية، وحولت حياة الملايين إلى جحيم متصل.

دفعني هذا الكتاب بعد الفراغ منه إلى قراءة كتاب آخر للمؤلف عن شخصية ماو، الرجل الذي كان له التأثير الأكبر على حياة الصينيين والذي تبدلت مشاعر المؤلفة تجاهه من الحب والتبجيل إلى الكراهية الشديدة، وهي مشاعر سيشعر بها كل من سيقرأ سيرته الشخصية.

If you read only one book about twentieth century China, let this be the one. A mish-mash of personal memoir, family saga, history, feminist literature, and global and Chinese politics, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China covers it all vividly. The book covers the life of Jung Chang's grandmother, her mother, and herself over the course of a China that was constantly changing in response to the changing times and the challenges it was facing.

Chang starts off with her grandmother's story: a concubine to a feudal lord, she managed to escape to freedom with her daughter, Chang's mother, who, in turn, became a rebel and supported the communists. Chang herself appears to be the least rebellious of these three women, but that doesn't detract from her strength in facing the daily challenges of living in Communist China under Madman Mao.

One of the most interesting things I found about this book was how it seamlessly depicted the enormous changes that took place in within a hundred years. While the grandmother was fully immersed in traditional ways and superstitions, this gradually changed over the years. Another thing I really loved about this book is how Chang kept challenging the practice of Maoism by demanding why the status of women had not changed and why they were still subject to the old ideas and customs, despite the communist revolution. I loved how Chang managed to put her finger on the right places and ask the right questions.

While this book is a memoir of one single family, Chang makes the attempt to weave in the broader political and historical issues of the times wherever appropriate. This gives Wild Swans a much broader scope than most memoirs and provides a comprehensive understanding of Chinese history and politics over the last century. I really appreciated this as Chang has obviously taken the time to research many things and has managed to keep a distance between her own experiences and historical facts.

One last question that does remain to be answered: Why has China not eschewed Mao yet? It has been more than forty years since he died, and yet the official stance is one of reverence and deification. The idea apparently is that it would hurt the image of the Communist Party, but I genuinely fail to understand why. The best thing anyone can do is to show Mao in his full idiocy to the masses. But as it stands today, his body is preserved and revered. It's an insult to the entire country. I am not surprised Wild Swans is banned in China, as well as all of the other books by Chang.

If you have even a remote interest in China, Chinese people, Chinese history, or Chinese politics, this book is a must-read!

لم يخالجني سوى الإستغراب والاستنكار طوال قراءتي، ولأنك إذا أردت سماع معاناة دولة فلا تسمعها سوى بلسان شعبها لذلك أحمد الله أنني تعرفت على الصين ومعاناتها على الوجه المطلوب من خلال حياة ثلاثة أجيال من النساء، وكم بلغت صدمتي بالمعرفة! لم أتوقع أبدا هذا الكم من العذاب والاضطهاد في حياة الصين والأدهى استمراره حتى عام 76!!

الحياة قبل الشيوعية صاحبها الكثير من الثغرات السياسية وكانت تسمى حياة فقط لأصحاب السلطة والسطوة ومن يمتلك علاقات معهم أما الفلاحين فنُهبو ونَهبو واقتتلو بسبب مرؤوسيهم لكن ما لبث أن أتى نظام الشيوعية لتحريرهم وعاشو من بعده أيامًا مجيدة حتى قرر زعيم الثورة المختل أن يصبح ما كان يحاربه ويبغضه، ففرض طاعته العمياء ولقنها شعبه حتى أصبح الواحد منهم لا يفكر وإذا راودته نفسه فقط بالتفكير فإنه يحال إلى المنفى وتنزل عليه أشد العقوبات أو يتهم بجريمة معاداة ماو فيكون مصيره جلسات تنديدية أخرى وموت بطيء آخر ...

ماو تسي العظيم استطاع تصوير ما هو خرابة جنة لدى شعبه بسبب رفضه كل ما يتعلق بالغرب وقطعه وتصوير حياتهم بأنها جحيم لا يطاق مقارنة بحياة الصين وتبعه شعبه.

ماو تسي العظيم قائد الثورة الشيوعية أصبح إله لدى شعبه فزرع فيهم الكراهية لكل تطور ولكل فِكر وعلم لأنها "رأسمالية وبرجوازية" والحقيقة لأن قدراته المحدودة عجزت عن استيعابها فحرمها ودمرها على غيره وأحال الصين إلى خرابة، وانتشرت المجاعة والقتل والادعاءات الباطلة والأحقاد الشخصية بين الشعب فقط في سبيل إرضاء شعور نقصه ..

وبالطبع الجميع سيسأل كيف جعل الجموع تتسابق لنيل محبته أو حتى تلويحة من يده المباركة وكيف أطاعوه طاعة عمياء اصلا !

السبب في هذا كله الجهل والتلقين والعقوبات لمن خالف الفكر "الماوتسي"، كان يحارب الثقافة والجمال مثل محاربته الكومتانغ بل وأشد من ذلك والنتيجة كانت شعب أمي بليد يلقن الفكرة فقط ، والمثقفين منهم قتلو وعذبو حتى إن كانو داعمين له. وبفضل ذلك كان قادرًا على تنشئة جيل ثوري متجاوز الحد يعبد ماو وينفذ جرائمه لسبب واحد.. لأجل ماو .

ماو تسي تونغ قائد جيش عظيم، وحاكم فاشل.


-لا أستطيع إعطاء الكتاب حقه في كتابة مراجعة مختصرة، الحياة في ثلاثة أجيال مُلئت بالمعاناة لا تختصر أبدًا، أشكر من نصح بقراءته كمدخل لمعرفة الصين أكثر وأنصح به أيضا.

نهضة الصين من جديد بعد ما حلّ بها معجزة حقيقية ..

I enjoyed this a lot. Okay, maybe "enjoyed" isn't the right word seeing as there is death, torture, misery and a lot of general unfairness... but it was a compulsively readable book that made me grateful that I was born in the time and place I was. And it was an interesting education on Chinese history, politics and culture.

Five Stars! I am not normally a lover on non-fiction, but lately I have read such compelling reads. In my Goodreads main group I have already seen a number of reviews of this, so its hard to recap. It traces the life of Jung Chang and her siblings, parents, and grandparents, through the Komingtang, and the Cultural Revolution under Mao Tse Tang. In places it was hard to read, as the devastation and violence of her childhood experience, and that of her parents and grandparents was bleak and traumatizing. It was one of those stories that was hard to read, but needed to be told. Its a miracle that she lived through it to tell the harrowing tale, and that she was at some point able to leave China for the West. She loved her family and was an extremely good daughter to them. She was also a young woman with ideas, intellect, and passion, in a country that didn't tolerate that - and in fact supressed it.

Loved the first line and drawn in right away - At Age Fifteen, my Grandmother was a concubine to General .... (Famous Chinese Official who ran the country.) The story was actually quite amazing, even more so because every word was true.

A note about challenges. I started this book when the Tag of the Month was Asia. Finished it when the Tag of the Month was Autobiography. Next Month is Strong Women and it fits that category too. But as or more importantly, this is also my Listopia book Two - Remarkable Women in Historical fiction. Now that I think about it, it shouldn't be on the list. Its non-fiction. But I am reading plenty more women who probably should be on the list, but aren't. And in terms of the actual list, I am sure to hit way more than 6. So I am actually just fine with that. It also is one of nine or ten books in Nicole's Cultural challenge, which I knew I'd complete with my eyes closed. See how many countries I can visit this year, and I am excited to see how much of the world I have seen even in just three months. So - for many reasons, I am really glad to be done with this quite excellent read. My home book club is getting together to talk about it too, within the next month. I love how one book hits all the categories at once, and without PBT, I would never have known about it, much less picked it up. Hooray for PBT and also for me! Brava to Jung Chang for her survival and teaching us with her tale of resilience and difficult history.

Libro interesante, pero denso, donde proliferan personajes, fechas y lugares de China.

Una visión, desde el punto de vista de nuestra protagonista, de como vivió su familia todo este periodo histórico que arranca previo a la ascensión al poder de Mao.

A través de sus páginas, veremos el cambio -y la destrucción- de una cultura tradicional, basada en la familia y un sistema feudal, previo a la invasión de los japoneses, a un sistema completamente rígido y despersolalizado como el que implantó Mao, donde lo que prima es el partido y el culto a su persona. Una crítica feroz a una revolución comunista, que comenzó con loables principios para pasar a ser la "revolución -dictadura- de Mao", al control total, a la desinformación y manipulación con sus campañas de propaganda, a la destrucción de la cultura y defensa de la ignorancia con su "Revolución cultural", a sus grandes desaciertos político-económicos como el "Gran Salto Adelante" que llevaron a la muerte por inanición de decenas de millones de chinos a principios de los años 60. Una época oscura de grandes enfrentamientos, en la que el pueblo se convirtió en juez y verdugo de sus propios vecinos y compañeros, siempre bajo el temor y la presión de saber que los actos de uno/a tenían consecuencias sobre toda la familia.

Solo por todo lo que he aprendido de la historia de China me parece que ha valido la pena su lectura. Aunque sea la historia personal de Jung Chang y su famila, el trasfondo histórico está presente en el libro.

También tengo que decir que el primer cuarto de libro me costó mucho leerlo, no avanzaba, solo conseguía leer un par de capítulos al día. No sé si por el bombardeo constante de datos que intentaba asimilar, por el estilo de redacción o por la manía que acabé cogiendo a su abuelo y a su padre. En cuanto superé esa fase, no voy a decir que las páginas volaban, pero sí que te terminas de adaptar a la historia, se hace más interesante y se agiliza el ritmo de lectura.

Por todo ello:

Valoración: 7,25/10
Lectura: abril 2021

Ένα βιβλίο για γερά στομάχια..

I'm very glad I read this; I am left wishing I enjoyed reading it more. I often couldn't put it down once I'd picked it up, but then also had a hard time picking it up again.

Perhaps it's my baggage with the concept of memoir that tripped me up a bit; expectations do have a profound effect on my reading experiences. I went into this expecting more of a story, or a slowed-down transferring of a life, a narrative. Instead I felt awash in a storm of names. The details about what a day was like, what someone felt, how things pieced together were missing. It often seemed to be a recounting of facts that lacked connecting threads of emotion and meaning. A sort of listing of events rather than a narrative. I believe that with a history so prone to editing and reediting under the Communist, Chang likely felt that it was important to be as specific as possible, as real and true as possible. There is a sense that this is a document produced for others to use.

That said, I learned a lot reading this book. It can be summed up as follows: China was a land full of craziness, cruelty, hardheartedness, hunger. It is telling that I best understand people's actions during the Grandmother's time of the chaos and warfare under the warlords. At least during this point in the history, actions were fairly clearly related to greed and power-seeking.

After this period, the actions of the Japanese, the Chinese, the Communists...all devolve into crazy, crazy, crazy. I was stunned by the lack of rationality and compassion in China's history again and again. I kept looking up from the book, saying to my husband, "This is crazy."

The most valuable piece was the understanding it brought me of what indoctrination by such a system does to the heart and mind - the way the mind learns to deal with contradiction, the way questioning ends, the way that playacting on the outside can creep inside. Jung Chang's journey to question the system is so revealing. Her breakthroughs are such tiny pieces of logic; their smallness reveals how thoroughly her mind had been saturated with a stew of indoctrination and how compartmentalizing experiences and ideas can stunt thought.

A few quotes:
"As I child I had always shied away from collective activity. Now, at fourteen, I felt even more averse to it. I suppressed this dread because of the constant sense of guilt I had come to feel, through my education, when I was out of step with Mao. I kept telling myself that I must train my thoughts according to the new revolutionary theories and practices. If there was anything I did not understand, I must reform myself and adapt."

"I realized then that when people are happy they become kind."