"I tell myself that lack of willpower has led to more failures than lack of intelligence or ability." "Remember, only when one's life intertwines with history will one be truly great." "The best illusionist is one who can explain to you how the trick works and then still make you believe there is magic..." "A woman's biggest wish is to be loved--there is no deeper truth." "He [Mao] encouraged the worship by making as few appearances as possible--the ancient trick of creating power and terror." "I respect doctors, especially dentists." I really enjoyed the writing style of this loose biography--some was first hand by Jiang Qing herself, then other chapters were from an outsider. I was constantly reminded of the similar story of Eva Peron--a woman from a poor, immoral past trying to ride to glory on her husband's political coattails, becoming enamored with the idea of running the country herself. What a tragedy when such a misguided person becomes powerful and destroys the lives of so many.

Good read, though it could use a finer edit.

If you can get past the grammatical and language issues this an absolutely fascinating read. I am not entirely sure if this book was written in Chinese and then translated into English or not, or whether errors were made when making the ebook version of this book, but either would explain the grammatical issues.

The story, however, is great. If you are a fan of Chinese history or like historical fiction at all you should enjoy this story.

I think it does a great job of giving the more human aspects of the history of the CCP. After reading a more straightforward academic book about the CCP, it helped to read something that was more focused on the emotions and the psychology of the leaders of modern China. My question is how close is the book to real life? Is Mao and other leaders really that crazy?

I got hooked reading it and finished it in a week or two.

This book is one I should have put down a quarter of the way through... but I get stubborn and put my head down and plow through. The "characters" are flat - the one insight (repeated over and over and over) is that Madame Mao was an actress playing the role of her life as she dreamed of playing on the stage. She adapted scenes and characters to use in her performance in life. Otherwise the portrayal was flat and boring. 1.5 stars (I save 1 star for those that are so bad that I actually DO put them down.)

I'm going to be brief in my review of this Novel. I think it's terrific. In fact, I'll go a step further and say it is the best fiction work I've read in a long time. Not since reading Shogun, have I enjoyed a style of writing more. Anchee Min seems to be able to combine the terse style of Hemingway with the ethereal style of E. L. Doctorow in Ragtime--to create an entire universe that allows the reader to gently plunge in. I can't find a thing wrong with this book. ... Visit my blog for more: http://www.stephenrganns.com

This is a fictionalized account of the life of Jiang Ching, Mao Tse Tung's wife. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." It isn't paranoia if "they" are actually out to get you.

It is challenging to write a story from the point of view of someone who is warped and is dealing with a power structure that is mostly hidden from their view. Anchee Min does an interesting job of doing this.

I would recommend having a basic understanding of twentieth century Chinese history before reading this. I would also recommend reading Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, which covers this same period of history from the point of view of a family that is also within the Communist party but further out in the power structure. It gives a little clearer picture of the impact of various movements on the general population of China and adds to understanding this story.

Basically, it's a love-hate relationship with this book.

From what I can remember, Madame Mao, the main character, has different names that symbolize her different "lives". She experiences pain ( especially when she has her feet lotus wrapped and constantly gets rejected for aspiring to be an actress), sacrifice, violence, sex, and heartbreak--as well as revenge against all the people ( and asshole men) who had double crossed her or broken up with her…Although most people may think of her as an antagonist since she is always scheming, I admire her in a way -- since she comes from a fucked up childhood and develops into a kick ass woman who doesn't take no for an answer--using her femininity, charisma, beauty, and wit to her advantage--which, I love.

HOWEVER, what makes me hate this book/story is that she never gets credit from Mao at the end--even though she had been there for him and was way smarter than he ever was. Mao constantly cheats on her with "virgins" and she ignores it, Mao constantly relies on her to make decisions and plan things and she does it, Mao leans on her for support both physically and emotionally and she doesn't mind. BUT NO, she's a WOMAN so she doesn't get jack shit--instead, she gets sent to prison. I get it, she committed crimes, but so did Mao -- and ( almost) everyone ADMIRED and SUPPORTED him--even though SHE was the one who had been his backbone. That's right folks, whether it be communism or democracy, there is always sexism around the corner to save the day and fuck people. I'm not a radical feminist, but it's annoying when you can't even escape the curse of having a va-j-j in a book.

Xanax, anyone?

Llevaba años queriendo leer este libro y es una pena que al final se haya quedado a medio camino. Me ha gustado, pero podría haber sido espectacular y se ha quedado justito.

Anchee Min recabó información durante años sobre una de las mujeres más importantes para la historia de China, Jiang Qing y nos la presenta en esta novela. Jiang Qing fue la última mujer de Mao Zedong, antiguo presidente comunista de China, gran culpable de la Revolución Cultural. Esta revolución es unos de los periodos de la historia que más me han llamado la atención siempre, y cada vez que veo un libro que trata el tema me interesa. Lo que no sabía yo, y nunca se refleja en otros libros es la tremeda importancia que tuvo, la mujer del presidente en esta Revolución.

Jiang Qing fue una mujer fuerte desde su más tierna infancia donde ya se negó a que le vendaran los pies para deformarselos y evitar su crecimiento. Esta antigua tradición china se suponía que daba clase y atractivo a estas mujeres. Jiang Qing luchará por sus sueño de convertirse en un actriz de renombre, y después de varios romances, conocerá a Mao Zedong. A raíz de esto decidirá interpretar el papel más importante de su vida, el de la heroína de China.

Me ha resultado interesantísimo descubrir cosas sobre esta fuerte mujer en un mundo de hombres. Como en la mayoría de los casos, el poder la corrompió y junto a su obsesión por la interpretación, se convirtió en una de las personalidades más despiadadas y tiranas de la época. Era imposible empatizar al cien por cien con la protagonista, por su actitud, pero en cierta parte entiendes algunos de sus actos. Como se sintió siempre la sombra de un hombre y quiso escapar de esa alargada sombra.

Quizás el problema lo he encontrado en la forma de contar la historia. Se siente muy rápida y a veces es algo liosa la manera en la que la autora va narrando la trama alternando la primera y la tercera persona. Aún así, se lee bastante rápido.

Curioso que siendo esta mujer tan importante y habiendo leído y visto bastantes libros y pelis situados en esta época, jamás la nombraran, aunque millones de veces a su marido. La sombra sigue siendo alargada.

My first book whose subject evolved around the Chinese culture. I had a lot to learn, very insightful but it did not depict the true brutal nature of the Mao family.

This book is non-fiction, but reads as if it were the private diaries of Mao's wife. The book covers her life from her humble beginnings as the daughter of ill-fated union to nearly becoming the ruler of China. It is a compelling story of back stabbing, human drama, emotions, childhood psychological trauma, and political intrigue. The author painted Madame Mao as a disillusioned woman desperate for love and attention. It is an interesting read with a lot of imagination about how the relations of the communist party in China in the 60's and 70's played out.

este interesant scrisa, o relatare fictional documentara a vietii tovaresei mao. amestecul de detalii istorice si cele imaginate de scriistoare sunt fascinante pentru a intelege un pic din oersonalitatea personajului.
exista ceva in carte care nu te face sa simti povestea in profunzime, o tendinta spre a fi alaturi de jiang qing mao, de a empatiza cu ea, desi stii ca a fost, la rind ei, o dictatoare.
conducatoare a revolutiei culturale, regretul ei major este ca nu a devenit succesoarea lui mao. are un rol determinant in tot ceea ce face partidul comunist si nu este o feneie slaba si victima.
altfel, o lectura placuta.

I read this book because I was interested in the life of Jiang Qing Madame Mao AKA the White Boned Demon, this book was a fictionalized biography depicting the life of Jiang Qing who started out her life as Li Yunhe who grew up in an abusive household where her father beat her and her mother was in some ways an apathetic woman who had given up on life and would always tell her daughter that "women are like grass born to be stepped on" she had tried to bind young Yunhe feet, but she displayed a streak of rebelliousness that would be part of her character throughout her life. She endured humiliation and torment not just from her father who was a well to do businessman who beat her and her mother, but from her fellow classmates because it was suggested that Yunhe's mother was a concubine rather than being the businessman's wife. But he died leaving her mother alone in which she was kicked out of the household forced to move from job to job, but got tired of taking care of Yunhe and would abandon her with her grandparents.

This would for a while would be a blessing because her grandparents were affectionate and loving people and from there this is where she would get her first exposure to theater in which would inspire her to become an actress later on, because her grandfather would expose Yunhe to theater classics and literature.Her grandfather would always tell Yunhe that she was a "Peacock among Hens" this quote would have an affect on her in which would give her the confidence she needs to face life in which she would always view herself different from other people as her interest in theater and acting grew, in which Yunhe would become interested in it so much that she would run away from home and would join a theater troupe in which she would gain first-hand experience training to become an actress beginning with small parts which would culminate becoming a great actress with potential in which soon she would gain fans who would watch her theater performances, but just as her star was rising her grandparents who had been searching for her the last several of years in which by then she was a young teen would force to return home in order to marry a man who was a fan of hers in her performances, but the marriage didn't last and she would divorce him and head off to Shandong in which she would attend school and through a former colleague she would meet Yu Qiwei who would become her 1st true love in which through him she would learn about Communism and activism in which she would eventually gain membership in the Communist Party, but her relationship ended when Yu Qiwei was arrested for his Communist activities by Chiang Kai Shek Nationalist Government and she would abandon him and from there she would find different a boyfriend but just out of convenience, but that relationship would fall apart, but when she tried to get back together with Yu Qiwei he would reject her and move on and marry someone else. It was also during this time that the Nationalist Government would arrest her because of her subversive messages in her plays and was held in prison in which she would be forced to sign a confession denouncing Communism and her activities in the Communist Party in which she signed to get out of prison, but this decision would comeback to haunt her later on.

From there Yunhe would head off to Shanghai in which she would form a career in as a professional actress in both theater and the movies portraying heroines now under the name of Lan Ping after her run in with the Nationalist Authorities, it is there where she would flourish as actress along with her career she would also date someone new Tang Na who was an actor just like her and from there would form a relationship but unlike the relationship with Yu Qiwei this was a roller coaster relationship which even though he was affectionate, he was also emotional in which he threatened to kill himself even after they were married and it was because of Tang Na's behavior which would lead Lan Ping to divorce Tang Na, she would also date many men who were well connected with the Chinese movie industry, but this would be in the background in the upcoming war as the Imperial Japanese forces would after taking over Manchuria would begin moving into the rest of China in order to conquer it, but Chiang's Nationalist government half-heartedly fights the Japanese and instead focuses his time fighting against the Communist Rebel forces of Mao Tze Tung. The immense of Japan's invasion of China would force many movie studios to produce movies denouncing the Japanese invasion in order to motivate the Chinese to fight back in which Lan Ping would make several of starring appearances such as the movie Blood on Wolf Mountain in which her character is a peasant girl who fights off a pack of wolves who are allegories of the Japanese invaders, but would be forced to flee from Shanghai.

From there she would end up in Yenan the home turf of the Chinese Communists led by Mao Tze Tung and from there Lan would become fascinated with Mao and would become his lover eventually, in which they would marry but Mao's party comrades would disprove of the Mao-Lan marriage because it was a slap to the face of Mao's previous wife and to the moral character of the Communist party. This would cause friction between Lan (Now known as Jiang Qinq) and the Communists but this would be put on the back burner in which Mao and his Red Army would continue their guerrilla war against Chiangs Nationalists in which by 1948-49 would triumph against them forcing them to flee to Taiwan and by 1949 Mao would take power proclaiming the Peoples Republic of China, but Mao's victory would be Jiang's eclipse.

This would begin a 20 year decline for Jiang in which she was kept out of the public eye (due to a contract she was forced to sign as a result of her marriage with Mao) she became neglected, depressed and sickly. For twenty long years she would endure this personal hell that is until the 1960's when Mao's power was being challenged and seeing that he was in danger being removed by his comrades (After the disaster of his Great Leap Forward) in desperation would turn to the only person he could really trust Jiang Qing.

This was the moment she had been waiting for a chance to get back into the spotlight and from there she would work closely with Mao to call upon the Chinese people to rise in rebellion against the authorities which would begin the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in which the Red Guards would be formed and led by both Mao & Jiang she would return to the spotlight with fanatical revolutionary fervor to take revenge against those within the party who had condemned her to a life of seclusion just because they disproved of her marriage to Mao 20 years prior. The madness of the Cultural Revolution would turn the whole nation upside down in which people would denounce their parents, family, teachers, friends and so on.. and brand them as traitors, reactionaries, and capitalists, in which many people were imprisoned or killed or sometimes both. To further the insanity Jiang would rile up the crowds in rallies, produce revolutionary operas and movies as propaganda pieces to further her agenda be loved by the people in which she ultimately sought absolute power of being Chairman of the Communist Party and the Supreme Ruler of China.

but it was not meant to be and with the death of Mao in 1976 she and her conspirators were arrested and because of her excesses during the Cultural Revolution and her lust for power would prove to be her ultimate downfall in which she would be tried in court and there she would be exposed as an egocentric, spiteful, and power hungry bitch who only cared about herself and not the Chinese people whose lives she unmercifully destroyed as result of the Cultural Revolution. In the end she would be imprisoned leaving her a broken woman who would in 1991 commit suicide without being repentant of her deeds.