Hong: The Story of Three Generations of Chinese Women (23rd Anniversary Edition)

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

An inspiring story of three generations of women who have experienced countless hardships and political storms.
Always maintain the dignity and beauty of humanity. --Hillary Clinton

They have lived through an era of entanglement, feudal marriage, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the civil strife between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party... and even the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution. They have experienced the joys and sorrows of life and created an extraordinary life.

A touching family history of three generations of Chinese women, a monumental epic that helps us understand 20th-century China.

"I have enjoyed privilege and suffered hardship; I have experienced courage and fear; I have witnessed kindness and loyalty as well as the ugliest side of human nature; in the midst of pain, destruction, and death, I have come to recognize love and the indestructible human capacity for survival and happiness." -- Jung Chang

From the Qing Dynasty to the Republic, and from the Republic to the Communist dictatorship, the transformation of the state system marked the fate of three generations of Chinese women.

Grandma Yufang was born in 1909, a year when the Qing Dynasty, after 260 years of rule over China, was facing its demise.

Despite her natural beauty, my grandmother couldn't escape the pain of being entangled, as her father hoped that his daughter would rise to prominence in the future, with a pair of three-inch golden lotuses to quickly find a husband. Her father's wish was fulfilled, even though my grandmother became the concubine of a military commander. That year, my grandmother was fifteen years old.

My mother, Dehong, was born in 1931. That year, the Japanese invaded Northeast China, occupied the three northeastern provinces, established the Manchukuo Empire, and installed the puppet emperor, Puyi. Dehong's father died when she was two years old. When her grandmother remarried, she found her father, a Manchu doctor who treated her like his own daughter.

During the years of Japanese rule and the war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, at the age of fifteen, Dehong participated in the Communist Party's underground work. During a meeting with her superiors, she met her lifelong partner - the father of the author Jung Chang.

Her daughter, Jung Chang, was born in 1952. Her father, Shou Yu, and mother, De Hong, both served as senior Communist Party officials in Sichuan. Growing up, she experienced the tense atmosphere brought about by successive political movements, but also enjoyed the love and warmth of living in this family.

However, no one can escape the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution... Growing up in such an environment, can the author change the fate of her grandmother and mother and forge her own path?

This story, spanning three generations, begins in the remote town of Yixian in Northeast China, expands to the large city of Jinzhou, and then follows my mother's footsteps across half of China to Sichuan.

In Cangsang, a family spanning a century, the lives of three generations of women have portrayed a miracle, and this miracle is still happening...

Celebrity recommendations

A 23rd anniversary edition of a life story that has touched millions has been published, recommended by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The total global sales of the nearly 40 language versions have exceeded 13 million copies.

Won the 1992 British NCR Book Award, the 1993 British Book of the Year Award, and was selected by British readers in 1997 as the most influential biography of the 20th century.

The Times, Time, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and dozens of other media outlets have given it positive reviews.

An inspiring story of three generations of women who have endured countless hardships and political storms, always maintaining the dignity and beauty of humanity. --Hillary Clinton

"Hun" is an extraordinary masterpiece, every detail of which is unforgettable. It is not only a bestseller that makes it hard to put down, but also attracted great attention from the most serious critics. - The Daily Telegraph

Whether you care about 20th-century Chinese history or not, "Hun" will tug at your heartstrings. It's dazzlingly good: a calm, measured history book that reads like a bestseller. Once you pick it up, as they say, you can't put it down. --The New York Times

Irresistible, like all great tragedies, The Hong is ultimately an inspiring book: a reflection of the courage and spirit of this family. - The Times

Jung Chang is one of the few Chinese people who can find the root of the tragedy of Chinese history. "Hong" is one of the most outstanding books about China. --The New York Review of Books

"Hung" strikes you like lightning, with the passion of "Piao." Such momentum, such charm, such a storm! No one can better describe China under Mao Zedong than Jung Chang. --Le Parisien

A truly rare book. Jung Chang is a first-rate connoisseur, painting an almost unbelievable story in poetic language. —London Review of Books

"Hun" makes me feel like a five-year-old. This family history has the depth and breadth of the most enduring social history. - The Sunday Independent

Jung Chang's writing style is extraordinary. She tells the story with a steady, unmoved flow, and has a Dickensian quality in her characterizations, detailed accounts, richly colored minor characters, and captivatingly complex plots. --Time

This true-life saga of a Chinese family surpasses the famous film series "Dynasty" in its drama; surpasses any gangster film in its brutality; surpasses Dickens's "Little Dorette" in its heartbreaking tragedy; and surpasses even Balzac in its twists and turns of irony and its portrayal of fame-seeking villains. No other book is so captivating! -- Los Angeles Times

If anyone still had any doubt about the tragic nature of the Chinese people's fate in the 20th century, this memoir will dispel it. - The Washington Post

An extraordinary epic poem that shakes the heart! It brings history to life through family stories, offering unparalleled insight into modern China and a quarter of humanity. -- The Sunday Mail, UK

Like Bobby Buchanan's cool, fluent "Inheritance," Jung Chang's story is a collection of real-life stories that chart China's dramatic transformation from feudal society to communism. But Chang's book is even more remarkable: it is a family history and an epic poem that spans the entire 20th century. --Wall Street Journal

The rich personal lives this book embodies span almost an entire century—from the young grandmother, Yang Yufang, to the equally young granddaughter, Jung Chang. We in the West long to know more about China in this century… Hong helps us understand the impact and the impact of various events of this century on the Chinese people. —Christian Science Monitor

Jung Chang's "Hong" is a milestone in the history of books about China... Anyone who has read it will never be the same again. --Financial Times

This book is destined to become a world bestseller. "Hong" is a masterpiece, the likes of which have never been published before. The writing style is astonishingly relaxed, yet scientifically rigorous. It is particularly noteworthy that such an extraordinary achievement was achieved by a Chinese writer. --Xinwen Bao

2014-09-04

麥田

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