Wild swans : [electronic resource] three daughters of China / Jung Chang.

"Anchor Worldviews books"--Half t.p.

Previously published: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Includes index.

"Three-Inch Golden Lilies" concubine to a warlord general (1909-1933) -- "Even Plain Cold Water Is Sweet" my grandmother marries a Manchu doctor (1933-1938) -- "They All Say What a Happy Place Manchukuo Is" life under the Japanese (1938-1945) -- "Slaves Who Have No Country of Your Own" ruled by different masters (1945-1947) -- "Daughter for Sale for 10 Kilos of Rice" in battle for a new China (1947-1948) -- "Talking about Love" a revolutionary marriage (1948-1949) -- "Going Through the Five Mountain Passes" my mother's long march (1949-1950) -- "Returning Home Robed in Embroidered Silk" to family and bandits (1949-1951) -- "When a Man Gets Power, Even His Chickens and Dogs Rise to Heaven" living with an incorruptible man (1951-1953) -- "Suffering Will Make you a Better Communist" my mother falls under suspicion (1953-1956) -- "After the Anti-Rightist Campaign No One Opens Their Mouth" China silenced (1956-1958) -- "Capable Women Can Make a Meal without Food" famine (1958-1962) -- "Thousand-Gold Little Precious" in a privileged cocoon(1958-1965) -- "Father Is Close, Mother Is Close, but Neither Is as Close as Chairman Mao" the Cult of Mao (1964-1965) -- "Destroy First, and Construction Will Look After Itself" the cultural revolution begins (1965-1966) -- "Soar to Heaven, and Pierce the Earth" Mao's red guards (June-August 1966) -- "Do You Want Our Children to Become Blacks?" my parents' dilemma (August-October 1966) -- "More Than Gigantic Wonderful News" pilgrimage to Peking (October-December 1966) -- "Where There is a Will to Condemn, There is Evidence" my parents tormented (December 1966-1967) -- I Will Not Sell My Soul" my father arrested (1967-1968) -- "Giving Charcoal in Snow" my siblings and friends (1967-1968) -- "Thought Reform through Labor" to the edge of the Himalayas (January-June 1969) -- "The More Books You Read, the More Stupid You Become" I work as a peasant and a barefoot doctor (June 1969-1971) -- "Please Accept My Apologies That Come a Lifetime Too Late" my parents in camps (1969-1972) -- "The Fragrance of Sweet Wind" a new life with the electricians' manual and six crises (1972-1973) -- "Sniffing after Foreigners' Farts and Calling Them Sweet" learning English in Mao's wake (1972-1974) -- If This Is Paradise, What Then Is Hell?" the death of my father (1974-1976) -- Fighting to take wing (1976-1978) -- Epilogue -- Index.

A Chinese woman chronicles the struggle of her grandmother, her mother, and herself to survive in a China torn apart by wars, invasions, revolution, and continuing upheaval, from 1907 to the present.