Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China

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The only reservation I have about the book is related to the narrator's lack of knowledge of anything Chinese that renders person and place names almost impossible to identify without checking the text when listening to the audio version. Taking the three sisters as the focal point is a clever way of exploring the twists and turns of Chinese society and politics as it moves from a monarchy through to communism. I’m not normally a great fan of non-fiction, especially political tales, however this riveting biography is so well written it at no time becomes weighed down.

Author Jung Chang does a clear and compelling job at showing how their parents' and their childhood in various places informed life choices, while keeping the threads of family bonds in place no matter how far they traveled. Their unions would influence the history of the world, yet all I could recite was the fairytale-like adage, “One loved money, one loved power, one loved her country. Years ago I read Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady which, overall, paints a very different picture of "Little Sister". Rzucone na głęboką wodę (najmłodsza z nich rozpoczęła edukację w wieku 9 lat) szybko osiągnęły samodzielność i określiły swoje ścieżki życiowe – każda inną.

Sun created his own bank for China but under his name, and listed all its assets in his papers under ‘family affairs’. The title clearly emphasizes on the sisters but we were given a whole lot introduction to the men: Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Shek. Le signore di Shanghai" sono le tre sorelle Ei-ling, Ching-ling e May-ling, che hanno trasformato la Cina.

Through the lives of the three sisters, I got to know the history of China in the twentieth century better, although it probably did not give a complete picture.By quietly funding Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary schemes to democratize China, Charlie Soong inadvertently introduced his daughters to the world of politics. Jung Chang’s treatment, benefiting from several decades of additional documents that have come to light, conveys a somewhat different picture. She brought a cheering Congress to tears; she drew tens of thousands to her public lectures; Time magazine named her and Chiang “Man and Wife of the Year”.

She adored Sun throughout her life, but Chang hinted in her book that Red Sister's love and admiration evaporated when she realised that Sun made use of her when he was escaping his enemies in Canton, risking her life for his ambition.This periodic sidelining of the women expresses, of course, the paradox of their status (a paradox that applies to many other female Chinese politicians of the past 100 years). De rol die de Soong-zussen hierin hebben gespeeld, de politiek, de verandering en gruwelijkheden waaraan het volk was onderworpen.

Yg bagus dari buku ini adalah author sebisa mungkin obyektif terhadap tokoh-tokoh yg ditulisnya ini. She spoke in perfect American English on her stiff, bad-tempered husband’s behalf not only in the US, but also at key negotiations with western leaders, including the 1943 Cairo Conference. Na nieszczęście Charliego wśród ubiegających się o rękę jednej z córek znalazł się największy rewolucjonista kraju. If you were a child growing up in 1980s China, as I was, Chinese Communist Party education began as soon as you could spell your name. Hidup dikejar-kejar "musuh" suami mereka di zaman Warlord ini (dlm kasus ini, Ching Ling dan May Ling) membuat mereka keguguran dan tidak bisa memiliki anak.The historic context here is extremely interesting and the many sources are woven it to the story seamlessly. In Chang’s account, Qingling is the least appealing: a hard-headed Comintern convert, whose political convictions overrode feelings for her family.