Scour the bookshelves in any home and you are almost guaranteed to find a copy of Wild Swans. Chang's early life story will be familiar to those who have read Wild Swans, but it bears repeating because it is beyond belief. Then came the Cultural Revolution (the period from 1966 to 1976 when anything vaguely 'capitalist' was stamped out and Maoism was brutally imposed), and Jung Chang's life was turned upside down. Under Mao, China became a totalitarian hell. For example, I wonder why a vivid, real-life saga like Wild Swans has never been serialised for TV or made into a film?

Source: Irish Independent March 29, 2020 01:39 UTC