During the Kuomingtang era, women's role in society expanded substantially. Jung explains that her mother worked within the communist underground and married a young communist who eventually became an official in Chengdu. The role of women in this era was expanded to the greater liberties permitted under Kuomingtang governance. They shared in the burdens of their husbands and had greater control over their lives, and their relationships. However, they were

S. demand. Before leaving China, Chang began to seriously question Mao and his methods, and after she left, she realized just how repressive the government was, and that she would not return to China to live. Today, long after Mao's death, China has made it into the 21st century, but it is still a repressive and controlling dictatorship, essentially, and this book helps put the country and its leadership in perspective.

Born in 1952, she lived through some terrible times when her family was renounced by the Communists, while Chang joined the Red Guard like any good young Party member. Chang was very bright, and received an excellent education under the regime. Her family, in the beginning anyway, led a middle-class rather privileged life, at least until they came under suspicion by the Communists of being traitors to the Party.

It was a new means of defining a control over the cultural aspects of the society. Mao had envisaged a cultural background that would rise from the middle class, the social level on which the Communist Party based its electoral and strength. Given the tight control exercised by the communist party through all its regional, local, and national mechanisms, a new sense of fear and submission affected the society.

“Returning Home Robed in Embroidered Silk” and the Cultural Revolution By comparing the Future Direction of the Party readings with Chang’s Chapter 8, what becomes apparent is the idea that the Party wants total control over its members’ lives, their thoughts, and their feelings. This is especially seen in Chapter 8 of Wild Swans, when Chang’s father and mother return to the father’s childhood home. The father is so happy to

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Wild Swans is the story of three generations of women in China in the 20th century. The author is Jung Chang: her autobiography comprises the last third section of the book; the first two sections are devoted to telling the story of her grandmother Yu-Fang and her mother Bao Qin. Instead of writing a straight autobiography, Chang chose to begin her story two generations back—the