Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
3 journalers for this copy...
Excellent biography following three generations of a family in China, from Chairman Mao coming to power to the changes after his death. Before reading this book I knew next to nothing about Mao or the Chinese people - this is a stunning account of the complete suppression of the millions of people. This is a very disturbing book in many ways, as it is the Orwellian "big brother" culture brought brutally to life.
In its way to Dospecados as part of a book relay.
Thanks!
from the first page:
At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general, the police chief of a tenuous national government of China. The year was 1924 and China was in chaos. Much of it, including Manchuria, where my grandmother lived, was ruled by warlords. The liaison was arranged by her father, a police official in the provincial town of Yixian in southwest Manchuria, about a hundred miles north of the Great Wall and 250 miles northeast of Peking.
Like most towns in China, Yixian was built like a fortress. It was encircled by walls thirty feet high and twelve feet thick dating from the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907), surmounted by battlements, dotted with sixteen forts at regular intervals, and wide enough to ride a horse quite easily along the top. There were four gates into the city, one at each point of the compass, with outer protecting gates, and the fortifications were surrounded by a deep moat....
copyright 1991, 696 pages, trade paperback
from the first page:
At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general, the police chief of a tenuous national government of China. The year was 1924 and China was in chaos. Much of it, including Manchuria, where my grandmother lived, was ruled by warlords. The liaison was arranged by her father, a police official in the provincial town of Yixian in southwest Manchuria, about a hundred miles north of the Great Wall and 250 miles northeast of Peking.
Like most towns in China, Yixian was built like a fortress. It was encircled by walls thirty feet high and twelve feet thick dating from the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907), surmounted by battlements, dotted with sixteen forts at regular intervals, and wide enough to ride a horse quite easily along the top. There were four gates into the city, one at each point of the compass, with outer protecting gates, and the fortifications were surrounded by a deep moat....
copyright 1991, 696 pages, trade paperback
Since I'm moving in June and won't get to read this before then or anytime soon after it's going out on a ring...
Shipping order (subject to change):
Joanthro (Denver, CO, USA - int'l)
Luintaurien (York, NE, USA - int'l)
rannie (Duluth, GA, USA - int'l)
Scrawler (Ann Arbor, MI, USA or Warsaw, Poland - int'l)
ktwalker (Aston, Oxfordshire, England - UK pref., int'l OK)
lauraloo29 (Edmonton, AB, Canada - US pref.)
olered (Salem, OR, USA - US/Can. pref.)
rebeccaljames (Cincinnati, OH, USA - US only)
hagathorn (Lancaster, NY, USA - ???)
onefinetabby (Assonet, MA, USA - US pref.)
tobysrus (Cambridge, MA, USA - US only)
home to dospescados in Bloomington, IN, USA
I have no set time period that I ask you to read this in -- I understand there is life beyond Bookcrossing! -- but just be considerate to your fellow ringmates waiting ever so patiently for their turn and keep it moving in a timely fashion. Media/surface mail is fine. Don't hesitate to let me know if you need to be moved farther down the list or removed altogether.
Shipping order (subject to change):
Joanthro (Denver, CO, USA - int'l)
Luintaurien (York, NE, USA - int'l)
rannie (Duluth, GA, USA - int'l)
Scrawler (Ann Arbor, MI, USA or Warsaw, Poland - int'l)
ktwalker (Aston, Oxfordshire, England - UK pref., int'l OK)
lauraloo29 (Edmonton, AB, Canada - US pref.)
olered (Salem, OR, USA - US/Can. pref.)
rebeccaljames (Cincinnati, OH, USA - US only)
hagathorn (Lancaster, NY, USA - ???)
onefinetabby (Assonet, MA, USA - US pref.)
tobysrus (Cambridge, MA, USA - US only)
home to dospescados in Bloomington, IN, USA
I have no set time period that I ask you to read this in -- I understand there is life beyond Bookcrossing! -- but just be considerate to your fellow ringmates waiting ever so patiently for their turn and keep it moving in a timely fashion. Media/surface mail is fine. Don't hesitate to let me know if you need to be moved farther down the list or removed altogether.
Enjoyed the living history told by each generation.
