I am currently reading a biographical and autobiographical novel that I have to talk about. It's blowing me away. The name of the book is Wild Swans: Three daughters of China written by Jung Chang. The author writes about her grandmother's, mother's and her own struggle through war, Japanese invasion and communism.
A particularly gruesome and cringe worthy part of the book is Chinese traditional foot binding, which men found extremely attractive and erotic, as it showed vulnerability and a need to be protected from the men. Women had to endure excruciating pain,and foot binding was a symbol of high social class, and when a woman was married the first thing the bridegroom's family did was examine a woman's feet, large feet (normal sized feet), were considered to bring shame on the husband's household. Chang writes “My grandmother’s feet had been bound when she was just two years old. Her mother, who herself had bound feet, first wound a piece of white cloth about twenty feet long round her feet, bending all the the toes, except the big toe inward and under the sole. Then she placed a large stone on the top to crush the arch, My grandmother screamed in agony and begged her to stop. Her mother had to stick a cloth into her mouth to gag her, My grandmother passed out repeatedly from the pain.” (p24). As cruel as this sounds, this was being done for the future of Chang's grandmother, as she would be considered un-attractive to men and unable to get married to a person of good social standing if her feet weren’t bound. Luckily the practice of binding women’s feet was banned in China in 1911, when the Qing Dynasty fell (pronounced Ch-ing).
Currently, this book is banned from being published in China, brought in to China, or spoken about in the media in China. The author currently lives in the UK and was the first person from the People's Republic of China (not just the first woman) to receive her PhD from a British university. The author, writes with passion about her family, which consists of women who changed things in China, exemplary examples of women who showed courage and stubbornness to not follow the rules of their society and risked their lives for their freedom and their beliefs.
For most, when the word communism comes up, the first thing that comes to mind is evil, rules and oppression, however while reading this book (I am only 170 pages in of 500 pages), I find myself rooting for the communist to a certain extent, because things are just so bad while under the rule of the Japanese and the Kuomintang military that when the communist take power, things in China begin to change for the good. Women were being raped and sold as concubines by their families to the Kuomintang military (Chinese) and severely beaten and tortured by the Japanese. Now I understand the hate and rivalry that exists among Chinese and Koreans against the Japanese. When I lived in South Korea, that contempt was ever present, even in young Korean minds, although they were too young to have lived through that pain. History definitely lives on through stories told by their grandparents and in their history books.
When the communists take power their beliefs are that women and men are equal and should be treated as such. And for the first time women were able to educate themselves and make their own choices. However, communism comes at a price of certain freedoms, and is oppressive and a very structured way of living and I am definitely not advocating it. You just have to read the book to see why. But I do see a different side to what is portrayed in the media. Books like these show us the true picture of the pain and suffering these Chinese people endured and how people fought for their “freedom.”
I wanted to write about this book in my blog because it made me think about the amazing women in north america who fought for the freedoms we have today. Living in India, I hope women continue to keep fighting for their rights, and to go againts what is socially acceptable in order to be happy.
This book is a must read!
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