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Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China Paperback – September 22, 2020

by Jung Chang (Author)

4.2 1,026 ratings

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They were the most famous women in China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history.

Red Sister, Ching-ling, married the 'Father of China', Sun Yat-sen, and rose to be Mao's vice-chair.
Little Sister, May-ling, became Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right.
Big Sister, Ei-ling, became Chiang's unofficial main adviser - and made herself one of China's richest women.

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a gripping story of love, war, intrigue, bravery, glamour and betrayal, which takes us on a sweeping journey from Canton to Hawaii to New York, from exiles' quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan. In a group biography that is by turns intimate and epic, Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape twentieth-century China.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Deeply researched, Chang’s book is a riveting read”—The New York Times Book Review

“Chang adds another title to her series of lively depictions of key figures in Modern Chinese history . . . This accessible book will appeal to history buffs and biography fans in addition to those already familiar with the Chang’s body of work.”—Library Journal

“The book intertwines the intimate with the big historical picture, tying their personal stories to the deep and irreconcilable political divisions among them . . . it is stamped by her revisionist impulse.”—The Atlantic

“A highly readable and accessible introduction to three important women who deserve wider recognition.”—Booklist

“Chang seamlessly chronicles the lives and marriages of the Soong sisters in this captivating triple biography. . . . This juicy tale will satisfy readers interested in politics, world affairs, and family dynamics.” —Publishers Weekly

"One of this autumn's biggest reads, it's an astounding story told with verve and insight"—Stylist

“The complicated history of China during this period is little-known to most Westerners, so this readable book helps fill a gap. By hooking it onto personalities, Jung Chang has been able to chart a comprehensible way through these decades and an immense mass of information that could otherwise be difficult to digest.”—Washington Times

“Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a monumental work . . . Its three fairy-tale heroines, poised between east and west, spanned three centuries, two continents and a revolution, with consequences that reverberate, perhaps now more than ever, in all our lives to this day.”—The Spectator

“The book’s strongest point is its nuanced sympathy for the sisters . . . The lives of the three Song sisters—the subjects of Jung Chang’s spirited new book—are more than worthy of an operatic plot.”—The Guardian

“[Chang] paints China’s intense and complex history in bold strokes . . . It is a rollicking ride.”—Literary Review

“Absorbing . . . In this lucid, wise, forgiving biography Chang gives a new twist to an old line. Behind every great man . . . is a Soong sister.”—The Times (UK)

“Utterly engrossing…it stars a trio of extraordinary women, each of whom enjoyed tremendous privilege and fame, but also endured contact attached and mortal danger as well as heartbreak and despair. Their gripping collecting story reads like Wild Swans meets the Mitfords; and the history feels remarkably close to our own times too."—The Bookseller

“[Chang’s] book is well worth reading, in particular for the way it shows how powerful women have helped to shape modern China. At a time when, 70 years after Mao’s victory, the country’s political leadership contains almost no prominent women at all, that is a particularly apposite message to hear.”—The Sunday Times

“In the hands of master storyteller and contrarian Jung Chang, the old tale finds a new interpretation by one who knows well the intricacies of family, influence, gender, and power in modern China . . . A provocative view of the historical times that produced these extraordinary sisters"—Air Mail

“Her breathtaking new triple biography restores these “tiger-willed” women to their extraordinarily complex humanity . . . A gripping and emotional personal story.”—The Telegraph

About the Author

JUNG CHANG (張戎) is the author of the best-selling books Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (1991), which the Asian Wall Street Journal called the most read book about China; Mao: The Unknown Story (2005, with Jon Halliday), which was described by Time magazine as "an atom bomb of a book"; and Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China (2013), a New York Times "notable book". Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. She has won many awards, including the UK Writers' Guild Best Non-Fiction and Book of the Year UK, and has received a number of honorary doctorates from universities in the UK and USA (Buckingham, York, Warwick, Dundee, the Open University, and Bowdoin College, USA). She is an Honorary Fellow of SOAS University of London.

Jung Chang was born in Sichuan Province, China, in 1952. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) she worked as a peasant, a "barefoot" doctor, a steelworker, and an electrician before becoming an English-language student at Sichuan University. She left China for Britain in 1978 and obtained a PhD in Linguistics in 1982 at the University of York - the first person from Communist China to receive a doctorate from a British university.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor (September 22, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1101972920
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1101972922
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 0.85 x 7.99 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,180,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #181 in Historical China Biographies
- #2,011 in Chinese History (Books)
- #12,789 in Women's Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.2 1,026 ratings

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Jung Chang (simplified Chinese: 张戎; traditional Chinese: 張戎; pinyin: Zhāng Róng; Wade–Giles: Chang Jung, Mandarin pronunciation: [tʂɑ́ŋ ɻʊ̌ŋ], born 25 March 1952) is a Chinese-born British writer now living in London, best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the People's Republic of China.

Her 832-page biography of Mao Zedong, Mao: The Unknown Story, written with her husband, the Irish historian Jon Halliday, was published in June 2005.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Guy Aitchison from London, UK (Names not numbers Uploaded by Snowmanradio) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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1,026 global ratings

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Customers find the book engaging and informative, providing a good history lesson of modern China. They describe it as a must-read for those interested in modern China with great photos. However, some customers report missing pages and feel the book lacks certain details.

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Readability Information quality Reading material Page missing Detail

18 customers mention "Readability"16 positive2 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-researched. They describe it as an interesting biography rather than dry history. The story is told from the PRC perspective.

"...Easy Read, although it looks like a big book. Reads like an interesting biography rather than dry history...." Read more

"This was a great read, at least for me. I learned a great deal about the 20th century history of China. Each of the sisters had a fascinating life...." Read more

"...The portion of the book about the Soong sisters is very good, but even so, it tries to be linear, but gets lost when backtracking to focus on a..." Read more

"...became outstanding professionals and a joy to know... A must read to understand China.." Read more

15 customers mention "Information quality"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and interesting. They describe it as a good history lesson of modern China with anecdotes. The author's work is scholarly and factual, but some readers found the writing repetitive.

"Captivating read. Very informative about how China became communist...." Read more

"...Each of the sisters had a fascinating life. Together they both caused (to some degree) and survived the turmoil of China from 1900 to 2000...." Read more

"...They are extremely well written and documented. They are not dry history and read more live a novel except that they are history." Read more

"Such an interesting story of these 3 sisters who were very involved in the leadership of China by marrying some of the most important men ruling the..." Read more

4 customers mention "Reading material"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative and engaging. They appreciate the photos and mention it provides a picture of modern China that readers may not know much about.

"...a fascinating book about these famous women.. It gives the reader a picture of China we know little about.. I have just sent it to a friend who..." Read more

"...along with Wild Swans & MAO by the same author are must reads for someone interested in China of the past 100 years...." Read more

"...Am only halfway through but it is absorbing with great photos." Read more

"Always interesting to read about China through the experiences of the three Soong sisters. Find the mysteries of 20th century China unwrapped." Read more

6 customers mention "Page missing"0 positive6 negative

Customers are unhappy with missing pages in the book.

"The pagination in this book was a disaster. TWO separate sections of pages were missing and filled with misplaced pages!..." Read more

"The book is printed incorrectly and is missing a big chunk of pages. It goes from page 38 to 279, then jumps again from page 310 to page 71...." Read more

"...Pages 39-101 were completely missing from the book. Second replacement had the same problem...." Read more

"Pages 278 through pages 310 are missing from at the book. in place of them is a second copy of pages 38 to 70." Read more

5 customers mention "Detail"0 positive5 negative

Customers find the book too detailed and omits important information about the Soongs.

"...This book omits a lot of information on the Soongs. What it adds are snipits of information not yet found in other books...." Read more

"...skip the first few chapters about Sun Yat Sen. There is far too much detail for chapters and chapters about Sun which most details really have..." Read more

"This is an entertaining book but it ignores some important facts...." Read more

"This book gets a little overwhelmed in details, but it’s a good read. Informative." Read more

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Amzn custmer since 1999
Captivating read.
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
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Captivating read. Very informative about how China became communist. Told through the history of 3 sisters who were married to 3 of China's most important men during this time. These American educated sisters and their family were involved at the most intricate levels of this era of China's history. Easy Read, although it looks like a big book. Reads like an interesting biography rather than dry history. If you like historical novels, you will love this even though it is actually all true.

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Persop
A Portion of the Pictured Events
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2024
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I Have all of Jung Chang books as well as a lot of other author's on this period. To just read this book would be a mistake. It is a very important addition if you are willing to also read a lot of other author's books. Other authors sometimes admit to conjecture due to the secretive facts. Most of us are prone to taking sides as well as making excuses. This book omits a lot of information on the Soongs. What it adds are snipits of information not yet found in other books. To this reader there appeared to be conflicting information. I found it to be a very fast easy read as opposed to finding other author's book difficult. One thing that shows this readers's numerous short comings was that in other books I was unable to retain the many Chinese names. This is a book of emotions and reactions. In some areas it offered far more than needed and in others could have benefited with more background information.

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Peter Schaeffer
Good Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2020
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This was a great read, at least for me. I learned a great deal about the 20th century history of China. Each of the sisters had a fascinating life. Together they both caused (to some degree) and survived the turmoil of China from 1900 to 2000. The author (Jung Chang) is a well-known for writing about China. I have read most of her books and benefited from each of them. If you interested in the modern history of China, you should read this book.

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Seena Amsel
Very good book about the Soong sisters
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2020
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but skip the first few chapters about Sun Yat Sen. There is far too much detail for chapters and chapters about Sun which most details really have little bearing on the alleged purpose of the book being about the Soong sisters. It I s like reading a separate book you did not select. By the time you get past all that unnecessary detail, you finally reach the book you selected to read. It's like schizophrenia. The author has tried to marry a boring book about Sun with an interesting book a out the Soong sisters. The portion of the book about the Soong sisters is very good, but even so, it tries to be linear, but gets lost when backtracking to focus on a different sister or event. The book needs a good editor who is not afraid to delete some material that the author is roo close to because it is historical info -but unfortunately sends the book off track. That would also probably omit the need for some redundancies which tell me that the author keeps making some of the same points to bring us back to the Soongs b/ c he know the story went off track. I am now debating about whether I want to read the author's book about CIXi. I probably will, but I know that I am forewarned.

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Margaret D. Thompson
Fascinating book
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2020
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It is a fascinating book about these famous women.. It gives the reader a picture of China we know little about.. I have just sent it to a friend who escaped China as the Red Chinese took over. Her father was the head of his province. The family left China with nothing. They finished raising their children who became outstanding professionals and a joy to know... A must read to understand China..

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NESH
Interesting...until missing pages
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2021
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I have enjoyed other Jung Chang books on China and was getting into this one - until page126 was followed by p. 199. Then p. 230 skipped back to p.156 and ran until p. 278 went right to p.39, which continued to p.70 and then p. 311. I liked the Choose Your Own Adventure series as a kid, but I didn't think this was supposed to be one of them! The misprinting isn't just erroneously inserted sections - the bound mini-sections skip right in their middles; mine can't be the only misprinted copy out there, so check yours before reading or sticking on a shelf for later! We have 1 day to get ours in for a return.
My impressions of the content so far: as other reviewers have stated, it's a little hard to get into as the sisters' story is approached slowly. But if you read the introduction you will note that the author originally intended to write about Sun Yat-Sen and the period between Empress Dowager Cixi and Mao Ze-dong, but found that the Soong sisters' story was a more interesting viewpoint, so she gives the background for their entrance into the saga first. Also, the timeline goes back and forth a bit, and this is somewhat characteristic of Chang's other books; maybe consult or make a timeline to keep things straight as you read. It also would be helpful to have Chinese name pronunciations more clearly indicated in the text or introduction for "auditory" readers like myself.

UPDATE: New replacement copy received quickly, and with all the pages in the correct order!

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S. Morris
Must read if interested in modern China
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2021
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This along with Wild Swans & MAO by the same author are must reads for someone interested in China of the past 100 years. They are extremely well written and documented. They are not dry history and read more live a novel except that they are history.

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TD
Three Sisters Help Shape Modern China
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2019
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Jung Chang is an exceptional writer. I've read all her books, which are fabulous and this one doesn't disappoint. Imagine 3 sisters in one family, who marry the most powerful men shaped China from the 1930's. Imagine they are close for almost 50 yrs. then not, because the youngest and prettiest sister becomes a Communist close to Mao. Am only halfway through but it is absorbing with great photos.

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vanessa phillips
Critical history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2024
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The Soong Sisters have interested me since I first heard about them in 1989 in China. The author’s views of the sisters seem balanced and largely sympathetic. But the men in their lives! This account turns everything I had known on its head. Sun Yat Sen not a hero here, but a villain? I had a bit of a shock. But nobody is or should be above criticism. Whatever the real man was like, I have fond memories of a day spent in the Purple Mountains above Nanjing, visiting his mausoleum, lost in a tidal wave of people (awe inspiring, although I actually preferred the quiet charm of the Ming tomb and its walkway of stone animal guardians). Soong Mei Ling’s villa is also in the area and well worth a visit. The sisters are all, each in their own way, fascinating. But despite her faults (and all the sisters are shown to have them), Soong Ching Ling remains my favourite sister…

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Evita
Captivating
Reviewed in Germany on September 4, 2022
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I enjoyed this book a lot! The combination of historical events, biographical elements and story telling makes it interesting to read and brings us closer to certain names or events. It's almost like a gossip magazine and a history book had a baby. It is of course the view of the author.
I absolutely recommend this book.

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Nicola Laddle
Book looks used
Reviewed in India on May 5, 2021
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The book arrived and doesn’t look like a new book . Some of the pages have been bent over . Very poor quality

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rafique ali
bon
Reviewed in France on April 18, 2021
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bon livre

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Almudena
💙
Reviewed in Spain on February 20, 2021
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Si te gusta el tema, es estupendo!!

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Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China Paperback – September 22, 2020

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5.0 out of 5 stars Critical history

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating

1.0 out of 5 stars Book looks used

4.0 out of 5 stars bon

5.0 out of 5 stars 💙

Critical history

Captivating

Book looks used

bon

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