I no longer have the terrible nightmares that I used to have. Mao had just died in 1976, and China began to open up. For the first time scholarships to go to the West to study were awarded on academic merit. — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
As a child, my idea of the West was that it was a miasma of poverty and misery, like that of the homeless 'Little Match Girl'in the Hans Christian Andersen story. When I was in the boarding nursery and did… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“So the story of Wild Fox Kang’s attempted coup and murder of Cixi lay in darkness and obscurity for nearly a century, until the… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
My father said he was going to write to the Jinzhou City Party Committee asking for permission to 'talk about love'...My mother supposed it… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
For anyone to open their heart, they need the right atmosphere, and something to prompt them. For my mother it was her trip abroad:… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“Meanwhile, Mme Mao and her cohorts were renewing their efforts to prevent the country from working. In industry, their slogan was: "To stop production… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“I was extremely curious about the alternatives to the kind of life I had been leading, and my friends and I exchanged rumors and… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“Unlike most founding dictators—Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler—Mao did not inspire a passionate following through his oratory, or ideological appeal. He simply sought willing recruits among… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“MAO TSE-TUNG, who for decades held absolute power over the lives of one-quarter of the world’s population, was responsible for well over 70 million… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“mosquito-netted open windows was an enormous privilege. ‘You must not think you are superior to them,’ he would say. ‘You are just” — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
When he asked my grandmother if she would mind being poor, she said she would be happy just to have her daughter and himself:… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
“Poverty drove their parents to have them castrated as young children, hoping they would earn a better living at court. Usually the father would… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
I was not allowed to take notes but my friend and I memorised those two and a half pages. Most people talked to me… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
If children were brought up to become non-conformists it would only ruin their lives. So parents all over China who loved their children told… — Jung Chang Copy Share Image
