[TalnSG]

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Its an interesting biography of her family from the days of her great-great-grandfather who was a Manchu warlord, through their lives under Mao Tse-Tung, an onto her life in the west.

So far its a fairly balanced depiction of some of Chinese history, because she goes into great detail about her grandmother's and mother's life, thoughts and feelings as the world around them changed during WWII on through now. It is interesting to see how their understanding and opinions of the Japanese occupation, Chinese civil war and Communist rule was frequently changing.

If you don't have a lot of knowledge or interest in this history, it is still a very interesting story of survival.