Jung Chang and the Cultural Revolution

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Jung Chang and the Cultural Revolution

Рет қаралды 5,534

Күн бұрын

Interview with Jung Chang, author of 'Wild Swans', about her own and her family's experience of communist rule in China. Jung Chang's book "Wild Swans" was an international best-seller with sales of over 13 million copies. In this interview, James Bartholomew asks her about her family's experience of the Cultural Revolution. Both her parents were tortured. She herself eventually got a scholarship and was able to travel to London. She describes how grass was pulled out of the ground because it was described by Chairman Mao as "bourgeois". Jung Chang and her husband, Jon Halliday, wrote a revelatory biography of Mao. At the end of the interview, she struggles to find a way to describe Mao. She says the words "monster" and "tyrant" are used about many people. Implicitly, she believes that Mao was evil beyond the power of these words.

Пікірлер: 17

@Gizelle-ov5dl Жыл бұрын

Fantastic interview. Thank you Jung Chang for sharing your experiences and the story of your mother and father.

@tentimetex Жыл бұрын

Amazing interview. This is SO important for people to know. When unscrupulous people hijack an idealistic movement and turn it into a nightmare. Idealism is again growing among the youth of the west.....which is why June Chang's book is very important.

@Joe-pc3hs Жыл бұрын

Im still befuddled as to HOW people can ignore examples such as this, and still think Marxian theoretics is a good idea.

@QuixEnd Жыл бұрын

I can't remember who this was, but a prominent American leftist was talking about how he fell for maos propaganda, having posters showing the wealth of farmlands under communism and protesting to support it. The sad part was that directly after he spoke of this, he immediately reverted to a "This time it'll be different" mentality, falling for the exact same type of propaganda yet again. I recognize his zeal, it's religious in nature. Suffer for the righteous cause, listen to nobody unless they're for your cause. Take it to the grave.

@larryprimeau5885 2 ай бұрын

who are these theoretics anyway? since 1989 communism has become increasingly passe.

@QuizLing-fz2rz 21 күн бұрын

If it is not already published somewhere, it would be interesting to know whether Jung's father ever reflected on his role in the misery of common folk when he was idealistically building the new China in the mould of Maoist communism. When the communist takeover confiscated property from both rich and poor, publicly lynched people based on “class”, and terrorised those who were too slow to follow the Chairman’s whims, it was inevitable for the traditional and civil bonds between people to shatter. When the most important trait for survival became (and still is) the blind loyalty to the Party, his own kindness, reasoning and sense of kinship atrophied to the detriment of his relatives and even his own wife. Sadly, it was little surprise when he tried to reason the Red Guards to re-consider their inhumane actions, that those youngsters had no memory of civility to draw from, and old man Chang in a sense, became a victim of his own success. Instead of just portraying her parents as bystander-victims, Jung’s work would be more complete if she also expanded on how her folks were instrumental in shaping the Maoist China that led to their own sorrows.

@nadiabrook7871 Жыл бұрын

FANTASTIC interview!! I love Jung Chang's writing!!💗👍❤

@raimundomendez2898 6 ай бұрын

Incredible, I read the book Wild Swans (3 Daugthers of China), the courage of this great woman is venerable, her story impacted me, in my country (Venezuela) I was able to experience similar situations.

@gooberman51 3 ай бұрын

Wow!!! I and many of us in the U.S. can't imagine what Jung Chang and yourself have been through. Wild Swans is an awesome book. Well written. Still can't imagine. God bless you.

@lt5456 Жыл бұрын

My dad did the same with his poem under Stalin

@martindenham2207 Жыл бұрын

That was sobering. Definitely important historical background that's very relevant these days. I certainly learned a lot. Absolutely horrifying.

@bodkintrenchfoot3023 Жыл бұрын

Better dead than red

@Deus_mo 9 ай бұрын

Just finished the book wild swan.I was shocking by lots of compliances between russian (20s-40s) and chinese history in 20 century. Every ideology can be cruel when it transforms in dogma and justification for the selfish ambitions of politicians. Unfortunately, we see it when it comes for our present times. It is really sad

@johnloony68 10 ай бұрын

Right at the beginning of the video: How do you expect us to take you seriously if you refer to her as "Yung Chang"? Her name is Jung Chang.

@Lucy-di5pz 3 ай бұрын

At the start of her book she explain that her name Jung is pronounced Yung. English spelling of foreign words isn't an exact science and so J isn't always a hard J sound