What is Mao The Unknown Story about?
Mao: The Unknown Story is a 2005 biography of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976) written by the husband-and-wife team of writers Jung Chang and historian Jon Halliday who detail Mao’s early life; his introduction into the Chinese Communist Party and his political career.
Was Mao Really a Monster ?: The academic response to Chang and Halliday?
Book Description
Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday was published in 2005 to a great fanfare. The book portrays Mao as a monster – equal to or worse than Hitler and Stalin – and a fool who won power by native cunning and ruled by terror.
What did Mao Zedong do that was so important?
In 1958, he launched the Great Leap Forward that aimed to rapidly transform China’s economy from agrarian to industrial, which led to the deadliest famine in history and the deaths of 15–55 million people between 1958 and 1962.
Did Mao write a book?
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (simplified Chinese: 毛主席语录; traditional Chinese: 毛主席語錄; pinyin: Máo Zhǔxí Yǔlù) is a book of statements from speeches and writings by Mao Zedong (formerly romanized as Mao Tse-tung), the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, published from 1964 to about 1976 and widely …
Is Jung Chang a communist?
Chang herself is of Chinese origins, born in Sichuan province to prominent Chinese Communist Party members. As a teenager Chang experienced the Cultural Revolution first hand, expressing her loyalty to Mao Zedong and briefly joining the Red Guards.
Is Wild Swans banned in China?
Reception. Wild Swans was translated into 37 languages and sold 13 million copies, receiving praise from authors such as J. G. Ballard. Although it has also been translated into Chinese, it is banned in Mainland China.
Why did Jung Chang write Wild Swans?
I started writing Wild Swans in 1988 after my mother had come to stay with me in London. She would tell me stories of her life and of my grandmother. I felt that she really wanted me to understand her. And that gave me the impetus to write the book.
When did Jung Chang leave China?
1978
Chang left China in 1978 to study in Britain on a government scholarship, staying first in London. She later moved to Yorkshire, studying linguistics at the University of York with a scholarship from the university itself, living in Derwent College.