An evening with Jung Chang

We're thrilled to be joined by bestselling author Jung Chang, who'll be chatting about her new book Fly, Wild Swans, the long-awaited sequel to Wild Swans.

Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother – ‘three daughters of China’. From her grandmother’s birth in 1909 under the last emperor, through Mao Zedong’s rule, the Cultural Revolution during which Jung’s parents were subject to unbelievable suffering, it finishes as the end of the Mao era in 1978 with Jung’s emigration to Britain. At the time she was one of the first Chinese to leave Communist China for the West.

Nearly half a century on, China has risen from a decrepit, isolated state to a global power. Through those decades, Jung’s life has been intimately entwined with her native land.

Fly, Wild Swans is the sequel and brings the story of Jung’s family – along with that of China – up to date. China is now at another watershed moment: Xi Jinping is seeking to turn the country back towards the old Maoist days and build a Communist state with capitalist features. This new era is greatly affecting the lives of Jung and her mother who still lives in China. Through the arc of their respective lives, Jung gives an immersive, deeply moving and unforgettable account of what it is like to live in a communist dictatorship and the threats modern China poses to the international world order.