All became drunk with the power that came with the men they manipulate (the slant given by Chang, although other accounts suggest that Sun and Chiang did what they did mainly on their own, with just some influence from the sisters). A little oddly for a group biography of three remarkable women, however, the book sometimes veers off into male-dominated accounts of their context. The three sisters’s father, Soong Charlie, grew up poor but gained the advantage of a missionary education. She brought a cheering Congress to tears; she drew tens of thousands to her public lectures; Time magazine named her and Chiang “Man and Wife of the Year”. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a gripping story of love, war, intrigue, bravery, glamour and betrayal, which takes us on a sweeping journey from Canton to Hawaii to New York, from exiles’ quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan.

The writing style helps readers who are not used to reading biographies understand the context of the book easily. I know very little about China or its history, and was invited into this wing of the library because there were three women who were important and relevant as to how China shaped into the nation it has today.

Dan dari buku ini saya jadi lebih tahu motif pribadi masing-masing pemimpin, yg mana yg lebih sayang pd keluarga dan yg mana yg tidak mempedulikan keluarga atau koleganya sendiri, hanya demi reputasi dirinya semata.

This periodic sidelining of the women expresses, of course, the paradox of their status (a paradox that applies to many other female Chinese politicians of the past 100 years).Później doszły do tego kolejne dwie monumentalne biografie, a teraz światło dziennie w Polsce ujrzały „Siostry z Szanghaju”. We learn how the sisters from colonial influenced Shanghai grew up as Christians and were all educated in the USA and became so "westernised" that at times they struggled to speak their own native language. There were other charitable activities, but these paled in comparison with the huge hoard generated by her ‘squeeze’. The lessons were blissfully simple: The party is unimpeachable; those who assail the party are despicable; the family is a metaphor for our great nation, whose members are all lovingly allied because unity is the most important principle.

Learning about the true history of thesr real people can be hard because we know they went through this. Moving from grand parties in Shanghai to penthouses in New York, from exiles’ quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meetings in Moscow we read about power struggles, godfather style assassinations, secret talks and bribes making this a book that is compulsive reading. Gdyby jednak znał siłę samostanowienia i zaradność swoich córek i wiedział jak z fotela pasażera pokierują przemianami w Chinami, może nawet współczułby nieświadomemu mężczyźnie.

Although Chang records Meiling’s extravagance and addiction to comfort, “little sister” also comes over as surprisingly affectionate and loyal, especially to her family.

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is Jung Chang’s fifth biographical treatment of twentieth-century Chinese history. This led to at least one near-death experience, when Qingling was trapped in a military attack by one of Sun’s rivals. Jung Chang brings the early twentieth century to life as she explores the world of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-Shek. Rzucone na głęboką wodę (najmłodsza z nich rozpoczęła edukację w wieku 9 lat) szybko osiągnęły samodzielność i określiły swoje ścieżki życiowe – każda inną.Seagrave offers a more negative take on the Soong family while Chang is in turns neutral or complimentary. Krn kekuasaan suaminya dan keglamoran gaya hidupnya maka May-Ling dijuluki "ai quan" (cinta kekuasaan).