Wild Swans: Details China’s Political Reforms and the Cultural Revolution
Wild Swans commences on a world known, stereotypical issue of foot binding, which allows it to be readily received by all Western responders. Food binding echoes submission to patriarchal values and conventions, metaphorical for women’s lack of rights. This is portrayed when great grandmother imposes agony upon her daughter, “placed a large stone on top to crush the arc.” This unemotive, factual writing enhances authenticity. This issue metaphorically represents women’s suffering on a universal scale, whereby continuously only women modify their body to conform to patriarchal demands. Objectification of women is illustrated in Wild Swans, whereby men “grab concubines” to serve their pleasure, and further amplified through “daughter for sale for ten kilos of rice”, highlighting that women are commodities, discarded at will. These points highlight the dominance of men, in patriarchal China.
Subsequent to the rise of the Communist, diminution of patriarchy was facilitated and supremacy was denoted by social class. The grade system dictated ‘respected groups’, governed by Mao’s beliefs. Mao’s tool to control the state was persecution of perceived threats, constantly volatile. Highly respected teachers were eventually being persecuted, as the regime aspired to “create some victims” due to petty rationales such as “ironic remarks”. Thus exposes the hypocritical paradox of the Communist regime, acting the counter of its principles.
This is portrayed through the juxtaposition of Jung Chang’s father “-still looking for quote-“(a man maintaining his principles) with corrupted regime and fellow officials, illustrating the rarity of righteousness. Control is portrayed as totalitarian; corrupted and abused, affecting all citizens including the most helpless proletarian class, denoted by the “allocation of resources to create steel” acting as the culprit for the famine. Wild Swans highlights the contradictory nature of the regime and China by enlightening China’s true identity, denying the assumed, stereotypical view perceived by the West.
Discrepancies between appearance and reality are explored through the oppression of the Chinese, veiled by the supposed improved lives created by the regime. Such repression and compulsion to conform to the law is represented by the archaic self, and signifies the brutal reality of China. This is exemplified through, “the only entertainment permitted was the red book,” whereby Mao’s deification was reaped through his forceful imposition. Therefore, China as a whole was condemned by traditional conventions or Mao’s laws for expressing oneself, and the ideal self silently questioned the regime’s morality.
Despite the alteration of the regime’s name, the traditional values still prevail, further highlighting the contradictions of reality and appearance. This is delved into further when a label is utilized to obliterate an identity, such as the headmaster being labeled “donkey”. Connotations of being ineffective and inadequate are associated, and thus Jung Chang positions the responder to perceive the headmaster in unity with her view. This metaphorically signifies China’s ‘mian'(presenting a noble/glamorous side of things/pride) of portraying a better side of story, whilst reality is counter.
