I’m not normally a great fan of non-fiction, especially political tales, however this riveting biography is so well written it at no time becomes weighed down. The three sisters, their lives and loves, make for some fascinating reading. 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. An enjoyable take on China’s turbulent 20th-century history, seen through the revealing perspective of three women at the centre of power Andrea Janku, BBC History

From here, the accomplishments, frustrations, and failures of Sun continue, with Ei-ling and Ching-ling’s lives weaving in and out of the narrative as necessary. Little Sister May-ling doesn’t appear until the book’s half-way point and, before that, a large focus is placed on Red Sister Ching-ling as she marries and dedicates herself to Sun completely, until his cold and callous actions create an irreparable rift between them. In the hands of master storyteller and contrarian Jung Chang, the old tale finds a new interpretation by one who knows well the intricacies of family, influence, gender, and power in modern China . . . A provocative view of the historical times that produced these extraordinary sisters" — Air Mail Charlie Soong being very forward thinking sent each of his daughters to an American boarding school at a young age. He made influential friends who were then introduced to his daughters. The sisters were very intelligent and interested in the politics of their country. They also believed that women should be man’s equal and the three sisters all rose to positions of influence. The book’s strongest point is its nuanced sympathy for the sisters. Ailing and Meiling, in particular, have been periodically lambasted for seeking profit and indulgence, and abetting Chiang’s brutal dictatorship, during the agonies of the second world war. Although Chang records Meiling’s extravagance and addiction to comfort, “little sister” also comes over as surprisingly affectionate and loyal, especially to her family. Ailing – conventionally denounced as a ruthless profiteer – is described as a devoted sister who saw it as her responsibility to provide financially for her less practically minded siblings. In Chang’s account, Qingling is the least appealing: a hard-headed Comintern convert, whose political convictions overrode feelings for her family.

Retailers:

The main subjects of this intensely engaging historical biography are the three daughters of Charlie Soong: Ei-ling, Ching-ling, and May-ling. These three women left as great a mark on, and were as influential in the transformation of, China as any of China’s more famous male leaders (all of whom also play a key role in this book), and here Jung Chang brings them into the historical limelight where they belong. Seagrave published the Soong Dynasty in 1985, and while that book is longer and has more material, Jung Chang published this in 2019, with some information that Seagrave did not have access to. So which book is better? But this is also one of the weaknesses of Chang’s approach. Her books illustrate why theories that emphasize the actions of political leaders as the driving forces of history are out of fashion. For example, the unlikely survival of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Long March is, given their later rise to power, enormously important for not only China but the entire world. The hagiography of the Long March has been well documented; the CCP has made it a mythological origin story. Chang instead argues that the entire enterprise was only possible because Chiang Kai-shek allowed it, part of a secret deal with Stalin that if Chiang let the Communists in China survive, Stalin would release Chiang’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo, from captivity in Russia. Apparently, this deal was so secret it was even secret to Stalin. Chang and Halliday went to great lengths to challenge the CCP’s legitimacy in Mao: The Unknown Story, and in Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister Chang wants to finish the job. Mao showed that the Long March was not the feat the CCP made it out to be; here she contends it was entirely because Chiang Kaishek chose his son over China’s future. This makes for a fascinating tidbit, but reduces one of the major arcs of China’s history – the rise to power of the CCP – to a single decision by one man.

It’s certainly far from hyperbolic to say that these three women shaped China; that, without them, China today would not be the nation we know today. Three sisters, daughters of a Christian preacher, grew up to become the wives and advisors of China’s most powerful men, affecting their moves and decisions and helping carve out a new China. Their stories are incredible, almost beyond belief. And the way that Jung Chang tells them is masterful, to say the least. The book’s strongest point is its nuanced sympathy for the sisters . . . The lives of the three Song sisters—the subjects of Jung Chang’s spirited new book—are more than worthy of an operatic plot.” — The Guardian And in Big Sister, Little Sister, Red SisterJung Chang documents their lives with such incredible intimacy and detail as to almost welcome them into our lives. The feats that they accomplished prove, through Chang’s deft writer’s hand, to be more exhilarating a read than the best political thriller. Chang adds another title to her series of lively depictions of key figures in Modern Chinese history . . . This accessible book will appeal to history buffs and biography fans in addition to those already familiar with the Chang’s body of work.” — Library Journal They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the centre of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history.The author crafts the extraordinary story through writings of many people who knew them at the time. These include letters from lovers, teachers and acquaintances, and reminiscences of fellow-students. It seems well researched, with occasional footnotes to help you place subsidiary events in context. this book has indeed educated me on the history of China and introduced me to the historical figures behind the founding of CCP and the Nationalist Party. It was a great reading experience in terms of gaining insights on the political stances of these founding members and especially the Soong sisters. But what we are not told is why people still followed his lead? Why did his opinion matter? What was it that made people listen to him? Without influence all these destructive dreams mean nothing. I am non the wiser after reading this account, but to say it was all Sun’s fault seems superficial to say the least. A fascinating tale of the three Soong sisters who played a significant role in the making of 20th-century China…[ told] with lacerating honesty. Donal O'Donoghue, RTE Guide

Red Sister, Ching-ling, married the 'Father of China', Sun Yat-sen, and rose to be Mao's vice-chair. Big Sister, Ei-ling, became Chiang's unofficial main adviser - and made herself one of China's richest women. Growing up in Mao’s China, Jung Chang heard repeated accounts of the three Soong sisters who helped shape her country’s republican revolution at the beginning of the 20th century. “One loved money, one loved power and one loved her country,” ran the party line, reducing the lives of Ei-ling (the sharp financial operator), May-ling (first “First Lady” of Republican China) and Ching-ling (Mao’s vice president) Soong to fairy-tale simplicity. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China by Jung Chang, was a sweeping and gripping account of the Soong family of Shanghai, not only of these three sisters that played a large part in the shaping of the history of China in the twentieth century, but it also tells about their three brothers, each making history in their own right, as part of the inner circle of the Chiang Kai-shek regime.May-ling, Little Sister, spent a decade studying and living in the US before returning home and marrying Chiang Kai-shek during his rise to power. Red Sister Ching-ling, by far the most exciting of the three, was a powerful communist thinker. In her youth she was married to Sun Yat-sen, father of revolutionary China, and later in life she became the vice-chair of Chairman Mao Zedong. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a monumental work, worthy both of Jung Chang’s Mao and of the great, rambling, heterogeneous Chinese folk epics of the oral past, such as The Water Margin and The Three Kingdoms. Its three fairy-tale heroines, poised between east and west, spanned three centuries, two continents and a revolution, with consequences that reverberate, perhaps now more than ever, in all our lives to this day.” (Hilary Spurling Spectator)

This is an epic undertaking by an excellent writer and historian. Jung Chang brings the early twentieth century to life as she explores the world of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-Shek. She shows their progress towards revolution, seen through the lives of the family who knew them. Taking the three sisters as the focal point is a clever way of exploring the twists and turns of Chinese society and politics as it moves from a monarchy through to communism. The story of the Soong sisters, writes the author, is a kind of modern fairy tale. The Christian Shanghainese family into which they were born was prosperous but not especially influential, and the girls themselves "were not great beauties by traditional standards." Yet, self-confident and determined, each made her mark. Ei-ling, the oldest, born in 1889, became one of the richest women in the country; Ching-ling, born in 1893, married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the republican movement in China, whose renown endures throughout the Chinese-speaking world; and May-ling, born in 1898, married Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Nationalist government of China. According to the fairy tale, one sister loved money, another power, and the third her country—though, depending on one's politics, the third attribute could belong to any of them. Chang recounts the lives of the sisters and their deeds, as when May-ling, in the face of an impending Communist invasion, flew from the mainland to Taiwan, "a huge boost for the Nationalists' morale"; after Chiang died in 1975, she lived in seclusion in New York, her life spanning across three centuries. Ching-ling embraced the Communist cause, though it was only on her deathbed that she joined the party, acclaimed as "Honorary President of the People's Republic of China." Of the three, Ei-ling's life is the least compelling, though she had her accomplishments, as well. Chang's story is worth attention on the strength of the three sisters' notable doings, though her writing is often flat—"Above all, she had found fulfillment as a mother"; "The Generalissimo came to appreciate what his wife did"; "A whole new world opened up to Little Sister." They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. Ei-ling, Big Sister, was the eldest daughter of Charlie Soong; a fiercely strategic, sharp, ambitious, and intelligent woman who rose to become an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek – an advisor with so much strength that she could have accurately been called his puppet master.

Jung Chang divides the book into five parts spanning the years 1866 – 2003. It features the rise of Sun Yat-Sen and the overthrow of the Chinese monarchy to May-Ling’s marriage to Chiang Kai-Shek. They were the most famous women in China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history.