would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

interesting read about a time that is gone

This is biography of Soong sisters, very fascinating history lesson but in very interesting and easy way to understand. I really liked how the writing was about the 3 sisters but also the people around them . It adds layers of historical events and how it was influenced by the these sisters in every step.

I really don’t like nonfiction books but this book was so interesting that it is worth reading.


This is book is heavy with information, it is fascinating to see how from the beginning west and Russia influenced China and how these sisters facilitated this. I really didn’t like any of them while the writer tried to make them more humane but The corruption what I hated!!
why did they need all that money while your country is in war but that is life ! someone always profit from war.

I do love all historical fiction about china , this my first non fiction, it was good .

An epic group biography detailing the lives of three woman who helped shaped twentieth century China and also their three brothers who also made history.
The story is crafted cleverly through research to bring alive the tale through memories and letters of acquaintances. Not a light read but very rewarding. I dipped in and out of this around my other books and learnt something new every time.
I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley in providing this arc in return for a honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and the author Jung Chang.
DNF - Did Not Finish
Undoubtedly a well researched book, but anyone interested in historical fiction should be aware that this reads much more like a history book, focused on information and facts.
I have read half, but found it too dry to continue. My new reading resolution is to walk away from books I am not enjoying, and after a while I simply had no motivation to pick this up again.
2 stars.

Fabulous book as one would expect from Jung Chang, perfect for taking on holiday so that you can properly enjoy it.

While it’s a bit heavy-going in parts, Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a fascinating insight into three of the most powerful women in Chinese history. Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, became Mao’s vice-chair. It placed her in direct opposition to her two sisters – May-ling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek), who was the first lady of Nationalist China, and Ei-ling, Chiang’s unofficial main adviser and one of China’s wealthiest citizens.

Jung Chang’s Wild Swans is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read, so when I saw her new biography, Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, available on NetGalley, I knew I wanted to read it. As the title suggests, this is the story of three sisters – the Soong Sisters – who were at the heart of twentieth century Chinese politics. Like Wild Swans, it gave me some fascinating insights into a country whose history I know very little about, but unlike Wild Swans, the author has no personal connection with the women she is writing about and I thought that made it a much less immersive and powerful read.

Despite their important roles in Chinese history, I’m ashamed to say that I had never heard of the three Soong Sisters before reading this book. In case anyone else hasn’t heard of them either, here’s a quick introduction:

‘Big Sister’ Ei-ling, born in Shanghai in 1888, was the eldest daughter of Charlie Soong and Ni Kwei-tseng. Through her marriage to the banker H.H. Kung – who later became Minister of Finance in the Nationalist government – Ei-ling was one of China’s richest women.

‘Little Sister’ May-ling was the youngest of the three. As the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, who was chairman of the Nationalist party (the Kuomintang) and later President of the Republic of China, May-ling was China’s First Lady. With her American education and excellent command of the English language, she provided a link between Chinese and Western cultures.

In the middle was Ching-ling, or ‘Red Sister’. In 1915, she married the much older Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary leader who helped to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. After Sun’s death, Ching-ling’s continued involvement in left wing politics and her support for the Communist Party often put her in direct opposition to Big and Little Sister.

The book takes us through the lives of all three of these women from birth to death, comparing the different paths they choose to follow and describing their achievements and their influence on Chinese politics and society. Rather than devoting a separate section of the book to each sister, Chang jumps from one to the other and back again, moving forward chronologically over a period of more than a hundred years. As this is the first time I’ve read about the Soong sisters I’ve no idea how they are usually portrayed, but it seemed to me that Chang’s account was quite fair and balanced, showing sympathy for all three women but an awareness of their faults and weaknesses as well.

I found Ei-ling the least interesting to read about. With her wealth and position, there’s a sense that she is very detached from the realities of life, although she does come across as a generous and dutiful sister who tries to help her younger siblings in any way she can. May-ling is more appealing; although she is depicted as ambitious and sometimes extravagant, she also seems warm and compassionate, with a genuine interest in carrying out humanitarian work. But it was Ching-ling who intrigued me the most, with her unwavering dedication to the communist cause that sets her apart from her sisters and creates divisions in the family that never really heal. Was she, as one observer says, ‘most responsive and likeable, quiet and poised but misses nothing’ or was she, in the words of another, ‘basically a cold, hard, ruthless woman who knows what she wants and how to get it’?

Although the three Soong sisters all found themselves in positions of influence and power, these positions initially came about because of the men they chose to marry and that, for me, was one of the problems with this book. Almost as much time was spent describing the lives and careers of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek and H.H. Kung as was spent on May-ling, Ei-ling and Ching-ling, who were supposed to be the subjects of the book. Overall, it felt more like a general political history of twentieth century China than a biography of three specific people. I found it a much more challenging read than Wild Swans, which was as gripping as fiction, and it has taken me more than a month to finish it as there was just so much information to take in and digest. I can’t pretend that I am now an expert on Chinese politics, but I do feel that I learned a lot from this book and although it was a struggle at times, I’m glad I persevered and finished it!

I read Wild Swans many years ago when it first came out, and I was really excited to read this book. I travelled to China a few years ago and I’ve found myself slightly obsessed with this amazing country.

This book is not as heartbreaking as Wild Swans, but this is a completely different story. I found it absolute compelling reading. The three sister’s story is one of family and how politics can rip a family apart, of such incredible strength of character and of a determination to make China a better place. It really is an astonishing story!

Here is a book I just had to go out and Purchase when it came out, to have sitting next to her other books I have by this author. Yes, I am a big fan of her's. Jung Chang is famous for her famous and best known book called "Wild Swans" which I loved and have read several times over the years.

So when "Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister": came out to read and review It was like Christmas had arrived. Jung's books are all full of history, always written beautifully and full of great illustrations throughout. So much research has been done to write this new fantastic book.
This new book is a biography of the Soong sisters. They were three Women who were at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China. These sisters became the modern fairy tale that made a great impact on history today. They are much talked about with in the community and still are spoken about today.

"Red Sister" Ching-ling, married the 'Father of China', Sun Yat-sen, and rose to be Mao's vice-chair.

"Little Sister" May-ling, became Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the first lady of pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right.

"Big Sister" Ei-ling, became Chiang's unofficial main adviser - and made herself one of China's richest women.

I was gripped from the first few pages and wanted to learn more about the Soong Sisters. It's a very gripping story of Love, war, bravery, glamour and betrayal which all put together makes a brilliant book and I know I will sit and read it again in the future.
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister 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.

WoW......I highly recommend this new book by Jung Chang. 5 star read..........

Jung has also written these historic books as-well:

1. Wild Swans
2. Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China
3. Mao: The Unknown Story
4. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister

Wild Swans is one of the books that has had the most impact on me in my life. I read it as a teenager and it blew my mind that there was all this history that I’d never been taught about, and it showed the impact of these huge historical events, so easy to sweep over in a paragraph or two in a textbook, on individuals in a heartbreaking, personal way. Since then, I’ve faithfully read everything else by Jung Chang, and I was over the moon to have the chance to review her newest book, Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister.

What a fascinating read! After several books focusing on single figures, Chang returns to the group biography of Wild Swans, though this is definitely more historical facts than narrative non-fiction. It’s a little less easy to get swept away in without that emotional connection and storytelling tone, but it’s still well-written and easily comprehensible. The lives of these three sisters are utterly fascinating, and they were deeply involved in almost every twist and turn of Chinese history in the 20th century, which is just incredible.

Where Wild Swans showed the realities of the Kuomintang and Communist regimes for the people on the ground, this book gives more of an insight into what was happening at the top, but is no less personal. The sisters carved out spaces for themselves with astonishing effectiveness, even in a man’s world, and there is a sense that they were rather detached from ‘normal’ life, but the fact that they were able to exert such influence is really interesting. The book does a thorough job of showing exactly how circumstances aligned to set the events of their lives in motion, and there’s no doubt that there is meticulous research behind every chapter. I loved that there were so many examples of the sisters’ own letters used, as even in the most guarded of them you get a sense of their personalities. They are not necessarily likeable figures, but they are very human.

The book suffers slightly towards the end from a confusing timeline, as it follows each of the sisters’ lives individually in their last years, and jumps back decades in places to pick up another thread. This made it a little hard to place some events, but it does mean that each sister’s story is given a little more focus on their personality and feelings as we focus exclusively on them, rather than on the intricacies of the political situation. It seems to encapsulate the tension between biography and political history that runs throughout the book – it’s a delicate balance, and those looking for wholly novel-esque biography in the vein of Wild Swans may be disappointed, but it does make for an exceptionally readable history.

All I can really say about this book is that it is utterly fascinating, and a must read for those who are interested in the period, or in women’s roles in history shaped predominantly by men. Interesting, readable, and important stuff. Four out of five cats!

This is a great read If you love your books historically accurate and full of facts. I found it a little heavy going and unwieldy in parts but it was all essential. It’s not wild swans it’s not a sweeping family saga but it is interesting, well researched and for all that enjoyable. Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book.

With the publication of "Wild Swans", Jung Chang lit a fire in my belly for Chinese culture and I've been fascinated and intrigued by it ever since. Her latest offering, "Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister" is an excellent piece of work. The Soong sisters' lives make for fascinating reading. One of the things I love most about Chang is that she makes history accessible for layfolk. The bibliography attests to the sheer volume of research undertaken, and the wealth of information imparted to the amount of work put into pulling it together.

Based on the story of three strong women I found this book an extraordinary read. Very well researched which made it a fascinating and gripping story.

The official description:
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. Red Sister, Ching-ling, married the ‘Father of China’, Sun Yat-sen, and rose to be Mao’s vice-chair. Little Sister, May-ling, became Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right. Big Sister, Ei-ling, became Chiang’s unofficial main adviser – and made herself one of China’s richest women. 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. In a group biography that is by turns intimate and epic, Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape twentieth-century China.
My review:
For a biography supposedly focusing on the three most famous women in Chinese history, I found it strange that the initial chapters deal with men (Sun Yat-sen and the girls’ father). And this, I think, is the problem with this book. The sisters are viewed through the lens of their role relative to men, rather than in their own right. And so the book has become a history of Chinese politics and the roles the men in the sisters’ lives played, rather than a group biography of these three remarkable women.

The book is meticulously researched and filled with page after page of facts and details. Unfortunately, so many irrelevant details left me emotionally unengaged and, frankly, often uninterested. I kept skimming through pages to get to the bits that actually told me something about the sisters.

Somewhere in these pages there is a good biography, if the book was re-focussed and irrelevant facts, details and chapters were trimmed off. Then what is a book on Chinese history might become what it promised to be: a biography of three most powerful Chinese women and their roles in shaping 20th century China.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Thanks to #NetGalley for eARC.
#BigSisterLittleSisterRedSister #NetGalley

This is the story of three siblings who went onto marry some of China’s most powerful men.The Soong sisters were at the heart of 20th-Century China and their influence was truly remarkable.The big sister of the title is Ei-ling who was the eldest.She married the financier HH Kung and in so doing became half of the richest and allegedly corrupt couples in China.They became the source of money for the more politically engaged members of the family.The little sister is May-ling who married Chiang Kai-shek in 1927 when he became China’s ruler .He ruled China was during the course of the Second World War and this provided May-ling with a chance to become one of the most prominent female political figures in the world.She is the round faced Chinese woman on the famous photo taken on 25th November 1943 in Cairo.The red sister is the middle one of the three called Ching-ling who married Sun Yat-sen who was the force behind the revolution that overthrew the last emperor.Ching-ling became a revolutionary in her own right,even risking death in her husband’s cause..
May-ling and Ei-King fled to Taiwan after the defeat of Chiang in China’s civil war and thereafter they faded from power and influence.Ching-ling split from her sisters and went on to have a marginal symbolic role as vice-chairman of the Communist Party under Mao Tse-tung and just before her death China’s honorary president.
This book weaves its way through the complex history of China from 1880s to the 1970s.The author is keen to use many sources of information to express the importance of liberal ideas in early Chinese culture while understanding the importance of Communist ideology.This book shows how powerful woman previously helped to shape and form modern China.It is worth reflecting that modern China 70 years after Mao’s victory has no prominent women with political power in the country.

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 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.

I wouldn't call it easy reading, although it is interesting. I definitely wouldn't call it gripping unless you are a real fan of political intrigue and China in particular. It's not one I'd place on the level of Wild Swans.  But it is definitely worth reading if it piques your interest.

Let's not pretend this is a light read, it does cover almost to 150 years of modern Chinese political history, but it's impressively accessible and not particularly dry or dense either. Partly, this is due to the perspective Chang approached it from - focusing on the three Soong sisters, part of one of the "Four big families of the Republic of China". The sisters are summarized by a Maoist saying, "One loved money, one loved power, one loved her country". This book clearly shows that's a fairly superficial take on these rich characters in Chinese history, although it's also to see how that became a convenient shorthand for the communist government.

For me, this book was fascinating. Much of the information I come across relating to China is very academic. Chang's work brings a level of humanity to these periods, opening up views I've not come across before. This book starts with Sun Yat-Sen's early years, including time in the USA and London, and his early attempts to foment revolution. Then, the fates and fortunes of various individuals as China put the old dynasties behind it and reestablished itself. The sisters, the middle of whom married Sun, lived through significant change, and, most interestingly, took different paths. All were educated in the USA, and all forged lives of power and prominence. The latter a large part of what ended up keeping them apart, especially once the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan at the end of 1949.

The book gave me an insight into various individuals and events I didn't know enough about. Despite the weighty subject, it doesn't get bogged down. It finds a good balance between ensuring you have enough background and information to not get lost, but it doesn't throw excessive minutia at the reader - confident that if you've picked the book up you're likely someone who can add to the information should you desire, and I've certainly found myself doing that! If you have any interest in China or Taiwan this feels like a great book to pick up, and likely share with others so you can talk more about the subject with them. It's a well-written insight into some truly fascinating events in moidern history.

I have to admit to struggling with this book. I am a fast reader but five days in and I am still only half way through it. It is not the 'biography' I was expecting and hoping for but a detailed history of Chinese politics. The actual story is just 84% of the unproofed download but I am abandoning it for now and may come back to finish it at a later date.. Three stars as the writing is readable and the research is amazing. But it's not the biography I was expecting, it's more about the men in their lives than the sisters.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review an unproofed e-ARC of this book

Wild Swans is probably one of my favourite books ever, so I was full of hope when I started reading this. It does contain some interesting material about the history of China, but I am struggling to get through it.
Although this is obviously well researched, it is not the compelling read that Wild Swans was. Jung Chang writes so well about her own experiences that this a rather dry read in comparison.

Goodness - where to start a review of this epic book?!
I don't read a lot of non fiction, but this caught my attention having read and enjoyed "wild swans" and this book also features 3 strong women. Coupled with their lives being irrevocably entwined in the history of modern China with its warring factions and their own sibling rivalries an explosive narrative is assured.
As Ms Chang outlines in her introduction, a lot of material is available about their stories and she has obviously done a huge amount of research - evidenced by 16% of my e- book being notes on her sources and further references. Although I feel almost ungrateful saying this, I felt that as an ordinary reader there was so much information and quotes that, for me, it stopped my full immersion in the book. Hence 3 stars, but I feel sure other readers will really enjoy it.
Thank you to netgalley and Random house for an advance copy of this book