I guess my dislike for Peony and the novel's story overall made it sounds like it had no redeeming qualities at all. Peony and the other women from wealthy families were indeed educated and smart, and China wasn't portrayed as a barbaric backwater country. See also mentions a women's writing group which, if remember correctly, was called Banana Garden Five (or Seven): I hadn't know about its existence before so that part was actually educating!
Anyway, the footbinding scene. I mentioned it only because in my opinon, it was written well. The binding itself was horrifying to read: why wouldn't it be to a modern reader? What I meant by "no one denied its importance or decided to rebel against it" was just that. It was important to the women because tiny feet were a sign of a wealthy woman and also attractive to men. The latter was less important than the first.
So no, I didn't think that China was portrayed in a negative light. I just didn't like the book because I didn't like the character Peony or See's prose.
And about Jung Chang, why wouldn't a Chinese person currently living outside of China be qualifed to tell about historical events and persons whose actions she herself had witnessed? Honest question, not meant to sound rude! I'm mostly interested in the Mao book because I liked Chang's writing style and I just want to read something else written by her. I always take historical books not written by professional historians without an agenda with a grain of salt.
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Anyway, the footbinding scene. I mentioned it only because in my opinon, it was written well. The binding itself was horrifying to read: why wouldn't it be to a modern reader? What I meant by "no one denied its importance or decided to rebel against it" was just that. It was important to the women because tiny feet were a sign of a wealthy woman and also attractive to men. The latter was less important than the first.
So no, I didn't think that China was portrayed in a negative light. I just didn't like the book because I didn't like the character Peony or See's prose.
And about Jung Chang, why wouldn't a Chinese person currently living outside of China be qualifed to tell about historical events and persons whose actions she herself had witnessed? Honest question, not meant to sound rude! I'm mostly interested in the Mao book because I liked Chang's writing style and I just want to read something else written by her. I always take historical books not written by professional historians without an agenda with a grain of salt.