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While reading the first couple pages of wild swans, I was immediately amazed by the culture and the perspectives of the citizens. For example, the men valued women with small petite “bonded feet” and it was said that a woman with large feet would bring shame onto the family. Mind you that so called “large feet” were what is now a woman’s average shoe size. Mothers did this to their young daughters. Can you imagine the pain of having a stone smashed on your foot every day?
This caused bruising and ingrown toenails which are very disgusting. I can’t imagine how men loud have found that attractive. Another thing that caught my attention was how on earth did Change know so much about her great grandmothers life, not only did she know about it, but she described it in detail, and all of her stories seem credible. Changes Wild Swans, has many situations where a Chinese woman was affected by their culture.
However, the situation that stood out the most was in chapter six, when Jung Changes mother, De-Hong, was getting married to her boyfriend, Shoo-you. “Less than two months after returning from Hardin my mother and father filed their application”. Change 118) For people to get married they have to file an application for their society to approve their relationship. “Marriage had traditionally been a contract between families, and there had never been civil registration or a marriage certificate.
Now for those who had Joined the revolution, the Party functioned as the family head”. (Change 118) The criteria to be able to get married was called 28-7- regiment-I . (Change 118) The criteria Is called 28-7-regiment-l because “The man had to be at least 28 years old, a Party member for at least seven years, and with a rank equivalent to that of a regimental commander; the “1” referred to the only qualification the woman had to meet, to have worked for the Party for a minimum of one year”. Changes 118) If the man or women did not meet these requirements, they were not to be married. Overall, Jung Changes book, Wild Swans, Is Interesting and inspiring. It Is changing my perspective on things, and how much the world has developed since then. It’s great to read about a culture and how It grows. It’s Like I’m reading a personal diary from generation to generation.