The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast: Wild Swans author Jung Chang on growing up in Mao’s China

Jung Chang describes how her life changed when the Communist Party became displeased with her

Jung Chang speaks to Deirdre O’Shaughnessy in front of a live audience at the West Cork Literary Festival

Jung Chang achieved worldwide acclaim for her autobiographical work Wild Swans, published in 1992.

The book told the story of her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine whose feet were bound, her mother, a Communist Party official who suffered under Mao, and herself, one of the first students permitted to leave China to study in the West in the 1970s.

Since its publication, Jung has become a prolific writer and historian of China but her biography of Mao, written with her Irish husband Jon Halliday, put her on the wrong side of the Communist Party’s propaganda.

Her new book, Fly Wild Swans, tells the story of her life since Wild Swans’ publication — particularly her increasingly difficult relationship with the Chinese authorities.

In this interview with Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, recorded in front of a live audience at the West Cork Literary Festival, Jung describes how her life changed when the Communist Party became displeased with her; her difficulty in visiting China since the publication of the Mao book; and, for the first time, she discusses the death of her beloved mother, whose life story inspired millions in Wild Swans.

 

This episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast was recorded live at the Maritime Hotel Bantry as part of the West Cork Literary Festival 2026. See westcorkmusic.ie.