What readers think of Daughters of Shandong, plus links to write your own review.

This is a fictional autobiography of a woman born into a wealthy Confucian family, pre-World War II. The focus is the religious, cultural and economic structure of China in 1948 that was completely and often cruelly changed as Communism overwhelmed mainland Imperial China. The story spans the most cataclysmic change China has seen, at least in modern times. The story is well told and an important rendition of Confucian cultural enslavement and denigration of women and the poor. It does much to explain why the promise of Communism was welcomed by the starving masses. It doesn't address whether or how well that promise was fulfilled. Other novels about this time period reflect the same horrendous conditions imposed on the landless and the debilitating cultural attitude toward women, however this book goes far to explain the religious basis for and enforcement of the rules of behavior and how they were finally destroyed. The primary female characters were resilient and brave. Their story is well told and shared by perhaps millions. This story provides valuable insight to Westerners unfamiliar with Chinese Confucian culture and therefore is a good bookclub choice.

This book dealt with a moment in time I hadn't read - or even thought - about very much, the fall of the Nationalists and the rise of the Communists and the immediate aftermath. The juxtaposition with the Chinese cultural preference for sons and the treatment of daughters and wives was interesting. The writing often took me out of the book, unfortunately.