Historical
![Zhuqing Li - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_zhuqing_li.jpg)
Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China's Civil War
Sisters separated by war forge new identities as they are forced to choose between family, nation, and their own independence.
Jun and Hong were scions of a once great southern Chinese family. Each other's best friend, they grew up in the 1930s during the final days of Old China before the tumult of the twentieth century brought political revolution, violence, and a fractured national identity. By a quirk of timing, at the end of the Chinese Civil War, Jun ended up on an island under Nationalist control, and then settled in Taiwan, married a Nationalist general, and lived among fellow exiles at odds with everything the new Communist regime stood for on the mainland. Hong found herself an ocean away on the mainland, forced to publicly disavow both her own family background and her sister's decision to abandon the party. A doctor by training, to overcome the suspicion created by her family circumstances, Hong endured two waves of "re-education" and internal exile, forced to work in some of the most desperately poor, remote areas of the country.
Ambitious, determined, and resourceful, both women faced morally fraught decisions as they forged careers and families in the midst of political and social upheaval. Jun established one of U.S.-allied Taiwan's most important trading companies. Hong became one of the most celebrated doctors in China, appearing on national media and honored for her dedication to medicine. Niece to both sisters, linguist and East Asian scholar Zhuqing Li tells her aunts' story for the first time, honoring her family's history with sympathy and grace. Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden is a window into the lives of women in twentieth-century China, a time of traumatic change and unparalleled resilience. In this riveting and deeply personal account, Li confronts the bitter political rivals of mainland China and Taiwan with elegance and unique insight, while celebrating her aunts' remarkable legacies.
Jun and Hong were scions of a once great southern Chinese family. Each other's best friend, they grew up in the 1930s during the final days of Old China before the tumult of the twentieth century brought political revolution, violence, and a fractured national identity. By a quirk of timing, at the end of the Chinese Civil War, Jun ended up on an island under Nationalist control, and then settled in Taiwan, married a Nationalist general, and lived among fellow exiles at odds with everything the new Communist regime stood for on the mainland. Hong found herself an ocean away on the mainland, forced to publicly disavow both her own family background and her sister's decision to abandon the party. A doctor by training, to overcome the suspicion created by her family circumstances, Hong endured two waves of "re-education" and internal exile, forced to work in some of the most desperately poor, remote areas of the country.
Ambitious, determined, and resourceful, both women faced morally fraught decisions as they forged careers and families in the midst of political and social upheaval. Jun established one of U.S.-allied Taiwan's most important trading companies. Hong became one of the most celebrated doctors in China, appearing on national media and honored for her dedication to medicine. Niece to both sisters, linguist and East Asian scholar Zhuqing Li tells her aunts' story for the first time, honoring her family's history with sympathy and grace. Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden is a window into the lives of women in twentieth-century China, a time of traumatic change and unparalleled resilience. In this riveting and deeply personal account, Li confronts the bitter political rivals of mainland China and Taiwan with elegance and unique insight, while celebrating her aunts' remarkable legacies.
Editorial Reviews
"Exceptional...Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden is not a history of Taiwan-China relations, but in telling this gripping narrative of one family divided by the ‘bamboo curtain,' Li sheds light on how Taiwan came to be ― and why China might one day risk everything to take it."
― Deirdre Mask, New York Times
"[Li] recounts this real-life saga of rupture and reunion in propulsive, poignant detail. The book's gripping narrative reveals the devastating human cost of the Chinese Revolution and will resonate, in particular, with anyone whose family has been severed by political events... The author's perspective, from having lived both inside and outside the People's Republic of China, yields exceptional insight into her aunts' personal histories and the constantly shifting political vicissitudes they endured. She unspools the unexpected, accidental swerves each life took with spellbinding grace. Here, in the pages of her book, she has knit together the family story as it was lived in both Chinas."
― Diane Cole, Wall Street Journal
"At last, a profoundly human story that illuminates the staggering personal consequences of China and Taiwan's historic split―from both sides. Rare is the author who can portray war and its aftermath so evenhandedly. This powerful page-turner of a family torn apart―and surviving―is as unforgettable as it is important."
― Nicole Mones, author of The Last Chinese Chef
"With sensitivity and sincerity, Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden takes readers through the most complicated, difficult, sorrowful, and indecipherable years in China's modern history."
― Ai Wei Wei, author of 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows
"A heartrending story, beautifully told, about the struggles and triumphs of two sisters separated by the Taiwan Strait, but united in their determination to pursue meaningful lives amid political upheaval. I couldn't stop reading it."
― Amy Stanley, author of Stranger in the Shogun's City
"In gorgeous prose, Zhuqing Li tells a story that is at once distinctive and familiar, of Chinese families of a certain generation that lived through wars, revolutions, separations, and reunions. I couldn't put it down. A lovely book."
― ...
― Deirdre Mask, New York Times
"[Li] recounts this real-life saga of rupture and reunion in propulsive, poignant detail. The book's gripping narrative reveals the devastating human cost of the Chinese Revolution and will resonate, in particular, with anyone whose family has been severed by political events... The author's perspective, from having lived both inside and outside the People's Republic of China, yields exceptional insight into her aunts' personal histories and the constantly shifting political vicissitudes they endured. She unspools the unexpected, accidental swerves each life took with spellbinding grace. Here, in the pages of her book, she has knit together the family story as it was lived in both Chinas."
― Diane Cole, Wall Street Journal
"At last, a profoundly human story that illuminates the staggering personal consequences of China and Taiwan's historic split―from both sides. Rare is the author who can portray war and its aftermath so evenhandedly. This powerful page-turner of a family torn apart―and surviving―is as unforgettable as it is important."
― Nicole Mones, author of The Last Chinese Chef
"With sensitivity and sincerity, Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden takes readers through the most complicated, difficult, sorrowful, and indecipherable years in China's modern history."
― Ai Wei Wei, author of 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows
"A heartrending story, beautifully told, about the struggles and triumphs of two sisters separated by the Taiwan Strait, but united in their determination to pursue meaningful lives amid political upheaval. I couldn't stop reading it."
― Amy Stanley, author of Stranger in the Shogun's City
"In gorgeous prose, Zhuqing Li tells a story that is at once distinctive and familiar, of Chinese families of a certain generation that lived through wars, revolutions, separations, and reunions. I couldn't put it down. A lovely book."
― ...
Readers Top Reviews
LauraJudy G. Ikelsju
This book is beautifully written and tells a story no one would believe if it were fiction. It's not fiction, it's a biography written by the niece of the sisters (daughters). I found it very difficult to put down this book because of the beautiful writing, and the story that it told--a story that needed to be told.
Luv2Read
Relations between China and Taiwan are in the news today. That makes this story timely and relevant. What an amazing story of strength and resilience. Two women who survived and reunited against the odds. This is a story about 2 women with courage, strength and ambition.
Robert P
In my opinion this is one of the most important books I have read in the last few years. I was interested in the history of communism in China but also in a personal family story. This is so much more than I expected. It’s painful to read about the “reeducation” that Hong endured over and over. But it’s eerily similar to the kind of thing that is slowly being pushed on me in my profession. And the kind of thing committed American Marxists are implementing in the public arenas of American life. We must learn to disagree without demonizing those with whom we disagree. If we don’t, how long until dissenters are punished as they are in repressive regimes. Mrs. RP
Kenneth Dettloff
Good narrative on life under capitalism versus communism.
Mark
Before I purchased the book, I read several reviews that referred to it as a page turner. It definitely is. The story is fascinating, dramatic, moving, and beautifully told. The author takes us on a journey that begins in China in the early twentieth century. By accompanying these two sisters through their unexpectedly challenging, adventurous, and triumphant lives, we experience firsthand descriptions of recent Chinese history, including the Japanese invasion of China, the civil war, the founding of Taiwan, and the Cultural Revolution. The book stays focused on the personal stories of the two sisters, each of whom showed tremendous resilience to survive, overcome hardship, and to support their families. A beautiful book. Read it!
