Jung Chang (Wild Swans author) — Living through history's largest man-made famine
A true honor to speak with Jung Chang.
She is the author of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (sold 15+ million copies worldwide) and Mao: The Unknown Story.
We discuss:
- what it was like growing up during the Cultural Revolution as the daughter of a denounced official
- why the CCP continues to worship the biggest mass murderer in human history.
- how exactly Communist totalitarianism was able to subjugate a billion people
- why Chinese leaders like Xi and Deng who suffered from the Cultural Revolution don't condemn Mao
- how Mao starved and killed 40 million people during The Great Leap Forward in order to exchange food for Soviet weapons
Wild Swans is the most moving book I've ever read. It was a real privilege to speak with its author.
Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.
Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Growing up during Cultural Revolution
(00:15:58) - Could officials have overthrown Mao?
(00:34:09) - Great Leap Forward
(00:48:12) - Modern support of Mao
(01:03:24) - Life as peasant
(01:21:30) - Psychology of communist society
Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
Available Results
Generated results are saved to the knowledge database for reuse and search.
Extract Knowledge
Pick what you want extracted first. Model, scope, and chapter options appear after a template is selected.