Chang took part in the Cultural Revolution as a member of the Red Guards, but eventually her father was tortured and she was sent to the countryside for thought reform.

As the family was relatively poor, her father schemed to have her taken as a concubine to high-ranking warlord general Xue Zhi-heng, in order to gain status, which was hugely important in terms of quality of life.

After a wedding ceremony to the general, who already had a wife and many concubines, the young girl was left alone in a wealthy household with servants, and did not see her "husband" again for six years.

Despite her luxurious surroundings, life was tense as she feared the servants and the wife of the general would report rumors or outright lies to him.

Eventually, she married a much older doctor (Dr. Xia) with whom she and her daughter, Chang's mother, made a home in Jinzhou, Manchuria.

The book now moves to the story of Chang's mother (Bao Qin/De-hong), who at the age of fifteen began working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Mao Zedong's Red Army.

Chang's father became a target for the Red Guards when he mildly but openly criticised Mao due to the suffering caused to the Chinese people by the Cultural Revolution.

Like thousands of other young people, Chang was sent down to the countryside for education and thought reform by the peasants, a difficult, harsh and pointless experience.

The whole nation was shocked in mourning, though Chang writes that: "People had been acting for so long they confused it with their true feelings.

She still lives in England today and visits mainland China on occasion to see her family and friends there, with permission from Chinese authorities.

[7] On November 26, 2006, Variety announced that Portobello Pictures had purchased the film rights to the book with Christopher Hampton on board to write the screenplay.

[9] In a March 2020 interview with Irish Independent, Chang said that there had been "many, many attempts" for a screen adaptation of Wild Swans but that "distributors are fearful of getting on the wrong side of the powers that be in China.