Jung Chang divides the book into five parts spanning the years 1866 – 2003. It features the rise of Sun Yat-Sen and the overthrow of the Chinese monarchy to May-Ling’s marriage to Chiang Kai-Shek. The story of the Soong sisters, writes the author, is a kind of modern fairy tale. The Christian Shanghainese family into which they were born was prosperous but not especially influential, and the girls themselves "were not great beauties by traditional standards." Yet, self-confident and determined, each made her mark. Ei-ling, the oldest, born in 1889, became one of the richest women in the country; Ching-ling, born in 1893, married Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the republican movement in China, whose renown endures throughout the Chinese-speaking world; and May-ling, born in 1898, married Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Nationalist government of China. According to the fairy tale, one sister loved money, another power, and the third her country—though, depending on one's politics, the third attribute could belong to any of them. Chang recounts the lives of the sisters and their deeds, as when May-ling, in the face of an impending Communist invasion, flew from the mainland to Taiwan, "a huge boost for the Nationalists' morale"; after Chiang died in 1975, she lived in seclusion in New York, her life spanning across three centuries. Ching-ling embraced the Communist cause, though it was only on her deathbed that she joined the party, acclaimed as "Honorary President of the People's Republic of China." Of the three, Ei-ling's life is the least compelling, though she had her accomplishments, as well. Chang's story is worth attention on the strength of the three sisters' notable doings, though her writing is often flat—"Above all, she had found fulfillment as a mother"; "The Generalissimo came to appreciate what his wife did"; "A whole new world opened up to Little Sister."

The writing style helps readers who are not used to reading biographies understand the context of the book easily. It was as if I was reading a historical fiction novel. However, I must say that there were certain parts that felt unnecessarily long. There were some details that could be taken out because they are simply not needed for the readers to understand certain events that were taking place. If those unnecessary details were taken out, it would be a much compact and straight to the point kinda book. The book’s strongest point is its nuanced sympathy for the sisters . . . The lives of the three Song sisters—the subjects of Jung Chang’s spirited new book—are more than worthy of an operatic plot.” — The Guardian May-ling preferred the gossip and glamour of Shanghai social life to politics or business, but Ei-ling convinced her to marry Chiang Kai-shek, the dour Generalissimo. In 1928, Chiang became president of the right-wing military regime, with Ei-ling’s husband serving as a government minister. In 1942, charming, English-speaking May-ling was instrumental in winning international support for her husband Chiang’s nationalist government, although flight from his enemies also caused her to miscarry. Meanwhile Ei-ling and her husband profited from “colossally corrupt” sales to the regime both before and during the Second World War, eventually causing President Truman to denounce them as “thieves”. One of the great challenges for authors writing biographies is their relationship to their subjects. They risk either putting them on a pedestal and explaining away their foibles, or demonizing them and finding evil intent behind every action. Jung Chang has swung to both horns of this dilemma in the past. In Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, she interpreted the historical evidence to claim that rather than the hidebound reactionary she is often portrayed to be, Cixi was a progressive visionary who, had she not been thwarted, would have presided over a golden age of Chinese democracy. On the other hand, in Mao: The Unknown Story , Chang and co-author Jon Halliday so thoroughly and unskeptically demonized Mao that they achieved the unlikely effect of bringing sinologists to write a book about their book itself, Was Mao Really a Monster? The three sisters became a modern Chinese fairytale. They were much talked about and fanciful gossip about them was often passed around.An enjoyable take on China’s turbulent 20th-century history, seen through the revealing perspective of three women at the centre of power Andrea Janku, BBC History Once upon a time, a wealthy man lived in Shanghai with his devoutly Christian wife, with whom he had three sons and three daughters. The girls grew up to be educated, cultured and stylish, and their family’s money and status attracted many aspiring suitors. In an era when China was experiencing significant political upheaval, each sister married an influential man and secured her position at the top of society. Their selection of husbands appeared to crystallize an essential aspect of each woman’s character, as summed up by an oft-repeated saying: “One loved money, one loved power and one loved China.”

A remarkable story of war, communism and espionage related with nuanced sympathy... The lives of the three Song sisters – the subjects of Jung Chang’s spirited new book – are more than worthy of an operatic plot. Julia Lovell, Guardian While researching my book I discovered that there was a period between 1913 and 1928 when China was practising democracy – and people took to it with remarkable ease. So it’s not something completely alien to the Chinese. I’m holding my breath and waiting to see what happens. The girls did not know that their father had been secretly funding revolutionary Sun Yat-sen’s shambolic plans to overthrow the Qing dynasty. But when they returned to Shanghai in 1909 the sisters adhered to his cause and both Ei-ling and Ching-ling were courted by the man who became China’s first interim president and “Father of the Republic” in 1912. For a biography supposedly focussing on the three most famous women in Chinese history I found it strange that the initial chapters deal with men (Sun Yat-sen and the girls’ father). And this, I think, is the problem with the book. The sisters are viewed through the lens of their role relative to men, rather than in their own right. And so the book has become a history of Chinese politics and the roles the men in the sisters’ lives played, rather than a group biography of these three remarkable women.I suppose that's a matter of personal taste. Seagrave offers a more negative take on the Soong family while Chang is in turns neutral or complimentary. Chang also grew up in China during Mao's regime while Seagrave was a foreigner. Chang's book is also shorter and her writing style may appeal more to certain readers than others. So ultimately, I think both books have their good/bad sides. The lives, deeds, and triumphs of these three sisters are nothing less than phenomenal. And the fact that I – and likely countless others – had never even known of their existence is a crying shame. But Jung Chang is here to fix that. Through Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister she has proven the importance and consequence of women in revolutionary China. The three sisters also act as natural bridges, between historical periods as noted above, but also between different points of view – with Ching-ling as the Red Sister having a very different outlook on the world to Ei-Ling the Big Sister. And despite these differences in politics they managed to sustain a warm relationship between the three of them that is part of the charm of this book. Conclusion

But what we are not told is why people still followed his lead? Why did his opinion matter? What was it that made people listen to him? Without influence all these destructive dreams mean nothing. I am non the wiser after reading this account, but to say it was all Sun’s fault seems superficial to say the least. Red Sister, Ching-ling, married the ‘Father of China’, Sun Yat-sen, and rose to be Mao’s vice-chair. Little Sister, May-ling, became Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right. The main subjects of this intensely engaging historical biography are the three daughters of Charlie Soong: Ei-ling, Ching-ling, and May-ling. These three women left as great a mark on, and were as influential in the transformation of, China as any of China’s more famous male leaders (all of whom also play a key role in this book), and here Jung Chang brings them into the historical limelight where they belong.Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

As in her bestselling 1991 memoir Wild Swans, Chang uses a gripping and emotional personal story to draw Western readers into the history of China, a country in which her books are still banned and which she is only permitted to visit for 15 days a year, following the publication of her damning 2005 Mao biography (co-written with her husband Jon Halliday). This is an ambitious undertaking, pruning the eventful lives of these 3 women to fit into one book. Jung Chang takes this on and covers all the highlights. The book is easily readable. The presentation is neutral to positive. The sisters's loyalty to one another is stressed. In each of the marriages, the Soong sister appears to be the better partner.All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak. They remained close emotionally, even when they embraced opposing political camps and Ching-ling dedicated herself to destroying her two sisters' worlds. Given the three Soong sisters’ existence in the shadows of history, and the staggering might of the men they worked and lived alongside, it was narratively clever of Chang to replicate this tone in her own narrative through Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister.