In 1999, Radio Netherlands broadcast a series of 12 programmes telling the story of the 20th century through famous books. In each programme, a guest speaker gives us the historical background behind the story in the book and tells us about the actual events that inspired it.
In the award-winning book “Wild Swans”, published in 1991, author Jung Chang tells the personal histories of three generations of Chinese women: her grandmother, her mother and herself. This best-selling real-life narrative recounts the drama of life and survival in 20th-century China from the Manchu dynasty to Mao and modernism.
The guest speaker is professor Ross Terrill, an Australian historian and Research Associate of Chinese Studies at Harvard University.
Producer: Jane Murphy
Broadcast: 1999