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There are currently 23 member reviews
for Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden
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Darrell W. (Hillsboro, OR)
Separated By War
Can two sisters close in childhood but separated by civil war sustain a warm bond and be reunited after decades living miles apart? Zhuqing Li's novelesque writing style and thoroughly researched history provides the answer. Li portrays the careers of two powerful intelligent Chinese sisters, one in Nationalistic Taiwan, the other in the developing Communistic mainland of China. Opposing political ideologies and family values are compared and contrasted through the lives of the sisters. A scholarly political narrative becomes an engrossing story. A search for family unity lives in hopes and dreams. Author Li skillfully weaves the sisters' individual strengths within the political realities. She highlights their constant confrontations with chauvinistic systems. I am humbled by the sisters' battle with societal forces when compared to my comfortable life contemporary with their lives. Readers will be treated to a profound lesson in history and a compelling story of family love and loyalty.
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Lynne B. (Newmarket, NH)
Two Sisters of China
This enthralling story of two sisters Jun and Hong reads like a novel but is a true story of the Chen family over 40 years of Chinese history. The author Zhuqing Li relates the events in the lives of primarily her two aunts and the disastrous turn their lives take during the Chinese Civil War which left one sister choosing a future in the medical field and supporting the Communist Chinese while the other sister becomes an educator and supporter of the Nationalists on Taiwan. The family remaining in mainland China soon found that their survival would depend on disowning the sister on Taiwan. If you enjoy a story of women who survive against dire oppression and rise up to provide strength to others then this book will appeal. I also found that I was learning a great deal about a time and place in history that I have not seen covered in memoirs such as this. This is an important personal recounting of the Chinese history that brought about the splitting of China and Taiwan and will certainly provide understanding as we face the uncertainties of that situation in our present time.
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