Fly, Wild Swans is the long-awaited sequel to Jung Chang’s global bestseller Wild Swans, the book that defined a generation. Where Wild Swans told the story of three women across a century of revolution, this new work reveals what happened after Chang left China and began a new life in the United Kingdom.

Writer and journalist Veerle De Vos in conversation with Jung Chang on her life and work.

In 1978, at age 26, Jung Chang arrived in Britain as part of a Chinese scholarship program. Dropped into the London of punk, protest, and Ziggy Stardust, she felt as though she had landed on another planet. This journey opened the door to her future as a celebrated academic and writer—though it meant years of separation from her family.

In Fly, Wild Swans, Chang reflects on her relationship with her mother, her research into Mao’s regime, and the political repercussions of publishing her work. Set against China’s shifting landscape—from the relative openness of the late 1970s to the current authoritarian era under Xi Jinping—the book offers a powerful and deeply personal portrait of life under dictatorship and China’s evolving role on the world stage.