Bestselling author of a memoir wild swan The book was banned in mainland China, but sold millions of copies worldwide and was awarded a CBE at Windsor Castle.

Recognized for her contributions to literature and history, Jung Chang is the author of several international bestsellers, including one based on the experiences and oppression of three generations of women in 20th-century communist China.

Her autobiographical book was first published in 1991 Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, been translated into dozens of languages, and won the 1993 British Book Award for Book of the Year.

The book, which recounts the lives of her grandmother, mother and herself, was banned in China for its harrowing account of growing up in China under Mao Zedong.

Dr. Zhang, who left China to study in the UK 45 years ago, previously said independent She was “extremely grateful” to be awarded a CBE in the New Year.

She said: “I am extremely honored to be awarded a CBE for services to literature and history. I am very grateful to the UK for this recognition and for allowing me to make my home here.

“I think this honor is also a thank you to my mother, my other family members, and all the Chinese people who helped me research and write The Wild Swans, Mao Zedong, and other major biographies of modern China. I would like to thank my motherland.”

She was born in 1952 into a family of Communist Party officials. She and her family were originally supporters of Mao Zedong and lived a comfortable life. Dr. Zhang chose to become a Red Guard when she was 14 years old.

However, her parents opposed Mao’s policies after the Great Leap Forward to modernize China’s economy led to famine, and were later targeted during the Cultural Revolution, during which Dr. Zhang refused to take part in attacks on her teachers.

Dr. Zhang previously said of growing up under cultural scrutiny Observer Network: “Being a writer is the most dangerous profession. I wrote my first poem when I was 16 and then destroyed it. When I was 16 or 17 and spreading manure in the rice fields, I kept writing in my head.

“In my hometown, there was a black market selling banned books. My 13-year-old brother was very entrepreneurial. He made money by trading Mao Zedong badges and used it to buy books, which he then hid in holes he dug in the garden. inside.”

After her parents were denounced by the authorities and jailed in the 1970s, Dr. Zhang said her respect for Mao was destroyed and she feigned grief during the mourning for Mao’s death that broke out in 1976.

The author left China in 1978 and studied abroad in London and York, becoming the first person in the People’s Republic of China to receive a doctorate from a British university.

Dr. Zhang also received critical acclaim for her 800-page biography of Mao Zedong, co-authored with her husband, the Irish historian Jon Halliday, and published in 2005. While conducting research, they interviewed hundreds of people who knew the leader and sold 60,000 copies in the first month alone.

Among other things, she has written books on the lives of Empress Dowager Cixi, who led China from 1861 until her death in 1908, and the Soong sisters, one of China’s most important political figures of the early 20th century.