Jung Chang: ‘If I went back to China, I could be thrown in prison’

• Jung Chang and Wild Swans: I can’t risk going back to China My mother was once forced to kneel on broken glass. I remember helping my grandma use tweezers to pull out the fragments of glass. My mother was under tremendous pressure to denounce my father. She refused. As a result, she went through dozens of ghastly denunciation meetings. The victims were forced to stand on a stage, their arms were ferociously twisted backwards, their heads were pushed down, and they were kicked and beaten. But my mother still refused. She was an incredibly brave woman. I was enraged…