From Princess to a Rich Family's Daughter

Xiao FengLiaohai Publishing House · ChinaJan 2017

Rating 3.5
Word count
67K words
Chapters
19
ISBN
9787545104325

Tags

Foreign Literature Touching PlotRoyal StoriesTruth Goodness BeautyLight ReadingDreamlike ToneFable TalePopular NarrativeWomen's ImageFemale PerspectiveYouth Reading

Summary

The fairy-tale kingdom is a dazzling kaleidoscope. In those beautifully simple and delightfully enchanting tales, some hold profound truths of life, rich in philosophy and thought-provoking; some reflect the realities of society, exposing darkness and lashing out at evil; and some reveal the mysteries of nature, broadening knowledge and opening up new horizons.

Editor's review

From Princess to Daughter of Privilege is a work of documentary literature that examines family fate and the shifting identity of women within a specific Chinese historical context. With a calm, restrained touch, the author Xiao Feng traces three generations of women in one family—from a noble lady of the late Qing aristocracy to a New China intellectual and then to an urban woman after Reform and Opening—constructing a century-spanning microhistorical landscape. The book's value lies not only in recording individual fates but in revealing how changes in social institutions profoundly reshaped the cultural meaning of 'woman' as an identity and the strategies for survival attached to it. Particularly compelling is its analysis of the social expectations, family duties, and personal choices carried by the terms 'princess' and 'daughter of privilege'; they are no longer simple labels of bloodline but complex symbols woven from power, cultural capital, and the tides of the times. Reading this book, one feels a plain strength detached from grand narratives. Xiao Feng's account avoids cheap sentimentality or sensationalism, instead letting individual voices from the dust of history re-emerge through the intertextuality of letters, diaries, oral accounts, and other primary sources. It offers a rare footnote for understanding contemporary Chinese social structure, family ethics, and even our own cultural coordinates.

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Reading tips

  1. Read alongside similarly themed works such as Death of a Woman Wang and Ye: A Chinese Family in a Century of Turmoil for a more three-dimensional sense of history.
  2. Note the subtle shifts in the definitions of 'upbringing,' 'duty,' and 'freedom' across different eras; this is key to understanding the theme.
  3. The book's pace is quiet and narrative; it suits immersive reading in an uninterrupted stretch of time so as to appreciate the depth created by its time span.

About the publisher

Liaohai Publishing House China · Founded in 1996

Liaohai Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for textbooks and the collation of ancient works. Its publishing scope covers state-approved textbooks, local curriculum materials, supplementary educational books, and national and local ancient-text compilation projects, while also extending into humanities fields such as Eastern philosophy. Its catalog contains about 4,694 titles, with representative works including the multi-volume Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), and its author resources include classic writers and works such as Sima Qian and Confucius. Grounded in educational publishing and the transmission of traditional culture, the press maintains sustained investment in ancient-text collation, forming a publishing profile that balances textbooks and scholarship. Due to limited public information, its more specific publishing directions and features require further supplementation.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 前 言
  3. 白雪公主
  4. 睡美人公主
  5. 孔雀公主
  6. 瑟拉公主
  7. 善良公主
  8. 快乐公主
  9. 海石榴花公主
  10. 霞 公 主
  11. 青蛙公主
  12. 黛图公主
  13. 豌豆公主
  14. 淘气小公主
  15. 贝拉公主
  16. 凯瑟琳公主
  17. 美人鱼公主
  18. 苏珊娜公主
  19. 鸟儿公主

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a work of history? It is nonfiction documentary literature. The author based it on in-depth family archives and interviews; the core figures and events have real-world foundations, though it employs literary narrative techniques.
What exactly does the contrast between 'princess' and 'daughter of privilege' refer to? 'Princess' mainly refers to women from the late Qing to the Republic of China who relied on hereditary aristocratic status and old-style family ethics; 'daughter of privilege' refers more to women after 1949, especially in the context of Reform and Opening, who rely on family economic and cultural capital but must find their own place in a new era. The contrast reveals women's difficult transition from 'bearers of status' to 'operators of capital.'
What is the background of the author Xiao Feng? Xiao Feng is a writer and scholar long engaged in oral history and family history research. Her writing is mostly based on archival excavation and in-depth interviews; her style combines scholarly rigor with literary appeal, and she excels at sketching the silhouette of an era through family stories.

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About the author

Xiao Feng Author · China · 1926–2001

Xiao Feng (1926–2001) was born in Pinglu, Shanxi, and graduated from the Department of Chinese Literature at Peking University in 1946. He worked as a reporter and editor for China Youth Publishing House and the magazine Traveler, taught at Renmin University of China and Beijing Normal University, later served as deputy editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief, and joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1984. He co-edited works such as A Comprehensive Guide to Chinese Tourism, Fifty Famous Travel Essays, and Beautiful China, and published hundreds of essays, travel pieces, and literary reviews. His works span inspirational growth, classic literature, and prose miscellany. The library holds over a thousand of his titles, including selected editions of Lu Xun's works and Les Misérables. Public information is limited, but his writing and editorial work were aimed at general readers and helped popularize classics and promote prose and travel writing.