The Chang sisters lived through a period of astounding change and into the twenty-first century. Unusual opportunities and an extraordinary family education launched them into varied worlds--those of the theater, modern literature, classical studies, and calligraphy--but their collective experience offers a cohesive portrait of a land in transition.

The true story of four sisters born between 1907 and 1914 in China, Four Sisters of Hofei is an intimate encounter with history. The Chang sisters lived through a period of astounding change and into the twenty-first century. Unusual opportunities and an extraordinary family education launched them into varied worlds--those of the theater, modern literature, classical studies, and calligraphy--but their collective experience offers a cohesive portrait of a land in transition.

With the benefit of letters, diaries, poetry, and interviews, writer and historian Annping Chin shapes the Chang sisters' stories into a composite history steeped in Chinas artistic tradition and intertwined with the political unrest and social revolutions of the twentieth century.

Acknowledgments

The Chang Family

Prologue

Chapter 1: The wedding

Chapter 2: Birth

Chapter 3: Reasons for Moving

Chapter 4: The Hofei Spirit

Chapter 5: Grandmother

Chapter 6: Mother

Chapter 7: Father

Chapter 8: The'school

Chapter 9: Nurse.Nannies

Chapter 10: Yuan-ho

Chapter 11: Yun-ho

Chapter 12: Chao-ho

Chapter 13: Chung-ho

A Note on Sources

Notes

Bibliography

Index