The historical need for feminism in China
The first of the Three Daughters is part of the Old China, where women were made to wrap their feet from infancy almost, to prevent the girls' feet from becoming big; according to fashion, big-footed women were not considered attractive, so in a desperate attempt to marry away their daughter to a good family (for financial reasons), Chinese families destroyed the feet of the girls in China by wrapping them tightly and restricting their growth. Also, this novel depicts the author's grandmother and her awkward, humiliating relationship to her owner, who buys her from her father as a concubine. The fact that in this story, women are literally owned as slaves in this way shows the historical need for women's rights movements in China.
The Communist party and Chinese politics
Of course, this novel treats the issue of Chinese Communism. Although Chang's mother was in the Red Army, Chang herself writes against Mao Zedong, and she frames her mother's participation in its gory, brutal truth. Her mother was made to walk herself across China to train with the Army, causing her a miscarriage. Then, when the tides shift again in China, Chang is forced to watch another government injustice take place; her parents are dragged into the street and publicly tortured, to be made into examples.
Escape, freedom, and hope
Although China was brutal on Chang's family, she says that she does return occasionally to visit. It isn't that she hates China (although she was very happy when Mao Zedong died), but rather, she feels that China's legal system is overly involved, and ultimately, she finds that escaping the tyrannical eye of Chinese Communism is necessary in establishing some kind of hope for life. The family she comes from has seen the worst of Chinese corruption, so Chang is both pained to leave, but also hopeful for a good life in England.
