The subject of the 2024-25 sixth form essay prize is “Jung Chang and the Cultural Revolution”.

We are delighted to announced that Jung Chang herself will present the prizes at the awards ceremony next year.

Jung Chang’s book, Wild Swans, was an international sensation when it was published and has sold over 13 million copies around the world.  The book tells much of the story of modern China through the lives of her grandmother, her mother and herself. She herself became a Red Guard but became sickened by what she was expected to do. Her mother was paraded in the streets and made to walk on her knees on broken grass.

The competition is to write an essay in which the experiences of her family and the overall story of the Cultural Revolution are both told.

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