Jung, the author of Wild Swans, was born in Sichuan in the Southwest of China in 1952. The daughter of two local communist officials, Jung grew up during the Great Famine and worked in the Himalayas as a barefoot doctor, a peasant, a steelworker and an electrician. 

In 1976, Jung travelled to the UK and studied at Ealing College of Higher Education, one of UWL’s predecessor institutions. Since then, she has completed a PhD at York University and enjoyed a successful academic career at SOAS, authoring several books on the history of modern China. 

During their conversation, Jung remarked on how much smarter Ealing is now than it was when she arrived in the 1970s. She also shared her belief that “Truth is stranger than fiction. Writing nonfiction gives you the richness of real life, and the details that fiction cannot always provide.” 

Alongside the in-conversation, Jung and the Vice-Chancellor handed out the 2024 alumni awards. The winners were: 

• Recent Graduate Award: Gaia Pellegrino, a psychology and criminology graduate who works with children with ADHD and autism across the world. 
• Alumni Entrepreneur Award: Meji Alabi, renowned Grammy-award winning Nigerian-British director. 
• Inspirational Alumni Award: Andy Doe, the youngest ever Chief Executive of a multinational label group and civil servant working with the RNLI to coordinate major search and rescue missions. 
• Spirit of the Alumni Award: Cathie Wallace, a long-term donor and supporter of the university who lectured at UWL for twenty years. 

Nicola Conway, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, said:

The Alumni Awards are always a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the fantastic achievements of our graduate community, and we were very honoured to have Jung Chang join us to share her remarkable story. 

She is a true testament to just how far an education at UWL can take you.”

• Learn more about UWL's alumni community