Emine Saner
The Guardian
Xinran, the author who started off as a Chinese radio agony aunt. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
In 1989, she started presenting her radio show, Words on the Night Breeze, China's first agony aunt programme. Thousands of women contacted her to tell their stories, and for the first time women's voices and experiences were being heard – they told of rape, incest, violence and childhood abuse. "I discovered that women had no idea how to talk about themselves. In family tradition, in education, in society, even if you asked them, women had never talked about what happened in their own lives." The programmed turned Xinran into a successful broadcaster, but she felt constrained by the state and the demands of her job. She spent two years travelling around China, listening to the stories of more women, before leaving for the UK in 1997, where she worked as a cleaner and a waitress while she learned English. Her book, based on her research, the Good Women of China, was published in 2002 to acclaim, and she continues to write about women's stories. Xinran also set up a charity Mother Bridge of Love, to support British families who have adopted children, mainly girls, from China.
No comments:
Post a Comment