Books on China
The Good Women of China by Xinran
Xinran tells the stories of a variety of Chinese women she encountered in the 1980s and 90s while she hosted a radio program “Words on the Night Breeze.” The show hosted anonymous women callers who simply recounted something about their lives, and the book tells some of the most poignant radio stories and others she wasn’t able to tell on the government-run station.
Describing how the Cultural Revolution, Communism, and Confucianism combined to create the experiences of the variety of women, Xinran rarely provides any moments of happiness; instead there are stories of incest, prostitution, and horribly uncomfortable sanitary napkins.
Xinran’s simple-voiced narration is not only about what each woman endured but it is also about her own growth from innocence as well as the growing disenchantment from her government and people; it is a book that could only be written by an expat (she wrote the book while living in London, where she continues to reside). It is her story that connects each of the others, and it is her story that makes the book far more than a collection.
Rating: 4.5 of 5
