For eight ground-breaking years, Xinran Xue hosted a daily radio phone in programme for Radio Nanjing during which she discussed women's lives, and invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Broadcast between 10 and 12 at night, "Words on the Night Breeze" soon became famous all over China for its powerful, honest discussions of what it means to be a woman in today's China. It started in 1990, a time when China seemed to be opening up, both for Chinese and for the world. Xinran's programme revealed aspects of women's lives that had never been talked about in public before. She felt as if she was opening a tiny window into a huge fortress whose inhabitants had never before communicated with the outside world. Soon she was receiving over two hundred letters a day from women telling her their stories. She realised that she knew far less than she had thought about what it means to be a Chinese woman and embarked on a journey of discovery to collect their stories. The stories presented here of almost inconceivable suffering rape, sexual abuse, the separation of parents from their children, the suppression of human emotion in order to survive the Communist regime never before have the tortured souls of Chinese women been laid so bare. And yet this is also a book about love, about how, despite cruelty, despite politics, the female urge to nurture and cherish remains. And then there is Xinran herself: an extraordinary woman who, despite her own unhappy past, has given her life to saving the stories of Chinese women from oblivion. 'This is a book from deep in the heart of China. As shocking as it is revealing. An extraordinary and eye-opening read.' - Jon Snow. 'Xinran's 'Good Women of China' are all strong, strikingly resourceful characters who offer unforgettable insights into the past and present of Chinese women's lives.' - "The Times". '"The Good Women of China" demands attention.' - "Observer". '[Xinran] writes compassionately but unsentimentally, dramatising the stories like gripping fiction.' - "Daily Mail".
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Born in China in 1958, Xinran suffered a very difficult childhood during the Cultural Revolution. She became a journalist in the late 80s, when the Chinese radio was looking for educated people to run broadcasting. She is very well known in China, where her radio phone-in programme became an institution.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
get out the hankies,
By RS "globlctizn" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Good Women of China (Paperback)
If you are not moved by this collection of true stories, check your pulse and your breathing. Our author was the first ever woman radio talk show host in China. She piloted a first ever late-night "live" call-in program dedicated only to women's issues (a subject that was more or less ignored in China prior to the 1990's).
Each chapter is a separate true story of the pain and suffering of life for women, under the dictatorship of the "beloved Chairman Mao". Most are from letters written in by listeners or calls made into the live broadcast. One chapter is on the author's own reflections of her life. Written after getting out of China (she now lives in England) in a frank, simple, open and honest style (translated brilliantly from Chinese) each chapter opens up layer upon layer of sexual abuse, torment and feminine tragedy. Easy to read, hard to put down and impossible to forget... I hope all my children will read this book to better understand this truly foreign culture and what they have gone through to get to where they are now. Reading this book has helped me better understand some of the complexities of the Chinese culture, at least from a "recent historical" point of view, both masculine and feminine. Great stories by a brave author. I'm sure this book is not available in any bookstore in China! Maybe one day....
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing book!,
By Ellen E. "A busy mom" (Zeeland, MI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Good Women of China (Paperback)
This is an amazing book! I have 2 daughters adopted from China, and I read anything I can get my hands on, that are REAL stories, that perhaps someday I can answer the hard questions that I'm sure they are going to have. I passed this book on to family members after I was done - just amazed by the stories!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Good Women of China,
By rimorton (New York) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Good Women of China (Paperback)
Absolutely amazing fascinating true stories of the hardships and courage of women in China as told to a radio talk show host.
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