The Good Women Of China: Hidden Voices
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Xinran's The Good Women of China continues the tradition of Chinese women writing in recent years. Jung Chang, in Wild Swans, and Aiping Mu, in Vermilion Gate, for example, have written of the effect of recent Chinese history on themselves and their families. However, both of these books, and others like them, have been by women from the upper echelons of Chinese society. What of ordinary Chinese women? How are their voices to be heard?
Xinran worked for eight years as a well-known presenter at a Chinese radio station. As a public figure, she received many letters. Most of them were from women. Moved by the stories she was hearing in the letters, she decided to go in search of more of the truths about Chinese women's lives. What she found was terrible suffering; women who had endured lengthy sexual abuse during the Cultural Revolution, women whose wretched poverty was made more miserable by the dictates of a male-centred society, women who had had their children taken from them or who had lost them in earthquakes and other natural disasters. And, amid all the suffering, she found their capacity to endure and somehow survive.
Xinran is not a diffident or modest journalist. The reader gets to hear quite a lot of people in the course of her book, telling her how honest and humane and famous she is. This is, unsurprisingly, exasperating. However, someone more modest, and with a less robust sense of her own importance and the importance of what she was doing, would not have gathered the material that she has done. She would not have gone to those places she needed to go in order to record the stories in her book. The voices of the many women to whom she listened would not have been heard. --Nick Rennision --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Jon Snow
‘This is a book from deep in the heart of China. As shocking as it is revealing…An extraordinary and eye-opening read’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
70 of 73 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An utterly compelling book, of the experiences of Chinese women, during the cultural revolution of China. No feminist ear bashing, the author communicates with incredible depth and clarity of feeling, the experiences of the women she knew. Not for the feint hearted, this book will stir deep emotion in you. The best book I have read in 20 years.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have recently had the joy of reading 'The Good Women of China' and as a Chinese woman myself I feel I have been educated through the eyes of the women who tell their stories. I have found myself to identify with the harsh realities of my culture. This book is not only about Chinese women as some people might consider, since this book may seem to only serve as a shock factor. It only brings to light what happens not only in China but around the world. The fact that the Chinese culture is to simply hide all emotion makes the difference. This book is truly an inspiration and yet the sadness lies in the fact that the people who these stories unfortunately belong to probably no longer know the meaning of that word.
121 of 127 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Absolutely wonderful. Xinrans encounters with these incredible women are etched in my heart forever. The girl who kept a fly for a pet and the mothers who endured an earthquake broke my heart. Xinran has brought to life the experiences of many very different women during the chinese cultural revolution with such vibrancy that I can still hear and see them now, several weeks after reading the book. Unputdownable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Moving, astonishing, heart-breaking
I picked up 'The Good Women of China' on impulse, not knowing anything about it or its author but I am so glad I read it. Read more
Published 17 months ago by D. Wilson
Some of the strongest people in the world
It's amazing how public radio can allow private issues to be discussed anonymously. Xinran has tapped a vein, and the story she unleashes is huge. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Brian Griffith
One of my favourite books ever!
This is a very well written book. It is a shocking, humbleing, thought provoking, unforgetable, captivating yet inspiring and emotional read that encourages strengh and optimism. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Lindsey
So sad
I read this book, and it was heartbreaking. It is so sad the way people are treated in other parts of the world. It made me cry. I would certainly recommend it to others.
Published on 27 Oct 2009 by Pauline Horner
Something different....
Have read a couple of Xinran's other offerings recently (Chopsticks and Sky Burial - both recommended), and have enjoyed this as much as I did the others (although I am hesitant to... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2009 by A. Worrall
Utterly absorbing!
Well, I started this book with the intention of reading a few chapters however 5 hours later I have finished it and loved it! Read more
Published on 8 July 2009 by J. Gibson
Learn about China from a woman's perspective
What I didn't know about China I know now. Xinran is showing what the cultural revolution and communism have done to the people - and specifically the women of China. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2009 by Lou Ice
Unforgettable
The Good Women of China begins with a prologue that ends with this phrase: "When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches,... Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2008 by Adriana Paun
touching
I've never had a problem getting into Xinrans' books, i first read this when i was quite young, some parts horrified me and made me cry but only because i was abused too and yet... Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2008 by C. S. Richardson
One of the best books I've ever read
The premise and the prologue are intriguing, and the rest of the book thoroughly delivers. Xinran Xue tells the stories of several women, as diverse in social and economic... Read more
Published on 20 April 2007 by A. E. Thomas
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