the long and winding road...

BOOK REVIEW:

The Good Women of China by Xinran Xue

Just finished reading this book last night. I started it a while back and was reading it a little at a time. It was my "work" book meaning I would read it while I waited for my opponents to show up. The reason I mention this is that I think it would have been better read more consistently.

The book was written by a woman who was a journalist of some acclaim in Beijing who did a radio broadcast addressing the issues and lives of women. The stories are heartwrenching and surreal in that the lives that many of these women have led are so far removed from my own that its somewhat difficult to connect to them. Interestingly, no matter how troublesome the facts of these women's lives, the author presents them with great respect and intentionally avoids portraying them as victims or people in need of pity.

The final chapter tells the story of the women of Shouting Hill circa 1995. Shouting Hill is described as being located in a very remote and exceptionally poor area of China where water is scarce and some have never seen a car. The women of this area are treated as work horses whose primary purpose is to bear male heirs and care for their husbands. After giving birth to a son they were treated to a "feast" of a single egg mixed with sugar and water. No such prize awaited the women who gave birth to a daughter. This area was so poor that the families did not have enough clothing for all the children. Male children had a set of clothes but daughters were required to share a single set of outerwear forcing them to only go out of the house in shifts. In this village the men described conjugal relations as "using" their wives. Some poorer families could not afford a wife for each son so they shared a single wife, "using" her in turn in hopes of her giving birth to a son each year.

The story of the women of Shouting Hill is absolutely bizarre. What is even more strange is that the author is describing the lifestyle of these women in 1995 and not 1595!

I so wonder what has happened in this little village in the last 12 years since the author's visit. Have the lives of these women improved? Are the little girls the author met then now living lives where they are being passed around as a shared wife? We know of course that China is exploding but has that explosion reached remote Shouting Hill? Are these women still being treated as cattle? I googled but couldn't find any additional information.

I cannot say I enjoyed this book, rather it is more accurate to say that I'm glad that I read it and I would recommend it to others. The stories are so sad and yet the women seem very accepting that their lives were what they were. They don't seem to harbor anger over their mistreatments and often seemed to distance themselves from their own story. I, on the other hand, am haunted by them.

(5 stars)