This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran negotiated the minefield of restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists to reach out to women across the country. Through the vivid intimacy of her writing, these women confide in the reader, sharing their deepest secrets. Whether they are the privileged wives of party leaders or peasants in a forgotten corner of the countryside, they tell of almost inconceivable suffering: forced marriages, sexual abuse, separation of parents from their children, extreme poverty. But they also talk about love -- about how, despite cruelty, despite politics, the urge to nurture and cherish remains. Their stories changed Xinran’s understanding of China forever. Her book will reveal the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.

REVIEW QUOTES

"These are stories that must be read. The lives of these anonymous women are so moving that when I finished reading their stories I felt my soul had been altered. This is a rare collection of testimonies that show the scale of our humanity, both good and bad, wondrous and horrific. The voices are poetic in their simplicity and honesty. I feel privileged and humbled to have been witness to the lives of these good women." -- Amy Tan

“Mao said, ‘Women hold up half of heaven.’ Sadly, this remarkable book demonstrates that he was wrong. Women in China actually hold up half of hell. Xinran has written the first realistic portrayal of women in China. Read it, and weep.” -- Jan Wong, author of Red China Blues and Jan Wong’s China

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Xinran was born in 1958. After a career in the army, she became a journalist in the late 1980s, working as a radio broadcaster and as head of Jiangsu Broadcasting Television. A professor of psychology, Xinran now lives in England.

AWARDS

Nominee 2002 - Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize