Xinran's story

For eight years, Xinran hosted an innovative call-in talk show for women in China, risking the wrath of the Communist Party. The first of it’s kind, her show Words on the Night Breeze won the trust of Chinese women, who told their stories to the nation for the first time. Here is her story of that time…

In 1989, Xinran changed the way evening radio was presented in China. In Words on the Night Breeze, her own radio show, Xinran discussed daily life in China – and received endless letters from women requesting her help. Discussing personal issues in the media was dangerous, but Xinran persisted regardless, feeling the dire need of her women listeners who were crying out for help. Fascinated and distressed by the stories that she read, Xinran made an official request to read some of the letters she received, during each program.

Six weeks later, Xinran’s request was accepted – on the condition that her readings only took ten minutes. Why such resistance ? Well, in 1983, after 40 years of internal strife, Chinese authorities began to ‘open up’ China. Until that time, the media was strictly controlled by the Communist Party. The only information available to the public was heavily censored and presented in identical monotones. This meant local officials had no power, and all requests were made to the Party. But Xinran persisted with her mission to gain an insight into the lives of everyday Chinese women, and changed the way radio was presented in the process.

The stories that Xinran heard were incredibly heartwrenching. Many stories were recorded on studio phones, by women who could not leave their names, for their personal safety. Xinran was forbidden to broadcast some stories – the truth was considered too dangerous or destructive by the Party. Through her compassion and persistence, Xinran touched the lives of many Chinese women, and was regarded as an inspiration.

One of the stories recorded by Xinran and outlined in her book The Good Women of China, is included below.

One particular woman (who could not state her name), told how women of her time were taught the ‘Three submissions and four virtues’:

• Submission to your father, then your husband, then your son; and
• The virtues of fidelity, physical charm, propriety in speech and action, and diligence in housework.

However, this woman was fortunate to be brought up by parents who had a broader view of society. But they were unable to stop her from joining the Revolution. A few months after she had joined the ranks, her outgoing personality was brought to the attention of Party officials. And on her eighteenth birthday they asked if she would like to join the Party.

She accepted with enthusiasm and was immediately given an unstated ‘mission to fulfill’. Two days later, her unknown ‘mission’ was accomplished, when she was married off to a Party official. This women told her story 40 years after her wedding day, still married to the same official. She cannot leave him for fear of retribution, and has neither love nor respect from her husband or children. Having concluded her story, this women said that she felt lighter as she had been able to speak out without fear.

It was stories such as these, and other cruelties and previously unheard truths, that Xinran's radio show brought out. Her show touched the lives of many women, who had lived in repression for decades and Xinran's radio show was their first and only outlet for their fear and frustration.

But the stories that Xinran heard through her radio show were often not allowed to be published. And her health suffered as a result of the conflict between what she knew and what she was permitted to say. So in 1997, Xinran moved to England to find out what it was like to live in a free society.

An inspired woman, Xinran continues to touch many women’s lives, and has saved more than one. Through her hard work, she has gained a significant public profile and extensive social network. Xinran continues to educate the western world about the mysteries of Chinese women's lives and culture and in doing so, bringing the east into the hearts of western women.

She is also the founder of The Mothers Bridge of Love (MBL), which strives to introduce an authentic China to the West and disseminate information about adopted Chinese children’s lives, and the lives of overseas Chinese in the West to people in China.