Xinran Xinran - What the Chinese Dont Eat

XINRAN

The Collected Guardian Columns

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Published by Vintage 2006

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Copyright Xinran 2006

Xinran has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

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These columns were first published in the Guardian newspaper between 2nd June 2003 and 9th September 2005

This book is published in association with Guardian Books. Guardian Books is an imprint of Guardian Newspapers Limited. The Guardian is a registered trademark of Guardian Media Group plc.

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by Vintage

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ISBN 9780099501527 (from Jan 2007) ISBN 009950152X

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WHAT THE CHINESE DONT EAT

Xinran was born in Beijing in 1958 and was a successful journalist and radio presenter in China. In 1997 she moved to London, where she began work on her seminal book about Chinese womens lives, The Good Women of China, which has become an international bestseller. Her most recent book is Sky Burial.

ALSO BY XINRAN

The Good Women of China Sky Burial

The first time I came across the Guardian was in the 1970s in a foreign media research textbook. A tiny note followed the introduction: The Guardian is a left-wing newspaper, considered one of the top ten anti-Communist papers. The Chinese media did, nevertheless, use the occasional article from the Guardian to illustrate their disapproval of Margaret Thatchers foreign policy, including the Falklands War.

The Guardian was also on a forbidden media list at the radio station I worked at from 1989 to 1997. The list told us which western newspapers would attack China and should never be believed. Therefore I never thought that I, a Chinese woman though admittedly one brought up with a flak-jacket to defend the Guardian and its influence would ever have the opportunity to write a fortnightly column in this newspaper for more than two years.

What have I really liked about being a columnist for the Guardian? Its a hard question to answer; in the same way as its difficult to know why I love cheese when most Chinese people dont. The first thing that comes to my mind is the impression that I got from the restaurants where the Guardian staff took me for lunch. These restaurants were not very grand which matched my level of writing; they were not snooty a Chinese woman was always treated as a welcome guest; they were European, but comfortable with different cultures they were keen for me to write about the differences with China; and they all offered unforgettable tastes and Ive always loved my food. Every meal replenished my energy for digging into my Chinese thoughts.

The second thing is to do with the male readers of my column. Since the publication of my books, The Good Women of China and Sky Burial, in over thirty languages, I have met so many female readers and admirers but not many male ones. Men dont read books by women, I have been constantly told all over the world. Why? Because most men believe only women with nothing else to do housewives and prostitutes, for instance have time to write books. I was also told that men prefer reading papers. This last idea rings true, judging by the responses Ive had from my column, many more of which have come from men than from women. The first person to suggest I publish my columns together as a book was a British man. Also, the only two people I know who collected all of them are an Australian businessman in Beijing and a German journalist in Hamburg. Obviously this has been a real chance for me to learn what men think about Chinese culture.

The third thing I have liked is to do with the responses of some of the 100,000 families around the world who have adopted Chinese daughters.

Dear Xinran,

My daughter is seven. I adopted her when she was three. All I know is that she was abandoned at 18 months in Chengdu. For every child who finds a home, there are so many left behind. I think of what life will be like for the girls who grow up in institutions. And I always think of my daughters birth mother and wonder if she has a huge hole in her heart through having to live without this wonderful child. I cant even imagine the collective sorrow all these birth mothers must feel.

Did you ever interview any of these women who were forced to give up children because of the one child law? Is there any possibility of writing their stories? I know all of our Chinese daughters will one day be searching for answers.

Some families also sent videos to me with their adopted daughters questions:

Why my Chinese mum didnt want me?

Does my Chinese mum miss me?

What is Chinese culture? Why people say it is take-way? Is it true?

So, apart from digging out my answers for them in my writing and my interviews in China between 1989 and 1997 when I was a radio presenter in Henan and Jiangsu, I also set up the Mothers Bridge of Love, a charity which tries to bridge the gap between China and rest of the world, between the culture of ones birthplace and ones home, between rich and poor. I quickly became a builder with a lot of hard labour to perform, carrying books to family events, raising money and even holding costumes during performances of Chinese dance.

Each column I wrote provoked more questions and stories from my readers, driving me on to the next. One of my earliest columns started with how I got the first western kiss on my face from my students at London University. My writing is based on my own experiences and views, which have been weathered by Chinese traditional culture and modern China. I have written about what the Chinese dont eat; why we see washing feet every day as so important; how the Chinese fish philosophy really helped my life choices; how my Chinese knowledge and language is lost in a fast-changing motherland; my conversations with a wild-flower seller at Xian about the punishments of opening the Terracotta Warriors; the football craziness at my radio station and home; and what makes a good woman in mens eyes. I have also written about many of my interviews with Chinese women; about how some tried to commit suicide; how some of them are struggling with modern life including how to see sex; and how some still treat Mao as a Chinese God.