China's Lost Girls
Tal
January 23, 2010, 02:19 AM posted in General Discussion
A fascinating and deeply moving article by Xinran appears in today's Guardian.
Xuē Xīnrán (薛欣然) is a British-Chinese journalist and broadcaster, born in Beijing in 1958.
Her best known work to date is perhaps The Good Women of China (中国的好女人们), which is a collection of true stories about the lives of Chinese women, gathered mainly from her time as the host of a radio show in China called 'Words on the Night Breeze'.
Her blog (in English) also makes interesting reading, and this piece in The Independent is also of interest.
If you want to read about her in Chinese, Radio Netherlands has this brief interview. A longer one can be found here.
jckeith
January 23, 2010, 03:53 AMIncredible. Thanks for sharing.
Keth
January 23, 2010, 07:54 AMXinran is correct when she says it is time for us to say how much we have not learned and start to change things. This week alone there have been 3 cases in the news. 2 boys of 10yrs and 11yrs have been jailed for horrific crimes. It is difficult not to conclude that if their home had been a loving one they might have turned our very differently. Or the mother jailed for 3 years for torturing her son. She made everybody believe he was sick when in fact there was nothing wrong with him. The parents in the Midlands who are on trial for starving their daughter to death.
This failure to see what is happening all around us is not just a Chinese problem, but one faced in countries around the world.
sibuliao
January 23, 2010, 01:39 PMI think this report exaggerate the truth. I am a chinese .
xiaophil
Hi sibuliao! You said 'I think', so is that a feeling, or do you have evidence that the truth here has been exaggerated? Can you tell us what part(s) you think were exaggerated?
sibuliao
诚实地讲，中国确实存在这种骇人听闻的事件，作为一个中国人，我听了也感到十分震惊！但这并不代表大多数中国人，我自己也是个女孩子，22岁，在南京上大学，我的家乡就住在江苏以北的城市，我的妈妈和爸爸非常爱我，我们家里只有我一个女孩子，在中国的22年里，我没有感到一丝的男女性别歧视，我们是平等的。中国从“封闭文化”到“完全开放的文化”需要一个很长的过程，任何国家从“贫穷”到“富裕“都不能避免这个过程，我们要把注意力放在“重男轻女”这种现象在减少，在慢慢消失，随着中国社会的进步！
我个人觉得，这样大言不惭的说中国重男轻女是不负责任的，这样会给外国人一个错觉，中国重男轻女的现象很严重！而且中国在慢慢改革，我们80后出生的年轻人如果是独生子的话，以后结婚可以允许有2个孩子！
如果有更多的关于中国的问题，可以发Email给我，我正在努力的学英语和法语，我在寻找language partner，我很高兴成为朋友！
Tal
sibuliao
It's true that Xinran's stories come mostly from China's recent past and that China is changing. But the things she speaks of are still relevant I think. In the west, it's a commonly held belief that we must be aware of and try to understand history, so that we can make the future different.
Moreover, China is still mostly a peasant society, isn't it? 大多数中国人还是农民，对吧？Is it possible to believe that the attitudes towards female babies Xinran describes, 那个农民的“重男轻女”,has disappeared after only 20 to 30 years?
Right now China is certainly becoming a more affluent country, but this new wealth is concentrated in the cities, in the hands of relatively few. My own great fear is that history will repeat itself in China when the current boom comes to an end. In my view economic growth based on a western capitalist model is unsustainable (不能维持的). When it ends, what then?
cqwuxioalong
不对中国现在已经变了，什么类型的人都有了，就连西方的同性恋也引进了
sibuliao
我不同意中国会成为西方的再版！中国有其特殊的复杂性和特殊性。
sibuliao
不能说“同性恋也引进了”，同性恋很早就有了，大部分同性恋是由于基因决定的，所以不可否认，在很久以前，人类就有同性恋，不过我诚实地说，中国还没有开放到同意同性恋结婚的地步！
Tal
可能把，不过现今我觉得中国经济模型跟西方一样。
sibuliao
我是学经济的，中国经济和西方经济不一样，中国不完全是市场经济，还有中国政府的宏观调控！西方经济则完全由市场调节！
还有关于那篇china’s lost girls报道确实有些不恰当的地方：
1.年份是1979年——1989年，而中国国内的变化日翻月新，一天一个样，今年已经是2010年了。
2.即使是计划生育政策的实施，如果你已经有孩子的话，按理是可以领养另外一个孩子的，计划生育指的是只准你生一个孩子，不是只准你抚养一个孩子！
3.there is 3 kinds of lies in the world：lie ，damned lie， statistic lie。只说部分真相也相当于撒谎！对于媒体，我们要始终保持怀疑的态度，这才是一个文明社会应该有的严谨态度。
Tal
我佩服你的自信，但是我还觉得你吹毛求疵！中国政府用宏观调控啊！真是服了他们。还是资本主义咯，没关系。现在我们人类也许认为那种经济模型肯定最好的，肯定永恒的, 可是告诉你其实就是秋后的蚂蚱-蹦不了几天。
关于薛欣然与《China's Lost Girls》，我想我要相信她，她是一个很有经验的记者，她又勇敢又同情心的。你应该尊敬她。
sibuliao
资本主义用宏观调控？
我尊敬她，感谢她指出了中国在“重男轻女”问题，这很好，我们不能回避事实，显然我不否认中国存在这个问题。我只是想强调，我们应该更客观地看这个问题，不能带有个人情绪化！还有很高兴和你们讨论这些，让我促进对中西方文化的了解。
cqwuxioalong
我不太相信她哦 应为我在中国大陆 跟我看到的有很大的差异 我只知道中国政府就可以50%以上都是腐败分子
zhenlijiang
对于媒体，我们要始终保持怀疑的态度，这才是一个文明社会应该有的严谨态度。
我很高兴，听到中国年轻人说这样。是对的。我们也愿意和你们讨论这些问题，不断想要保持客观性。还要强调‘始终’这很重要的一部分；随便怀疑随便盲信是不可以的。
（对不起，我的中文还很差。）
cqwuxioalong
大哥你的中文其实走到中国都混得走了，当然如果写的方言那就不一样了哈
zhenlijiang
Hi, do you mind translating what you just wrote into English? It's a bit difficult for me to understand. Thanks and sorry for the trouble!
* Don't worry if you can't though, I'm sure someone else can help me a few hours from now.
cqwuxioalong
in china ，wen you looked a man but you don't known his name and kooked him old than you， at this time you can called him “大哥”“兄弟”“老师”“哥们儿”，“混得走”=“吃得通” means， Under certain circumstances barrier-free，usually ， in chongqing and chengdu them his a hibit it's a lot of sentence end +”了“or”哈“
xiaophil
January 23, 2010, 01:47 PMHi sibuliao! You said 'I think', so is that a feeling, or do you have evidence that the truth here has been exaggerated? Can you tell us what part(s) you think were exaggerated?
zhenlijiang
January 23, 2010, 09:41 PMLike this article, The Good Women of China is full of unforgettable, disturbing images and heartbreaking stories. I couldn't put it down. Thanks for sharing this Tal.
cqwuxioalong
January 24, 2010, 02:27 AM不对中国现在已经变了，什么类型的人都有了，就连西方的同性恋也引进了
cqwuxioalong
January 24, 2010, 10:10 PMin china ，wen you looked a man but you don't known his name and kooked him old than you， at this time you can called him “大哥”“兄弟”“老师”“哥们儿”，“混得走”=“吃得通” means， Under certain circumstances barrier-free，usually ， in chongqing and chengdu them his a hibit it's a lot of sentence end +”了“or”哈“
pretzellogic
January 23, 2010, 03:50 AMInteresting. This unfortunate situation with China's Lost Girls is resulting in the downstream result that there won't be enough women to marry, and the people who will pay for that will be men lower on the economic totem pole, as men unable to find brides tend to become violent.