The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
The Chinese say "There is a book in every family that is best not read aloud." One woman broke the silence.

女:female.
婦: female + housework = woman.
娘:female + kindness = mother.
姑娘:(female + tradition) + (female + kindness) = girl.
好: female + son = good.

The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices is a 2002 nonfiction book by the British-Chinese journalist Xinran. It is a compilation of all the different stories Xinran has heard from women on her radio show, Words on a Night Breeze, many of them overwhelmingly tragic, from living through the oppressive turmoil of the Cultural Revolution to suffering from of the cultural implication of a largely patriarchal society.

This book is currently Banned in China due to the number of sensitive issues it brings up, including infanticide, rape, sexual abuse, deeply ingrained sexism and members of the Red Party not acting exactly the exulted heroes they're meant to be.


Tropes used in The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices include: