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Authors: Xinran,
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What the Chinese Don't Eat
XINRAN
Don’t Eat
The Collected
Guardian
Columns
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Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781407065700
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
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
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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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099501527 (from Jan 2007) ISBN 009950152X
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In the west, a kiss is just a kiss
Is there any female on earth who could meet the five male requirements of a good woman?
In a four-star hotel in China, one woman’s cup of tea is another woman’s daily wages
‘Do the foreigners who adopt our girls know how to feed and love them in their arms and hearts?’
Now women in China know what they have been missing, the pain is too hard to bear
Traditions may be dying out but forcing children to wash their parents’ feet won’t help
The Chinese are still obsessed with saving face
Chinese honesty means telling the bald truth
If it flies, if it swims, or if it has four legs but is not a table or chair, the Chinese eat it
Shanghai has a new skyline but why does the woman who used to clean my ears have a new face?
Chinese new year has suddenly made me doubt how well I know my own culture
As the sea rose, the cocklers rang their families in China
I may be Chinese but my knowledge is still just a spoonful of tea in the ocean that is China
What use is freedom and democracy to the poor if you can’t sell it by the kilogram?
The story of the Red Guards, the forgetful ferryman, and the cat that reunited a family
They move millions to a new town, replant entire mountains – the Chinese are amazing
Twenty years after I first heard of it, I found myself
83
scouring a Chinese street for a HongDu-Dou
A late-night knock at the door – is it the return of the Cultural Revolution?
If it says ‘made in China’ on the label, most Chinese just don’t want to know
Chinese girls adopted by westerners highlight a vast cultural divide that must be bridged
A couple of unforgettable chickens reinforced my faith in human kindness
A shocking tale in a New Zealand bookshop is a lesson that hate is an emotion best forgotten
The young do not understand the madness and pain of the Cultural Revolution
I used to think there were no good Chinese men, until a brief encounter at Paddington station
Adjusting to life in London means roast pork, girls in smelly clothes and automated phone operators
How China has embraced all the bright lights and overindulgence of a very merry Craze Mass
In an earthquake in China caused double
137
the death toll of the tsunami
Receiving a handwritten card in this age of computers is one of the great pleasures in life
Victorious Egg Festival, Sexual Hooligans’ Day?
The west ruined our self-confidence years ago
The gap between western and Chinese paintings is as vast as that between the two cultures
How to bridge the gulf between Chinese and western painting
When Chinese art meets western culture, an inner world is revealed
China is my homeland. But these days I am lost in translation
There are still students in China who believe babies come out of their mothers’ tummy buttons
The chatroom gives Chinese women a chance to be open and express their true thoughts
Socks are a status symbol – does that mean barelegged westerners are all peasants?
There is no point worrying about feeling down
English schoolchildren have shown me that China has much to learn about the joy of education
Ears, lips, fingers, toes: Chinese men used to check them all in the search for the perfect wife
The English break the ice by talking about weather, but the Chinese choose food
Why do old men, who need sticks to walk, open doors for healthy middle-aged women?
Even now, many Chinese find it impossible to see Mao as anything but a smiling presence
My mother’s heart attack has shattered our dreams of finally getting to know each other
WHAT THE CHINESE DON’T 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 women’s 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 Thatcher’s 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
? It’s a hard question to answer; in the same way as it’s difficult to know why I love cheese when most Chinese people don’t. 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 I’ve 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 don’t 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 I’ve 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 daughter’s birth mother and wonder if she has a huge hole in her heart through having to live without this wonderful child. I can’t 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 didn’t 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 one’s birthplace and one’s 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.