Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran Chatto & Windus HK$150

'Girls are born to suffer. It's too bad they're not boys.' So said a man Xinran met on a train from Zhengzhou to Chengdu, who introduced the then journalist to his 18-month-old daughter, whom he abandoned soon after. The stranger, whose wife was pregnant again and with whom he was constantly moving to avoid detection, had done the same with three other daughters. Only when they had a son, he said, would he be able to go home and become head of his clan. In her emotive follow-up to The Good Women of China, Xinran tells the stories of mothers, and a few fathers, who gave up their daughters, or sometimes drowning them at birth. Their decisions, influenced by cultural preference, the one-child policy and financial realities, left many paralysed with guilt, which may explain why Chinese women have some of the highest suicide rates in the world. Xinran writes that she wanted to share her thoughts about mothers, adopted daughters and adoptive mothers. Many tears are shed within the pages, which may close the covers for some readers. Others will respond by opening their eyes to the plight of those affected.