Xinran Quotes

No one likes crying, but tears water our souls.

Everybody says women are like water. I think it's because water is the source of life, and it adapts itself to its environment. Like women, water also gives of itself wherever it goes to nurture life....

The more you read, the more you want to know, and so the more questions you have.

The way we understand both our present and our future depends on what we have lived through.

When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches, and the route is different every time.

Xinran, do you know that it is the really bad women who are the lucky ones? I believe the saying “Money makes men bad; badness makes women money.

No matter how revolutionary people were, he said, they could not live without books. Without books, we would not understand the world; without books, we could not develop; without books, nature could not serve humanity.

Writing is a kind of repository and can help create a space for the accommodation of new thoughts and feelings. If you don't write these stories down, your heart will be filled up and broken by them.

I received no praise for the rescue of this girl, only criticism for "moving the troops about and stirring up the people" and wasting the radio station's time and money. I was shaken by these complaints. A young girl had been in danger and yet going to her rescue was seen as "exhausting the people and draining the treasury". Just what was a woman's life worth in China?

Just as books are read one word at a time, roads are taken one step at a time.

(While interviewing The University Student:) 'Oh, poor Xinran. You haven't even got the various categories of women straight. How can you possibly hope to understand men? Let me tell you. When men have been drinking, they come out with a set of definitions for women. Lovers are "swordfish", tasty but with sharp bones. "Personal secretaries" are "carp", the longer you "stew" them, the more flavour they have. Other men's wives are "Japanese puffer fish", trying a mouthful could be the end of you, but risking death is a source of pride.' 'And what about their own wives?' 'Salt cod, because it keeps for a long time. When there is no other food, salt cod is cheap and convenient.

No one like crying, but tears water our souls. So, perhaps my thanks should be to allow you to cry for the Chinese women in my books...

Life starts in nature and returns to nature.

Writing can be a source of strength -Wang Liang

(While interviewing at the Hunan women's prison:) 'I have lived with several men, and let them amuse themselves with me. Because of that, I have been sent to two labour reeducation camps and been sentenced to prison twice. (...) When people curse me for having no shame, I don't get angry. All the Chinese care about is "face", but they don't understand how their faces are linked to the rest of their bodies.

Just what are women, exactly? Should men be classed in the same species as women? Why are they so different? Books and films may say it is better to be a woman, but I cannot believe it. I have never felt it to be true, and I never will.

Never think of a man as a tree whose shade you can rest in. Women are just fertiliser, rotting away to make the tree strong . . . There is no real love. The couples who appear loving stay together for personal gain, whether for money, power or influence.

(While interviewing The University Student:) 'Good Chinese women are conditioned to behave in a soft, meek manner, and they bring this behaviour to bed. As a result, their husbands say that they have no sex appeal, and the women submit to oppression, convinced the fault is their own. They must bear the pain of menstruation and childbirth, and work like men to keep the family when their husbands don't earn enough. The men pin pictures of beautiful women above the bed to arouse themselves, while their wives blame themselves for their care-worn bodies.

Mentre scrivo queste righe a Sydney, una splendida coppia di pappagalli verdi con il petto arancione è accovacciata sul tetto dell'edificio accanto e sta nutrendo il proprio cucciolo. Se gli uccelli possono provare un simile sentimento e non abbandonare mai le loro creature, com'è possibile che degli esseri umani rinuncino ripetutamente ai loro figli?

إنْ كان هناك حياة أُخرى، فلا أريد أنْ أُخلق إمرأة من جديد

عندما نجول داخل ذكرياتنا فإننا نفتح بذلك بابا على الماضي، الطريق في داخله ملئ بالأغصان وتختلف الدرب فيه كلمرة.

When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches, and the route is different every time

Men want a woman who is a virtuous wife, a good mother, and can do all the housework like a maid. Outside the home, she should be attractive and cultivated, and be a credit to him. In bed, she must be a nymphomaniac. What is more, Chinese men also need their women to manage their finances and earn a lot of money, so they can mingle with the rich and powerful. Modern

(As a "grandchild of a capitalist household":) At school, I was forbidden to take singing and dancing lessons with the other girls because I was not to "pollute" the arena of the revolution. Even though I was short-sighted, I was not allowed to sit in the front row in class because the best places were reserved for the children born to peasants, workers or soldiers; they were deemed to have 'straight roots and red shoots'. Similarly, I was forbidden to stand in the front row during PE lessons, though I was the smallest in the class, because the place nearest the teacher were for the 'next generation of the revolution'.

Cuando China acababa de iniciar el proceso de apertura era como un niño hambriento que devoraba todo lo que tenía a su alcance, indiscriminadamente. Más tarde, cuando el mundo veía una China feliz y eufórica, con ropas nuevas y que ya no lloraba de hambre, la comunidad periodística vio un cuerpo transido por el dolor de la indigestión. Pero era un cuerpo cuyo cerebro no podían utilizar, pues el cerebro de China todavía no había desarrollado las células necesarias para asimilar la verdad y la libertad. El conflicto entre lo que sabía y lo que se les permitía decir creó un entorno en el que su salud mental y física no dejaba de sufrir.

La escritura es una especie de sala de exposición, y un almacén que puede ayudar a crear un espacio para dar cabida a nuevas ideas y sentimientos. Si no pones estas historias por escrito, tu corazón se colmará de ellas y se romperá.

Tres estaba completamente decidida a evitar que eso le ocurriera a ella. Al fin y al cabo, ¿acaso su padre no había «tomado» a su madre? ¿Y en qué se había convertido la pobre? Era como si su padre hubiera salido un día y se hubiera procurado una herramienta para tener hijos, coser, cocinar, hacer las tareas de la casa, criar a los cerdos y dar de comer a los perros, aparte de soportar malos tratos y privaciones. Si tener esposo implicaba vivir de esa forma, a Tres no le importaba en absoluto seguir soltera.

Guardei o segredo da Catadora de Lixo e nunca contei ao filho que ela passara um longo tempo acompanhando seus movimentos. Mas nunca mais fui à casa dele, pois a Catadora de Lixo, cuja memória eu prezo muito, nunca atravessou sequer a soleira daquela casa. Embora ele parecesse tão abastado, ela é que era realmente rica.

أما الفلسفة التي تملكها النساء؟ ما السعادة بالنسبة للمرأة؟ وما الذي يجعل المرأة امرأة صالحة؟

The chicken in the coop has grain but the soup pot is near; the wild crane has none but its world is vast.

Por mais revolucionárias que sejam, disse, as pessoas não podem viver sem livros. Sem livros não compreenderíamos o mundo; sem livros não poderíamos desenvolver; sem livros, a natureza não pode servir a humanidade.

I have interviewed more than three hundred Chinese women, exploring the ways in which their lives and loves have been defined largely by external forces. It didn’t take long to notice a clear pattern in how these forces changed according to their age – women from my grandparents’ generation were often forced into arranged marriages by their parents, while it was political turmoil that shaped the love lives of my parents’ generation. As for women of my own generation, money seemed to be the main driving force behind their search for a husband.

This generation possessed freedom and material wealth their elders could only dream of, and they looked for the miracle of love in the void between Chinese and Western culture. They created idealised versions of themselves on the internet, and pushed the boundaries of what they thought love could be. But as this generation grew accustomed to the loneliness of living without brothers and sisters, the family could no longer be considered the backbone of Chinese culture.

عزيزتى لن اعود اليوم سيروى لك بعض الناس ماحدث لى فارجو ان تغقرى لى احبك وان اذن لى بدخول الجنة فساعمل على ان تحيي حياه طيبة وسوف انتظرك هناك اما اذا ادخلت الجحيم فانى سوف اسلم كل ما املك لاسدد ديونى التى كانت علينا فى الحياة الدنيا وساعمل لتتمكنى من اللحاق بى حين يحين الحين فاذا صرت هامة فاسحرسك ليلا واذب عنك جميع الارواح التى قد تعكر نومك فان لم يكن لى موضع فى اى مكان فاسذوب فى الهواء حتى اكون فى كل نفس من انفاسك

A vida toda eu tivera vontade de que ela (mãe) me abraçasse. Quando eu era criança, ela não me abraçou nem beijou uma única vez.

Uma família sem sentimentos ou sentimentos sem uma família. As condições de vida obrigam os jovens a fazer do emprego e da habitação os principais pré-requisitos para o casamento. Seus pais, que viveram a turbulência das mudanças políticas, fizeram da segurança e da estabilidade os alicerces sobre os quais uma família deve ser construída.