Xinran's Books

The Good Women of China

Hidden Voices

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

An unprecedented, intimate account of the lives of modern Chinese women, told by the women themselves -- true stories of the political and personal upheavals they have endured in their chaotic and repressive society For eight groundbreaking years, Xinran hosted a radio program in China during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Broadcast every evening, Words on the Night Breeze became famous throughout the country for its unflinching portrayal of what it meant to be a woman in modern China. Centuries of obedience to their fathers, husbands and sons, followed by years of fear under Communism, had made women terrified of talking openly about their feelings. Xinran won their trust and, through her compassion and ability to listen, became the first woman to hear their true stories. This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran negotiated the minefield of restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists to reach out to women across the country. Through the vivid intimacy of her writing, these women confide in the reader, sharing their deepest secrets. Whether they are the privileged wives of party leaders or peasants in a forgotten corner of the countryside, they tell of almost inconceivable suffering: forced marriages, sexual abuse, separation of parents from their children, extreme poverty. But they also talk about love -- about how, despite cruelty, despite politics, the urge to nurture and cherish remains. Their stories changed Xinran’s understanding of China forever. Her book will reveal the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

258

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

030736626X

ISBN 13

9780307366269

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother

Stories of Loss and Love

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother

Stories of Loss and Love

By: Xinran

Originally published in Great Britain in 2010 by Chatto & Windus.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

274

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1451610947

ISBN 13

9781451610949

China Witness

Voices from a Silent Generation

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

China Witness

Voices from a Silent Generation

By: Xinran

China Witness is a remarkable work of oral history that lets us see the cultural upheavals of the past century through the eyes of the Chinese who lived through them. Xinran, acclaimed author of The Good Women of China, traveled across China seeking out the nation’s grandparents and great-grandparents, the men and women who experienced firsthand the tremendous changes of the modern era. Although many of them feared repercussions, they spoke with stunning candor about their hopes, fears, and struggles, and about what they witnessed: from the Long March to land reform, from Mao to marriage, from revolution to Westernization. In the same way that Studs Terkel’s Working and Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation gave us the essence of very particular times, China Witness gives us the essence of modern China—a portrait more intimate, nuanced, and revelatory than any we have had before.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

337

Publisher

Anchor

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307378047

ISBN 13

9780307378040

The Promise

Love and Loss in Modern China

By: Xinran Xue

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Promise

Love and Loss in Modern China

By: Xinran Xue

At the start of the twentieth century in China, the Hans were married in an elaborate ceremony before they were even born. While their future was arranged by their families, this couple had much to be grateful for. Not only did they come from similar backgrounds – and as such were recognized as a good match - they also had a shared passion in their deep love of ancient Chinese poetry. They went on to have nine children and chose colours portrayed in some of their favourite poems as nicknames for them - Red, Cyan, Orange, Yellow, Green, Ginger, Violet, Blue and Rainbow. Fate, and the sweep of twentieth century history would later divide these children into three groups: three went to America or Hong Kong to protect the family line from the communists; three were married to revolutionaries having come of age as China turned red; while three suffered tragic early deaths. With her trademark wisdom and warmth, Xinran describes the lives and loves of this extraordinary family over four generations. What emerges is not only a moving, beautifully-written and engaging story of four people and their lives, but a crucial portrait of social change in China. Xinran begins with the magic and tragedy of one young couples wedding night in 1950, and goes on to tell personal experiences of loss, grief and hardship through China's extraordinary century. In doing so she tells a bigger story – how traditional Chinese values have been slowly eroded by the tide of modernity and how their outlooks on love, and the choices they've made in life, have been all been affected by the great upheavals of Chinese history. A spell-binding and magical narrative, this is the story of modern China through the people who lived through it, and the story of their love and loss.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

290

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1786725347

ISBN 13

9781786725349

The Book of Secrets

A Personal History of Betrayal in Red China

By: Xinran Xue

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Book of Secrets

A Personal History of Betrayal in Red China

By: Xinran Xue

The story of a family in modern China with a history of deceit, betrayal and political intrigue, and the communist party's long shadow over them, from the Cultural Revolution to today. Following the lives of military intelligence officer Jie and his wife Moon, The Book of Secrets weaves recently found material into a narrative that not only illuminates the shadowy world of intelligence in China, but also the emotional tragedies that political extremism inflicted on those working within. Drawing on Jie's own vivid biography of his youth, Xinran pieces together his trajectory as he joins the great hope of the Chinese young – the Communist Party – and becomes a loyal cadre until the late 1970s when, as a chief in the security forces, he makes a decision that will poison his family against him. This is a totally unique behind-the-scenes account of a family torn apart by the Tiananmen Square massacre and the attempts of Jie to finally open up the Chinese system to the people, pieced together from an extraordinary archive of personal diaries and letters.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

321

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1399406671

ISBN 13

9781399406673

Sky Burial

An Epic Love Story of Tibet

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Sky Burial

An Epic Love Story of Tibet

By: Xinran

In 2002 Xinran’s Good Women of China became an international bestseller, revealing startling new truths about Chinese life to the West. Now she returns with an epic story of love, friendship, courage and sacrifice set in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Based on a true story, Xinran’s extraordinary second book takes the reader right to the hidden heart of one of the world’s most mysterious and inaccessible countries. In March 1958, Shu Wen learns that her husband, an idealistic army doctor, has died while serving in Tibet. Determined to find out what happened to him, she courageously sets off to join his regiment. But to her horror, instead of finding a Tibetan people happily welcoming their Chinese “liberators” as she expected, she walks into a bloody conflict, with the Chinese subject to terrifying attacks from Tibetan guerrillas. It seems that her husband may have died as a result of this clash of cultures, this disastrous misunderstanding. But before she can know his fate, she is taken hostage and embarks on a life-changing journey through the Tibetan countryside — a journey that will last twenty years and lead her to a deep appreciation of Tibet in all its beauty and brutality. Sadly, when she finally discovers the truth about her husband, she must carry her knowledge back to a China that, in her absence, has experienced the Cultural Revolution and changed beyond recognition. . .

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

220

Publisher

Vintage Canada

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307366278

ISBN 13

9780307366276

What the Chinese Don't Eat

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

What the Chinese Don't Eat

By: Xinran

Since June 2003 Xinran has been writing about China in her weekly column in the Guardian. She has covered a vast range of topics from food to sex education, and from the experiences of British mothers who have adopted Chinese daughters, to whether Chinese people do Christmas shopping or have swimming pools. Each of her columns inspired letters and questions and more opportunities for Xinran to shed light on the culture of her native land. What the Chinese Don't Eat collects these pieces together for the first time to give one unique Chinese woman's perspective on the connections and differences between the lives of British and Chinese people today.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

226

Publisher

Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

140706570X

ISBN 13

9781407065700

Motherbridge of Love

By: Xinran and The Mothers' Bridge of Love

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Motherbridge of Love

By: Xinran and The Mothers' Bridge of Love

Featured in Time Magazine’s Top Ten Children’s Books of 2007, this beautiful poem celebrates the bond between parent and adopted child in a special way. Through the exchanges between a little girl born in China and her adoptive parent, this title offers a poignant and inspiring message to adoptive parents and children all over the world. Text royalties are donated to the charity The Mothers’ Bridge of Love, founded by bestselling author Xinran.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

Barefoot Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1782855165

ISBN 13

9781782855163

Sky Burial

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Sky Burial

By: Xinran

In 1994, Xinran met a woman whose story was so extraordinary, it came to obsess her. Of all the Chinese women that Xinran had interviewed for her radio programme (famous in China for its discussion of women's lives), Shu Wen had endured things far beyond the imagination of most people. For over thirty years, she had wandered the empty, silent mountains of north Tibet in search of her husband, a Chinese soldier who was missing in action. She had gone there in the 1950s as a young woman in her prime; she had returned to China grey-haired and utterly changed by her experiences. Shu Wen's life story, brilliantly recreated by Xinran, gives a unique, moving and unforgettable insight into the landscape, religion and nomads of Tibet. At the same time it illuminates the complex and emotional relationship between the Tibetans and Chinese, uncovering the history that lies behind it. But, above all, this is an epic love story - the tale of a woman who adored her husband so much, she gave up everything she knew to travel thousands of miles to one of the most intimidating countries in the world.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

164

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0701176229

ISBN 13

9780701176228

Buy Me the Sky

The Remarkable Truth of China's One-Child Generations

By: Xinran

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Buy Me the Sky

The Remarkable Truth of China's One-Child Generations

By: Xinran

Fast-paced and punchy ... accomplished' Independent With journalistic acumen and a novelist's flair, Xinran tells the remarkable stories of men and women born in China after 1979 - the recent generations raised under China's single-child policy. At a time when the country continues to transform at the speed of light, these generations of precious 'one and onlies' are burdened with expectation, yet have often been brought up without any sense of responsibility. Within their families, they are revered as 'little emperors' and 'suns', although such cosseting can come at a high price: isolation, confusion and an inability to deal with life's challenges. From the businessman's son unable to pack his own suitcase, to the PhD student who pulled herself out of extreme rural poverty, Xinran shows how these generations embody the hopes and fears of a great nation at a time of unprecedented change. It is a time of fragmentation, heart-breaking and inspiring in equal measure, in which capitalism vies with communism, the city with the countryside and Western opportunity with Eastern tradition. Through the fascinating stories of these only children, we catch a startling glimpse of the emerging face of China.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

322

Publisher

Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

1846044731

ISBN 13

9781846044731

Wide-area Oscillation Identification and Damping Control in Power Systems

By: Chao Lu (Mechanical engineer),Jingyi Zhang,Xinran Zhang,Yi Zhao (Professor of biomedical engineering)

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Wide-area Oscillation Identification and Damping Control in Power Systems

By: Chao Lu (Mechanical engineer),Jingyi Zhang,Xinran Zhang,Yi Zhao (Professor of biomedical engineering)

Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) is a phenomenon inherent to power systems and should be carefully considered and dampened to improve the dynamic stability of power systems. With the development of wide area synchronous phasor measurement technology, the measurement results of phasor measurement units (PMUs) and wide-area measurement system (WAMS) can be applied in system identification and the wide area damping controller design to suppress LFO. In this paper, the identification methods and controller design methods of wide area damping control are reviewed. The basic framework for the application of PMU/WAMS results in power system identification and control is introduced first. Both the output response identification and the input-output identification are introduced in the identification section. The offline controller design and adaptive controller design methods are introduced. Practical cases in China Southern Grid and China Central Grid are reviewed as engineering application examples.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Published Date

ISBN 10

1680834797

ISBN 13

9781680834796

Book's by Xinran

The Good Women of China

The Good Women of China

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother

China Witness

China Witness

The Promise

The Promise

The Book of Secrets

The Book of Secrets

Sky Burial

Sky Burial

What the Chinese Don't Eat

What the Chinese Don't Eat

Motherbridge of Love

Motherbridge of Love

Sky Burial

Sky Burial

Buy Me the Sky

Buy Me the Sky

Wide-area Oscillation Identification and Damping Control in Power Systems

Wide-area Oscillation Identification and Damping Control in Power Systems

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email