Private Revolutions

Four Women Face China's New Social Order

By: Yuan Yang

Narrated by: Crystal Yu, Gabby Wong, Kae Alexander, Naomi Yang, Yuan Yang

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
FINALIST FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NONFICTION

“Riveting . . . a powerful snapshot of four young Chinese women attempting to assert control over the direction of their lives.” —The New York Times Book Review

“As powerfully intimate as it is politically incendiary.” —British Vogue

A sweeping yet intimate portrait of modern China told through the lives of four ordinary women striving for a better future in a highly unequal society

While serving as the deputy Beijing bureau chief of the Financial Times, Chinese-British journalist Yuan Yang began to notice common threads in the lives of her Chinese peers—women born during China’s turn toward capitalism in the 1980s and 1990s, who, despite the country's enormous economic gains during their lifetimes, were coming up against deeply entrenched barriers as they sought to achieve financial stability.

The product of seven years of intimate, in-depth reporting, this transporting and indelible book traces the journey of four such women as they try to make better lives for themselves and their families in the new Chinese economy. June and Siyue are among the few in their villages to graduate high school. Each makes her way to Beijing, June as a young professional and Siyue an entrepreneur. Like Siyue, Leiya lives with her grandparents in their village while her parents send money home; yearning for a different life than those of the women she sees around her, Leiya soon joins her parents in Shenzhen as an underage factory worker. Born to an urban middle-class family, Sam is outraged when her eyes are opened the poor treatment of workers, and becomes a labor activist, increasingly under threat by the authorities.

As the women grapple with government policies that threaten their businesses, their children's access to education, their choice of where to make a home, and, in Sam’s case, their lives, a vivid, damning, and urgent picture emerges of the previously unseen human cost of China’s rising economic tide—and the courage and perseverance of those caught in the swell.

Insightful window

This was a window into several women’s lives in China that I think most in the west do not have the opportunity to hear or see. It was very interesting hearing about their various successes and challenges.

Feminine stories that were filled with optimism and united strength

I loved hearing unknown female Chinese stories. As an American, I don’t ever hear Chinese perspectives regarding their personal state within their country. This was very helpful in giving me a point of view to look through. I enjoyed hearing about problems within China looking very similar to American problems. Jobs, children, tutoring, governments interfering with activism. I also didn’t know there was a constant difficulty with being a migrant within China. It was mentioned the whole time over many years regarding one of the characters, and I found that fascinating to read about. I was recommended this book by The Swiftologist on YouTube. He is very insightful and I really enjoyed having a research state of mind while listening. Thank you to the author for all of your fascinating interviews. She was extremely informed on Government plans in each town she interviewed her characters in. Whether it was about building new apartments, crackdowns on private tutoring throughout the whole country, or the COVID containments happening in China. I only ever heard about COVID containments through the American news, and I can be skeptical of Americans reporting Chinese news. I also didn’t know some colleges in China had Maoist clubs. Or even one college had a Maoist Marxist club. That is super foreign to me, and I couldn’t imagine what that looks like on my own without this book.