From the Countryside to the City

Chinese writer Xuē Xīnrán (薛欣然) was born on July 19, 1958, in Beijing, China, to an affluent family. Affluence, however, did not spare her family from being touched by Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. Xīnrán’s parents were imprisoned, and one of her earliest childhood memories was of the Red Guards setting her home on fire when she was six years old. She was then raised by her grandparents, spending her childhood between Nanjing and Beijing. Her parents’ forced incarceration prompted Xīnrán to consider herself an orphan—a reality and sentiment shared by many children of the Cultural Revolution. Xīnrán soon found success as a journalist and, eventually, as a radio presenter for Words on the Night Breeze, a show that explored women’s lives in China. The program’s success propelled her to the forefront of China’s cultural stage.

While she rose to prominence in Chinese media and was even promoted to a position that afforded her more freedom, Xīnrán still confessed to experiencing friction between the ideologies of the Communist Party and her own personal choices and priorities. In 1997, she left her home country and moved to London. This move was partly driven by her desire for greater freedom and for her son, Panpan, to experience more liberty than was allowed under Chinese parenting norms at the time; she and her first husband had already divorced. In London, Xīnrán married Toby Eady, a British literary agent and the son of the prominent British novelist Mary Wesley. With her newfound liberty, she began venturing into writing. In 2003, she published The Good Women of China, a book based on the lives of women she met during her career and travels in China.

In 2007, a decade after leaving her home country, Xīnrán made her literary breakthrough with the publication of her debut novel, Miss Chopsticks. Set in 2001 China, the novel charts the fortunes of three sisters—simply named Three, Five, and Six. They grew up in the Chinese countryside with their parents and three other sisters; their mother was unable to give birth to a son. In his disappointment, their father didn’t bother thinking of names for the girls; instead, he named them according to their birth order. The sisters grew up with little education. From a young age, it was inculcated in them that their mother was both a failure and a disappointment. The village—and most importantly, her husband—believed this, simply because she was unable to conceive a son.

In the days when no one had cars, they used to blame their alarm clocks for not going off, but now traffic jams are everyone’s favourite excuse for being late. People really are lamentable: instead of owning up to their faults, they treat other people like idiots who’ll believe their lies. Ah, the baseness of human nature!

Xuē Xīnrán, Miss Chopsticks

The sisters grew up surrounded by crippling destitution. When they came of age, it became imperative for them to seek greener pastures. The crux of the story unfolds when the sisters move to Nanjing, the rapidly developing capital of Jiangsu Province in East China. Defying the odds, Three is the first to arrive in Nanjing’s job market. Wide-eyed and sincere, she fascinates the people she meets. She introduces herself as coming from a large and unlucky family. With China’s One-Child Policy in full effect, city residents are surprised to learn how their family evaded birth control regulations. Still, the locals that Three encountered took pity on her. Captivated by her story, they tried to help her find work.

Through their connections, they eventually help her gain employment at The Happy Fool Restaurant. There, she puts her skills to use by arranging window displays of fresh, seasonal vegetables. Five and Six soon join her in Nanjing. Like Three, they find jobs that allow them to discover talents they never knew they had—skills not only useful for their jobs, but also for navigating the complexities of city life. Five, for instance, is illiterate but has the rare ability to tell the temperature of water without a thermometer. This unexpected talent earns her a position at an upscale bathhouse. Meanwhile, Six, the most educated of the sisters, puts her love of reading to use by working at a teahouse that also sells banned books.

City life is both an eye-opener and a life-changer for the sisters. It is a world entirely new to them. They witness stark contrasts between rural and urban living. Beyond discovering their untapped potential, they ride in cars for the first time and delight in the unfamiliar cuisines of the city. Every corner offers a new experience. They also confront the harsh realities of urban life. They fell victim to scams and misinformation. But most importantly, they find freedom from the societal and familial expectations that once shackled them. In the countryside, they were frowned upon and treated as second-class citizens both at home and in the community.

Through the story of the three sisters, Xīnrán captured the plight of women in China. Like most societies, China is a largely patriarchal society. The influences of the patriarchy remain evident, particularly in the countryside, where development takes time. Social conventions and structures in the countryside are heavily dictated by tradition. Society values having a son over having a daughter. For the sisters, this entails having their father barely acknowledge their existence. Their fates are seemingly predetermined. Women are expected by society to conform to rigid societal norms; these are rules that disproportionately target women, limiting their freedom and muting their voices.

Now don’t you go looking down on yourself. City people differ from country people, just as tall people differ from small people, but everyone has their virtues. Short people raise their heads to look at people and so they see people’s eyes turning up when they smile and happy jaws; tall people look down on people so all they see are bald heads and long faces.

Xuē Xīnrán, Miss Chopsticks

Miss Chopsticks captured the burden placed on the shoulders of women. As the history of humanity can attest, women have always been viewed as the weaker sex. Other societies accord them the same treatment as how Chinese men treat theirs, some worse. Women have very little agency as their actions and choices are dictated to them by men and society as a whole. Society deemed women as mere expendable objects. One character reflects: “In my village, girls are called ‘chopsticks’ and boys ‘roof-beams’. They all say girls are no good because a chopstick can’t support a roof.” Chopsticks are thinner and more fragile. They are also disposable and can be replaced. Roof beams, on the other hand, are sturdier and can support the house from caving in. This is where the novel derived its title.

Not only are women viewed as the weaker sex, but their choices are often decided for them, as underscored by the prevalence of arranged marriages. Parents, especially their fathers, have already arranged who their daughters will marry, as in the case of the sisters and their mother. This, however, comes with a price. To conform to society, their mother was forced to give up her dreams to marry the man arranged by her parents. However, the oppression women experience at home and from the community eventually takes a toll. The sisters’ older sister, Two, took her own life after learning about her arranged marriage. Three, on the other hand, escapes the village after discovering she is to be married off to the disabled son of the local head.

Despite the dark clouds hovering over their heads, hope remains. Having witnessed their mother’s unhappiness, the sisters vow not to repeat her fate. In their own ways, they resisted what society has imposed on them. In the city, they reinvented themselves. There, they flourished. Their growth and development were among the novel’s greatest achievements. Five, in particular, truly flourished over the course of the story. Because of what many perceive as her foolishness, she is often dismissed. This belied her insatiable appetite to learn. This desire to know more made her emotional and educational journey the most rewarding. Her story is a reminder that there is more to people than meets the eye.

In many ways, the city serves as a safe haven for the sisters. It offers them not just new experiences but a sense of independence. The kindness they encounter from strangers contrasts sharply with the prejudice they endured in their village. This difference underscores the changing attitudes in China. While the countryside remains steeped in tradition, cities are slowly being transformed by socioeconomic reforms and progressive ideas—though these changes are slow to reach rural areas. Post-Cultural Revolution reforms have reshaped the role of “chopstick girls.” Once seen as burdens, they can now migrate to the cities and find meaningful employment. The novel illustrates how urbanization can offer women opportunities while dismantling rural prejudices.

Silly girl, if people don’t have anyone to compare themselves to, they don’t know they’re being wronged. It’s comparisons that make people unhappy: those who don’t know good fortune, don’t know poverty. Happiness is accepting your fate.

Xuē Xīnrán, Miss Chopsticks

In retrospect, the glaring divide between rural and urban China highlights ongoing disparities in development. The remnants of the Cultural Revolution are still embedded in modern Chinese society. Much of recent history was wiped out by Mao Zedong’s orders to destroy photos and records deemed anti-party or anti-Chinese. Corruption is prevalent. The sisters’ two powerful uncles help their family evade the One-Child Policy, showing how rules are bent for those with connections. The rise of capitalism pits local businesses against global brands. The Happy Fool Restaurant, for instance, had to compete with KFC and McDonald’s. Even the red-light district is renamed out of respect for the Communist Party.

Miss Chopsticks is a straightforward yet powerful narrative that offers a window into the lives of modern Chinese women. Through the story of the three sisters, Xīnrán explores a wide range of themes, most notably the enduring presence of patriarchal structures in rural China and their stifling impact on the female spirit. The sisters endure being barely acknowledged within their own households, with their freedoms curtailed by the men around them. Yet, despite these oppressive circumstances, the novel brims with hope. For the sisters, that hope lies in the cities—places where economic development and modernization begin to dismantle long-standing traditions. Their story is one of resilience and quiet defiance. Against the odds, they seize control of their own destinies. In many ways, Miss Chopsticks serves as an homage to Chinese women and their strength of character as they navigate the complexities of social, cultural, and economic change.

Book Specs

Author: Xuē Xīnrán
Translator (from Chinese): Esther Tyldesley
Publisher:  Vintage Books
Publishing Date: 2007
Number of Pages: 243
Genre: Historical, Literary

Synopsis

Sisters Three, Five and Six don’t have much education, but they know two things for certain: their mother is a failure because she hasn’t produced a son, and they only merit a number as a name. Women, their father tells them, are like chopsticks: utilitarian and easily broken. But when they leave their home in the countryside to seek their fortune in the big city, their eyes are suddenly and shockingly opened. Together they find jobs, make new friends, and learn more than a few lessons about life…

About the Author

Xuē Xīnrán (薛欣然) was born on July 19, 1958, in Beijing, China, to an affluent family. When she was young, her parents were taken by Mao Zedong’s Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. She then spent her childhood between Nanjing and Beijing, raised by her grandparents. This prompted her to consider herself an orphan. She then attended the First Military University of People’s Liberation Army, from 1983 to 1987. She earned a degree in English and International Relations.

Xīnrán soon found success as a journalist and, eventually, a radio presenter for Words on the Night Breeze, a show that explored women’s lives in China. The success of the program propelled Xīnrán to the forefront of China’s cultural stage. She became a prominent voice for causes related to women’s issues in Chinese society. The programme first aired in 1989 and concluded in 1997 when she left China for London. This was partly driven by her desire for more freedom and for her son, Panpan, to have more freedom than was allowed by the Chinese parenting at the time; she and her first husband had already divorced. In London, she Xīnrán married Toby Eady, a British literary agent and the son of Mary Wesley, a prominent British novelist.

In London, Xīnrán started venturing more into writing. She also became a frequent contributor to periodicals such as The Guardian. In 2003, she published The Good Women of China, a book based on the lives of women Xinran met in China during her career and travels. Xīnrán’s second book, Sky Burial, was published in 2004. Her first novel, Miss Chopsticks, was published in 2007. Her other works include China Witness (2008), Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother (2010), and Buy Me the Sky (2015). Her latest book, The Book of Secrets, was published in 2024.

Xinran often advises Western media about Western relations with China and makes frequent television and radio appearances. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature.

 

It was a kind of sin, certainly, to forget—but it was not easy to remember, especially when names changed, languages changed. A century-old name held that century; when replaced, a hundred years were wiped out at one stroke. Amnesia set it; reality itself, being metamorphic, was affected.

It was a kind of sin, certainly, to forget—but it was not easy to remember, especially when names changed, languages changed. A century-old name held that century; when replaced, a hundred years were wiped out at one stroke. Amnesia set it; reality itself, being metamorphic, was affected.