Two sisters’ apparent double suicide in central China recently highlights the tragic consequences of traditional favouritism shown to sons. A 17-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister died in a double suicide after an argument with their 12-year-old brother over food. In a note written by the elder sister, the fight over the food with their brother was the last straw ...

I read Message From An Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran quite a long while back and the stories of loss and love have stuck in my mind. Some very traditional Chinese believe that, as Xinran puts it, “you do not count as a human being unless you have a son” to carry on the family line. This was severely intensified ...