The Kingdom of Women
Life, Love and Death in China's Hidden Mountains
by Choo Waihong
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Pub Date May 30 2017 | Archive Date May 30 2017
Description
FIRST INSIDER ACCOUNT OF THE LAST WORLD SOCIETY WHERE WOMEN RULE
The Mosuo tribe is the last surviving matrilineal and matriarchal society in the world. Here their story is brought to light by Choo Waihong, a top lawyer from Singapore who left behind the fifteen hour days of corporate life to travel China.
From the moment she stepped into the Kingdom of Women, Waihong was captivated. The Mosuos - who worship the female spirit, celebrate every aspect of womanhood and structure their social hierarchy according to maternal bloodlines – were a stark contrast to the male-dominated world of law through which she had navigated for years. Waihong then became the first outsider to move into the heart of the tribe, where she stayed for six years.
Raising important questions about gender roles and modern society, this is a unique, thought-provoking glimpse into a hidden way of life that teeters on the very knife-edge of extinction in modern China.
Choo Waihong was a corporate lawyer with top law firms in Singapore and California before she took early retirement in 2006 to travel and write. She lived for six years with the Mosuo tribe and now spends half the year with them in Yunnan, China.
Advance Praise
'A fascinating portrait of one of the world's last matriarchal societies, a land without fathers or husbands, without marriage or divorce, written by an international corporate lawyer who ditched her hectic life to embrace this Shangri-la inside deepest China.' - Jan Wong, author of Beijing Confidential
`A crisp account by a high powered Singaporean lawyer of how she renounced her former life of fifteen hour working days in a male dominated corporate world to find her feminist soul in the last matriarchal ethnic group remaining in China. Full of insights and touching descriptions, this is one of the most accessible and concrete descriptions of the Mosuo, a group more analysed than understood, putting the humanity of this tribe at the forefront of their identity.'
- Kerry Brown, author of CEO China and The New Emperors
'A most engaging account of life among the matrilineal and matriarchal Mosuo tribe in China's Yunnan province, but also a lament to a way of life now threatened by modernity and tourism. Full of detail and telling insights into gender roles, it will appeal to armchair travellers as well as to anthropologists and sociologists.'
- Jonathan Fryer, SOAS
'A refreshing and authentic portrait of a hidden society in patriarchal China. A must read for anyone studying women and alternative societies’
- Hsiao-Hung Pai, author of Scattered Sand and Chinese Whispers
Marketing Plan
25th March: Lead interview, Guardian Family Section
27th March: BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour
30th March: BBC Radio 2 Fact not Fiction Book Club with Jonathan Ross
25th March: Lead interview, Guardian Family Section
27th March: BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour
30th March: BBC Radio 2 Fact not Fiction Book Club with Jonathan Ross
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781784537241 |
| PRICE | $25.00 (USD) |
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