Choo Wai Hong

In a land where women rule, what would that be like? Choo WaiHong found out, when she vacationed there after quitting her high pressure law career in Singapore. It turns out to be quite magical. She loved it so much she built a house and joined them.

There is no marriage among the Mosuo of Yunnan. Women take male partners at will, keep the children, and send the men home – to their mothers. Girls are brought up to manage everything; boys get to do all the heavy lifting. The matrilineal bloodline is precious, and nothing else matters. Three generations live together, headed by the grandmother. Men know their place and enjoy it. They get to dress up, wear jewelry, and spend their off hours preening to attract the female eye. There are no courtships, no dating. A suggestion and an answer are all it takes, because this will be a one night stand. Men are not expected to live with women or raise children. Women value men only for their looks. Tall and beefy preferred.

The Mosuo are an illiterate society. They lost their written language countless years ago and haven’t missed it. They don’t use cash; they use co-operation. They have adapted to things like mobiles by picturing the last four digits of a phone number and associating them with a person.

There’s a problem with The Kingdom of Women, aside from the fact there is no kingdom and no king – or leader of any kind. There is always a nagging sense that this can’t be right and can’t continue. For one thing, it is too remarkable that a high powered Singaporean lawyer who did not speak the language should immediately be accepted by everyone in a remote, backward village - to the point of being named godmother to everyone there. And she was only there half the time, continuing her jetset life elsewhere. Then there is the question of how this Shangri-La could maintain its independence from its own country and government. This is after all, China, where the government doesn’t think twice about enticing or shifting millions of Han to Tibet to make the natives a minority in their own land. Choo says they even avoided the two child rule for rural enclaves by never marrying, so there were never any family units to enforce it on. Somehow, not even the Cultural Revolution made them bend to the laws of the land.

Well, Choo addresses some of this in the final chapter, wherein the Mosuo have now taken to cash, tourism, landowning and renting, their offspring wanting to marry legally, and all mod cons are welcomed, including recreational drugs. The old ways are not even on the table.

David Wineberg… (altro)

The story begins on a Sunday afternoon when a leading lawyer finds herself, yet again, at the office. Choo WaiHong’s determination and commitment have led her to the very top of her profession, but she has made great sacrifices for her success: her working day is often fifteen hours long and, although she can afford luxurious trips to visit friends and family around the world, she has no time to get to know herself. In a moment of sudden resolve, she resigns and decides to spend the rest of her life exploring China and finding out more about the country of her ancestors. As an independent woman in a man’s world, she has spent her life fighting to be recognised for her abilities and having to work twice as hard to get the same acknowledgement as male colleagues. Now she hears about the remote Mosuo tribe, who live in the beautiful region around Lugu Lake in the far west of China, where women are the driving force behind society. Fascinated, Choo takes a trip to explore this unique tribe and their community; and her interest turns into a love affair with this ancient way of life, which leads to her assimilation as an honorary Mosuo...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/03/12/the-kingdom-of-women-choo-waihong/… (altro)