As for things Chinese women living in London complain about, she observes that chief among them are the lack of pressure on children in schools, English adolescents' smelly clothes, and the impossibility of talking to a live person on the phone when making an inquiry. In addition, London is so expensive, she reports, that many students arriving from China look as if they're bringing enough food with them to last an entire year.
But China itself has changed enormously, Xinran confirms. She returns at least twice a year, but on a return visit last summer felt she could no longer feel at home there. The ringtones on people's mobile phones made a bizarre cacophony in the streets, she relates, with some consisting of actual historical voices, such as Mao's calling for the Chinese to stand up for their revolutionary values. And the elaborate descriptions of dishes in restaurants, often referring to newly popular songs, routinely foxed her. Even so, she considers her reliance on processed food in the UK has ruined her hair and skin, and that, despite all her many British friends, China remains her "first and proud motherland."
In one column she confronts an Irish reader's query as to why his Chinese girlfriend practices different religions, praying to a Buddha at home, but also going along to the local Catholic church. Her answer is interesting. She's probably frightened, she replies. For 5,000 years in China the emperors were chief among most people's gods, and Mao was for many just another such. Now many people don't know what to believe, and turn to whatever is there in a spirit almost approaching panic.
Other topics she considers are why people in rural China used to think socks were a status symbol, and how wonderful it was when China's embassy in London stopped making its own passport holders stand in line along with foreigners applying for visas.
It's Xinran's honesty that distinguishes her in this ever-interesting collection. What the Chinese Don't Eat is a very frank book, and the author's direct tone, and her open admission of absurdities she herself has been responsible for, time and again guarantee her credibility. You can also write to her, incidentally, at xinran@motherbridge.org.
Although the book has not been distributed to outlets yet, orders can be placed at www.amazon.com.
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