Xue Xinran

(Beijing, 1958) was one of the most successful journalists in China before leaving for London in 1997 where she wrote her first book. The Good Women of China (2003) is a bestseller, which has been translated in over thirty languages. The stories in this book are based on thousands of interviews which she wrote from 1989-1997 as a radio journalist. Since 2003 Xinran has also written columns for the Guardian. A number of these were collected and appeared in 2006 entitled What the Chinese Don’t Eat. In it she deals with a great number of intercultural themes, from the experiences of British mothers with Chinese foster children to the question whether the Chinese are allowed to do Christmas shopping. Xinran's first novel, Miss Chopsticks (2007), is about Chinese country girls going to town to earn a living. Xinran advises the British media regularly on their relationships with China and is a welcome guest in British talk shows.