Lyrics about real cases of violence against women in China have resonated with millions across the country and sparked an outpouring of stories and discussion on social media.
“In the end, this is how you describe us: Banshee, shrew, whore, and hooker Fishwife, bitch, slutty man-eater. Look, this is how you belittle us”
These lyrics from Mandopop star Tan Weiwei (Sitar Tan) are powerful in their own right, but they take on a new urgency in a year when China saw several especially brutal cases of violence against women in the national spotlight. Soon before Tan’s song hit the internet, screenwriter and activist Xianzi appeared at a court in Beijing to hold a powerful CCTV host, Zhu Jun, accountable for sexual harassment. Hundreds of Xianzi’s fans gathered in the cold outside the courthouse in solidarity.
Listeners gave a powerful endorsement to Xiaojuan
, but at the same time feared for its fate. “I’m afraid this might get censored soon,” one said on Weibo. “She was bold to speak out,” another said.
Tan is the first mainstream musician in China to use music to address domestic abuse and violence against women.
The title of each track on Tan’s album is the name of a woman – ordinary people she has met such as Wu Chunfang, a driver raising a child by herself, and historical figures, such as Yu Xuanji, a Chinese poet and courtesan of the late Tang dynasty.
Posted by Josh Rudolph | Dec 14, 2020
A new album from a Mandopop superstar is raising awareness of domestic abuse in China at a time when a series of brutal recent news stories have sparked widespread public outrage over endemic violence against women in the country. The newest album from 38-year-old pop singer and actress Tan Weiwei (aka Sitar Tan)
Since July, Tan Weiwei has been releasing new singles from her album “3811,” with each of the 11 songs chronicling stories of women from diverse backgrounds, including a taxi-driving single mom, an illiterate elderly woman, and a female poet from the Tang dynasty. On Friday, she released the final track, titled “Xiao Juan (Pseudonym),” for a generic name the Chinese authorities sometimes give to female victims of violent crimes.
The 3rd Hainan Island International Film Festival closes with the sound of waves
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The 3rd Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) drops its curtain after eight days. Film stars, including casts of Being Mortal and Wu Hai , hit the red carpet before the closing ceremony.
A closing ceremony with the theme of Nature and Ecology starts with a local love song Long Time No See Long to See , performed by children from China and abroad.
The ambassador of HIIFF 2020, actress Zhang Ziyi, announced the start of the ceremony jointly with Majid Majidi, one of the most famous Iranian contemporary film directors, whose Children of Heaven was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.