Choo Waihong was a corporate lawyer with top law firms in Singapore and California before she took early retirement in 2006 and began writing travel pieces for publications such as China Daily. In her new book, The Kingdom Of Women – Life, Love and Death in China’s Hidden Mountains, she writes about her experience living with the Mosuo tribe for six years. She becomes part of a Mosuo family and of the wider community – the only non-Mosuo to have ever done so.
In a mist-shrouded valley on China’s invisible border with Tibet is a place known as the ‘Kingdom of Women’, where a small tribe called the Mosuo lives in a cluster of villages that have changed little in centuries. This is one of the last matriarchal societies in the world where power lies in the hands of women – they make the major decisions, control household finances, have rightful ownership of land and property, as well as full rights to the children born. Most notably, the Mosuo practice something called ‘walking marriage’ where, from the age of 13, women can choose to take lovers – as many or as few as they wish – from men within the tribe but are beholden to none.
This is the first and only book on the Mosuo tribe, and the story of Choo Waihong’s time in the remote mountains of China is both poignant and compelling. If you are curious to find out more, pick up a copy of this book and join Kinokuniya for a sharing session with the author at the Singapore Main Store.
VENUE: Kinokuniya (Main Store)
ADDRESS: 391 Orchard Road, #04-20/20B/20C, Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238873
EVENT WEBSITE: Kinokuniya
DATE AND TIME
3 Jun 2017, 4pm-5pm