Affirmed Wu Qing, “If you educate one woman, you educate the whole family and generations to come. Because we have heard stories about our mothers—they’re our teachers. That’s why I think there are so many things to do in China now, and it’s so exciting. There is room for us to make changes.”
20
screenwriters, sat next to pioneering television host and media guru, Yang Lan, who sat next to Academy Award-winning Chinese-American filmmaker Ruby Yang. The fourth panelist, Wu Qing, is deputy to the Beijing Haidian District People’s Congress and a renowned advocate for the rights of women. She had also been, for 30 years, one of China’s most esteemed and beloved professors of English. The achievements and experiences of the women have led them to some common ground, albeit by circuitous routes. Yan Geling began: “I became a school dropout at 7 when the Cultural Revolution started. I became a soldier and a ‘dancing soldier’ at the age of 12. I was a work correspondent before I reached 20. I became a lieutenant colonel at age 23.” She went on to explain that after the Revolution, women writers had renewed interest in expressing themselves. She was a leader among them. To date, Geling has published more than 20 books, received over 30 literary and film awards, and has had her works translated into seven languages with a half-dozen more in preparation. Yang Lan is one of the most successful and recognized personalities in China— often referred to as “China’s Oprah”—and one of the most dedicated to social causes and women’s causes. She spoke about the magnitude of change she’d witnessed since she first won national fame in 1990: “At that time, most, I think 99 percent of Chinese people, didn’t even have a passport. So they hadn’t the chance to travel around the world and see how the other people are living.” She also went to relate a story from her recent interview with Jimmy Carter, who shared a great deal about his talks with Deng Xiaoping, including a fateful call in the middle of the night. “Deng Xiaoping asked about how much should be the quota for Chinese students in the United States. ‘Is 5,000 fair enough?’ Carter, who was very frustrated being interrupted in his sleep said, ‘Why don’t we just give them 100,000?’ That incident produced a lot of opportunities for Chinese students to see the world, including me!” Two decades later, one only needed to watch the 2008 Beijing Olympics to witness the breadth and richness of experience that define today’s China. Long before her career launched, Yang Lan had asked her father to get her a job, but he said no, knowing that his daughter would find her own way. Now having been named “Chinese Woman of the Year” in 2001, “Top Ten Women Entrepreneurs” in 2002, Columbia University’s “Global Leadership Award” in 2008, she has also paved the way for other women. Ruby Yang’s parental influence was of another sort. In the ’70s, her mother worried about her daughter’s future. Yang recalled her mother saying, “You cannot go into art school. You have to get a degree in business.” Yang adds, “I could not rebel against her. I went to college for two years, to business school, and minored in art. So I finally satisfied her.” Later on, Yang graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute. “When I started doing film, my mother would always tell people, ‘She’s going to apply for MBA one of these days.’ My father was the one who supported me throughout to do art.” Her work as an editor and director includes a range of feature and documentary works that often deal with Chinese themes. She won several awards for The Blood of Yingzhou District, including an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2006. The film dealt with the fear of provincial Chinese children who lost their parents to AIDS. Another of her award-winning films is Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, about the trials of a young girl during the Cultural Revolution; the original novel and movie script were written by Yan Geling. These potent works and her other public service announcements for the China AIDS Media Project and the Ministry of Health have touched millions of lives, in and beyond China. She suggested to the young people in the audience that they take a year, perhaps, before looking for work “to volunteer your Continued on Page 72