Choo Waihong
has just brought out The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in
China’s Hidden Mountains, an
account of the Mosuo tribe, who worship the female spirit, and are the
last surviving matrilineal and matriarchal society in the world. The book
raises questions about gender roles in modern, urbanised society, and provides a
glimpse into a hidden way of life teetering on the edge of extinction in
today’s China.
A Singaporean,
Choo Waihong was a corporate lawyer with top law firms in Singapore and
California. She dealt in fund management law, not women’s rights, but,
separately, she was involved with AWARE, a women’s rights group in Singapore;
she acted as its vice-president for two terms.
In 2006, she
took early retirement, and left behind the fifteen hour days of corporate life
to travel in China. From the moment she stepped into the Kingdom of Women,
Waihong was captivated. She became the first outsider to move into the heart of
the tribe, where she stayed for six years. She now spends half the year with
them in Lugu Lake, Yunnan. The rest of the time she continues to live in
Singapore, while also travelling to Europe and America to spend time with her
family.
