Chinese pop song breaks domestic violence taboos
‘ERASE MY NAME’: Popular singer Tan Weiwei’s ‘Xiao Juan’ has thrust into the spotlight the repeated tragedy of women beaten, set on fire or killed by their partners
By Helen Davidson / The Guardian, TAIPEI
In the torrent of comments below the video of Tan Weiwei’s (譚維維) latest single, one summed up the burgeoning anger of Chinese women: “The roar of the times should not be buried. This is a war song.”
For the past six months, Tan, one of China’s most popular singers, has been releasing singles from her album
3811. The songs tell the stories of women: a taxi driver, a charity worker, a single mother, a 60-year-old woman who cannot read. However, it is her latest single that has made the biggest impact, arriving at a key moment in China’s reckoning with gender-based violence and harassment.