Leftover Women
The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China
10th Anniversary Edition
Leta Hong Fincher's landmark book Leftover Women shone a light on the resurgence of gender inequality in 21st-century China. Ten years on, women in China continue to experience a dramatic rolling back of rights and gains in the increasingly patriarchal political climate of the Xi Jinping era.
This updated, 10th anniversary edition was named one of the five best books to understand modern China by The Guardian in 2024 and one of the best books of 2023 by China Books Review. It features a new preface exploring developments in China in the 10 years since the book's original publication, including new interviews with women rejecting intense pressure to marry and have babies, the growth in online feminist and LGBTQ activism, and the state's increasingly repressive moves against dissent.
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Praise
“Leta Hong Fincher’s book was not only an instant classic, it was downright clairvoyant: Seeing what others miss, she foresaw a seismic shift in the public mood, which has intensified in the past decade. The revised edition is urgent reading; it holds essential insights into China’s economic and political future.”
“The past decade has time and again underlined the prescience of Leta Hong Fincher’s Leftover Women...This book is more relevant than ever to anyone who wants to understand China - read it and rage.”
“An eye-opening, groundbreaking book that cast light on critical yet overlooked changes in China—and which seems more timely than ever ten years on.”
“Leta Hong Fincher’s ‘Leftover Women’ offers a...chilling account of the pressures on Chinese strivers...One hopes that “Leftover Women” will soon be translated into Chinese, as it is likely to resonate deeply with urban educated women. It seems the party has forgotten the Mao-era dictum: ‘Women Hold Up Half the Sky’.”
