Keeper of secrets: The Chinese sociologist turned confidante

Liu Jieyu is a sociology professor at SOAS University in London who specialises in life-history projects. For almost 10 years, she conducted in-depth interviews with hundreds of people across her native China. She spoke to people from three generations, in cities and rural villages across the country, to find out what shaped them.

Since the Communist Revolution in 1949, Chinese families have had to adapt to major social campaigns and reforms aimed at modernising the country. Jieyu herself is one of the first generation born under the one-child policy, which was brought in to limit population growth.

Jieyu wanted to know how families dealt with those changes while also juggling the demands of parents, children and grandparents. More than 300 people told her about their private lives. Some of their stories were worthy of a Chinese soap opera, with cruel in-laws, unfaithful spouses and bitter daughters-in-law.

Of course, as an academic, Jieyu is bound not to reveal her subjects’ identities, or what they said about each other. As a consequence, she has become their confidante and a keeper of secrets - some really dramatic, some heartbreaking.

All this has given Jieyu real insight into how people in China’s cities and villages have been living over three generations. She wrapped these stories and what she’s learned about the bigger picture into a book, called Embedded Generations.

And when she put those same questions to her own family, she was shaken by what she heard.

(Image description: Liu Jieyu leans against a metal railing at dusk, a river and a high-rise Chinese city skyline visible behind her. She smiles and looks into the camera. Her black hair is short and she wears a long-sleeved black shirt with embroidery. Credit: Remi Sowa)

Presenter: Celia Hatton
Producer: Vibeke Venema

Archive: China Experience of Revolution; NBC Universal archives/Storyville: One Child Nation; BBC Witness, China's Economic Miracle

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(Image description: Liu Jieyu leans against a metal railing at dusk, a river and a high-rise Chinese city skyline visible behind her. She smiles and looks into the camera. Her black hair is short and she wears a long-sleeved black shirt with embroidery. Credit: Remi Sowa)