Working Girls: Sheng Keyi on Migrant Women and Sex

Sheng Keyi’s breakout novel Northern Girls is her first to be published in English. As you might expect, the wild tale of ample-chested Xiaohong and her misadventures as a migrant worker translates well. Here we catch up with Sheng about her writing process, her family and just why she made Xiaohong’s boobs so big.

What inspired you to write Northern Girls?
When I quit my magazine job and moved to Dongbei, all I wanted was to write a book for myself before turning 30. So I just followed my instinct and started with stories about the people and situations that I was most familiar with.

So the stories in Northern Girls are based on real experiences?
Qian Xiaohong’s character is based on a real person. Whenever I went home to my village I’d hear bits and pieces of this girl’s story. She reminded me of a wild horse, bold and unfettered. I also worked a short stint at the Family Planning Center and some of the poor practices I encountered there became part of the story of Li Sijiang [a character who has an abortion].

What did you learn while writing that surprised you?
That my past experiences and observations were great preparation for writing. I’d accumulated all this material, so I never had any writer’s block.

Tell us a little about your family.
I’m the baby of the family. My two brothers and my sister all live humble, simple lives. My brothers worked in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan, but returned to our village because the work was dead-end. They didn’t know I was an author until I’d already published several books.

Authors often say the characters take over their stories. Did this happen with Northern Girls?
It’s true – characters can suddenly have their own will, ignoring the plans you’ve made for them. With Xiaohong, I’d originally planned just a short story about incest in the village and how she handles it. Next thing I know, she’s leaving the village for the big city, givingthe narrative a new turn. I realized then that I could go broader, and that’s how I decided to write a full novel.

Why did you make Xiaohong’s breasts so large?
I thought the breasts could represent women’s status as the second sex, still under the control of men. Her chest brings troubles and gains, but she never uses them as a commodity. She does enjoy her own body, though, and that’s a kind of rebellion in itself. In the end, her breasts become a burden – heavy as sandbags – and she must find a way to soldier on regardless.

Northern Girls is available at The Bookworm.

Click here to see the Beijinger July issue in full.

Photo: Feng Tang