OCI Public Talk - Bridging Hearts and Cultures: Stories of Love, Identity, and Belonging

For more than two decades, the question of cultural and linguistic identity has been central to Xinran’s work, particularly through the charity she founded, The Mothers’ Bridge of Love (MBL). Drawing on the lived experiences of children and their families, Xinran has explored how love, patience, and understanding can transcend linguistic divides, historical distances, and even painful beginnings.

In this talk, she will share how MBL has supported parents and children in navigating the complexities of identity and belonging, and how these journeys have taught us to create homes that embrace more than one culture and more than one story. Her reflections offer profound insights into the transformative power of empathy in bridging worlds and shaping inclusive futures.

About the speaker:

Xuē Xīnrán (薛欣然, pen name Xinran) is a British-Chinese journalist, author, speaker, and advocate for women's issues. She was a popular radio personality in China with a call-in program named "Words on the Night Breeze" from 1989 to 1997. The program focused on women's issues and life stories. In 1997, she moved to London and began writing stories of the women she met along her journeys. Her first book, The Good Women of China, was published in 2002, becoming an international bestseller, she has been published another eight nonfiction books since then. She frequently contributes to The Guardian and the BBC. 

In August 2004 Xinran set up ‘The Mothers’ Bridge of Love’ (MBL). MBL reaches out to Chinese children in all corners of the world; by creating a bridge of understanding between China and the West and between adoptive culture and birth culture, MBL ultimately wants to help bridge the huge poverty gap which still exists in many parts of China. The MBL book for adoptive families, Mother's Bridge of Love, came third in TIME magazine’s list of the top ten children’s books of 2007. 

Please register here on Eventbrite to attend. 

The talk will be held on MS Teams. A recording will be made available afterwards and published on the Open University's Online Confucius Institute website.

We look forward to seeing you there!