Choo Waihong

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Choo Waihong (died September 2023) was a Singaporean corporate lawyer, feminist and travel writer, known for her book The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in China’s Hidden Mountains (2017) about the matriarchal Chinese tribe of Mosuo.

Biography

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Choo was from a Chinese community in Singapore.[1] Choo was educated at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.[2] After graduating, Choo worked at law firms in Singapore[3][4][5] and California, United States,[2][6] as a corporate lawyer specialising in fund management law.[7] She took early retirement from her law career in 2006 in order to travel in China and reconnect with her roots.[6][8]

Choo began writing about her post-retirement travels for the China Daily newspaper.[9] Choo then lived among the matriarchal tribe of Mosuo, who live around Lugu Lake in the Yunnan province, for six months a year over seven years. She built a traditional Mosuo house on the land of a friend[10][11][12] and was the first outsider to move into the heart of the tribe.[7] She was taught the Mosuo language by a teenage girl named Ladzu.[8]

Choo wrote the book The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in China’s Hidden Mountains (2017) about the Mosuo culture.[13][14] It has been covered by publications including The Guardian,[8][15] The Diplomat magazine,[11] Physics World,[16] South China Morning Post[17] and Stylist magazine.[1] As of 2017, foreign-language rights had been sold to Finland, Spain, Japan and Korea[6] and a copy of Choo's book is held in the History of Medicine collection of the Wellcome Collection in London, England.[18]

Choo described herself as a feminist[8] and volunteered as vice-president of the AWARE women’s rights group in Singapore,[19] serving for two terms (2007 to 2009).[7][20]

Choo died in September 2023.[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b Everett, Flic. "Discover the tribe in western China where women hold all the power". Stylist. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b Soin, Kanwaljit; Thomas, Margaret (5 May 2015). Our Lives To Live: Putting A Woman's Face To Change In Singapore. World Scientific. p. 38. ISBN 978-981-4641-99-9.
  3. ^ "New partner for Clifford Chance JV". AsianInvestor. 15 May 2003. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  4. ^ "Star struck". The Lawyer. 18 May 2003. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  5. ^ "Moving on". Law Gazette. 26 June 2003. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Tan, Lauren (28 December 2017). "Feminist and first-time author Choo Waihong explores the matriarchal tribe of Mosuo". Prestige. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Milne, Rosie. "Q & A: Choo Waihong". Asian Books Blog. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d Booth, Hannah (1 April 2017). "The kingdom of women: the society where a man is never the boss". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  9. ^ Choo, Waihong (9 April 2017). "Arriving in the Kingdom of Women". Asian Review of Books. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  10. ^ Hoe, Yune (31 August 2017). "Super She-ro #5: This woman spends half a year living with a feminist tribe". Her World Singapore. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  11. ^ a b Salvá, Ana (12 August 2020). "The Decline of China's Kingdom of Women". The Diplomat. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  12. ^ "The Conversation: Matriarchal Societies". BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  13. ^ Saini, Angela (28 February 2023). The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality. Beacon Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-8070-1454-7.
  14. ^ Raha, Manis Kumar (1 January 2023). Marriage in Human Society: Global Perspective (Volume 3). Concept Publishing Company. p. 715. ISBN 978-93-5594-636-2.
  15. ^ Mullin, Kyle (29 July 2017). "Yunnanese Matriarchy: Author Choo Waihong Talks About Her Stay With the Mosuo People, Aug 3 at The Bookworm". The Beijinger. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  16. ^ Rabey, Isabel (18 October 2023). "Beyond a 'man's world': patriarchs, matriarchs and the quest for gender equality". Physics World. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  17. ^ Cormack, Mike (15 March 2017). "Review | The Kingdom of Women: China's 'lost tribe' of matriarchal Mosuo". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  18. ^ "The kingdom of women : life, love and death in China's hidden mountains / Choo WaiHong". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
  19. ^ Bystydzienski, Jill M.; Sekhon, Joti (22 July 1999). Democratization and Women's Grassroots Movements. Indiana University Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-253-02814-3.
  20. ^ a b "Remembering those we lost in Singapore in 2023". Deathkopitiam. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
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  • Excerpt from The Kingdom of Women on the Asian Books Blog.