Go for It, Xu Xiaosan!

I have been bound to the number three all my life. I was born on March 3, 1983, in Sanli Village, Guazhou Commune, on the outskirts of Yangzhou. It was the Qingming season, yet there was no rain. Bright spring sunshine fell over the fields, and orioles sang. My mother, Ruan Taohua, sent a telegram to my father, Xu Guanglin, who was stationed with a border defense unit on the China-Vietnam front in Guangxi: “A girl was born on March 3.” My father, who had a slight preference for sons, was on the front line and replied with a telegram, making light of it: “Name her Xu Xiaosan.” As a girl, I have carried that name ever since, stamped on my household registration, school records, report cards, ID card, marriage certificate, and work badge. Years later, it would become a frequently debated, disparaging word with a spotlight of its own...