A Chinese Eat, Pray, Love: granny’s road trip gives her the freedom she’s always craved
- Su Min has always tried to live up to societal expectations of what a woman should and shouldn’t do – but not any more
- At the age of 56, she left home and is live-streaming her road trip around China – and hundreds of thousands of internet users are applauding her independence
A 56-year-old grandmother’s journey of self-discovery is being hailed as the surprise live-streaming hit of 2020 in China.
It was time to be herself.
In September, Su embarked on a road trip in a white Volkswagen Polo that she bought with money she saved from working odd jobs. With no destination or return date in mind, she drove out of her home in Zhengzhou, a transport hub in central China, to take ownership of her happiness for the first time in her life.
“When I left the toll gate of Zhengzhou, I felt free for the first time [in] my life,” Su says. She is now in Xishuangbanna, in Yunnan province, southwest China.
Just as Gilbert’s 2006 memoir has inspired women around the world, Su’s adventure – streamed live on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) over the past few months – has drawn praise from women of all ages, but particularly from older housewives in China.
