The Diary of Ma Yan

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Cover of English-language edition of The Diary of Ma Yan

The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese School Girl (马燕日记) is the diary of Chinese schoolgirl Ma Yan (马燕), discovered, edited, and published in the West by French journalist Pierre Haski.

In March 2001, Haski was filming a documentary on Chinese Muslims. By chance, he arrived in the extremely remote village of Zhangjiashu, in the northwestern region of Ningxia, and stayed for a few days in the village imam's modest hut. There, Haski and his team were treated well by the impoverished villagers. It became apparent to the Frenchman that the people of this area had become left behind by the New China, a materialistic and wealthy society. Facilities such as drinking water and education were very poor.

As they were leaving, the mother of thirteen-year-old Ma Yan thrust her daughter's diary into the arms of the foreigners, begging them to help her. Back in Shanghai, the team were very moved by the tattered pages, in which Ma Yan described her wishes to continue to attend school and help her family. Desperately poor, the Ma family had to pull Ma Yan out of school as it had become too expensive. Haski later published the poignant autobiography, first in France, where it received an unprecedented response from the public. In the summer of 2002, a fund known as the Children of Ningxia was set up to send Ma Yan and children like her to school. Since then the diary has been published in seventeen languages and sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. Ma Yan is seventeen today and finishing her education. She wishes to be a journalist. I want to study journalism at university, she said. Asked why, she pointed to Mr. Haski, whom she calls Uncle Han. Because Uncle Han and others traveled across the country and found poor children like us, she said. I'd like to be a journalist so I, too, can help poor children. Thanks to her, 250 other Chinese schoolchildren have also been put through the education system on] the way to a better life. The basic necessities of life such as a fresh water well and agricultural fertilisers have also been provided to her village.

[edit] References

Ma, Yan, and Pierre Haski (2005). The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060764961. ISBN 9780060764968.
Riding, Alan. "A Chinese Girl's Diary Builds A Bridge Out of Rural Poverty", The New York Times, March 24, 2004.