Overnight fame troubles nanny essayist

By Wu Jin
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, May 2, 2017
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Essay written by migrant worker goes viral

Fan Yusu, 44, from a village in Xiangyang, Hubei Province, now works as a nanny in Beijing. [Photo/Beijing Youth Daily]



Fan Yusu, a 44-year-old nanny from the outskirts of Xiangyang, Hubei Province, recently complained that she has been depressed and intolerant to the successive disturbances in her life since her essay entitled "I'm Fan Yusu" went viral online.

As a middle school graduate and a migrant laborer in Beijing, Fan never expected her article in colloquial language would receive such extensive influence with a readership hitting 100,000 plus.

"My life is a book of unbearable humbleness, it shapes me as cheap and as inept as an ugly binding," Fan wrote in her widely acclaimed essay.

But her overnight fame and a life in the spotlight did not bring happiness to her.

"I'm hiding inside a mountain because my social phobia is deteriorating into depression," Fan sent a message responding to an interview request.

According to her, she has grown increasingly uneasy and inadaptable when receiving flocks of strangers including, reporters, publishers and fans.

In order to embrace a bigger world, Fan headed to Beijing when she was 20. She married two years later and gave births to two girls.

In the fall of 2014, Fan happened to find a literary class organized among migrant workers in Picun, a suburban village, a 15-minute drive away from the Beijing Capital International Airport.

She spent an entire year attending the night class at 7:00 p.m. every Sunday and has attributed much of her success to the philanthropic curriculum which brought her to the world of literature.

Her writing was highly recommended by Fu Qiuyun, a volunteer in the program, who said, Fan reads a lot and has a very good memory. With Fu's help, Fan's manuscripts were typed and posted online.

"Her writing is true literature, with every character reflecting the strong and heavy footprint which can be traced in real life," an online user commented.

Fan started to read when she was six to seven years old. She dived into a sea of literature which was recommended by her elder brother such as "the Yan River", "the Deer Howling", "the Oasis" and "the Harvest".

She became obsessed and engrossed in the charm of words. Overwhelmed by the interest of reading, she passes down her habit to her daughters as the books she bought her elder daughter weigh over 500 kilograms.

She is now about to publish a new fiction -a long mythological story developed from real life in her hometown.

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