A harsh custom courses through rural China. If a woman marries a man from outside her village, she becomes a waijianü, or “married-out daughter". Tradition deems married-out women can be stripped of their rights to land that legally belongs to them.

The Communist Party came to power promising to emancipate women from feudalism. Today, the collective financial losses suffered by married-out women are growing. 

The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and senior China correspondent, Alice Su, meet the married-out women in rural Fujian fighting to get their land back. 

Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.