Twelve year it took author Zhang Lijia of Lotus: A Novel to write her book on prostitution in China. She sits down with Josh Chin of the Wall Street Journal to discuss how women are caught between the country’s market economy and filial piety.

Zhang Lijia, author of Lotus: A Novel on prostitution in China discusses at TimeOut Shanghai her book, the growth of prostitution and how it relates to women’s lives. “When your stomach is full, you start thinking about sex.”

Journalist Zhang Lijia’s book Lotus: A Novel on prostitution in China hides nice jewels in different corners. Sex workers often held very strong religious believes, she tells Karen Ma in AsianCha.”I believe it is their way of cleansing themselves, but also because they feel the deities won’t judge them.”

Zhang Lijia, Ian Johnson and Howard French made it to the top-25 of China books of the Signature website of the US literary agency with the same name. The authors are praised, as they help to move away from the classic monolithic picture the West had from China.

The Asian Review of Books puts author and journalist Zhang Lijia’s book Lotus: A Novel in perspective in their review by Glyn Ford of the widely acclaimed work. “In the end the women are stronger than the men,” Ford concludes.

Zhang Lijia’s book Lotus: A Novel got already much praise from reviewers. For the South China Morning Post she describes the life of Yong Gan, the main female character in her book, and how she ended, like 10 million other women, in prostitution in China.

After the first raving reviews of Zhang Lijia’s book Lotus: A Novel on prostitution in China, interviewers dive into her research and how her novel relates to real people. At ChinaReadings Mike Cormack takes a look at (among others) the photographer Zhao Tienlin.

Author Zhang Lijia explored for her book Lotus: A Novel China’s sex trade. The book is also an account of the sexual revolution the country is going through, she tells City Weekend. “Some women get more pleasure with clients than they experienced with their husbands.”

In China most women enter the prostitution on their own free will. The government is criminalizing them, forcing them into a submissive position. What can be done? Author Zhang Lijia of Lotus: A Novel on prostitution researched the sex trade in China, and possible solutions and discusses government approaches.

The leading Chinese magazine Caixin interviews author Zhang Lijia about her book Lotus: A Novel about prostitution in China. “Prostitutes are real people, and I wanted to expose that. Like any job, there are drawbacks. But their lives are not totally bleak either.”