“The Meditation of an Atheist” by Li Yinhe, who is often described as “China’s first sexologist,” is an essay collection that shares her thoughts and philosophies about freedom, passion, love, happiness and life.

    “I have done a lot of academic research, and I finally found the time to stop and think about life and myself after I retired. This book is what I have learned during my quiet retirement life,” said Li, who came to Shenzhen to promote her book last weekend.

    As an undergraduate, Li studied history at Shanxi University in the 1970s. After a brief stint as an editor at Guangming Daily, she was assigned to a research position at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences where she pursued research on marriage and family. In the 1980s, she went to the United States to study at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the widow of Wang Xiaobo, a renowned contemporary novelist and essayist.

    Always a pioneer of gender studies on the mainland, Li is known for her radical comments and works in defense of the rights of women, gays, lesbians and transgendered people. However, in this book, Li shows a brand-new side of herself as a woman, philosopher and writer.

    “I felt very relaxed while writing this book. This was quite different from the academic works I used to write. Academic works are written to deliver information and research results to targeted groups and readers. They are not for pondering questions about life and nature,” she said. “I have been thinking about the meaning of life since I was in school, so I wanted to share these thoughts with readers. Thinking about life is a positive thing, and it can help you find yourself and meet more interesting people,” she said.

    However, Li disagreed that her new book was another “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” “Some people compared my book to ‘Chicken Soup’ after reading it, and that bothered me. I just recorded my thoughts in this book. They are some of my answers to life’s ultimate questions, not approaches to improve one’s lifestyle,” she said.

    Regarding the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in every state in the nation, Li shared her excitement on Weibo several days ago.

    As the first person to propose same-sex marriages in China, Li was interviewed by media outlets from all over the country regarding the ruling and its impact on Chinese society.

    “The ruling is encouraging for the whole world. There is no better thing than marriage in the world,” she said. “However, China still has a long way to go to achieve this goal.

    “My book about same-sex relationships was released in 1991. Before that, there was not a single work addressing that issue in China. Same-sex relationships were not allowed at that time. There is still a lot of work to do even in today’s society,” she said.

    However, Li still has hope for China’s LGBT community in the future. “Although it takes time, society is changing. In the past, a lot of my books could not be published, but now you can easily find my works at any bookstore. Sexology is being more and more accepted by society,” she said.

    Li said that, in China, there are two main barriers to same-sex marriage. “The first one is prejudice. Homosexuals are still not widely accepted by the public. The second is that the LGBT community isn’t being heard. As such a massive country, there are many important and urgent issues such as social welfare and retirement that also need to be dealt with. There are a lot of voices out there competing to be heard.”

    (Wang Yuanyuan)