“We’re always so afraid of being ridiculed and blamed in the event of a divorce, so we all choose to be patient, but in reality, that kind of patience is not appropriate,” she says. “I later learned that it can actually have a significant effect on children. The child really doesn’t want you to put up with it, they want you to step up and give them a harmonious home.”
After her daughter got married, she thought of leaving her husband, but soon became a grandmother. Twins were born to my daughter – and she was called on duty again. She felt she needed help caring for them, even though she had been diagnosed with depression by this time.
“I felt that if I didn’t go, I would get sick,” she says. She promised her daughter that she would look after the two boys until they went to kindergarten, and then she would leave.
The spark of inspiration for her escape came in 2019 while browsing social media. She found a video of someone traveling while living in their van. That’s it, she thought to herself. This was her way out.
Even the pandemic did not stop her. In September 2020, she left her family home in Zhengzhou and hardly looked back, traveling through 20 Chinese provinces and more than 400 cities.
This decision certainly caused a stir among women in China. Su Ming offers comfort and hope to her millions of followers. “We women are not just someone’s wife or mother… Let’s live for ourselves!” wrote one follower.
Many of them are mothers who share their own struggles. They tell her they, too, feel trapped in stifling marriages — some say her stories have inspired them to end abusive relationships.
“You are a hero to thousands of women and many now see the possibility of a better life because of you,” reads one of the top comments on one of her most popular videos.
“When I’m 60, I hope I can be as free as you,” another comment read.
The third woman asks, “Aunt Su, can I travel with you? I will cover all the expenses. I just want to travel with you. I feel so trapped and depressed in my current life.”
