China: US woman face of domestic abuse

Louisa Lim (All Things Considered, NPR.org) American Woman Gives Domestic Abuse a Face, and Voice, in China; Wisdom Quarterly

“Conquer English to Make China Stronger!” Li Yang ties the ability to speak English to personal strength, and personal strength to national power (Ian Teh/NewYorker.com).

 

Kim Lee (shown at left) posted a photo of her battered face online, and has become a national icon in China.
 
She won a divorce, a financial settlement and a restraining order against her Chinese husband, a famous author and English teacher.
 

The faces of American Kim Lee and her Chinese husband, Li Yang, both in their 40s, once graced the covers of books that sold in the millions.

 

He was China's most famous English teacher, the "Crazy English" guru of China, who pioneered his own style of English teaching: pedagogy through shouted language, yelling to halls of thousands of students.

 

His methods were given official recognition after he was employed by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee to teach Olympic volunteers.

 

A fellow teacher, Lee married Li in 2006. They have three daughters. And Lee, who is from Florida, worked alongside her husband to build the Crazy English empire.

 

"I enjoy losing face!" is one of Li's mottoes, in a bid to lessen the inhibitions of China's shy language learners, who fear mistakes. But 18 months ago, his wife used that slogan against him.

 
Going Public

When he brutally beat Lee, she posted a picture of her battered face, showing a huge lump protruding from her forehead. She put it on his page on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, under the heading, "I love losing my face = I love hitting my wife's face?" More: LISTEN

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