Bridging Hearts and Cultures: Stories of Love, Identity, and Belonging | An Online Public Talk with Xinran
Date: Friday, 20 March 2026
Time: 13:00–14:00 (UK time)
Format: Online via MS Teams
Registration: Eventbrite
The Mothers’ Bridge of Love (MBL) warmly invites you to a special online public talk by its founder, Xinran, hosted by the Online Confucius Institute at The Open University.
For more than two decades, questions of cultural and linguistic identity have been central to Xinran’s writing and charitable work. Through The Mothers’ Bridge of Love, she has worked closely with adopted children and their families, exploring how love, patience, and understanding can cross linguistic boundaries, historical distance, and even painful beginnings.
In this talk, Xinran will reflect on MBL’s journey in supporting parents and children as they navigate the complexities of identity and belonging. She will share real-life stories that reveal how families learn to build homes that hold more than one culture and more than one story. Her reflections offer moving insights into the power of empathy in bridging worlds and shaping more inclusive futures.
About the Speaker
Xinran (薛欣然) is a British-Chinese journalist, author, and long-standing advocate for women’s and children’s issues. Before moving to London in 1997, she was a well-known radio host in China, where her programme Words on the Night Breeze gave voice to women’s life stories. Her first book, The Good Women of China (2002), became an international bestseller, followed by eight further non-fiction titles. She is a frequent contributor to The Guardian and the BBC.
In 2004, Xinran founded The Mothers’ Bridge of Love, which works with Chinese children and families around the world, fostering understanding between birth culture and adoptive culture. The MBL children’s book Mother’s Bridge of Love was ranked among TIME magazine’s Top Ten Children’s Books in 2007.
The talk will be recorded, and a replay will be made available afterwards via the Open University’s Online Confucius Institute website.
We warmly welcome MBL friends, families, and supporters to join this thoughtful and heartfelt conversation.