Lovingly referred to as "Auntie" by her followers on her YouTube channel, @50SuiAyiZiJiaYou, Su’s rise to fame wasn’t intentional. Her journey began as a quest for freedom from her abusive past. In 2020, she packed up her white Volkswagen hatchback, outfitted with a rooftop tent, and set off with her pension as her financial foundation. Since then, she has embraced life on the road, inspiring countless others to find their strength and freedom, no matter their age or circumstances.
Woman who left marriage to seek freedom becomes internet icon as ‘road-tripping auntie’
Chinese woman found happiness much later in life when she decided to start traveling.
Su Min, a Chinese woman-turned-feminist icon, exemplifies courage and resilience. For much of her life, she lived the traditional role of a devoted wife, caring mother, and selfless grandmother, appearing to have the perfect life on the surface. However, behind closed doors, she endured years of domestic violence. At the age of 60, Su broke free from societal expectations, left her abusive marriage, and embarked on a transformative journey of independence and self-discovery through road-tripping.
Though she set out to travel alone, she takes her social media followers along the journey through her channel. She's an inspiration for plenty of Chinese women who look up to her. Some of her followers are also mothers with whom Min's message resonates, like @阿杉-p9k who wrote, "You must continue to be comfortable and happy like this. Your happiness gives me strength." Another follower, @candymama15, hyped her, "Come on Auntie, I hope you will be happy and live for yourself in the future."
"I felt like I could finally catch my breath," Min told the BBC about her experience. She further shared, "I was a traditional woman and I wanted to stay in my marriage for life." But she also realized, "I saw that I got nothing in return for all my energy and effort—only beatings, violence, emotional abuse, and gaslighting."
View this post on Instagram
After 40 years of being together with a cruel man, she was diagnosed with depression. Following that, she made a pact with her daughter that once her grandchildren reached kindergarten stage, she'd leave her husband. In 2019, she told her husband that the marriage was over, as per Sixth Tone. However, the divorce process became exhausting as her husband refused to leave her until she paid him. So she settled with him for 160,000 yuan, equivalent to $21,000 in exchange for her freedom and stood firm in her decision to never look back: "I'm saying goodbye to him."
From there on, her journey toward a new life began and over the past 48 months, she has traveled across 20 Chinese provinces, through 400 cities in 3 different cars, as per Good News Network. Though, so far, she had only been road-tripping in China, she'd love to go globe trotting someday but felt restricted due to the language barrier. However, she believes that women, no matter what age, should be kind to themselves. "Just like me, even though I'm 60 now, I found what I was looking for," said Min.
But to become an icon wasn't her initial plan. She met her husband Du Zhoucheng through a matchmaker. And her decision to marry Zhoucheng was also a way to escape her father's control. Born and raised in Tibet until 1982, she had only finished high school when she entered matrimony, "I wanted to change my life," said Min who no longer wanted to serve her father, brothers, and the whole family. But the marriage didn't do much for her except it worsened her situation, as per The Guardian.
So, one day, when she was scrolling through her social media, she stumbled upon a video of a couple traveling across the lands in their van. That's it. That was her cue to end things with her husband and she thought to herself, "I felt that if I didn't leave, I would get sicker." The rest, as they say, is history.
If you are being subjected to domestic abuse or know of anyone else who is, please visit The National Domestic Violence Hotline website, call 1-800-799-7233, or text LOVEIS to 22522.
You can follow Su Min (@50SuiAyiZiJiaYou) on YouTube for her travel expeditions.
Share on Facebook
Popular On Scoop
More Stories on Scoop