The Twin Bracelets (雙鐲), Huang Yu Shan, 1991

Two teenage girls make a pledge to each other to be a man and wife in a small Chinese fishing town. The notions of womens rights or sexual freedom are absent in their oppressive minority culture, and when one becomes happily married to a stranger, the other is cruelly betrothed to the abusive son of a wealthy family. Seeking to free herself from a lifetime of abuse, Huihua desperately looks for a way out. by J L (New York City)