Prison Breaker

The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here.

Like millions of Chinese students, Yang Yi took the opportunity to study abroad and explored her future in New Zealand years ago. However, rather than choosing a career which may provide more lucrative financial returns, such as law, economics or finance, she decided to take a bumpier but rewarding road to “make the world a better place” by becoming a prison psychologist in New Zealand.

As an Asian female psychologist who just graduated from college, she had no idea what was waiting for her in prison in a foreign country. She was whistled at and intimidated by inmates. She was also questioned and challenged. However, she managed to overcome all the fears and difficulties and eventually win the trust of the inmates who later benefited from her sessions.

In this episode, Yang Yi discusses her extraordinary experiences and why she continues to be an idealist.

Have thoughts or feedback to share? Want to join the discussion? Write to Yajun and Jingjing at womenpodcast@outlook.com.