Urban Women in Modern China

From the beginning, feminism in China was closely associated with a rising Chinese nationalism. This, according to Edwards, was not unique to China. Women were often associated with the rise and fall of national strength in European history. Women were either a symbol of the emancipation of the new woman or a symbol of the major threats facing family life, public order and national morality (Edwards, 117). In China, women's liberation, initially patronized by many educated men in order to strengthen China, was soon affected also by the inundation of commercialization of China. From traditional hair buns and long and usually loose dresses for married women, to bobbed hair, the more tight-fitting qipao with slits along the thighs, high heels, and other commoditized accessories. Freedom, for many urban women, meant both the freedom to pursue an education or even a job, and the freedom to enjoy the material comforts of life. Edwards argues that the scholar class's lack of political control after the founding of the republic led them to a pursuit of the revival of their cultural influence in society through patrolling the proper behavior of women. For many Chinese intellectuals, reestablishing their position in Chinese society required the shaking off of the influence or "shackle" of Western imperialism. In patrolling and guiding the Chinese women's liberation through a combination of Western and Chinese values, they were affirming "socio-moral values that would reestablish their [Chinese scholars'] right to rule (educated individuals possessing high moral principles) in the face of cruel, commercialized, and corrupt military dominated GMD [Nationalist] government." (Edwards, p.128) Therefore, women's liberation, from the beginning, was never purely a pursuit of rights and freedoms, but was fraught with the need for national salvation, the reassertion of intellectuals of their moral and cultural responsibility in society, and ultimately, when the Nationalist government came to power in 1927, the need to create greater social uniformity and greater control by the state over society. One sees the juxtaposition of so many images of the "new woman:" girl student, good professional, avid consumer, irresponsible/lazy beings that were unproductive to national progress, etc. Edwards points out that so much anxiety over creating the "authentic" rather than "fake" new woman in China by male intellectuals and the government reflected a traditional bias against women: that women could have the power to create dynastic or social/political disorder, as much of disorder in history were attributed to the work of individual female courtesans or empresses. (Edwards, 125) Amidst the controversy over what would be an authentic instead of fake modern woman, only a few radical Chinese intellectuals stood out to challenge the traditional expectations many wanted to channel Chinese women back to, such as the concept of chastity, modesty, and obedience. Lu Hsun, the first Chinese writer to challenge the Confucian traditions, was also one who challenged those who wanted women to go back to a more traditional set of values and practices.(Edwards, 126) The need to regulate the new Chinese woman from the Chinese intellectuals was compounded by the control of the Nationalist government (1927-1949) over Chinese women, especially through the New Life Movement. The fightings between the CCP (Chinese Communist Party 共产党) and the KMT(Kuomintang, or GMD: Guomindang, 国民党; the Nationalists) further lent a political and ideological dimension to the definition of the modern or new woman. The following is a brief overview of how the political fallout of the Nationalists and Communists as well as the Nationalist New  Life Movement put a conservative spin on the women's movement in China. The Nationalist/Communist Split of 1927: After the establishment of the republic, because China was controlled by warlords and the Beijing government was often hostile to the Nationalists, there was a temporary alliance between the two modern political parties in 1923, made possible by Sun Yatsen. In 1926, the two political parties decided to march northward and conquer the regional warlords, unifying China in the process. This move, called the Northern Expedition (1926-28), was undertaken by Sun's successor Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalist Party (Sun died in 1925), and the Communist leadership. The alliance between the Nationalists and Communists broke down when the Nationalist troops reached Shanghai in April 1927. Thinking he was half way won in China, Chiang Kai-shek started to purge the Communists from his ranks and executed thousands of Communists or Communist sympathizers in Shanghai, creating the "white terror," or the "April 12 Massacre," in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. From then on, the Communists turned increasingly underground, and took on the  form of guerrilla fighters, concentrating in several Chinese provinces such as Jiangxi Province. The Nationalists blamed the Communists for radicalism in women's liberation. The split between the GMD and CCP led to the killings of many progressive women students as well as female Communists. The New Life Movement" The New Life Movement, started in 1934 in Jiangxi Province, the bastion of Communist guerrilla warfare, was meant to attract people away from Communism, through a reform of their life habits, emphasizing hygiene, a work ethic, goal-orientedness, "orderliness, cleanliness, frugality, simplicity, promptness, precision, harmoniousness, and dignity." (Dirlik, 955-56) Mostly the movement concerned itself with cleanliness and orderly behavior, as a way to upgrade the external appearance, and the image, of the nation. "A healthy mind resides in a healthy body...Healthy bodies would lead to hard-working, self-sacrificing and self-confident citizens." (Dirlik, 958) Such modernization, on the other hand, also called for the revival of traditional morality. These principles, according to Chiang, were derived from four traditional Chinese virtues.(Dirlik, 965-966) This apparent turn toward more conservative values was accompanied by the celebration of the birthday of Confucius in 1931. It seemed the champions of the New Life movement wanted to adopt the ti/yong formula of the late 19th century, applying Chinese learning as the essence, and Western learning as the application. (Dirlik, 960-61). Its goal was "to accomplish the social change that was the prerequisite to genuine political change." (Dirlik, 963) The ultimate outcome of the New Life Movement was to achieve a uniform citizenry and political uniformity. An element of totalitarian rule infused the content of the New Life Movement, which was fundamentally against individualism, and to preempt revolutionaries. (Dirlik, 974-75) In general, the emphasis on "simplicity" of lifestyles created criticism against the consumerism of modern Chinese women. Notes: Dirlik, Arif. "The Ideological Foundation of the New Life Movement: A Study in Counterrevolution." Journal of Asian Studies, 34(4) (Aug., 1975): 945-980.