User:Joyce Siwa00/New Women

New Women (新女), produced at Lianhua Shanghai Studio no. 2 and directed by Cai Chusheng, was a silent film released in 1935. This film based off the life of actress Ai Xia stars actress Ruan Lingyu who plays the lead, Wei Ming. The story follows the struggles of Wei Ming, a young and beautiful aspiring writer who teaches music at a girl's high school. Wei Ming is pursued by the wealthy and lecherous Dr. Wang (played by Wang Naidong) but she fights him off as she refuses to bound to marriage, proclaiming "What can that give me? Companion for life? Might as well call it slave for life!"

She makes pennies as a teacher and makes even less as a writer. She is merely an up and coming author, only being able to publish at all due to her looks. The only person rooting for her is Yu Haichou (played by Zheng Junli), an editor at Shanghai Publishing Company where Wei Ming's work is published. He helps advocate for her work to the head publisher who took a look at her photo and allowed her to be published. As Wei Ming rejected Dr. Wang's advances, Dr. Wang gets her fired from her work and speaks ill of her to news sources.

In between her struggle to become an author and fighting off Dr. Wang, Wei Ming's sister and daughter come visit her in Shanghai after the passing of Wei Ming's sister's husband. It is revealed that Wei Ming's daughter is a product of Wei Ming's previous marriage. Wei Ming welcomes them to Shanghai with open arms but soon, her daughter develops an illness that requires her to be in the hospital. Being unemployed and broke, Wei Ming is forced to convince herself to "sell" herself for one night. Walking into the brothel chamber, she sees Dr. Wang, the source of her troubles. Outraged and humiliated, she storms out. However, she still has no money for her daughter's treatment and can only watch her daughter die. Overcome with grief at her circumstances, Wei Ming overdoses on pills.

She is rushed to the hospital and briefly regains consciousness, finding out that she is being gossiped about by new sources that Dr. Wang spoke to. She is enraged at this and vows revenge on ill-wishers, her last words being "I want to live!" before she tragically passes.

Cultural Significance

Along with the social reform of the May Fourth Movement came along demands for women's liberation and equality. Taken place during the 1910s to 1920s, the radical shift in thinking within the Chinese population, particularly the Chinese youth, manifested itself into the New Culture Movement which included feminist thinking. These new feminists "advocated equality between women and men, free love and marriage, educational opportunities for women, labor force participation of women, in a word, women’s emancipation." The motivation for many supporters of the feminist movement was for a stronger national government as "the source of China’s weakness and problems, they concluded that the problems within the Chinese family structure were among the main reasons for China’s underdevelopment and weak status." The culture prior to the New Culture Movement was founded on Confucianism where "Women’s roles were primarily kinship roles: daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, mother, and mother-in-law. In all these roles, it was incumbent on women to accord with the wishes and needs of closely-related men: their fathers when young, their husbands when married, their sons when widowed."

During this time, two stereotypes of women arose: the Modern Girl (modern girl in Chinese) and the New Woman. Both these tropes were tied closely with anxieties over the changing times and with sociopolitical meaning. The Modern Girl represented the more desirable aspects of modernity at the time, being the face of sensuality and wearing seductive clothing, displaying wealthy status. The Modern Girl was known to be the femme fatale and a man eater. On the opposite side of the coin is the New Woman who advocates for educated women and positive change.

The Chinese New Woman movement pushed for Chinese culture to move forward from a more traditional culture to a more progressive and nationalist culture. As elegantly put by Sarah Stevens, a feminist author, "Cultural reflections of the New Woman archetype highlight the transformation of a backwards or bourgeois woman into a New Woman, thus representing the necessary transformation of the Chinese nation". The New Woman ideal advocated for the education of women, independence from men, and a rejection of the traditional gender roles.

Connection to Other Feminist Media

The New Woman trope quickly became popular amongst feminist writers such as Ding Ling, an influential writer for the May Fourth Movement. In literature, the New Woman trope was advocated for through different forms of literature such as books, movies, and more.

Miss Sophia's Diary and New Women

One of the most influential pieces for New Women is Miss Sophia's Diary by Ding Ling. Miss Sophia's Diary reflects the struggles and contradictions faced by modern, educated women in early 20th-century China. Sophia epitomizes this ideal as the New Woman symbolized a break from traditional roles of domesticity and subservience, embodying aspirations for intellectual, emotional, and sexual autonomy. However, even though she reflects this ideal, Sophia also demonstrates challenges for the New Woman. Sophia's desire for personal freedom and exploration of her romantic and sexual feelings align with the New Woman ethos. However, her internal conflict—oscillating between yearning for independence and her dependence on Ling Jishi's affection—highlights the societal and psychological barriers these women faced. The diary format intimately portrays her vulnerability, dissatisfaction with patriarchal norms, and existential doubt, illustrating the complexities of pursuing a new identity in a society still deeply rooted in traditional values. (cite) Ding Ling uses Sophia's voice to critique the limited societal options for women and to question whether true autonomy is possible in a world where emotional and social constraints persist.

New Women and Miss Sophia's Diary both demonstrate the intellectual and sexual autonomy ideals of the New Woman. In the film, Wei Ming illustrates the New Woman ideal through her aspirations for independence and rejections of traditional gender roles. Wei Ming is a beautiful young woman and is reminded of this often in the movie from leering men wanting her to become their companion, to having opportunities open up for her due to her looks. She aspires to be a writer and has a column in a newspaper in Shanghai. Her pursuit of a career reflects the "New Woman" ideal of economic and intellectual self-sufficiency, challenging traditional expectations of women as dependent homemakers. She defies the patriarchy through refusing to submit to the advances of wealthy and influential men who attempt to exploit her vulnerability. In this, she keeps her sexual autonomy while rejecting traditional gender roles. Her tragic suicide at the end of the movie is a testament to her defiance against traditional roles and highlights the ideals of the New Woman.

Miss Sophia's Diary shows similar ideals where Sophia is an intellectual woman, questioning and critiquing the society she lives in. Sophia values education, self-awareness, and emotional authenticity, aligning with the ideals of the New Woman. In traditional Chinese culture, sexual advances was taboo and chastity was expected of women. Sophia breaks traditional gender roles through discussing her sexual attraction to Ling Jishi, a direct quote being, "How can I describe the beauty of this strange man? Obviously, his lean stature, white delicate features, fine and thin lips, as well as soft hair are quite enough to dazzle one’s eyes. But there is an elegance to him, difficult to describe, an elusive quality, that shook me profoundly. When I asked his name, he handed me his name card with extraordinary grace and finesse …“Ling Jishi, Singapore…” (55)." Through expressing herself in her diary, Sophia truly breaks boundaries forced upon women and demonstrates the intellect of women.

Continuing the Feminist Fight

Since the release of the movie nearly 100 years ago, feminism within China has continued to push for women's rights.

Following Western countries, early 20th century Chinese intellectuals pushed for a more democratic social system but also family and marriage patterns. These values were pushed for during the May Fourth Movement.

One of the most pivotal moments of women's participation in government in China is little-known but incredibly impactful. From 1936 to 1947, feminist activists won seats for women in national legislative bodies. Their campaigns set a minimum 10% female participation in legislative bodies, confirmed in the national constitution of 1946-1947. There were a multitude of reasons why this is seldomly discussed tied to China's culture of patriarchy. For one, the history of China's women wasn't as discussed up until the late 90'. Another is the fact that other issues were being discussed between the Nationalist Party (GMD) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so this milestone was overshadowed by that.

The Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949 was when most change happened for all citizens of Mainland China. The reigning party, the CCP made a commitment to give equality to the men and women of China. They wrote it down in their constitution: "The People’s Republic of China shall abolish the feudal system which holds women in bondage. Women shall enjoy equal rights with men in political, economic, cultural, educational and social life. Freedom of marriage for men and women shall be put into effect (Article 6)."

Jumping forward to the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), its literature suggests that gender equality made rapid progress. It seems that "women’s labor force participation rate...remained high, and women’s representation in higher educational institutions was also higher during the Cultural Revolution, compared with either earlier or later times." However, women were still facing low social status in Chinese culture, especially considering the One-child policy implemented in 1979. Males were the preferred gender and thanks to the One-child policy, female fetuses were often aborted or female children were left to orphanages. Female mortality rates between 1979 to 2015 were excessively high, demonstrating that there is still much left to fight for in terms of gender equality in Chinese culture.

Where to Watch

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q4zhLxCBro&ab_channel=ModernChineseCulturalStudies

Amazon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477928/

References

Li, Yuhui (2000). Women’s Movement and Change of Women’s Status in China. Journal of International Women's Studies, 1(1), 30-40. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol1/iss1/3

Sarah E. Stevens. “Figuring Modernity: The New Woman and the Modern Girl in Republican China.” NWSA Journal 15, no. 3 (2003): 82–103 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4317011.

Edwards, Louise. “Policing the Modern Woman in Republican China.” Modern China 26, no. 2 (2000): 115–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/189430.

dong, madeleine. “Who Is Afraid of the Chinese Modern Girl?” In The Modern Girl Around the World, 194–219. New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822389194-010.

Freedman, Estelle B. “The New Woman: Changing Views of Women in the 1920s.” The Journal of American History 61, no. 2 (1974): 372–93. https://doi.org/10.2307/1903954.

Feng, Jin. "The New Woman in Early Twentieth-Century Chinese Fiction." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 6.4 (2004): https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol6/iss4/5/.

HERSHATTER, GAIL. Women in China’s Long Twentieth Century. 1st ed. University of California Press, 2007. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnb9j.

Ho, Felicia (2002). Review of "Review of Tales of Translation: Composing the New Woman in China, 1899-1918," Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature: Vol. 3 : No. 2 Available at: https://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmrcl/vol3/iss2/8

Weiru Zhao. "The Fate of Real Women Reflected by the Film New Women," Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Vol. 594 (2021). https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125964786.pdf

Ebrey, Patricia. Women in Traditional China. Asia Society, New York, USA. https://asiasociety.org/education/women-traditional-china.

Wong, Ka F. Modernity, Sexuality, and Colonial Fantasy in Ding Ling's "Miss Sophia Diary" (1928). Series IV, Vol 4, no. 2. Eastern Illinois University. October, 2014. https://castle.eiu.edu/studiesonasia/documents/seriesIV/Wong_Studies_Fall14.pdf

Guo, Li. "Rethinking Theatrical Images of the New Woman in China's Republican Era." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): <https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2233>

Edwards, Louise. "Feminist Campaigns for Quotas for Women in Politics, 1936–1947." Twentieth-Century China 24, no. 2 (1998): 69-105. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tcc.1998.0004.

Coale, A. J., & Banister, J. (1994). Five Decades of Missing Females in China. https://doi.org/10.2307/2061752

DeLugan, Robin Maria (2013). "Exposing Gendercide in India and China (Davis, Brown, and Denier's It's a Girl—the Three Deadliest Words in the World)". Current Anthropology. 54 (5): 649–650. doi:10.1086/672365. ISSN 0011-3204.