Feminism in China

Feminism in China began in the 20th century[1] in tandem with the Chinese Revolution. Feminism in China is closely linked with socialism and class issues.[2] Some commentators believe that this close association is damaging to Chinese feminism and argue that the interests of the party are placed before those of women.[3]

History

Prior to the 20th century, women in China were considered essentially different from men. Despite the association of women with yin and men with yang, two qualities considered equally important by Daoism, women were believed to occupy a lower position than men in the hierarchical order of the universe. The I Ching stated that "'Great Righteousness is shown in that man and woman occupy their correct places; the relative positions of Heaven and Earth.'"[4] Women were to be submissive and obedient to men,[5] and normally not allowed to participate in government, military or community institutions.[6] While there were lauded exceptions in Chinese history and literature, such as the Song dynasty general Liang Hongyu and legendary woman warrior Hua Mulan, these were considered to be signs of the dire situation of China at the time. Before the 20th century, such exceptional women were believed to have fought to defend China's traditional patriarchal order and society, not to change it.[7]

A number of women, and some men, started speak out against these conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but to little avail. The situation only began to change as result of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911.[7] In course of this widespread uprising against the ruling Qing dynasty, several women rebel units were raised such as Wu Shuqing's Women's Revolutionary Army,[8][9] Yin Weijun and Lin Zongxue's Zhejiang Women's Army,[10][11] Tang Qunying's Women's Northern Expedition Brigade,[12][13] and many others. All these units are disbanded by the Provisional Government of the Republic of China on 26 February 1912,[14] mostly for chauvinistic reasons.[15] Nevertheless, the fact that they had fought alongside men encouraged many of the women who had taken part in the women militias to become politically active, striving for change.[7]

The revolt of women has shaken China to its very depths.... In the women of China, the Communists possessed, almost ready-made, one of the greatest masses of disinherited human beings the world has ever seen. And because they found the keys to the heart of these women, they also found one of the keys to victory...

J. Belden, 1946[16]

As a result of government approval following the Communist Revolution, women's rights groups became increasingly active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement."[17]

Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[18] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard of male normalcy.[19]

In 2001, China amended its marriage law, so that abuse was considered grounds for divorce.[20]

In 2005, China added new provisions to the Law on Women's Right Protection to include sexual harassment.[21] In 2006 "The Shanghai Supplement" was drafted to help further define sexual harassment in China.[22]

In 2013, the first woman to bring a gender discrimination lawsuit in China, a 23-year-old who went by the pseudonym of Cao Ju, won a small settlement of 30,000 yuan and an official apology from the Juren Academy.[23]

In 2015, China enacted its first nationwide law prohibiting domestic violence, although it excluded same-sex couples and did not address sexual violence.[20] The law also defined domestic violence for the first time.[20] Domestic violence had become a subject of much public debate in China in 2011, when Kim Lee posted pictures of her bruised face on Chinese social media and accused her husband Li Yang of domestic violence.[20] She later stated in the New York Times that police had told her no crime had happened; Li admitted beating her but criticized her for discussing private things in public.[20]

In 2017, the Weibo account of Feminist Voices (Nuquan Zhisheng, 女权之声), an important feminist organization in China, was suspended for thirty days after they posted an article about the planned women's strike in the United States on March 8 (International Women's Day).[24] In 2018 March it was crashed down.

Differences from Western feminism

Chinese feminism differs from Western feminism in that Chinese feminism has no history of assuming that "man" and "woman" are natural categories. Rather, Chinese culture has always assumed that "man" and "woman" are socially constructed categories.[25] What's more, most of the leaders in Chinese feminism movements are men not women, while in western countries, women are the main sponsors of movements for Woman's Rights.[26]

Prominent Chinese feminists

Li Xiaojiang is often credited as the founder of women's studies in China. Her 1983 essay "Progress of Mankind and Women's Liberation" (Renlei jinbu yu funü jiefang) was the first women's studies publication in China; the Association of Women's Studies was founded two years later.[27]

Another early 20th century prominent feminist was the anarchist He-Yin Zhen who founded the Journal "Natural Justice" while in exile in Japan.[28]

Yu Zhengxie and Yuan Mei were two of the first male feminists in China.[29][30]

Contemporary Chinese feminist thinkers, activists, writers and lawyers include: Ai Xiongming, Wang Zheng, Lü Pin, and Zhao Sile.[31]

Arrest of Chinese Feminists in 2015

On the eve of International Women's Day, March, 2015, five young Chinese feminists were arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” (寻衅滋事罪):[32] Li Tingting (李婷婷), Wei Tingting (韦婷婷), Zheng Churan (郑楚然), Wu Rongrong (武嵘嵘), and Wang Man (王曼).[33]

Known collectively as the "Feminist Five," the five feminists have been long-time advocates for legislation against domestic violence in China. They have engaged in protests against gender inequality in China and performance art actions for LGBT rights in China. Performance art forms an important part of their activism because public demonstrations are banned in China.[34]

The Feminist Five were arrested for planning a demonstration against sexual harassment on public transportation.[35] In April 2015, they were released on bail after both domestic outcry and international attention, including calls from Hillary Clinton[36] and Samantha Power.[37]

Issues

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Croll (1978), 1.
  2. ↑ Lin (2006), 127.
  3. ↑ Hom (2000), 32.
  4. ↑ Quoted in Croll (1978), 13.
  5. ↑ Croll (1978), 13.
  6. ↑ Croll (1978), 15.
  7. 1 2 3 Edwards (2008), p. 51.
  8. ↑ Ono (1989), pp. 74, 75.
  9. ↑ Edwards (2008), p. 48.
  10. ↑ Edwards (2008), pp. 48–50.
  11. ↑ Ono (1989), p. 78.
  12. ↑ Strand (2011), p. 105, 109, 110.
  13. ↑ Yui (1913), p. 92.
  14. ↑ Edwards (2008), p. 52.
  15. ↑ Ono (1989), p. 77.
  16. ↑ Quoted in Croll (1978), 1.
  17. ↑ Quoted in Croll (1978), 15.
  18. ↑ Lin (2003), 66.
  19. ↑ Meng 118-119.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Katie Hunt, CNN (28 December 2015). "China finally has a domestic violence law - CNN.com". CNN.
  21. ↑ "China to outlaw sexual harassment". BBC News. 27 June 2005. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  22. ↑ Li, Cao; South, Mark (27 October 2006). "Draft bill details sexual harassment". China Daily. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  23. ↑ Michelle FlorCruz (3 February 2014). "Chinese Woman Wins Settlement In China's First Ever Gender Discrimination Lawsuit". International Business Times.
  24. ↑ Tatlow, Didi Kirsten (2017-02-22). "Chinese Feminist Group's Social Media Account Suspended". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  25. ↑ Brownell (2002), 25-26.
  26. ↑ Jingyuan, Zhang (1995). 当代女性主义批评. PEKING University Publisher.
  27. ↑ Wang.
  28. ↑ Liu.
  29. ↑ Ko, Dorothy (1994). Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-century China. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804723591.
  30. ↑ Ropp, Paul Stanley; Zamperini, Paola; Zurndorfer, Harriet Thelma, eds. (2001). Passionate Women: Female Suicide in Late Imperial China. BRILL. ISBN 9004120181.
  31. ↑ "博客天下". view.inews.qq.com. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  32. ↑ correspondent, Tania Branigan China (2015-03-12). "Five Chinese feminists held over International Women's Day plans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  33. ↑ "The Inspirational Backstory of China's 'Feminist Five'". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  34. ↑ Meili, Xiao (2015-05-13). "China's Feminist Awakening". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  35. ↑ "'They Are the Best Feminist Activists in China'". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  36. ↑ "Hillary Clinton on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  37. ↑ "Samantha Power on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-02-22.

Sources

  • Barlow, Tani E. The question of women in Chinese feminism. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8223-3270-1.
  • Brownell, Susan, and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. Chinese Femininities / Chinese Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. ISBN 0-520-22116-8.
  • Croll, Elisabeth J. Feminism and Socialism in China. New York: Routledge, 1978. ISBN 0-8052-0657-4.
  • Edwards, Louise. "Issue-based Politics: Feminism with Chinese characteristics or the return of bourgeois feminism?" In The New Rich in China: Future Rulers, Present Lives. Ed. by David S. G. Goodman. New York: Routledge, 2004. pp. 201–212. ISBN 0-415-45565-0.
  • Edwards, Louise (2008). Gender, Politics, and Democracy: Women's Suffrage in China. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
  • Fan, Hong. Footbinding, feminism, and freedom: the liberation of women's bodies in modern China. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-7146-4633-4.
  • Hom, Sharon K. Women's Rights: A Global View. Ed. by Lynn Walter. New York: Greenwood Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30890-X.
  • Honig, Emily, and Gail Hershatter. Personal voices: Chinese women in the 1980s. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8047-1431-2.
  • Jaschok, Maria, and Suzanne Miers. Women and Chinese patriarchy: submission, servitude, and escape. London: Zed Books, 1994. ISBN 1-85649-126-9.
  • Lin, Chun. "Toward a Chinese Feminism: A personal story." In Twentieth-Century China: New Approaches. Ed. by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom. New York: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-19504-7.
  • Lin, Chun. "The Transformation of Chinese Socialism". Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8223-3798-3.
  • Liu, Lydia et al. "The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory". Columbia University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-231-16290-6.
  • Meng, Yue. "Female Images and National Myth." In Gender Politics in Modern China: Writing and Feminism. Ed. by Tani E. Barlow. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1993.
  • Ono, Kazuko (1989). Joshua A. Fogel, ed. Chinese Women in a Century of Revolution, 1850-1950. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
  • Strand, David (2011). An Unfinished Republic: Leading by Word and Deed in Modern China. Oakland, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.
  • Wang, Shuo. "The New 'Social History' in China: The Development of Women's History." The History Teacher 39:3 (May 2006).
  • Yui, C. Voonping (July 1913). "Some Experiences at the Siege of Nanking during the Revolution". Journal of Race Development. Worcester, Massachusetts: Clark University. 4 (1): 86–95.
  • Zarro, Peter. "He Zhen and Anarcho-Feminism in China." Journal of Asian Studies 47:4 (November 1988), 796-813.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.