Who Is a Feminist? Understanding the Ambivalence towards Shanghai Baby, 'Body Writing' and Feminism in Post-Women's Liberation China

This essay examines the ambivalence expressed by contemporary Chinese female intellectuals towards "feminism". Using controversies over the novel Shanghai Baby as a point of entry, the essay explores, retrospectively, what the author identifies as the "cultural turn" in the debat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gender & history 2006-11, Vol.18 (3), p.635-660
Main Author: ZHONG, Xueping
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Body symbolism
China
Culture
Feminism
Feminist theory
Gender
Gender studies
Liberation
Peoples Republic of China
Scholars
Shanghai
Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China
Social environment
Women
Women's emancipation
Women's rights
Women's status
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Description
Summary:This essay examines the ambivalence expressed by contemporary Chinese female intellectuals towards "feminism". Using controversies over the novel Shanghai Baby as a point of entry, the essay explores, retrospectively, what the author identifies as the "cultural turn" in the debates over women's and gender issues in post-Mao and post-women's liberation China. It is the author's contention that this "cultural turn" is in part responsible for Chinese female intellectuals' ambivalence towards feminism, but it is also symptomatic of the challenges facing feminism itself, and thus should be understood both within and beyond the specificities of the Chinese case. [PUBLCIATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0953-5233
1468-0424
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-0424.2006.00459.x