The Uphill Protest: The Survival Predicament Of The Female Marriage Escapee In 1920s-1930s

Female marriage escaping was a conspicuous social phenomenon in 1920s-1930s China. Taking the news reports and announcements appeared in Shanghai Republican China Daily (1920-1931) as the main material, this paper tries to study the female escapees themselves and the survival surroundings they faced under the background of female marriage decision-making power efforts and female rights movement in modern China. In the first part, we studied these women' identy, family background, the reason for their escaping, and the further action they took. In the second part, we studied the attitudes and actions of the double family (the female escapee's and it' partner's family) and law rules towards them, we also described the various hardship they experienced after they escaped from the family. On one hand, female marriage escape was a strong protest against the parental authority on the marriage arrangement; on the other hand, it showed their initiative efforts at marriage decision-making power. The prevalence of female marriage escaping indicated that the awakening of women themselves had reached a new stage. And the survival predicament indicated that only relying on the awakening of women themselves was far from enough for women's emancipation. It must take a long time for women to gain the real power of marriage decision-making along with the combination of social reform and female struggle.