Chinese Women’s Issues

With the radical changes in Chinese culture throughout Chinese history, the portrayals and roles of Chinese women likewise differ over time. In this thesis, I, therefore, will examine broadly on the impacts of Chinese culture on Chinese women in certain significant aspects that women have been encountering since the period of the Republic of China, focusing on the Nationalist government to the present time.In the time of the Republic of China, the image of the new modern women was influenced partly by the western culture and mostly by the Nationalist government propaganda on robust beauty(健美)and self-cultivated, utilizing as a tool for nation-building. Women were encouraged to engage in national liberation and politics and the traditional ideal of’the good wife, wise mother’ was considered a negative effect toward the Nationalist government. In Maoist era as the new policy promoted the concept of "unisex" and "gender-equality in order to recreate the world without gender oppression." Women more equally partook in social role and more freed from traditional family role as a help of community system. Under the opening-up policy and economic reform of Deng Xiaoping, I am going to illustrate the changing life of rural women and the introduction of consumerism and commercialism into the life of the urban women. Lastly, with the rise of modernization and the increase of western influence in China, along with that of women are capable of earning money, contemporary women are now entering into the consumer culture, estranging themselves from the traditional role of women in the patriarchal society or iron women in proletarian era, but have to cope with the complex lives in the contemporary China.My objective of this thesis is to explore broadly on diverse roles, images, values, and perceptions of Chinese women in contemporary China in a hope to give a broader perspective and a balanced view on Chinese women’s issues specifically in both favorable and unfavorable aspects.The value of this thesis is to develop an insight into women’s issues in both favorable and unfavorable sides through the true stories and the authentic thoughts of Chinese women and thus reveal some facts of the changing role of women in changing China. By presenting multilayered dimensions and changing of roles of women in China, the readers will gain balanced understandings and views on Chinese women in different generations respectively.Specifically, The following three questions on Chinese women guide my study:Question1:How the continuous changes in Chinese culture affected the roles and images of women in China.Question2:How consumer culture influenced the lives and values of Chinese rural and urban women.Question3:How Western culture and modernization has transformed beauty perceptions among Chinese women.I will seek answers to the above questions by employing qualitative approach in which the research methods are based on both primary and secondary sources. For the primary source, I will conduct a case study through the use of qualitative research approach in conducting in-depth interviews with Chinese women, focusing on those who were born in late1970s onward. For the secondary source, I will conduct literary review by examining and analyzing selected work of literature, journals, dissertations and theses. Also, I will further analyze Chinese women’s issues through the relevant Chinese films and documentaries.