New Family And "New Women"

Jiang Dongxiu is a special woman, her husband Hu Shih is a famous intellectual in Chinese modern history. As a good wife, Jiang Dongxiu accompanies Hu Shih for life, which really affected him. Most people know Jiang Dongxiu’s name because she is Hu Shih’s wife, which was quite prevalent. But it has nothing to do with the identity of Hu Shih’s wife that Jiang Dongxiu is a real unique person, and she is a symbol of woman in that social environment. In Chinese modern history, millions women were in the same situation Jiang Dongxiu was in, under stress and likely to face more family problems.Jiang Dongxiu and Hu Shih got married in a traditional way. The communications they did before the wedding which have enhanced understanding and promoted friendship between them. Because Hu Shih studied abroad for a longer period, fourteen years after their engagement, Jiang Dongxiu and Hu Shih only hold a wedding ceremony in their hometown, and then they got a new family.Under husband’s tutelage, Jiang Dongxiu made a great progress in each aspect, and she specially made great improvement on spiritual aspect and comprehensive quality. The relationship between Jiang Dongxiu and Hu Shih is good, and their marriage finally has a happy ending. Jiang Dongxiu had an important effect on her husband, she tended him carefully in everyday life, supporting the development of his career, and often comfort him when he was in trouble. In their family life, Jiang Dongxiu naturally had an irreplaceable role. But Jiang Dongxiu and Hu Shih had very different personalities, so they occasionally quarreled in family daily life. Luckily, they were able to understand and accommodate each other, as a general rule, they chose to do right thing for their family. Contrary to what some other people think, Jiang Dongxiu and Hu Shih are suited to each other, they are respecting and supporting each other, and they already have a happy and mutually sustaining marriage."Mrs. Hu Shih" is a very important identity for Jiang Dongxiu; it has a very important meaning to her. For Jiang Dongxiu,"Mrs. Hu Shih" has two connotations. On the one hand, being "Mrs. Hu Shih" means to be a good daughter-in-law, a good wife and a good mother, it is not an easy work, but Jiang Dongxiu have been pretty much done her work as Hu Shih’s wife. And not only that, Jiang Dongxiu fulfils house work and family responsibilities at the same time. On the other hand, Hu Shih was seen as the leader of New Cultural Movement in modern history, so "Mrs. Hu Shih" also was a public identity that must be experimental conformity to the image of public view. In the eyes of public, Jiang Dongxiu did not match their standard which led her to be misunderstood by the public. To be "Mrs. Hu Shih" make Jiang Dongxiu was no longer just the object of concern to public, but also becoming a topic of public concern. And as a result, Jiang Dongxiu still did not get the recognition she deserve for her efforts, it’s not fair. In fact, Jiang Dongxiu is an active, attractive and social responsibility woman in practical social activity. About the public image of Mrs. Hu Shih, what the public saw was somehow a distortion of her reality. The truth is, Mrs. Hu Shih is not the real Jiang Dongxiu, and it is just one role of her life. This special important role shaped Jiang Dongxiu’s life, at the same time, the role has been shaped by Jiang Dongxiu as well.Jiang Dongxiu has distinct characteristics; she is the most typical of the times in which she lived, but she also own her "particularities", these two issues were entwined. Nowadays, in fact from a scientific academic point of view, Jiang Dongxiu can not to be considered as "new woman", but which is not to deny that Jiang Dongxiu has advanced nature. How to correctly appraise Jiang Dongxiu? In order to answer this question correctly, we first need to rethink the standard and re-establish the standard for "new women". There were many other women just like Jiang Dongxiu in modern Chinese society, which is typically noticed for a long time, because they did not meet the criteria for "new women". This affair is unreasonable. Jiang Dongxiu needs to be thought again, and the groups led by her also need to be re-thought at the same time.