CHINESE Women
half the sky
The transition from feudalism to socialism represented a dramatic break with a traditional Chinese past. “Liberation” saw the complete, legal emancipation of a social group whose previous position entitled them to a caged life as a possession rather than a person. As of May 1st 1950, women in China became people.
A revolution against tradition had to constitute at the same time a revolution of women.
Julia Kristeva, On The Women of China (1975)
Life prior to the 1949 “liberation” of China became known as old, oppressive and bourgeois; the “old” became the target of attacks, while the “new” remained a vague and undefined concept. One of the stated aims of the Cultural Revolution was to destroy the sí jiù, the “Four Olds” of Chinese traditional society: old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas. What was considered “old” or “new” became hyper-politicised during the Revolution, leading to the violent destruction of traditionalist symbols and the denunciation of “reactionaries” who opposed the change.
Understanding China
one woman at a time
A study of the Cultural Revolution in itself is complicated and “fragmentised.” The study of the position of women within this fragmented framework would be doubly complicated. The particularity of this situation necessitates “constant redefinition”, in keeping with the ambiguity of Chinese feminisms. Bey Critical seeks to understand the binaries of “old” and “new” in the context of Chinese women; “old” and “new” can be understood as the first in a series of oppositions which came to complicate the position these women occupied.
More importantly, Bey Critical seeks to understand the lives of Chinese women in their own words. The above accepted narrative of the impact of Cultural Revolution binaries on Chinese women is voiced by not a single native Chinese woman. This section publishes the words of women, without analysis and without attempting to speak for them.
From Peasant to President
And Mr. Jiang
Coming soon!
From Peasant to President