Women in Republican China: A Sourcebook: A Sourcebook 076560342X, 9780765603425

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WOMEN IN REpUBLICAN CHINA

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC series editor: Mark Selden This new series explores the most dynamic and contested region of the world, including contributions on political, economic, cultural, and social change in modem and contemporary Asia and the Pacific. ASIA'S ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS Comparative Perspectives edited by Yok-shiu F. Lee and Alvin Y. so CENSORING HISTORY Perspectives on Nationalism and War in the Twentieth Century edited by Laura Hein and Mark Selden CHINA'S WORKERS UNDER ASSAULT Anita Chan THE CONTENTIOUS CHINESE Elizabeth J. Perry THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT The Case of China Shaoguang Wang and Angang Hu THEATER AND SOCIETY An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama edited by Haiping Yan WOMEN IN REPUBLICAN CHINA A Sourcebook edited by Hua R. Lan and Vanessa Fong

I

Asia and the

Pacific

WOMEN IN REpUBLICAN

CHINA A Sourcebook

HUAR.LAN AND

VANESSA L. FONG EDITORS INTRODUCTION BY

CHRISTINA KELLEY GILMARTIN

AN

EAST GATE BoOK

I~ ~~o~;~;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK

An East Gate Book First published 1999 by M.E. Sharpe Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX 14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. an informa business

Copyright © 1999 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds,or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Women in Republican China: a sourcebook / edited by Hua R. Lan and Vanessa L. Fong. p. cm.-(Asia and the Pacific) "An East gate book." Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7656-0342-X (hc : alk. paper).ISBN 0-7656-0343-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) I. Women----China-History-2Oth century. 2. W omen----China-Social conditions. 3. China-History-May Fourth movement, 1919. I. Lan, Hua R., 1945. II. Fong, Vanessa L., 1974-III. Series: Asia and the Pacific (Armonk, N.Y.) HQ1737.W67 1999 305.42'0951---dc21 99-10680 CIP ISBN 13: 9780765603432 (Pbk) ISBN 13: 9780765603425 (hbk)

Contents

Introduction by Christina Kelley Gilmartin Editors' Preface Biographical Notes on the Authors

IX XXVll XXXI

Part One: Love, Marriage, and the Family Editors' Introduction

1. The Way of Confucius and Modern Life Chen Duxiu (December 1916) 2.

5 5

My Views on Chastity LuXun (August 15,1918)

8

3. Is This Also a Human Being? Ye Shengtao (February 1919)

18

4. Emancipating Women by Reorganizing the Family Zhang Weici (August 10, 1919)

21

5. How Can We Honor Women? B.E. Lee (October 1919)

26

6. A Refutation of Yang Xiaochun's "Against Public Chi1dcare" Yun Daiying (April 8, 1920)

28

7. Freedom of Marriage and Democracy Lu Qiuxin (June 15, 1920)

8. Public Childcare and Public Dining Halls Tang Jicang (August 10, 1920)

36 40

9. Love and Socializing Between Men and Women Yang Zhihua (July 26, 1922)

44 v

vi

10. The Debate over "Love and Open Socializing between Men and Women" Yang Zhihua (August 11, 1922)

46

11. My View on the Issue of Divorce Yang Zhihua (July 25, 1922)

49

12. The New Year's Sacrifice LuXun (February 7,1924)

51

13. My Marriage Ye Shengtao (October 29, 1930)

73

Part Two: The New Woman Martyrs Editors' Introduction

75

14. The Question of Miss Zhao's Personality Mao Zedong (November 18,1919)

79

15. Concerning the Incident of Miss Zhao's Suicide Mao Zedong (November 21, 1919)

80

16. Commentary on Miss Zhao's Suicide Tao Yi (November 21, 1919)

83

17. "The Evils of Society" and Miss Zhao Mao Zedong (November 21, 1919)

85

18. The Biography ofLi Chao Hu Shi (December 1, 1919)

89

19. Words Spoken at Miss Li Chao's Memorial Service Cai Yuanpei (December 13, 1919)

100

20. The Incident of Miss Xi Shangzhen's Suicide at the Office of the Commercial Press Chen Wangdao (September 20,1922)

102

21. In Memory of Miss Liu Hezhen Lu Xun (April 1, 1926)

110

Part Three: Women's Education Editors' Introduction

117

vii

22. My Plan for Women's Emancipation and My Plan for Self-Improvement Deng Chunlan (October 1919)

121

23. A Plan for Women's Development: Letter from Xiang Jingyu to Tao Yi (December 20, 1919)

125

24. Report on Yanjing University's Ceremony to Celebrate the Beginning of Coeducation BingXin(March 15,1920)

l30

25. The Condition of Female Education in Jinan Deng Enming (January 15, 1921)

l35

26. Thoughts on Women WangJingwei (January 1924)

141

27. A Few Words of Encouragement Shao Lizi (January 1924)

144

Part Four: Women's Emancipation Editors' Introduction

147

28. The Question of Women's Character Ye Shengtao (February 1919)

151

29. The Woman Question in China: Emancipation from a Trap Wang Huiwu (October 1919)

158

30. The Emancipation of Chinese Women r.e. Chu (October 1919)

164

31. The Great Inappropriateness of Women's Emancipation Zhang Shenfu (October 1919)

168

32. The Women's Improvement Society's Hopes for Women Lu Yin (February 19,1920)

171

33. Women of the "Advanced Country," Zhou Zuoren (October 14, 1922)

173

34. Women's Careers Yang Zhihua (November 1922)

174

viii

35. What Happens after Nora Leaves Home? LuXun (December 26,1923)

176

Part Five: Women and Social Activism Editors' Introduction

183

36. The Postwar Woman Question Li Dazhao (February 15, 1919)

187

37. The Place of Chinese Christian Women in the Development of China Ida Kahn (October 1919)

193

38. Vanguard Women Zhang Ruoming (November 5, 1919)

197

39. Women's Right to Vote Ming Hui (December 1,1919)

206

40. How Do We Make the Women's Movement Truly Powerful? Shen Yanbing (June 5, 1920)

208

41. I Think Chen Wangdao (November 15,1920)

212

42. The Woman Question and Socialism Chen Duxiu (January 30,1921)

213

43. The Center of the Women's Rights Movement Should Move to the Fourth Class Wang Jianhong (December 10,1921)

217

Works Cited

221

Glossary

225

Index

229

Introduction: May Fourth and Women's Emancipation

Christina Kelley Gilmartin

During the World War I era, while American women suffragettes were launching a full-scale effort to secure their right to vote and Russian Bolsheviks were proclaiming that their "proletarian" revolution would bring about complete gender equality, Chinese cultural iconoclasts and social activists championed the cause of women's emancipation with compelling conviction. This era, which later came to be called the May Fourth era (1915-1924), witnessed both the production of a voluminous literature on the topic of women's emancipation and the growth of female social activism in various public arenas, as young women joined anti-Imperialist marches, boycotted Japanese goods, became visible as writers on the issue, called student strikes to denounce the poor quality of women's secondary education, promoted women's suffrage, and joined the women's and student's sections of the Nationalist and Communist parties, which formed an alliance in 1923 to remove the various warlord realms and establish a modem nation-state. To be sure, women's emancipation was not the only significant issue of the May Fourth era, which commenced in 1915 as an iconoclastic critique of Chinese culture and soon was broadened into a wide-ranging discussion of such issues as social Darwinism, democracy, pragmatism, the outmoded ideas of Confucianism, the need to replace Chinese classical writing forms with the vernacular, and the value of Western aesthetics, social sciences, scientific training, medical knowledge, and technological power. At the time, writers referred to their intellectual endeavor as a "thought revolution," "new culture movement," or "enlightenment." It was only after the outbreak of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the unfair terms of the postwar peace treaty drawn up in Versailles that the two somewhat disparate manifestations of the period-the iconoclastic ix

x

INTRODUCTION

thrust to create a new culture and the anti-Imperialist mass social mobilization--------