The May Fourth Movement as whole took as its goals modernization, national strength, and cultural and social development. Women played key roles in this movement, both as members of society, and also as intangible symbols of China’s development. Many intellectuals argued that the role of women in Chinese society was a barometer of the nation’s degree of modernization as a whole, and in order for the nation as a whole to make progress, the social conditions of women deserved special consideration.
When the modern Chinese feminist movement first began in the late 19th century, the ideal woman was said to be a “good wife and loving mother” (xianqi liangmu 賢妻良母). This was originally a Japanese formulation that promoted women’s education in order to raise more educated children. By the 20th century, the feminine ideal became the “modern girl” (modeng funü摩登婦女) who was more likely to pursue education and careers outside the home. Indeed, whether through choice or financial necessity, Chinese women increasingly left the domestic sphere. They became journalists, educators, officials, doctors, and entertainers. They worked in factories and offices. They enjoyed a growing consumer culture that targeted their desires for entertainment, social connection, and beautification. The ideal of love marriage and sexual fulfillment became much more common. However, women’s options were still significantly limited by traditional social norms as well as limited opportunities for work, education, and political access.
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The movement by Chinese women to achieve cultural, political, and economic equality was a crucial element of the New Culture Movement. Women were at the forefront of the May Fourth demonstrations and continued to play leading roles in progressive politics. Women’s education, a rallying cry for progressives in the late 19th century, led to increasingly participation of women in all areas of modern life. Women joined the professions, became leading writers and social critics, and were important political figures. The question of “what a modern Chinese woman should wear” was an important and tangible related issue. By the 1920s, elite women had largely abandoned traditional garments of embroidered hip- or knee-length jackets and trousers as well as, most famously, the bound foot with its delicate embroidered shoes. Instead, young women with “natural feet” preferred the short jackets and skirts favored by female students as well as the qipao 旗袍, a one-piece dress.
Qipao (also called cheongsam) have asymmetrical front openings and are frequently embellished with piped seams, contrasting collars and trim, and knotted closures. Unlike traditional women’s clothing in China, which hung loosely around the body, qipao were typically more form-fitting. They could accentuate the trim physique of the modern, athletic, and romantically adventurous modern girl. The qipao became widely popular in the 1920s and, ironically—given that it was a thoroughly modern garment—increasingly came to symbolize Chinese traditional attire. In the 1920s, the typical qipao was made with one piece of fabric for the front, back, and sleeves. A more modern qipao style has shoulder seams, with set in sleeves made from another piece of fabric. In both Chinese and Western fashion in the 1920s, women’s clothing styles were straight in an H-line shape, and less fitted in the waist area.
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In addition to revolution in appearance, female social activism in various public arenas had been observed in the May Fourth era (1915–1924). And women authors came onto stage advocating female ideologies and beyond, their emergence changed the landscape of modern Chinese literature. “Their work was neither a continuation of traditional Chinese women’s writing nor a simple transplantation of Western feminist literature.” (Wang, 2009)
Through their works, readers were connected to their inner world, perceiving their joys, pains and wonders, discovering their understanding of female identity, feminism and emancipation. Despite their different literary styles and political views, their writings as a whole rendered a unique female perspective that cannot be neglected in the course of modernization in China. Several prominent women authors were selected to showcase various female narratives in the time of political, social and cultural transformation in China, including the first baihua (白 话) fiction writer Chen Hengzhe (陳衡 哲), romantic writer Lu Yin (盧隱), talented writer and revolutionary activist Shi Pingmei (石評梅), feminist rhetorician, writer and translator Bing Xin (冰心), Left-Wing writer Ding Ling (丁玲), and politically liberal novelist Xiao Hong (蕭 紅).
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