University of Iowa
Iowa Research Online
Theses and Dissertations
Spring 2015
Rethinking woman's place in Chinese society from
1919 to 1937: a brief study inspired by the film
New woman
Linghua Xu
University of Iowa
Copyright 2015 Linghua Xu
This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1807
Recommended Citation
Xu, Linghua. "Rethinking woman's place in Chinese society from 1919 to 1937: a brief study inspired by the film New woman." MA
(Master of Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, 2015.
http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1807.
Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd
Part of the Asian Studies Commons
RETHINKING WOMAN’S PLACE IN CHINESE SOCIETY FROM 1919 TO 1937:
A BRIEF STUDY INSPIRED BY THE FILM NEW WOMAN
by
Linghua Xu
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the Master of Arts
degree in Asian Civilizations in the
Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
May 2015
Thesis Supervisor: Associate Professor Maureen Robertson
Copyright by
LINGHUA XU
2015
All Rights Reserved
Graduate College
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
____________________________
MASTER’S THESIS
This is to certify that the Master’s thesis of
Linghua Xu
has been approved by the Examining Committee for
the thesis requirement for the Master of Arts degree
in Asian Civilizations at the May 2015 graduation.
Thesis Committee:
Maureen Robertson, Thesis Supervisor
Steve Choe
Shuang Chen
Chuanren Ke
ABSTRACT
New woman, a new word and concept put forth during the New Culture Movement
beginning from 1919, when China was in the process of political, economic and cultural
transformation which strongly influenced almost every aspect of society, was loaded with
nationalistic connotations from the beginning and soon became a public venue to venture
various discourses. Much research has been done on this topic, from the historical
perspective of women’s emancipation, by studying it in the context of China’s
modernization, from the angle of gender norms and sexuality, and so on. What sets my
research apart is that I use New Woman--a 1934 film made in Shanghai which is
especially dedicated to the image of new woman-- as my primary text and single out
major themes in the film, such as “new woman” and nationalism, new woman’s struggles.
In my research, I combine fictionalized narratives about new woman in literary works and
films with historical discourses on new woman, and real life experiences of new woman
such as Qiu Jin and Ruan Lingyu. My particular interest is to grasp the major sentiments
expressed in the film and to investigate of the social and cultural context that had given
rise to these sentiments. With no intention to be complete or exhaustive, this paper would
consider its goal fulfilled by being able to grasp the main sentiments surrounding new
woman and her place in Chinese society in the 1920s and 30s.
ii
PUBLIC ABSTRACT
The film New Woman, as the title indicates, is a film depicting new women’s life
experiences made in Shanghai in 1934. Using New Woman as my primary text, I try to
analyze the major themes represented in the film against the social and cultural
background of women’s emancipation since late 19th century. The conception of “new
woman”(xin nü xing, 新女性) was popularized during the New Culture Movement
beginning from 1919, which was a whole-scale criticism and rethinking of Chinese
culture surrounding almost every aspect of Chinese society. At that time, the Chinese
nation was still under the control of foreign powers, the discourse on “new woman” was
inevitably influenced by and stamped with nationalist rhetoric. All these led to a
rethinking of women’s roles in Chinese society. A new woman is expected to be
independent and enjoy equal rights as a man does. However, the real situation was far
less optimistic. Their psychological struggles, financial difficulties, the stigmatization of
female gender and sexuality were problems they had to deal with.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 What is a “new woman”? .............................................................................. 1
I The defining attributes of the “new woman” ................................................................ 1
II “Modeng nülang” , commercial culture and its criticism ........................................... 7
Chapter 2 What happens after Nora leaves home? ................................................. 11
I Psychological confusions of new woman: an analysis of Miss Sophia’s Diary ........ 11
II Models of new woman: the life story of Qiu Jin ...................................................... 19
Chapter 3 The suffering new woman: an analysis of New Woman ....................... 29
I A rough portrait of “new woman” ............................................................................ 29
II Gender, class and nationalism: three women ............................................................ 31
III An intellectual man and a new woman .................................................................... 35
IV Film and reality: woman’s sexuality as stigma ........................................................ 39
Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 44
References ...................................................................................................................... 48
Glossary........................................................................................................................... 50
iv
Chapter 1 What is a “new woman”?
I The defining attributes of the “new woman”
The concept of “new woman” (xin nüxing) is a very new word, and also a new
concept, that was created and popularized during the New Culture Movement beginning
in 1919.
At the turn of the century, Chinese society adopted a Social Darwinian concept of
evolution which came with the popularity of Yan Fu and Liang Qichao’s translations. In
such a social atmosphere, “the very word ‘new’ (xin) became the crucial component of a
cluster of new word compounds denoting a qualitative change in all spheres of life, from
the late Qing reform movement (weixin yundong) with its institutional designations from
‘new policies’ (xinzheng) to ‘new schools’ and the slogans such as ‘new culture’ (xin
wenhua) and ‘new literature’ (xin wenxue) of the May Fourth movement.” 1 The May
Fourth Movement was a series of political protests by different classes in Chinese society
against Chinese government’s weak response in the Paris Peace Conference 2 which first
grew out of student demonstrations on May 4th, 1919. The political protests soon
developed into a whole-scale criticism and rethinking of Chinese culture surrounding
almost every aspect of Chinese society, which came to be known as the New Culture
Movement. In the New Culture Movement, new vocabularies beginning with “new”(xin),
such as “new youth”, began to enjoy considerable currency in the burgeoning print
Lee, Shanghai modern, 43-44.
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors to set the peace terms for the
defeated Central Powers at the end of World War I. China, as one of the Allied victors, demanded that
Germany’s concessions on Shandong to be returned to China. However, it was refused by Western
powers and instead the German concessions were transferred to Japan. This sparked widespread protests
from Chinese society, including students, workers and businessmen.
1
22
1
culture. The character “new”(xin), almost always equates to progress and modernity in its
diverse usages. Among the many such vocabularies, “new woman” is one created to
distinguish woman who is significantly different from traditional woman. Women’s
liberation and empowerment, which came under the denunciation of the patriarchal
family system in the context of national crisis, became one of the many foci of the
intellectuals at that time.
The first significant piece of work concerning women’s liberation that appeared in
Youth Magazine was “Yijiu yiliu nian” (The Year 1916) written by Chen Duxiu,
published in January 1916. 1916 was the year when Yuan Shikai was about to proclaim
himself emperor 3. Greatly disturbed by the event and worried about China’s future, Chen
appealed to fellow young men and women to bring about changes in China. He proposed
that women should not assume the status of being “conquered” and subordinated. His
ideas included the following:
Youths of 1916, where should your thoughts and actions finally develop?
First, take the position of “to conquer” and do not take the position of “be
conquered”. Among all human beings, men are conquerors while women are the
conquered; white men are conquerors while nonwhites are the conquered… As
proud young men and women of 1916, you will definitely wash away this extreme,
deeply-felt shame.
Secondly, cherish your independent and autonomous personality and do not
become the vassal of others. ...The Confucian “san’gang”(three principles) teaching
constitutes the ultimate origin of all morality and politics: when the ruler is guide to
the official, then people will become vassal to the ruler and do not have independent
and autonomous personalities; when the father is guide to the son, then the son will
become vassal to his father and does not have an independent and autonomous
personality; when the husband is guide to the wife, then the wife will become vassal
to her husband and does not have an independent and autonomous personality.
The Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China, officially ended in 1912. It was succeeded by the
foundation of the Republic of China (1912-1949), with Sun Yat-sen as the provisional president. However,
later Yuan Shikai seized the leadership of the republic and intended to restore monarchy in China. 1916
was the year when the new Empire of China was to formally begin. Due to widespread opposition,
however, the monarchy was abandoned after 83 days.
3
2
Probably the fact that among men and women under heaven, whether they be
official, son, or wife, not one independent and autonomous person can be found, all
of which results from “three principles” teaching. Among moral principles established
on this basis, such as loyalty, filial piety and dignity, none of these are moralities of
masters extending oneself to other people, but moralities of slaves subordinating
oneself to other people. All walks of life in the human world center on the self; if the
self is lost, how can others exist? Moralities of the slaves have lost this center and
none of the actions are starting from the self; merits and demerits are judged by
subordinating themselves to other people. Proud as young men and women in 1916,
each of you will struggle to break away from this status of subordination to regain an
independent and autonomous personality! 4
In this article, Chen was making a parallel between women’s subordination to men and
nonwhite people’s subordination to white people and cast women and nonwhite people in
the same light as “the conquered”. Given the context that at that time when China was
under the encroachment of imperialist countries led by white people, Chen’s parallelism
subtly equated the Chinese nation’s weakness with women’s enslavement. Actually, this
was the stance taken by many previous intellectuals such as Liang Qichao and Kang
Youwei in the late 19th century when the question of women’s emancipation was first
brought to light. Thus, from the very beginning, “funü wenti” (women’s problems) was
closely connected with the nation’s empowerment and stamped with political
connotations. In his second argument, Chen severely criticized the Confucian ethnics of
the “san’gang” (three principles): the ruler is guide to the people; the father is guide to the
son, and the husband is the guide to the wife. He argued that the “three principles” had
created people neither independent nor autonomous, people who had no “self”, who
would readily subordinate themselves to other people. Thus, he strongly implored young
men and women to cast off the enslavement imposed by the Confucian “three principles”
and regain their autonomous personality. This notion of “self” was to be developed even
4
Chen, Fu nü sheng huo shi, 365-68, my translation.
3
further during the May Fourth Movement by other intellectuals as well. As a matter of
fact, one important trait that defines the May Fourth Movement was its heightened
affinity for “individualism”, which was woven into the narration of “Shafei nüshi riji”
(Miss Sophia’s Diary), written by Ding Ling in 1928, as will be analyzed in the next
chapter. More directly related, as well as more important to women’s emancipation,
however, is that in an explicit way, Chen urged women to assume the status of “to
conquer” and gain an independent personality. This can be seen as the moment when the
concept of “new woman” began to take shape.
Actually, the most significant characteristic that May Fourth elites expected of a “new
woman” was independence. Another important essay published in Xin qinnian (New
Youth) was “Yige meiguo furen” (an American woman) written by Hu Shi in September
1918, which once again highlighted the importance of independence for women:
Last winter my friend Tao Menghe invited me to dinner. A guest at table was an
American woman who was going to Russia as a special investigator representing
several newspapers. Sharing the table was an English couple and two Chinese
couples. In this “East-West and man-woman combined” dinner table, a comparative
observation occurred in my mind. Compared to the American lady, the two Chinese
wives and the English wife might not have any significant difference in terms of
knowledge or wisdom. But I did feel that the American lady was absolutely different
from them. Then I asked myself: what was it that differentiated her from them? In
my opinion, the difference was rooted in their essentially discrepant “outlook on
life”. The three wives’ “outlook on life” was one of “good wife and wise mother”
(liangqi xianmu,良妻贤母) while the American woman’s was one of “above good
wife and wise mother”.
So, what is the “outlook on life” that is “above good wife and wise mother”? Hu Shi
continued to explain by saying:
This “outlook on life” that is “above good wife and wise mother” is founded on the
concept of “independence”. ...According to my observation, no matter what
circumstances they are under, no matter what work they do, no matter whether they
are married or single, American women all have the idea of “independence”. Women
4
in other countries probably regard “good wife and wise mother” as their goal, while
American women probably regard “independence” as their goal. The meaning of
“independence” is simply to develop a person’s gifts so that one does not need to
depend on other people, can live on one’s own and serve the society. The tradition
passed on from ancient China teaches that a woman should manage the household,
that a husband should take charge of external affairs while a wife takes care of
domestic matters, that a wife calls her husband “outside person”(waizi), while a
husband calls a wife “inside helper”(neizhu). This kind of differentiation is something
that modern American women would never agree with. They think that men and
women are equal as “human beings”, that they should all work hard to be free and
independent “people”, and that there is no separation between external matters and
domestic ones. 5
In this passage, like his contemporary Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi opposed the Confucian
ethnics that designated a wife’s responsibility as managing the household, which
restricted a woman’s life domain to the family, while a husband’s domain is taking care
of external affairs. He believed in the equality of men and women as “human beings” and
that this kind of separation was unreasonable. For a woman, this kind of designation
would make a woman think that to be a “good wife and wise mother” is the highest goal
of her life. Instead, Hu advocated life values for women that were “above good wife and
wise mother”, namely, independence—to be a free and independent “person”, to realize
one’s talent and responsibilities. The ultimate goal was, as Hu put it, “to have countless
‘independent’ men and women, each believing himself/herself to be a dignified ‘person’-with responsibilities to fulfill and a career to make. After there exist these independent
men and women, then naturally a good society will be created.”
The attack on the patriarchal family system and the advocacy of individual freedom
was another important aspect of the New Culture Movement. Accompanying these
changing ideas on the family was the gradual evolution of the vision of marriage.
5
Chen, Fu n sheng huo shi, 380-83, my translation.
5
Western thought on companionate marriage were also introduced into China at this time
period. The leading magazine addressing this topic was Jiating yanjiu (Family Research).
Its ideas on marriage can be represented by one of its contributors Liao Shuan’s “Hunyin
weiti zhi yizhong zhuzhang” (An opinion on the marriage problem):
1. Marriage must be completely free; no one, no matter who, may interfere.
2. Only men over twenty-two or twenty-five years of age and women over
twenty years of age who are economically self-sufficient can marry.
3. Marriage of the two sexes must be based on their spiritual union; then all
the ugly customs of excessive ceremony and exchanging horoscopes and
gifts(wenli nacai,问礼纳彩) will be eradicated;
4. After marriage [the couple] must remove themselves from relations with
the joint family and establish a conjugal family (xiao jiating, 小家庭).
5. After marriage the couple should live in the spirit of mutual cooperation,
each pursuing his or her own economic independence, and neither relying on the
other.
6. In any marriage previously forced by the family, and in free marriages, if
both parties are dissatisfied with the marriage, they may divorce without legal
sanctions.
7. Marriage must be monogamous. Taking concubines, collecting slaves, and
other such vile improprieties will be prohibited. Whoever violates this law may
be taken to court and divorced.
8. The rearing and education of children must be shared. 6
Liao’s ideas about marriage were quite similar to today’s idea about companionate
marriage. In his view, marriage should be based upon free choice, economic
independence, spiritual union, mutual respect and gender equality. Traditional arranged
marriage, the wife’s dependence on the husband, and the practice of keeping concubines,
were thus denounced. He also made a connection between a happy marriage and social
well-being:
Marriage is a kind of baby-making machine, but in addition to this, does it not
contribute to enterprise and to the development of society? If, indeed, it is related to
supporting enterprise and developing society, then can it accomplish these if there is
no spirit of cooperation? This kind of marriage in which a man and woman who do
6
Liao, “Hunyin wenti”, 46, 48.
6
not know each other are forced to live together is simply barbaric marriage, marriage
as commerce, slave marriage.” 7
By emphasizing happy marriage’s relevance to a society’s well-being, Liao justified a
person’s pursuit of happy marriage.
Under this conception of marriage, which was gradually transmitted to the public
discourse, discussions about “new wife”, who met the companionate marriage ideal and
who was distinctly different from a traditional wife, began to articulate in popular
magazines on family issues. Furthermore, the general expectation of “new wife” began to
shape people’s notion of “new woman”. This was clearly shown in the letter written to
Family Research by a reader named Jian Cheng. In his letter, Jian was also making a
connection between personal happiness and society’s benefit, “a good society and human
happiness all come from a happy marriage.” He also quoted Yan Fu’s translation of On
Liberty 8, “To be a couple and at the same time teachers of one another, to [share]
profound knowledge and lofty ideas of truth and essential principles: surely this arouses
our aspirations.” Jian especially pointed out the fact that “If I had not received an
education...I would also be able to acquiesce to this murderous shili marriage and
willingly live in this spiritual hell…” 9 Therefore, the family reform rhetoric was another
important force in transforming the general public’s perception of “new woman”.
II “Modeng nülang” , commercial culture and its criticism
In big cities like Shanghai, with the development of commercialization, the image of
modern woman was employed in popular culture, such as magazine covers,
Ibid., 46-47.
“On Liberty” is a philosophical work by English philosopher John Stuart Mill published in 1859. In this
work, Mill discussed the relationship between authority and liberty and emphasizes the importance of
individuality. Yan Fu translated it into Chinese in 1903.
9
Glosser, Chinese Visions of Family and State, 50-51.
7
8
7
advertisements, newspapers and so on. Especially in the 1930s, pretty women with a
modern look and way of living increasingly became the vogue of city culture. The
concept of “new woman”, which originally carried strong political connotations, became
diffused, complicated, and more vulgar in meaning.
Promoted by business interests, entrepreneurs were refining a model of the family as
the site of consumption and the source of a consumer economy. In this model, the wife
was constructed as bearing the responsibility of creating a comfortable and modern
domestic living environment for the household. Women were especially appealed to by
businesses to spend money in order to pursue a modern way of living. For example, in
Tanci 10--an old art form employed for advertising purposes--one might have heard or
read the following lines:
Graceful as willows they enter the store.
As one calls out to an older woman,
Another calls out to a girl.
You and I should buy some [fabric] for new clothing.
My girl! Just look at those Chinese silks…
Suitable in spring, summer, winter, and fall.
No harm in making more clothes for your wedding day! 11
As shown in the above example, women’s purchase of goods was cast in a rather
positive light. Moreover, in the context of promoting national goods and rejecting
imported goods, women’s consumption took on a patriotic meaning:
When shopping, always demand Chinese goods.
Resolutely save the nation--and carry on the resistance
By cutting the outflow of currency to Japan! 12
Tanci was historically a popular women’s storytelling form in China which includes sung ballads as well.
Benson, “Consumers Are Also Soldiers”, 109.
12
Ibid., 109.
10
11
8
However, the promotion of consumption constantly met opposing voices and actions
by different parties. The most significant opposing force was the New Life Movement in
1934 launched by the Kuomindang leader Chiang Kai-shek. “Drawing partly on the
doctrines of Sun Yat-sen, on the reformist social strategies of foreign missionaries, and
on his( Chiang Kai-shek) own view of the central tenets of traditional Confucianism”,
New Life Movement was directed at creating “a new national consciousness and mass
psychology” through the virtues of “etiquette, justice, integrity and conscientiousness”.
Its goal was “thoroughly to militarize the life of the people of the entire nation. It is to
make them nourish courage and alertness, a capacity to endure hardship, and especially a
habit and instinct for unified behavior. It is to make them willing to sacrifice for the
nation at all times.” 13 Under this agenda, Chinese women were forced to cultivate the
“four virtues” of “chastity, appearance, speech, and work”. Thus, the indulgence in
pleasures of modern life through the consumption of modern goods was against the
principle of austerity and the spirit of the campaign. Public display of femininity, such as
the modern way of dressing, was also deemed inappropriate.
Though the New Life Movement turned out to be ineffectual in achieving the goals of
empowering the nation, since it was promoted by all the propagandist machinery of the
KMT government, it was still a powerful discourse at that time. At the same time, out of
different concerns, some other intellectuals also opposed the typical “modeng nülang”,
who might have had modern looks, yet were seen to be without innate virtues:
The European wind assails the East, leading to female vanity, beautiful clothes and
makeup, powder and perfume, a fool’s paradise, the love of pleasure and the fear of
labor...If one can’t be frugal, how can one be honest?...Abandoning a sense of chastity
and shame...leads to selling sex for a living. “If this is how it is in the higher reaches of
13
Spence, Searching for Modern China, 356.
9
society, how much more so in the lower reaches?” So promotion of virtue should start
with the families of government officials; giving up pearls and jade, turning away from
gold and diamonds, with coarse dress and simple adornment...will promote the
cultivation of female virtue. 14
Out of his concern for prostitution, the writer Lin Chongwu opposed “female vanity”
and upheld the cultivation of virtues, thinking that love of pleasure would lead a woman
into prostitution. Though it was not without exaggeration to draw a causal relationship
between women’s love of pleasure and prostitution, the opposition to women’s
indulgence in modern looks while being without innate virtues was an attitude held by
many intellectuals at the time. The unfavorable depiction of pleasure-seeking modern
woman was embodied by Mrs. Wang in the film New Woman, which will be examined in
detail in Chapter 3.
14
Hershatter, Dangerous Pleasures, 262.
10
Chapter 2 What happens after Nora leaves home?
I Psychological confusions of new woman: an analysis of Miss Sophia’s Diary
When it first came out in 1928, Miss Sophia’s Diary, because of its bold description of
female sexual desires, drew broad public attention among the intellectuals and brought
fame to its author Ding Ling. The novella, written in the format of a diary and narrated in
first person, made for a vivid example to study the psychological confusions and
struggles that a “new woman”, after being emancipated from the so-called patriarchal
family, had to deal with. Past scholarship has mainly focused on the “subjectivity” or
“sexuality” of the heroine Sophia in the novella; however, a close reading of the text
against the background that Sophia is a newly-emancipated woman will shed new light
on existing scholarship and become especially relevant to the current research.
As noted by the famous writer and Ding Ling’s contemporary Mao Dun, Miss
Sophia’s Diary is a story about “a young woman bearing the scars of her times and crying
out in rebellion, a representative of the young women emancipated by the May Fourth
Movement and yet still harboring contradictory sexual desires”. 15 Sophia, the heroine of
the novella, is a twenty-year old woman who is living on her own, away from her family
and close to her peers. Partly aided by the first-person narration and the diary format, the
story is abundant with the female protagonist Sophia’s inner feelings and thoughts,
including straightforward contemplations on sexuality, which was quite rare according to
the tradition of Chinese literature at that time. This explicitness also explains why it had
enjoyed great popularity among contemporary readers. Thus, in terms of form, Miss
Sophia’s Diary shows a woman’s attempt at self-representation, which resultantly
15
Jin, New Woman, 170.
11
intensifies the articulation of subjectivity and sexuality. This is why the novella is a very
significant piece of work within which to study the mentality of new woman.
In Miss Sophia’s Diary, love is a central theme. The plot revolves around a love
triangle between Weidi, Ling Jishi and Sophia. Weidi, a rather effeminate man, loves her
wholeheartedly yet always shows it in “stupid” ways in Sophia’s eyes. Sophia’s feeling
about him is rather contradictory: she feels sorry for him because of his non-reciprocated
yet sincere love for her, while on the other hand she despises him for his stupidity and
effeminate behaviors; she wants his company out of fear of loneliness yet always teases
him when he is around. In terms of her self-reflection on her attitude toward Weidi, she
both blames herself for being a bad woman to him and blames him for his making her
feel bad because of his stupidity. Ling Jishi, on the other hand, is a man whose male
beauty and grace Sophia is extremely fascinated by. She does not bother to hide her
sexual desires in her writing and sometimes expresses it in very bold ways. After she
meets Ling Jishi for the first time and finds herself attracted to him, Sophia takes active
moves to approach him and attract him to fall for her.
In her interactions with Ling Jishi, Sophia is constantly alternating between two kinds
of gender norms on female behavior--the traditional woman who is passive in a
relationship and the new woman who is more active and bold--and she keeps judging her
own behavior against what traditional Chinese society considers appropriate for a woman.
For instance, when she realizes she is attracted to Ling Jishi, her reaction is the following:
I raised my eyes. I looked at his soft, red, moist, deeply inset lips, and let out my
breath slightly. How could I admit to anyone that I gazed at those provocative lips like
a small hungry child eyeing sweets? I knew very well that in this society I’m forbidden
to take what I need to gratify my desires and frustrations, even when it clearly wouldn’t
12
hurt anybody.I did the only thing I could. I lowered my head patiently and quietly read
the name printed on the card, “Ling Jishi, Singapore……” 16
She is conscious of the social norm that she, a woman, is not allowed to show her
sensuous desire for a man in obtrusive ways. Instead, she lowered her head “patiently”,
and “quietly” read his name, showing no sign of her feelings for Ling Jishi and behaving
in a way that is traditionally deemed decent. However, by hiding her real intentions
behind actions that is publicly acceptable, Sophia does not just do nothing and wait for
Ling Jishi to love her, as a traditional Chinese woman is supposed to do, but rather takes
active means to win him over. She moves to an apartment that is very close to Ling’s
dormitory, with the excuse that she wants to live closer to her good friend Yufang. She
mustered all her courage to keep chatting and laughing in the presence of Ling and asks
him to help her study English. Afraid that Ling may regard her as an “easy” girl, she goes
back home early. In a very discreet way, she makes advances toward Ling, the boldness
of which is only imaginable given the cultural context that, since the May Fourth
Movement, women’s emancipation had encouraged new woman’s free expression and
pursuit of love.
Even more radical than this, Sophia regards the relationship between man and woman
as a battle, which she consciously wants to win:
It’s like planning a battle. Now I’m concentrating all my energy on strategy. I want
something, but I’m not willing to go and take it. I must find a tactic that gets it
offered to me voluntarily. I understand myself completely. I am a thoroughly female
woman, and women concentrate everything on the man they’ve got in their sights. I
want to possess him. I want unconditional surrender of his heart. I want him kneeling
down in front of me, begging me to kiss him. I’m delirious. I go over and over the
steps I must take to implement my scheme. I’ve lost my mind.17
16
17
Ding, “Miss Sophia’s Diary”, 55.
Ding, “Miss Sophia’s Diary”, 58-59.
13
Because love is a battle, thus she needs to carefully plan strategies to ensure the
“unconditional surrender of his heart”, to secure her triumph. It seems that Sophia is
trying to establish her superiority over man. Freed from one extreme in which women
were subordinate to men, Sophia goes to another extreme where a woman establishes her
superiority by conquering men. This explains why later in the story, even when she thirsts
for Ling’s cuddling and kissing, she refuses to act as the active party. This kind of
extremely radical sentiment might be hardly typical of new women at that time, but it can
be found in many artistic expressions concerning women’s emancipation. For instance, in
New Woman, when Mr. Wang proposes to her, Wei Ming indignantly replies saying
marriage is no more than a kind of slavery to women. In this way, Wei is not only
speaking for herself but protesting against the unfair marriage system as a representative
of “women”.
However, Sophia, like many new women in real life at that time, cannot just go all the
way to pursue love without fear. Even before she sets out with what she does later in the
day, she has the concern: “Should I go looking for him? A woman that uninhibited would
risk having everything blow up in her face. I still want people to respect me.” The
potential danger of a woman’s reputation getting ruined in a love affair can be very
serious and her whole life may be ruined by a contaminated reputation. Though the high
demand of chastity imposed on women had been severely criticized and was greatly
loosened ever since the New Culture Movement, still, the breeding ground that nurtured
such ideas, namely, the androcentric model in which men play the dominant role while
women are supposed to be passive, was intact. Therefore, the sexual taboo--the
requirement of women to be asexual and innocent--was still felt by new women
14
themselves, even if they actively fought to gain their economic independence and marital
freedom. In the realm of sexuality, it seemed that new women were less committed to the
cause of sexual equality than they were to economic independence, or that they could
only fight against the latter in discreet ways, whether consciously or unconsciously.
When Sophia comes back home that day, she begins to regret what she has done:
Now that I have time for reflection, I can’t imagine my impulsiveness driving me
into any worse situation. ……I’m decided now. I’m so full of regret! I regret all the
wrong things I did today, things a decent woman would never do.18
There is a certain degree of exaggeration in Sophia’s assertion of regret, which is
consistent with her sensitive personality. But more importantly, her regret has deeprooted causes that need serious consideration, rather than be dismissed as mere emotional
outlet. Her regret lies in the things she has done-- “things a decent woman would never
do”. “A decent woman” would never make an advance toward a man she likes, even in
very indirect ways; thus Sophia feels uncertain about her actions if she was doing right
and she fears she may eventually bring catastrophe onto herself through her bold deeds.
This was typical of the psychological confusions a new woman might reasonably have in
the 1920s. There was no doubt that they then enjoyed more freedom and tolerance
society-wide than before, but still, there was the problem of boundaries and limits: to
what extent would the pursuit of free love be accepted or tolerated by the general public?
Where did the boundary lie between a new woman who has independent character and
pursues love at her own free will and a “bad woman” who lives solely for sensuous
pleasures, for which she may abandon all the social proprieties? More likely, to new
18
Ibid., 58.
15
women at that time, the boundary was rather blurry, and they could easily slip to either
side.
More than her confusion about an acceptable gender role or behavior for a woman,
Sophia has great uncertainty about what “love” itself is:
These days when young people get together, they love to explore the meaning of
the word “love”. Although I feel at times that I understand love, in the end I can
never really explain it. I know all about what goes on between men and women.
Perhaps what I already know about it makes love seem vague, makes it hard for me
to believe in love between the sexes, makes it impossible to think of myself as
someone pure enough, innocent enough to be loved. I am skeptical of what everyone
calls “love”. I’m just as skeptical of the love I’ve received. 19
Under the patriarchal family system, “love” was never a problem. As summarized in
Chen Duxiu’s The Year 1916, when in her family, a daughter obeys her father; after
marriage, as a wife she obeys her husband; after her husband died, she obeys her son,
who becomes head of her husband’s family. The natal family would choose for the
daughter a husband from a compatible family. Usually, the future husband and the future
wife would not meet until their wedding day. Thus, the traditional marriage was more
about responsibilities. “Love” in the modern sense was a very new concept in China at
that time. Given this context, it becomes more understandable why Sophia is confused
about what love is. Likely, brought up in a traditional family, as a girl who is very
sensitive and smart, it is no wonder that she “knows all about what goes on between men
and women”--the actual occurrences of a marriage, such as the daily routines of the
husband and wife. The mundaneness of marriage as she has witnessed it seems to make
her doubt the existence of “love”, which is exalted to a sacred place by her--she has to be
19
Ding, “Miss Sophia’s Diary”,
16
“pure enough, innocent enough to be loved”. She doubts that what people have shown her
is “love”.
In terms of the kind of “love” she wants, she is constantly emphasizing the importance
of “understanding”:
I’ve always wanted a man who would really understand me. If he doesn’t
understand me and my needs, then what good are love and empathy? Father, my
sisters, and all my friends end up blindly indulging me, although I never have figured
out what it is in me that they love. Is it my arrogance, my temper? Or do they just
pity me because I have TB? At times they infuriate me because of it, and then all their
blind love and soothing words have the opposite effect. Those are the times that I
wish I had someone who really understood. Even if he reviled me, I’d be proud and
happy.20
Comparing this paragraph with the one above about “the battle between sexes”, it is
not hard to notice the contradictions in Sophia’s thoughts. She hopes to subordinate the
man she likes, while at the same time, what she really wants is simply a man who
understands her. Her father’s, her sisters’ and all her friends’ love seem to Sophia to be
blind and not the love she wanted. She needs someone who may not tolerate her
arrogance and temper but who may understand her, even if he may revile her. Sophia’s
expectation of “understanding” is almost utopian in nature as she has no idea about the
kind of “understanding” she wants yet she assigns great importance to it. On the other
hand, Sophia’s heightened self-pride, appears as excessive self-abasement in certain
circumstances, which becomes very significant in the closing part of the story.
After she learns of Ling Jishi’s despicable inner qualities--what he cares most about is
“money” and “position” and he wants a hostess at home to entertain his business
customers--she is torn between her sexual longing for his physical beauty and her
20
Ibid., 52.
17
contempt for his personality. Due to her heightened sense of dignity and self-pride, she
sometimes falls into severe self-reproach out of her regret regarding the intimacy she had
with Ling:
When I think about how his lips brushed my hair, I’m so overwhelmed with regret
I nearly break down. Don’t I offer myself to him for his pleasures the same as any
whore? But what makes the whole thing so painful is that I have only myself to
blame. Because if I had been able or willing to face him with determined refusal in
my eyes, I dare say he would never have been this bold with me. And I dare say the
reason he wouldn’t is that he’s never been ignited by the fires of passionate love. Oh
God! How can I revile myself enough! 21
She considers it a shame that her hair has been kissed by a man she despises and
blames herself for not showing a determined refusal, thus encouraging Ling’s boldness.
Though a reader would hardly equate Sophia with a whore just because she has allowed
Ling to kiss her hair, her elevated anxiety leads her to make the equation and thus
excessively rebuke herself. The answer of this somewhat exaggerated sense of dignity
and pride had to be found in the change brought out by women’s emancipation since the
May Fourth Movement. Women gradually began to enjoy more rights and freedom, such
as the right of education and work, and they started to have an augmented sense of
individuality and the value of life. As vaguely realized by Sophia, “My time is brief, so I
love life with greater urgency than most. I don’t fear death. I just feel that I haven’t gotten
any pleasure out of life. I want…all I want is to be happy.” 22 Women began to seek more
from life and hope to achieve more in life. However, they did not know what they were
supposed to do for the sake of this aim, what to do with their newly earned rights and
freedom, and even these rights and freedoms themselves are ambiguous.
21
22
Ding, “Miss Sophia’s Diary”, 80.
Ibid., 56.
18
II Models of new woman: the life story of Qiu Jin
Qiu Jin was the first well-known and probably most influential new woman in modern
Chinese history. Qiu Jin was born into a traditional family in Zhejiang province, where
she was brought up with a study in the Chinese classics, for which she showed much
talent. Later, she was married to a merchant whom her parents had chosen for her and
gave birth to a daughter and a son. In 1904, tired of the merchant husband with whom
she was compelled to marry, Qiu Jin left her children behind and took a ship to Japan.
There, she enrolled in a girls school in Tokyo and lived among the Chinese students
studying in Japan. At that time, like other students, she was exposed to an extraordinary
flood of new ideas and experiences and became increasingly aware of the weakness of the
Qing government. Qiu’s own thinking turned revolutionary, and in 1905, she joined the
ranks of the Revolutionary Alliance, a centralized organization led by Sun Yatsen.
As characterized by Spence, she “took the logical step of combining the nationalist
and the feminist issues by concentrating on the plight of the two hundred million women
within China itself.” She was acutely conscious of and also disturbed by the unfair
treatment and inferior status women had in China. If Chen Duxiu’s essay only
theoretically pointed out a woman’s status under the Confucian “three principles”
teaching, Qiu’s following article provided vivid details on a woman’s life in the
patriarchal family:
We, the two hundred million women of China, are the most unfairly treated
objects on this earth. If we have a decent father, then we will be all right at the time
of our birth; but if he is crude by nature, or an unreasonable man, he will
immediately start spewing out phrases like “Oh what an ill-omened day, here’s
another useless one.” If only he could, he would dash us to the ground. He keeps
repeating, “She will be in someone else’s family later on,” and looks us with cold or
disdainful eyes.
19
Before many years have passed, without anyone’s bothering to ask if it’s right or
wrong, they take out a pair of snow-white bands and bind them around our feet,
tightening them with strips of white cotton; even when we go to bed at night we are
not allowed to loosen them the least bit, with the result that the flesh peels away
and the bones buckle under. The sole purpose of all this is just to ensure that the girls
have small feet.” Not only that, when it comes time to pick a son-in-law, they rely on
the advice of a couple of shameless matchmakers, caring only that the man’s family
have some money or influence; they don’t bother to find out if his family background
is murky or good, or what his character is like, or whether he’s bright or stupid--they
just go along with the arrangement. When it’s time to get married and move to the
new house, they hire the bride a sedan chair all decked out with multicolored
embroidery, but sitting shut up inside it one can barely breathe. And once you get
there, whatever your husband is like, as long as he’s a family man they will tell you
you were blessed in a previous existence and are being rewarded in this one. If he
turns out no good, they will tell you it’s “retribution for that earlier existence” or “the
aura was all wrong”.23
In these two paragraphs, Qiu vividly delineated a woman’s life profile: at birth a baby
girl was deemed inferior and useless by the family; when she grew older, she was forced
to bind her feet regardless of great pain; when she came of age, she married a husband her
parents chose for her, whom might be stupid and murky, and she could not hope to get
away from it. Once born as a girl, a person was destined to lose control of her own life
and had to accept whatever other people imposed upon her. She would also be regarded
as insignificant and inferior to men. Qiu thought of these realities as a kind of slavery-women’s enslavement to men: first to her father, then to her husband, and finally to her
son. In the passages that followed, she summoned all Chinese women to rely on
themselves, instead of men, with the nation under the risk of collapsing.
As a female revolutionary, Qiu Jin was aware of the special difficulties a woman had
to deal with besides those a man might encounter. She once told her close friend Wu
Zhiyin saying “Women must get educated and strive for their own independence; they
Qiu Jin, “Jingao zhongguo erwanwan nü tongbao” (An andress to fellow countrywomen). From Spence,
Gate of Heavenly Peace, 50-51.
23
20
can’t just go on asking the men for everything. The young intellectuals are all chanting,
‘Revolution, Revolution,’ but I say the revolution will have to start in our homes, by
achieving equal rights for women.” These words show the insight Qiu had on women’s
emancipation. This was also illustrated by Qiu Jin’s personal experience. When her elder
brother Yuzhang wrote to her suggesting that she come back to China from Japan, Qiu’s
reply was the following:
That person’s behavior is worse than an animal’s. I have never known human
shamelessness like it. Now that he has seized my remaining jewelry, how can we
even think of him as being a human? He treats me as less than nothing, and I am sure
that the reason for his taking my money and possessions is that he wants to finish me
off. My treatment in that household was worse than a slave’s; the poison of hatred
has eaten deeply into me. If I am treated decently I respond decently; if I am treated
as being of no account, then I respond in the same way--it’s not that I have no
feelings. When I think of him my hair bristles with anger, it’s absolutely unbearable.
Send my sister to try to get my money back--if he won’t give it up, then sever all
relations. I have thought this through fairly thoroughly: rather than be treated as a
slave, why should I not stand up for myself? Henceforth I am going to try to support
myself through my own efforts; why should I be somebody’s wife? Besides which, we
hate each other so much that nothing good could come of it. There has been no
letter from him for a year, he has shown no respect to his seniors in my family, and I
have also heard that he has taken a new wife.
If any of the sentiments I have just expressed prove to be mere rhetoric, may the
gods above abandon me. If I progress even one inch, I shall never let his family name
be used upon on top of mine. If I cannot progress even that inch, and am unable to
support myself, then I shall sue him to get back my son, my daughter, and my
property. If the suit fails, then I shall die. 24
When in Japan, Qiu Jin had to deal with the pain of separation from her family; aside
from that, she was constantly struggling with shortage of money. From the above
paragraph, it seemed to be the case that she did not receive any financial support from her
husband. Even worse, her husband refused to pay back money that belonged to her,
probably her dowry. As a proud and courageous woman, she determined to gain her
24
Spence, Gate of Heavenly Peace, 56.
21
independence at all costs, but what about the many more ordinary women who broke
away from their families and were not as fearless as Qiu Jin?
Qiu Jin’s successor in social critiques, Lu Xun, was to address this problem more
directly. On December 26, 1923, at Beijing Women’s Normal College, Lu Xun gave a
talk titled “Nala zouhou zenyang?”(What Happens after Nora Leaves home?) In this talk,
Lu Xun expressed his concern about the fate of “Chinese Noras”. His concern might
seem pessimistic yet especially perceptive. Lu Xun thought that a Chinese Nora would
have only three choices: to starve, to “go to the bad”, or to return home to her husband.
He acutely pointed out that what a Chinese Nora needed the most was money. The
importance of economic independence to a woman’s independence was realized by many
May Fourth intellectuals at that time. Actually, “educational equality” and “economic
self-support” were the central problems discussed the most in considering women’s
emancipation. At the social level, the kinds of jobs that were available to women were
extremely limited, such as school teacher and nurse, which in the traditional view women
were better at than men. Lu Xun’s prediction that a Chinese Nora would starve, or “go to
the bad”, or to return home to her husband, was not exaggerated. As shown in the film
New Woman, the protagonist Wei Ming, a school music teacher and a novelist, easily fell
into financial difficulty. To pay for treatments for her daughter’s disease, she had no other
choice but to agree to be a prostitute for one night. Economic independence was truly a
big problem for a new woman.
In addition to her determination to become an independent woman, Qiu Jin was also a
patriotic revolutionary. Her strong intention to save the nation, like many heroic women
did in Chinese history, was a theme that was abundant in many of her writings. For
22
instance, it was expressed in the following poem “To the Melody of ‘Full River Red’”
(Manjianghong):
In this ugly and dirty world
How many men, I ask you, are heroic and wise?
Only from the ranks of those with painted eyebrows
From time to time do stalwarts emerge!
The memory of Qin Liangyu’s fame soaks my gown with tears,
At the thought of Shen Yunying’s deeds my heart starts to pound.
Tipsy, I stroke my long sword, which cries like a dragon,
Its voice stifled by sadness.
The incense of liberty
Is what I want to burn
When can I wash away
The shame of the nation?
I urge those of you present here
To exert yourself to the utmost.
Be fired by the desire to ensure the future of your race,
Prosperity does not depend on showing off your jewels.
These bow-shaped shoes, three inches long, condemn us to inaction:
This must change! 25
In this poem, she denounced the three-inch-long bow-shape shoes worn by the bound
feet, the symbol of women’s enslavement, in favor of the sword, which was a common
image in her writing and stands for power and fighting. She urged women to fight for the
Chinese nation’s future.
In the real world, Qiu Jin devoted her life to the nationalist cause against Manchu rule.
After her return to China, Qiu Jin went to the Shanghai area, where she formed close
relationships with some revolutionaries and taught at a local girls’ school named Datong
School. At that time, leaders of the Restoration Society were trying to foment a rebellion
in Zhejiang Province, despite the timing of such an uprising not being ripe, and they
designated Xu Xilin, who was a member of the Restoration Society and Qiu Jin’s cousin,
25
Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 784-85.
23
and Qiu Jin as its leaders. Qiu Jin began to act as an agent among different revolutionary
groups and drew adverse attention from the conservative local elites to herself. After the
attempt failed and Xu Xilin was captured and beheaded by the government, it was only a
matter of time before Qiu Jin would be arrested. However, Qiu Jin neglected all
suggestions to flee the Datong School. On July 15th in 1907, she was beheaded by the
Qing government.
As observed by Spence, Qiu Jin “had a full measure of that recklessness which one
can find among certain people in any revolutionary situation: this is not that neglect of
consequences to oneself which is needed to lead organized forces into war, or even that
desperation necessary to charge police lines or storm barricades, but, rather, a
recklessness concerning all possible consequences, which invites discovery and
punishment even as it seems to promise inviolability” 26. This recklessness in Qiu Jin’s
character was not only shown in the fact that they nevertheless staged the uprising when
the situation was not promising, but also that she chose to sacrifice herself when she
would have otherwise avoided it. The tendency toward self-sacrifice was especially
prominent in her, and it gradually became an exemplary quality of new woman:
As others have noted, there was, from the moment of the new woman’s
conception, something in her of the old-style woman. New female models
transposed the object of the classical feminine virtues of purity and self-sacrificing
loyalty from husbands and families onto the new nation. The models of new woman
heralded by late Qing reformers and revolutionaries such as Liang Qichao and Qiu Jin
were self-sacrificing political martyrs. … In their literary and historical
representations, their agency is most powerfully projected in their acts of selfdestruction. These figures and these stories, together with the life story of Qiu Jin,
implanted an ideal of self-sacrifice and self-willed martyrdom into the core of the
new Chinese woman.27
26
27
Spence, Gate of Heavenly Peace, 57-58.
Goodman, “New Woman Commits Suicide”, 77.
24
In her essays, Qiu Jin had invoked Mme. Roland, Sofya Perovskaya, Catharine
Beecher, along with heroic women in Chinese history such as Hua Mulan. For example,
in Wu Zhiying’s biography of Qiu Jin written shortly after Qiu’s death, she said:
“Somebody might compare her with Sofya of Russia and Mme. Roland of France; Qiu
Jin would also vaguely agree to it. She called herself ‘Jianhu nüxia’ (Woman knighterrand of Jian Lake).” Mme. Roland, commonly known by her Chinese name “Luolan
furen”, was first introduced into China by Liang Qichao. In the Xinmin congbao (New
Citizens Newspaper) published in October 1902, Li Qichao published the life story of
Jean-Marie Roland. He used 10,000 Chinese characters to narrate her gradual
transformation from a happy housewife to the active spiritual leader of Girondists who
finally died for the cause of revolution. Liang’s narration highlighted her greatness as
“Jinshi diyi nüjie” (No.1 heroine in modern times). Liang explicitly regarded Mrs. Roland
as a patriotic revolutionary: “Mrs. Roland did not love revolution, but because of the fact
that she loved France, she had to love revolution;” “Though we could not save ourselves
these days, it being so, as long as we had breath, we could not not save our country.”
After Liang’s introduction, Mme. Roland’s story was popularized in Chinese society and
was adapted into many other art forms such as opera. Either consciously or
unconsciously, Qiu Jin had internalized these stories of self-sacrificial women and
regarded them as role models. This trait of “self-sacrifice” almost became a common
characteristic of most images of women during the 1920s and 30s, whether in films or in
literary works. The film in question--New Woman--also depicted a sacrificial protagonist
Wei Ming, as will be analyzed in Chapter Three.
25
Qiu Jin’s life story embodied yet another theme that would be popularized in
politically-charged films and literature, namely, the relationship between masculinity,
femininity and nationalism. After she went to Japan, she began to dress herself in male
Western attire and had herself photographed wearing that style of clothing. One poem of
hers inscribed behind a portrait of herself in male clothes read as the following:
Who could this person be, looking so sternly ahead?
A previous life of heroism, alas, entrusted to this body!
The physical form that I now inhabit is but a phantom,
But in a subsequent life I trust that it will be more fitting.
To my regret I met you late—feelings overwhelm me,
As I look up and sigh over our times, my energy is stirred.
If at some later date you see my friends of former days,
Tell them on my behalf that I have swept aside convention! 28
Though the reason why she felt confident about her new appearance was mainly
because of the new mode of existence she discovered after she went to Japan, it also had a
lot to do with the “maleness” of this appearance. The most well-known photograph of
Qiu Jin is one in which she was dressed in Japanese man’s clothes and holding a dagger.
When she was directing the girls’ school, she trained the students in military drills. She
also publicly rode a horse into town while dressed in Western male clothes, which drew
adverse attention to herself from local conservative elites. By dressing in male attire and
taking up activities that were conventionally considered appropriate to men only, Qiu Jin
self-consciously challenged the socially-accepted gender norm and willingly rejected her
femininity in favor of masculinity.
The hidden psychological reasons why Qiu Jin would willingly incorporate a certain
kind of masculinity into her identity seemed complicated. However, as analyzed above,
28
Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 795.
26
the main reason seemed to be her self-consciousness of women’s inferior status in
Chinese society at that time. Her personal experience taught her the extra obstacles a
female patriot would encounter. Resultantly, on one hand, she was sympathetic to women
in Chinese society and wished to awaken them to gain independence; on the other hand,
she personally felt the pain of not being able to fight for nationalist cause like her male
comrades. In one of her poems titled “To the Melody of ‘Walking through the SedgeGrass’”, she expressed the following feeling:
Facing the mirror I mumble and murmur,
Sighing and sobbing, I write in the air.
It is not a headache of wine or woes of parting;
A prison of sorrow has been raised in my heart,
There is none to whom I can explain this feeling.
My ambition is manly,
My life is too narrow,
To no avail is my mind filled with heroic daring!
Let me question High Heaven about my bad fate:
Although a mere woman, I suffer like the poet Qu Yuan! 29
Qu Yuan was a poet in the Warring States period (476-221 B.c.e), who was famous for
his patriotism. By comparing herself to Qu Yuan, Qiu Jin revealed her deep concern for
the nation’s fate. Yet by calling herself “a mere woman” and regarding her ambition
“manly”, Qiu unconsciously associated nationalist pursuit with men and complained
about her inferior gender identity as a woman. This kind of equation was actually a very
common trope in films made in the 1920s and 30s: China’s weakness and enslavement
was always expressed through the suffering of women, while men could still maintain
their masculinity by saving women. The ambiguous relationship between femininity,
29
Ibid., 777.
27
masculinity and nationalism will also play out in the film New Woman, as will be
discussed in Chapter 3.
28
Chapter 3 The suffering new woman: an analysis of New Woman
In this chapter, I will analyze in detail the film New Woman in the economic, social
and cultural context of 1930s Shanghai and show how the different themes discussed
above--the idea and image of new woman, nationalism, and new woman’s struggles—all
play out in this film.
New Woman, or Xin Nü Xing in Chinese, is a silent Chinese film released in early 1935
in Shanghai by Lianhua Film Company. As indicated by the title, New Woman is about
the life story of a modern new woman played by Ruan Lingyu, who was the most famous
actress at that time. Infused with left-wing filmmakers’ political agenda, the film appears
to be propagandistic at first sight. However, a close reading will reveal that the film
contains some very meaningful gaps which are probably beyond the intention of the
filmmakers, and which prove to be ideal sites for investigating the rivaling discourses and
agendas of different parties in 1930s Shanghai. Meanwhile, the fact that Ruan Lingyu
committed suicide soon after the release of this film, which to a great extent resonated
with the destiny of the female lead Wei Ming in New Woman, makes the film an even
richer text to study new woman’s sexuality in film representation and in real life.
I A rough portrait of “new woman”
In the film New Woman, the protagonist Wei Ming, played by Ruan Lingyu, is the
embodiment of a new woman. At the beginning of the film, she has a job in a private
school teaching music; and at the same time, she is a writer whose work “Lian’ai de
fenmu”[The tomb of love] is going to be published. In this way, her economic
independence, her literacy, and her identity as a writer seems to be what distinguishes her
as a new woman.
29
Later on, her previous life story is shown in flashback when her daughter asks Wei’s
elder sister about her. In the flashback, we learn that she used to be a romantic young
woman who fell in love with a man she chose. When her patriarchal family forbade her
from doing so, she ran away from her family with the man. Then in a western wedding
scene she was married to him. However, a few years later, after she had given birth to a
daughter, the man abandoned her and went away. Thus, it becomes clear that she would
not yield to the patriarchal family’s oppression and that she actively sought free love and
free choice, which distinguish her as a “modern” woman. Besides her claim of
independence and personal freedom, a new woman is also a woman who maintains a
modern lifestyle. In the film, Wei Ming smokes cigarettes together with her male friend.
She also stays in a dance hall throughout the night to enjoy herself.
More importantly, what renders Wei Ming a representative “new woman” has a lot to
do with her self-consciousness of women’s subordination and enslavement to men in
marriage. In the westernized dance hall where she watches the show, one scene shows
how a girl who dances happily together with a boy is later tortured by him. Another
scene, where a girl stumbling with chains on both her hands and feet finally falls down, is
followed by a shot where the girl’s face becomes Wei Ming’s. Judging from her body
language, Wei Ming is deeply touched by these scenes. Through her imaginative
embodiment of the chained girl’s place, her consciousness of enslavement is made
obvious. Outside the dance hall, when Dr. Wang proposes to her, Wei Ming replies rather
coldly, “I have heard too many of these words. Marriage? What can marriage give me?
‘Lifelong companion’ is actually lifelong slave!”
30
Despite her insistence on independence and freedom, however, the reality seems so
cruel that her independence is easily ruined. Her body is eagerly pursued by the male
gaze and desire. In the scene where Wei Ming and Mr. Wang sit in the car on their way to
the dance hall, there is a point of view shot from Mr. Wang’s perspective showing Wei
Ming’s beautiful legs. In the car, Dr. Wang keenly makes advances on her despite her
obvious annoyance and avoidance. After Wei Ming turns down his proposal outside the
dance hall, Dr. Wang begins to trap her by trickery. He uses his influence over the
principal to expel Wei Ming from the school. Compelled by the loss of her job, Wei Ming
is pushed into financial difficulty. However, her daughter becomes seriously sick at that
time. Failing to get an advance payment for her book from the publishing company, Wei
Ming is left with no other choice but selling her body.
Above is the general portrait of a modern “new woman” that the film delineates, which
the audience may bring home with them after watching the whole film. However, upon
closer inspection of New Woman, we may find that the meaning of “new woman” is
rather sophisticated and complex as presented in the film. Some scenes even betray the
ideal “new woman” the film director intends to create.
II Gender, class and nationalism: three women
As observed by Shuqin Cui, the film New Woman presents three kinds of female
characters and situates them in socially and politically defined gender categories. 30 One
of the three women, Mrs. Wang, is the wife of a wealthy businessman and leads a life of
leisure. In one of the major scenes where she appears, she cries complaining about not
having a car and having to take the bus, which she thinks compromises her reputation as a
30
Cui, Women through the Lens, 20.
31
wealthy lady; after her husband promises to give her four thousand yuan to buy a new
car, she immediately stops crying and begins to laugh. The audience will not fail to
capture the impression that she is employing her feminine features—cries and tears—to
take advantage of her husband, who is in a hurry to his date with Wei Ming. Actually, at
the beginning of the scene, Mrs. Wang runs into her husband at the door. She complains
that he goes out constantly during the night and doubts whether he is really conducting
business. After her husband makes up the excuse that he needs to entertain government
officials for business’ sake, she changes the topic to money and cars and starts to weep.
Given this context, another implication of the scene can be made that Mrs. Wang can
even disregard her husband’s unfaithfulness on the basis of monetary benefits.
The second female lead, A Ying, is almost the opposite of Mrs. Wang. A Ying is a
progressive worker who also teaches patriotic songs in the workers’ union. Judging from
outer appearance, A Ying is less feminine-looking than Mrs. Wang. She is dressed in
dark colors and wears pants, while Mrs. Wang wears a qipao, a classic Chinese gown, in
light color. A Ying is also the strongest of the three and her body language is much more
masculine. Later in the story, when Mr. Wang chases Wei Ming after Wei Ming escapes
from him, there is a fighting scene between A Ying and Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang, a man,
turns out not to be a match for her in terms of body strength, not to mention that she
easily takes the knife from Wei Ming when she tries to commit suicide and breaks Mr.
Wang’s cane into halves. The film ends with a shot in which a group of women are
stepping forward shoulder to shoulder, with A Ying in the middle. Thus, A Ying is
established as a progressive proletarian who engages in a patriotic cause. At the same
time, she is also the most powerful woman in the film.
32
Wei Ming, The third lead, is also the heroine of the film. On the one hand, she seeks
pleasure in a dance hall likes Mrs. Wang would do, which is a symbol of a modern way
of life. On the other hand, what distinguishes her from Mrs. Wang and makes her
resemble A Ying, as analyzed above, is her independence and her consciousness of
women’s enslavement. In the film, she readily helps A Ying to compose the music for the
song “New Woman”.
If we compare the three women closely, we will find that the film seems to be
showcasing two different kinds of modernity: the first one denotes progressiveness,
especially political rightness of the proletariat; the second kind is more about the
superficial, such as modern lifestyle. As analyzed in A Ying’s example, the film is
upholding the first one. A Ying and Mrs. Wang occupy the two ends respectively while
Wei Ming falls in between. Wei Ming is the woman among the three who combines a
modern appearance with a modern mind. She is passionate about visiting a dance hall
while at the same time devoted to claiming gender equality and freedom. She seems to be
a representative of women in 1930s Shanghai who were at once attracted to these two
seemingly contradictory pursuits. They were neither like A Ying, who is almost
desexualized, nor Mrs. Wang, whose only concern seems to be pleasure. This was
probably why Wei Ming is made the heroine of the film rather than A Ying or Mrs.
Wang.
However, in a sophisticated way, the film almost makes an equation between
masculinity and political progressiveness, and an equation between femininity and
leisure, through these three female figures. As shown above, the progressive A Ying is
rather masculine while the modern-looking Mrs. Wang, who is actually a traditional
33
woman inside, is only concerned about leisure. The audience to this film may easily have
the impression that to become a powerful woman with modern thoughts one has to give
up leisure completely. Even the dress code needs to be carefully monitored—insistence
on dressing femininely and beautifully would amount to bourgeoisie and not proletarian.
A Ying, the progressive proletarian worker the film cast in favorable light, is a very
interesting character. She is the kind of new woman who transposes purity and loyalty
from family onto the nation.
In the film, A Ying, an activist in promoting the alliance and empowerment of female
workers, does not have a family or a boyfriend in the film. She seems to devote all her
time and attention to her work. Although in the film the self-sacrificing qualities are not
brought out in her, we may reasonably assume that when the occasion arises she would
readily sacrifice herself for nationalist causes—the logic of her character commands so.
In fact, among films made during this time period, self-sacrificing women were
constantly presented in the spotlight on the big screen.
Wei Ming, though not self-sacrificing in the sense of what Qiu Jin did, is actually
deployed as a sacrificing figure in the film. At the end of New Woman, the scene of the
dying Wei Ming lying in a hospital is cross-cut with the scene where A Ying is teaching a
group of women the song “New Woman”, the lyrics being as follows:
The new woman is the productive mass of working women
The new woman is the labor force of society
The new woman is the vanguard in the construction of a new country
The new woman wants to be the same as man… 31
31
Meyer, Ruan Ling-yu, 49-50.
34
After repeating “I want to live!” three times, Wei Ming finally dies. The scene was
followed by a shot of the newspaper containing Wei Ming’s suicide report being stepped
on by a group of women marching forward, A Ying among them, standing in front. This
scene can be read as Wei Ming’s tragic death inspiring and motivating women to stand on
their own and fight for gender equality. In this sense, the film depicts Wei Ming as a
sacrificing figure to convey its political message about empowerment of women.
III An intellectual man and a new woman
The fact that “new woman” enjoyed great currency in the burgeoning print culture and
filmic representations was an indicator of Chinese elites’ incessant attention to and debate
about women’s issues. Nearly from the late 19th century when Chinese society began to
go through radical changes, the necessity and urgency for emancipating women from the
patriarchal social system was felt by pioneers such as Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei.
According to them, without emancipating women, who made up half of the population, it
would be impossible to build a strong nation. 32 Women’s emancipation, from the very
beginning, was naturally connected with national empowerment. As a result, there were
specific magazines and newspapers focusing on women’s issues, such as The Ladies’
Journal; there were also translations of books and pamphlets about western feminist
leaders. Modern woman, or new woman, became the focus of Chinese intellectuals
engaged in the discussion about the condition of the nation’s women.
Enlightening Chinese women from a condescending intellectual’s viewpoint, Chinese
reformists designated themselves the role of the mentor. Chinese women, in this
imaginative construction, were students who were supposed to follow the instruction of
32
See Gipoulon, “Emergence of Women in Politics”, 46-67.
35
their mentor in order to win their own emancipation. Scholars have proposed different
theories to explain the male intellectuals’ preoccupation with policing modern women,
but they agree that the male intellectuals’ anxieties were underlying their public
discourses on modern woman. According to Chin-kiu Stephen Chan:
In the turbulent times of the May Fourth cultural movement in modern China, the
search for a new subjectivity was carried out quite frequently in terms of capturing,
in a new form, the identity crisis of the New Women. Yet the control of this form was
everywhere disciplined by the intellectual (male-centered) self, whose own dilemma
of identity tended to be posited in relation to the alien, repressed, but emerging
“other” of the woman in question.33
For Chinese male intellectuals, it was more acceptable to depict the helplessness of
women in literary and cinematic discourses than that of men trapped in the tough reality.
Using women as a convenient trope to talk about nationalist concerns; on one hand, they
did not have to re-experience the difficulties and frustrations themselves; but on the other
hand, they can still maintain their masculinity by regarding themselves as the rescuer and
mentor of women.
This is the case with New Woman. Yu Haichou, dressed in western suit and working in
a publishing company, is the embodiment of a male intellectual in the film. However,
Wei Ming, instead of Yu, is the one who went through all the difficulties and cruelties
brought about by the discouraging society represented in the film. Yu is no more than an
observer, a stance taken by many male intellectuals at that time. As an upright
intellectual, though Wei Ming falls for him, Yu’s self-assigned responsibility makes him
abstain from passion and love. When Wei Ming earnestly invites him to go dancing with
her, Yu firmly refuses such a “degrading” pleasure-seeking activity. By advising Wei
33
See Chan, “Language of Despair”, 19-38.
36
Ming to hang out with people like A Ying, the proletarian worker, he establishes his role
as a mentor to Wei Ming. After Wei Ming commits suicide by taking sleeping pills, he
does what he can to help her. Throughout the film, Yu Haichou is cast in positive light
and remains an upright and respectable man unapproachable to Wei Ming. Their
relationship tallies with the mentor-student construction. Especially through Wei Ming’s
affection for Yu, Yu is uplifted to a favorable position.
However, the subtlety of Yu Haichou and Wei Ming’s relationship betrays a neat
mentor-student relationship, which may well be the director’s original intention. When
studying silent films of the 1920s and 30s Shanghai, Miriam Bratu Hansen made the
following discovery:
The meanings of a film are not only determined by directorial intention and an
underlying social, masculinist discourse, but are significantly shaped by other voices,
such as the mode of performance and the degree of agency, however precarious,
that accrues to female actors in the star system; and both are contingent upon
processes of reception and interpretation on the part of a mass audience in which
women were present in unprecedented numbers. In other words, while female
figures may well be the privileged fetish of male/modernist projection and
stereotyping, they are also the sites of greatest ambivalence and mobility, as
traditional binaries may be at once invoked and undermined through performance
and masquerade. 34
This is indeed the case with New Woman, especially when it comes to the
sophisticated relationship between Yu Haichou the male intellectual and Wei Ming the
new woman. The ambivalence of their relationship moves beyond the control of film
director and begins to carry a meaning on its own. When Wei Ming earnestly invites Yu
to go dancing with her, Yu firmly refuses because he considers dancing as degrading. By
deprecating dancing—the modern way for seeking pleasure—Yu is also distancing
34
Hansen, “Fallen Women, Rising Stars”, 16.
37
himself from Wei Ming. After Yu turns down her offer, Wei Ming goes to the dance hall
with Dr. Wang instead, which may be seen as a rebellion from Wei Ming’s perspective to
some extent. By declining dancing in general, Yu also to some degree rejects Wei Ming’s
sexuality, as dancing is a sensuous activity which Wei enjoys. Though he turns out to
show great understanding, in the beginning, Wei Ming dares not tell Yu that she has a
daughter and she badly needs money to cure her sickness. Maybe partly out of fear for his
uprightness and possible blame from him, Wei Ming keeps silent. In this way, through
hiding her past marriage from Yu, Wei Ming is also keeping her female sexuality from
him. Wei Ming, a non-typical new woman, does show great ambivalence and agency. She
is no longer the “student” thirsty for knowledge who waits to be enlightened by a male
mentor. The gap between Wei Ming and Yu Haichou exists throughout the film. By
neglecting and denying Wei Ming’s sexuality, Yu Haichou gradually loses his influence
upon her.
Moreover, compared to the strong agency the editor Qi Weide and the businessman
Dr. Wang have shown by bringing disastrous fate onto Wei Ming, Yu Haichou is rather
impotent. When harm is done and Wei Ming commits suicide, Yu is unable to save her
from death. This can be seen as a metaphor for the transfer of authoritative discourse over
modern women from the hands of intellectuals to businessmen, as “During the 1920s and
1930s, the modern woman moved from being purely the purview of the intellectual
reformers and their political agenda into the realm of the commercial sector and its
advertisements as well.” 35
35
See Edwards, “Policing the Modern Woman”, 115-147.
38
IV Film and reality: woman’s sexuality as stigma
In New Woman, there are staged performances in the dance hall that Wei Ming and Dr.
Wang visit together. On the stage, the enslavement and suffering of women are exhibited.
In one of the performances, a young girl dances happily with a man only later on to be
thrashed by him. In another, a girl with chains on both her hands and feet stumbles, falls
to the ground, and finally gets up and tears apart the chains. On the stage within the film,
women’s image, their suffering and empowerment are presented for the appreciation of
audiences in the dance hall. The reactions of Wei Ming and Dr. Wang to these scenes are
completely different. While Dr. Wang applauds the performances, Wei Ming is deeply
touched by what she saw.
Hardly by accident, Wei Ming, who participates in public debate as a female writer in
the film, also becomes the focus of the press, which existed traditionally and still to a
great extent as the domain of male intellectuals. At the very beginning of the film, we
learn through flashback that Wei Ming’s novel was not chosen by the editor at first. Only
after he saw Wei Ming’s beautiful portrait did he agree to publish Wei Ming’s novel. He
adds “Madam” (nüshi) on the book cover to the author name “Wei Ming”, which is
originally a gender-neutral name. By so doing, the editor is calling attention to Wei
Ming’s identity as a woman. In his eyes, Wei Ming as a female writer seems to be
especially important and useful in promoting the novel. Later in the film, a short passage
in a local newspaper proclaiming the publication of Wei Ming’s novel is accompanied by
the same portrait, the size of which far exceeds the length of the passage. In another
episode, Qi Weide, the editor of the local newspaper, also asks Wei Ming for a portrait,
his reason being “A pretty female writer like you, I believe, will definitely arrest the
39
reader’s attention intensely.” Wei Ming’s sexuality, or more precisely put, her pretty face,
is what captures central attention in the public sphere created mainly by printing culture.
In this way, the quality of her novel becomes secondary to her beauty.
Besides being trivialized due to her female gender, Wei Ming’s sexuality becomes
highly stigmatized. When Dr. Wang fails to make Wei Ming his mistress, out of hate he
slanders Wei Ming’s reputation by suggesting to Qi Weide that Wei Ming seduced him
but did not succeed, which is the contrary to what actually happened. Shortly after, an
article appears in local newspaper gossiping about Wei Ming’s life history and her
daughter. Again, a large picture of Wei Ming is presented alongside the article. After Wei
Ming commits suicide, there is a boisterous scene of newspaper vendors shouting “Three
dimes to see a woman writer’s suicide!” The newspaper article features title “Wei Ming
Committed Suicide” in bold characters and carries subtitles such as “Expansive
Disclosure of Antemortem Secret History”. In these cases, Wei Ming’s sentimental life
and her suicide is advertised as commodity to attract customers. More interests are
invested in gossips about a woman’s private life while her novel remains neglected.
The relationship between the female celebrity and the press as depicted in New
Woman reflects the situation in real life. As observed by some scholar, the insertion of
newspaper-related materials into the diegetic world is quite common among films made
in the early 1930s Shanghai. 36 By incorporating newspaper headlines and footage, film
can add a realistic dimension to its content. The burgeoning of print culture as a new
media ever since the May Fourth Movement laid the foundation for such close
intertextual ,relationship between film and press. According to Lee Leo Ou-fan in
36
Ma, “Textual and Critical Difference”, 97-109.
40
Shanghai Modern, surrounding cinema there had developed a series of publications,
including movie magazines and special columns or issues about movies in the general
magazines. “It became an increasingly common practice to feature news and photos of
movies and movie stars in the mushrooming journals for women.” 37
Just as in her film role as Wei Ming, whose past marriage is featured in newspapers for
the consumption of readers, Ruan Ling-yu’s personal life was also frequently
foregrounded in print culture. Ruan Ling-yu, the famous actress of silent films in 1930s
Shanghai, committed suicide at the height of her acting career. Just like Wei Ming in New
Woman, Ruan’s personal life—especially her love affairs with Zhang Damin and Tang
Jishan-- were highly stigmatized by the press. After the press reported the story of Damin
and Tang’s lawsuits against each other, Ruan had to issue a public statement which
revealed all of the intimate details of her relationship with Zhang Damin, including their
past cohabitation, which was printed in several newspapers. 38Though it may not be the
main cause of her death, as shown in her last words before committing suicide, the
pressure imposed on her private life by the public played a significant role in facilitating
her suicide: “Besides, people outside do not understand the situation and think that I’ve
been unfair to him. Ah! What can I do? I’ve been thinking over and over. The only way
to solve the problem is to kill myself. Ah! My death is not a pity but it’s dreadful that
gossip is a fearful thing.” 39 As observed by Lu Xun in Gossip is a Fearful Thing, an
article published shortly after Ruan’s death, public pressure was undeniably a significant
cause of the tragedy:
Lee, Shanghai Modern, 82-119.
Meyer, Ruan Ling-yu, 53.
39
Shen, Yi Dai Ying Xing, 177.
37
38
41
Weak in the face of the strong, it seems strong enough to those weaker than
itself; so although sometimes it has to suffer in silence, at others it still shows its
might. And those like Ruan Ling-yu make good copy for the display of power,
because, although a celebrity, she was helpless. Your small townsfolk love to listen to
scandals, especially scandals about someone they know… Since everyone knew Ruan
Ling-yu from the films, she was good copy for papers wanting sensational news and
could at least increase their sales. … So if instead of talking loftily about social
systems or strength of character which we hardly understand ourselves, we put
ourselves in her place, we can see that Ruan Ling-yu was telling the truth when she
said, “Gossip is a fearful thing.” And those who thought the newspaper reports had
something to do with her suicide were telling the truth, too. 40
Ruan Ling-yu’s suicide immediately caused wide-ranging attention from society. It
was recorded that tens of thousands of Shanghainese watched silently as her funeral
procession passed through the city. Many newspapers reported her death on the front
page. 41 Though it was undeniable that many mourners sincerely felt sorry for the
disappearance of a prestigious actress who was still so young, still some resemblance can
be detected between the way Wei Ming’s suicide was received by the public in the film
and the reception of Ruan’s death by Shanghai people. One month after Ruan’s death, a
second set of suicide notes were disclosed in Siming Business Journal, a privately
circulated newsletter. 42 It seems impossible for a female celebrity’s personal life,
especially her love affairs, to evade the general public’s avid scrutiny.
After studying the controversial suicide of a “new woman” in Shanghai print culture in
1922, Bryna Goodman comes to the following conclusion:
Within this print culture, the provocative suicides—those most productive of
public debate in the new political environment and in the competing commercial
media—were those that could not be encompassed within historical models but,
Lu, “Gossip”, 186-188.
Meyer, Ruan Ling-yu, 1.
42
Meyer, Ruan Ling-yu, 65-66.
40
41
42
rather, in some way called into question both models of the past and vaunted icons
of modernity. 43
By this definition, Ruan Ling-yu’s death is definitely a “provocative” suicide. Soon
after her death, left-wing writers began to use the general republic’s outflowing sentiment
to attack the status quo. Nie Gannu, a cultural critic, contended that “The one who killed
Ruan Lingyu was not herself. The murderer was the residual feudal morality that still
infatuates our minds.” Film critic Wang Chenwu agreed, “The sole cause of Ruan
Lingyu’s suicide is the remaining feudal power. The representatives of feudalism in this
case are the irresponsible reporters, Zhang Damin, and Ruan Lingyu’s own mentality.” 44
Such an idea was shared by many commentators at that time. However, when looking at
such viewpoints, we need to keep their political agenda in mind. Feudalism, in its
embodiment of Zhang Damin and Tang Jishan, played an important part in Ruan’s
suicide. However, on the other hand, as analyzed above, the public pressure brought by
the press—the new media—cannot be neglected. With the flourishing of print culture,
women’s sexuality was exhibited and scrutinized on an unprecedented scale. However, as
shown in the case of Ruan Lingyu, a proper way of situating woman’s sexuality in the
public sphere still had yet to be found.
43
44
See Goodman, “New Woman Commits Suicide”, 67-101.
Meyer, Ruan Ling-yu, 63-64.
43
Conclusion
The conception of “new woman”, ever since its popularization during the New Culture
Movement, was marked by nationalistic connotations. The defining characteristic of a
new woman, as discoursed by many intellectuals from different perspectives, was her
independence, both economically and mentally. This glorification of women’s
independence and autonomy was in sharp contrast with the traditional roles assigned to
women under the Confucian ethics. This can be seen as partly resulting from the fact that
at that time May Fourth elites were critically rethinking Chinese culture and the cultural
atmosphere at that time was typified by a complete negation of traditional Chinese
culture. On the other hand, the upholding of women’s independence fitted into the May
Fourth intellectuals’ ultimate goal of empowering the nation by means of empowering
women. Those elites who initiated the process of women’s emancipation, such as Liang
Qichao and Kang Youwei, first realized the urgency of this problem out of their deep
concern for the Chinese nation’s future. The models of new woman set up at that time, as
realized by many scholars, were all self-sacrificing heroines who would willingly give up
their own lives for patriotic causes. The influence of these models was most exemplified
by the feminist and patriot Qiu Jin, who internalized this self-sacrificial quality, finally
gave up her own life for revolutionary cause, and became a martyr herself.
At the same time, with the development of commercial culture in big cities such as
Shanghai and the introduction of Western way of living into Chinese society through
mediums such as movies and print culture, women were structured as the embodiment of
modern lifestyle. This resulted in the appearance of another kind of “new woman”, the
44
“modeng nülang”, who maintained a modern way of living yet not necessarily had these
inner virtues.
Through the representation of the modern new woman Wei Ming and her tragic life
story, New Woman foregrounds the social injustices women encounters. In the film, Wei
Ming was also a “sacrificial” character in the diegetic world aimed to enlighten the
audiences to sympathize and fight for women’s equal rights. In this sense, the film
inherits the tradition of Chinese elites discoursing upon women’s issues beginning with
the May Fourth Movement for nationalist concerns. As a typical representative of films
made by left-wing filmmakers in 1930s, New Woman is infused with the nationalist
ideologies of left-wing activists. The film contrasts these two kinds of “new woman” in
the story: the patriotic factory worker A Ying and the pleasure-seeking wealthy Mrs.
Wang. Wei Ming, the protagonist, falls between them. By depicting these two contrasting
“new woman”, the film also depicts two kinds of “modernity”. After we compare A Ying
and Mrs. Wang in detail, we find that the film favors “modernity” in the sense of political
progressivism embodied by A Ying, while at the same time it opposes the kind of
“modernity” represented by a modern lifestyle, which is embodied by Mrs. Wang. In a
more discreet way, the two different kinds of modernity are also represented by the two
main male characters: the progressive intellectual Yu haichou and the wealthy
businessman Mr. Wang. By depicting Yu in a favorable light, the film once again
prioritizes the politically-charged modernity over the modernity represented by
commercialization. However, the powerlessness of Yu compared to Mr. Wang betrayed
the film’s ideological agenda, reveals the increasing power of commercial culture in the
45
real world and symbolizes of the shift of dominance over the discourse on modern
women from Chinese intellectuals to commercialization.
The popularization of discourse on “new woman” in the Chinese society, at least
among the educated, forged a rethinking of a woman’s place in Chinese society, which
was consistent with the heightened individualism during New Culture Movement. The
enlightened women themselves developed a Putting aside the unpromising situation that a
new woman might fell into, as pointed out by Lu Xun, a new woman might have gone
through many unforeseen mental struggles and confusions. As vividly shown in Miss
Sophia’s Diary, after a new woman gained independence, what was she to do with this
freedom, with her life? The old boundary between what was acceptable and what was not
seemed to be broken yet the new boundary seemed not yet firmly in place. In this sense,
this newly-earned freedom might even turn out to be rather painful. In the personal
experiences of Qiu Jin, she was acutely aware of the extra burdens a woman would have
to deal with after breaking away from her family. And she felt at pain that she was born a
woman rather than a man, and thus was rather ambivalent about her gender identity.
Gender identity and nationalism is also an important theme in New Woman. The film
depicts the relationship between femininity, masculinity and nationalism in a very
dynamic and ambiguous way. A Ying, the proletarian worker who is an active participant
in women’s empowerment, and who is the kind of “new woman” the film praises, is
rather masculine. Wei Ming, the heroine of the film, falls between A Ying and Mrs.
Wang. Through the combination of decreasing political progressivism and increasing
femininity among the three women leads—A Ying, Wei Ming and Mrs. Wang—the film
seems to be implying that a woman needs to be de-sexualized to attain power and
46
progress. Women’s sexuality, when taken into the consideration, further complicates the
matter. Wei Ming’s relationship with Yu Haichou, the embodiment of the Chinese male
elite, is to a great extent alienated. The root of this alienation, as shown in the film, is
Yu’s rejection of Wei Ming’s sexuality. Wei Ming, the new woman in the film, is
exploited by the press of her personal sentimental lives. Ruan Lingyu, the actress in
1930s Shanghai, also suffered from the great pressure imposed by the press about her
love affairs and finally committed suicide. How to normalize women’s sexuality in the
society remained a difficult question after they were transformed from obedient
daughter/wife/mother into independent human beings as men.
47
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Glossary
Chen Duxiu 陈独秀
Chen Wu
Chiang Kai-shek 蒋介石
Ding Ling 丁玲
Family Research 《家庭研究》
Hu Shi 胡适
Kang Youwei 康有为
Liang Qichao 梁启超
Lu Xun 鲁迅
Mao Dun 茅盾
New woman 新女性
New Youth 《新青年》
Nie Gannu 聂绀弩
Qiu Jin 秋瑾
Qu Yuan 屈原
Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉
Sun Yat-sen 孙中山
Tang Jishan 唐季珊
Three principles 三纲
Wang Chenwu 王尘无
Wu Zhiyin 吴芝瑛
Xu Xilin 徐锡麟
Yan Fu 严复
Youth Magazine 《青年杂志》
Yuan Shikai 袁世凯
Zhang Damin 张达明
50