The coming of age of Chinese feminism“Essays that explore gender discrimination fill China’s cybersp
The coming of age of Chinese feminism“Essays that explore gender discrimination fill China’s cyberspace. “Our readers are quite familiar with the basic opinions and theories about feminism,” said Miao Ying, a doctoral candidate at Cambridge University’s Center of Development Studies who regularly writes for CNPolitics.org, an opinion blog hosted by young Chinese intellectuals. But, she said, they are less informed about “what the actual social status of Chinese women is.” The biggest task for Chinese feminists is simple but challenging: getting the definition straight. According to an anonymously written blog post on Douban.com, a messaging website popular among young educated Chinese, any discussion of feminism should cease until clearer ideas about women and rights have been established.To succeed, China’s feminists will have to establish a stable ideological reference point to which they can anchor their cause. This won’t be easy. In a society in which history is often manipulated in the service of political priorities, knowledge about Chinese feminist tradition is scattered, leading some to turn to Europe and the U.S. for a traceable lineage of feminism. Yet Chinese activists realize that Western feminism — largely told in a narrative of ever-expanding suffrage — is ill fitted to their current situation. Without watershed political reform, wealth — the leading virtue of President Xi Jinping’s “core socialist value” campaign — remains the most expedient way to empowerment for China’s citizens. Read the full piece hereStatue of Chinese feminist revolutionary Qiu Jin by jensimon7 -- source link
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