1. Respond to the two 1971 pieces ("Iron Girl" and "Good Daughter of the Party") selected from Beijing's English language magazine Chinese Literature. It is a rare opportunity to read first-hand materials from the Cultural Revolution. Cite one most memorable detail from each piece with page numbers to illustrate your reading experience.
2. Spend at least half an hour on the Chinese Posters website: chineseposters.net. Pay particular attention to the two-part section under "Iron Women and Foxy Ladies". Pick one poster and analyze its visual and other components as best representing the gendered body in the socialist discourse.
3. Read the scholarly piece "Comrade Sisters" as a way to help you synthesizing the above textual and visual representations from the socialist era. What have you learned from this scholarly piece written in the 1990s? Cite a short quote with page number to support your analysis.
The Iron Girl was written to describe the working women, and women’s participation in production, especially in industrial activities. Different from women working for agriculture or working in factories, Wang Ya-chin is a woman bulldozer driver, so she participates in the industrialization of the nation and can represent more about the liberation of women during that period. When the urgent message came from headquarters, Wang answered “For the sake of revolution, I pledge to accomplish the task”. (Wang and Hung, p.60) She has same ability to do industrial works as man, but also has same liberation and equal thought as man, when she was refused to take the task, she said “Times have changed, and today men and women are equal.” (Wang and Huang, p.61) The Good Daughter of Party, in respond to the call of Chair Mao during Cultural Revolution period, “Our countryside is vast and has plenty of room for them to develop their talents to the full.” (Wen, p.5) after graduated from middle school, Shen Hsiu-Chin returned to the village to do agricultural production. After reading these two articles, what impressed me most is the influence of living study and application of Mao Tsetung Thought in the whole country. Almost everyone in China believed in “Only socialism can save China” (Wen, p.8) and answered to Chair Mao’s socialist call.
ReplyDeleteThe poster I pick is the New View in Rural Village. From this picture, we can see happy working women, men and women work together, women dressed in fashion cloths, harmonious rural environment, chimneys, factories and industrialization background. This socialist propaganda poster and discourse is mainly to advertise the sense of honor and pride of peasant and working women and encourage people to participate in socialist production works. In the Comrade Sister, I think the main point is the relations between women’s liberation and labor women (women participate in socialist production) during the Cultural Revolution period. “Ten years of practice has proven that mobilizing the masses of women to participate in production is the basic key to improving equality between men and women and to achieving the thorough liberation of women”(Evans and Donald, p.63) I agree with this viewpoint for that period, and it just like women can make money and support themselves is the basic key to improving equality between men and women today.
I think your quote from "Comrade Sisters" in the second paragraph is interesting. I think the idea that women doing work is a key factor in improving their own rights and their station with relation to men happens to be one of the more fascinating points in the article, although a lot of it is very interesting to me.
DeleteI agreed with you pointed out the of Mao Tsetung Though influenced the whole country and everyone in china believed in “only socialism can save china”. People blindly believe anything they read or hear about Mao Though.
DeleteI love how the new revolution is gauged to the industry. Industrial Revolution is not only building new infrastructures to better the economy but also it can better the people and society as well.
DeleteI like your mention of Wang’s role as a woman bulldozer and how it allows her to participate in the industrialization of the nation and represents more than the liberation of women during that time. She does have the ability to do industrial work as man, but also have equal though as man. I think this is what makes her unique in a way that she represents a larger spectrum of the role and ability of women.
DeleteI like how you analyzed the poster you picked out. When I look at it, I can see the sense of honor and encouragement in participating in the socialist works.
DeleteMy favorite moment in "The Iron Girl" occurs on the very first page of the reading when the "young fellow" is revealed to be Wang Ya-chin, "the iron girl" (Chinese Literature, 59-60). Immediately following on page 61, Wang recites Chairman Mao: "Times have changed, and today men and women are equal." So equal that they are physically indistinguishable from one another unless closely scrutinized. The "Comrade Sisters" article alludes to this on page 64 when it points out, "all overt signs conventionally associated with feminine appearance and conduct were denounced" (Evans, 64). Rae Yang's autobiography relates, "As Red Guards we could not and would not wear skirts, blouses, T-shirts, shorts and sandals. Anything that would make girls look like girls was bourgeois. We covered up our bodies so completely that I almost forgot that we were boys and girls" (Evans, 64). The visual representations of women seen in the propaganda posters we viewed on the website and some highlighted in the article both support and disprove this statement.
ReplyDeleteMany of the women — for example, the girl portrayed in the poster titled "Struggling to speed up the realization of mechanized agriculture!" — adhere to this idea. They are plainly dressed for work and there is little to distinguish their femininity (Chineseposters.net). However, others — such as "Mountain flowers shine red on the new women" on the same page — seem to provoke a more feminine image. Although the women are not dressed in flowing gowns or wearing jewelry, they are foregrounded against a flowering tree. Even though they are clearly "tractor girls," much like Wang Ya-chin in "The Iron Girl," they are still depicted as women and this is highlighted in the title of the poster: "the new women" (Chineseposters.net). These two posters show women doing the same jobs, but they present women in different ways. One highlights a person, who almost incidentally happens to be female, as a worker of the revolution, struggling to modernize China. The other depicts women specifically as women, calling them "new" and alluding to the idea that women can contribute something unique to the revolution, something that we, the viewer, cannot judge as impossible for a man to do, but rather something we are led to believe a woman should want to do.
In the CHI 511 class, we recently studied the Ballad of Mulan and I think it fits well with your comments about the distinction between the appearance of men and women becoming blurred. In the Ballad of Mulan, we all know that she cross dressed, but at the end of the Ballad, she returns home, uses the appropriate gender spaces, and returns to her feminine clothing. The ballad concludes with an anecdote demonstrating that when men and women are all working together (i.e. male and female rabbits running together in the poem), it is impossible to tell them apart. Maybe the idea of blurred/androgenous appearances in public has a historical precedent; however, we still see that the distinction between men and women in private is strong.
DeleteI kinda feel like “times have changed, and today men and women are equal” that means women and men have the equal rights to do the same kind of job rather than real gender equality.
DeleteI have to agree that was my favorite part as well. Men have an idea of a woman that is suppose to be delicate, but Wang did not represent that image. She was a strong woman and could accomplish feats that men couldn't accomplish.
DeleteI like your connection between the two pieces, “The Iron Girl” and the “Comrade sisters.” The equality between men and women has changed and it is shown through these two pieces, but I still don’t think it is equally balanced exactly.
DeleteI also agree with your opinion about the connection between the Iron Girl and Comrade Sisters. Women's status really changed and became more equal to men because of the socialist industrial development.
DeleteI think the Mao Period, specifically the Cultural Revolution, is one of the most interesting periods in Chinese history. During Mao’s reign, the ideals of continual revolution and sacrifice permeated throughout the whole nation, both in the countryside and in the city. In “Good Daughter of the Party” by Wen Tzu-pien, I was amazed by Xsiu-chin’s abandonment of self-interest and her pure willingness to sacrifice herself for Mao and the state. In some sense, this notion of sacrifice was taken to such an extreme that the story loses plausibility. Wen (1971) writes, “Hsiu-chin shook her head. ‘It’ll be all right if I rest at home a couple of days. It costs the state a lot if I stay here [the hospital]’” (p. 29). And again, the author writes, “Though her life was in the balance, she thought only of the work of the Party, and nothing of herself” (p. 29). She later on refuses oxygen and orders that it be saved for the “class brothers”. The story of Hsiu-chin demonstrates what was expected of not just China’s citizens, but of women in particular. According to this story, women were no longer expected to solely stay at home and care for the family, but to be equal partners in sacrifice for the state, the Party, and Mao.
ReplyDeleteFigure 4.3 in “Comrade Sisters” demonstrates the notion of sacrifice I mentioned above (Evans, 1999, p. 71). In this image, several young people act as human dam against an oncoming flood. The caption of the picture states, “Dare to sacrifice your youth for the people” (Evans, 1999, Fig. 4.3, p. 71). In this picture, there are only two men, but several women. However, the two men are centralized in the picture. Furthermore, Evans (1999) notes, “she [the central female figure] appears as the weak link the chain who lets the water through the middle of the human barrier” (p. 71). So, while women are represented as equal partners (symbolized by the linking of arms), there still exists some level of deficiency on the part of women. Also, Evans (1999) points out that the main female figure in the picture has authority conferred onto her by Mao’s red book which she is carrying; in contrast, the man does not need Mao’s book to have authority and power. This picture suggests that the Chinese government on some level did not equate gender equality with men and women being equally capable. The extent that this contradiction existed in Chinese society would be interesting to study further.
I agree that the Cultural Revolution is one of the most fascinating periods of Chinese history for a contemporary scholar. I think your reply here also illuminates it as one of the most difficult periods to study. The extreme sacrificial mindset of the people involved in the Revolution makes it a deeply personal topic of study and I find it difficult to approach the subject sometimes.
DeleteI enjoy the fact that you show both sides of the argument for the role women played during this time period. As I read "Comrade Sisters," I too felt that women were still being portrayed below men in status. Although it was a step for them to be pictured alongside men in mainstream posters, there was still a bit of favoritism towards men.
DeleteI agree that even though they were meant to be equal, it is debatable that the two genders were truly equal in society.
DeleteIn “comrade sisters”: Gendered bodies and spaces, there are some different kinds of poster provide an innovative reinterpretation of the Cultural Revolution. We can see the images of women appear doing the same things and dressing in the same kinds of clothes as men. “Women appear in the same kinds of space, against the same symbols of progress and struggle, dressed in the same attire, and display the same kinds of capacities.” (Harriet Evans and Stephanie Donald, Pg 66) It seems like women have the equal rights as men. They can be allowed to work in men’s working area and do the same work as men. But I don't think that was a real “gender equality”. As we all know, those posters appeared in a very special period, china government encouraged women to work because they need more labor force. “China is a land with an area of 9,600,000 square kilometers and a population of 600 million people, she ought to make a greater contribution to humanity.” That was a quotation from Chairman Mao. (Wan Shan-hung, Pg 63) That was a kind of inequality because they used masculine standard to put rules around women. Women didn't have choice so they put rules around themselves. It’s inappropriate for women to do some men’s work because men and women have natural differences based on biological. Mao's Thought affected every Chinese people. “Times have changed, and today men and women are equal.” (Wan Shan-hung, Pg61) I think that was the best thing women learnt from this Revolution. After reading the “Iron girl”, I felt like people though and action was totally trapped in Mao’s Thought. No matter what they do, Mao’s Thought always affects them.
ReplyDeleteEducated young people were forced to work in the countryside just because the Chairman Mao saying: “our countryside is vast and has plenty of room for them to develop their talents to the full.”(Weng Tzu-pien, Pg5) People have no right to choose the life they want. They just follow the Mao’s guide no matter what the things write on the guide are wrong or right. The name of the reportage called “Good Daughter of the Party” so the question here is what kind of girl can be thought as a good daughter of the Party? Those girls who follow the guide and do what Chairman Mao teaches that are qualified for this title. I things the Cultural Revolution is not a real revolution. It's just an excuse to make sure communism can be built smoothly.
Your comments at the end about what kind of girl can be thought of as good are interesting. During this time period, women were being taught equality and independence, yet, as you point out, a "good" women (in that time period) really just listens to what Chairman Mao says. This contradiction gives credit to your comment that the Cultural Revolution was just an excuse to promote communism.
DeleteI agree with the last comments as well. We even saw a glimpse of this implantation of communism in the video we watched Tuesday in class. (I believe it was Tuesday)..... It makes perfect sense that "gender equality" would only be made possible in order to get communism in.
DeleteI find your last comment about the Cultural Revolution not being a real revolution but as an excuse to make sure communism can be built smoothly. I think that this statement is very true.
DeleteBoth in the Iron Girl and Comrade Sisters, there were quotes that were dedicated to Mao Zedong regarding the revolution of their nation. In both pieces it was quoted that Mao said, “ Times have changed women can do the same as men.” Women were devoted to the cause of the revolution, because of the freedom and liberation that came with it. In Comrade Sister, it was stated that, “ As Red Guards we could not and would not wear skirts, blouses, T-shirts, shorts and sandals. Anything that would make girls look like girls was bourgeois.” (page 64) Also in Iron Girl, Wang Ya-chin wore, “ a huge cotton-padded cap with earflaps covered…leaving only his grease- smeared cheeks exposed.” Wang Ya-chin was dressed a worker that could bulldoze to make the revolution easier. These women not only whole-heartedly take the mind set of a man to support the revolution, but also physically changed their appearance. In Iron Girl, the men were honored and grateful for Wang Ye-chin and her persistence and perseverance to get the impossible done.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the propaganda website, the image that caught my eyes and that relates to the reading was a female on top of a steel building with a man, working side by side, building a structure together. To me this is a symbolism that men need help from the women if they want to rebuild a better and stronger nation. The man and woman have dangerous equipment in their hands. Before the revolution women would never dare hold these equipment because it was a “mans job,” but although the things that they hold might me dangerous and difficult, to achieve a better structure or nation it will be dangerous and difficult.
http://chineseposters.net/gallery/e16-17.php
I found it rather interesting that you viewed the readings and posters in a more positive lighting for females. When you talked about how women dressed as men and took on some of their roles, I viewed it as women being unable to express their femininity while still doing men's jobs. I thought that the battle for equality was still prevalent, but I do see your point of view as well. You made many interesting points that would argue the opposite of what I felt while reading and looking at the posters.
DeleteI like how you compared the two artile and the analysis of the poster as well
DeleteIn “The Iron Girl” one important memorable moment for me was during her struggle to get the bulldozer to work and she remembered the Masters words, “The main thing is that you’re not only learning to drive, but to make revolution. You must remove the ‘selfishness’ in your thinking to just as the shovel of your bulldozer removes the earth” (pg.63). I find this part of the story interesting because it seems like Wang has a simple job as many are employed in the iron ore company, but she is a women and she uses her will to fight for revolution to also fight in her job. I like how her power and desire for revolution resides in her role in society. In “Good Daughter of the Party” Hsiu-chin is a daughter of a peasant, but she is a promising girl for the lower class. Like Wang, Hsiu uses her desire to follow Chairman Mao but staying strong and representing the lower class. She studies Mao and uses her knowledge to support them. One of the memorable moments for me was when a member of the lower class told her, “Dividing management of the land among families is putting back the clock, it’s returning us to old society to suffer again. It certainly isn’t Chairman Mao’s way. You’re cadre in the Communist Youth League, Hsiu-chin, you ought to arouse the masses to fight those birds. We poor and lower-middle peasants give you our full support” (pg. 7). In both of these stories, women are taking control and using their will power to revolutionize. I think both of these pieces are strong in representing the power of the woman.
ReplyDeleteAfter spending time looking through posters the one I find most interesting is the one titled, “Study the battle spirit of the Red Army during the Long March, conquer nature, build up our nation.” I think this poster represents a women’s will power to change and the experiences they went through to fight back. In “Comrade sisters” Harriet explains Rae Yangs explanation, “As Red Guards we could not and would not wear skirts, blouses, T-shirts, shorts and sandals. Anything that would make girls look like girls was bourgeois. We covered up our bodies so completely that I almost forgot that we were boys and girls” (pg.64). This quote and the poster above go together as the clothing that the girl is wearing in the poster is not female related at all. She is also carrying a lot and climbing a mountain, which would be considered a “male role.” I think these posters provide many different things that were being advocated for individuals during that time and show us now what happened. Harriet Evans also mentions in “Comrade Sisters” that some posters, “challenge the suggestion that women simply function as the same kind of markers as men” (pg. 66). This shows the power of these posters.
I agree, Iron Girl definitely got it clearly across that selfishness is not an option in any degree when working towards the revolution.
DeleteI think that all of the pieces we had to read suggest that selfishness was not prevalent. The propaganda posters mainly promoted pride within the cause.
Delete1. In the piece “Iron Girl”, (along with Comrade Sisters) the concept of equality is less apparent than it so seems. Instead of men going down and women going up to form a middle ground equality, women are rising up twice as much to be masculine. The quote I found most interesting was, “You must remove the selfishness in your thinking just as the shovel of your bulldozer removes the earth” (p.63) This is interesting to me because Wang is told to remove her own thought essentially and focus on the revolutionary—going on to also say, “that applause should only serve as a battle drum to urge you forward to make revolution.” (p.63). Forget self-interest, basically, you are living for the revolution—and Wang is clearly fine with this.
ReplyDeleteThe same nuance was expressed in Comrade sisters, especially upon the quote “As Red Guards we could not and would not wear skirts, blouses, T-shirts, shorts and sandals. Anything that would make girls look like girls was bourgeois.” (p.64) This implies that women were supposed to be entirely masculine in order to be equal with men. But the women did still hold their sisterly bonds and stood by each other’s sides, a stereotypically but often true aspect of feminity.
In the propaganda paintings, I was most drawn to the one titled “Chairman Mao gives us a happy life” which, overall, seems to be quite opposite of the other paintings presented. This one shows very solid gender roles—the woman cooking and providing for the family, the man appearing as though he has probably returned from work. I find it interesting that this is mixed into a group of paintings of ‘working women’ and portrays this housewife as happy and fulfilled. It shows that while obviously not all women want any part of that lifestyle, some do, and are perfectly fulfilled by it; let those who want to revolutionize, revolutionize.
I think the poster you are referring to is also there to remind women that although you are now allowed in the workforce you are also expected to provide for your family and fill your traditional role as "housewife" as well as a working member of society.
Delete"This implies that women were supposed to be entirely masculine in order to be equal with men." Yea I don't think I would have understood this concept without having read Comrade Sisters.
DeleteI really like your analysis of the relations between the propaganda painting "Chairman Mao gives us a happy life" and the solid gender roles. It seems that women and men became more equal at that time, but the fact is not exactly equal like they described. As you said that woman cooking and providing for the family, it is still a common thing in China today.
Delete“The Iron Girl” is about a woman Wang Ya-chin who is in the working class of women, a bulldozer driver. It is during the Cultural Revolution and women are starting to work in industrial industry. “Times have changed, and today men and women are equal” (61). This story is about how women are contributing to major events such as the Culture Revolution. This is much different than what we have read about other women where they could not contribute in such activities. Women in China were seen as inferior and a weakness to China, but now they are starting to partake in major events and playing a critical role. In “Good Daughter of the Party”, Hsiu-chin is part of the lower class in China. It too is also during the time of the Cultural Revolution. She devoted much of her time following the way of Chairman Mao and his teachings. “’Never mind me’” she exclaimed ‘Save the sate’s property’” (28). This shows that she did not care about herself. She wanted to do good for her country. Through these two stories, we can see that women are starting to take a more impactful role in China than they have been before.
ReplyDeleteThe poster that I found most interesting was The fragrance of rice floats a thousand miles. Everybody becomes a hero, 1961. I thought this was the most interesting because in the poster we can see that happiness in the woman’s face. We can also see there are many other women working in the countryside of China. During the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao encouraged many people to go to the countryside and make improvements. This picture poses as the new woman of China. This picture depicts women in the working force and making an impact in China for the good. “In these posters, women’s numerical dominance is reinforced by the bright colors of their clothes, which effectively steals attention from the duller shades of men’s clothes” (Harriet Evans, 68). This statement is very true in the poster I found most interesting. If you look in the background of the poster, all the women are wearing bright colors.
The quote from "Iron Girl" that you mentioned I feel is very misleading. Although great strides were made during this era to achieve equality for females I think the efforts were focused in the workplace and not in society as a whole. Also I think that Mao realized he needed a larger workforce in order to catch up to Western powers and the only way to achieve this was by including women.
DeleteAfter reading both pieces from the Chinese Literature magazine, I was struck by the continuous references to what revolution entails. In the “Good Daughter of the Party” piece Hsiu-chin is the exemplary example of a woman committed to the Communist Party and Chairman Mao. She says the following to a younger female character, “a price has to be paid for a revolution. Thousands of martyrs gave their blood for the victory we enjoy today. We must carry on for them, develop a fearless revolutionary spirit, follow Chairman Mao and wage revolution to the end,” (pg. 15). Similarly in the “Iron Girl” story Wang is a very determined girl even in less than ideal situations and is reminded that, “The main thing is that you’re not only learning to drive, but to make revolution. You must remove the ‘selfishness’ in your thinking just as the shovel of your bulldozer removes the earth,” (pg. 65). Both main characters in these stories was very loyal to the Communist Party and determined to be a part of the revolution to better China as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThe poster I chose to analyze is called “We are proud to participate in the industrialization of the nation.” It was created in 1954 and features a female welder front and center with another welder in the background working on what looks to be the frame of a building. The female worker is the largest object in the poster and is the dominant figure. Without looking at her head, her body appears to be very similar to a male’s physique and wearing men’s clothing. The only signs that she is a female are her rosy cheeks and hair. The female welder is doing a job that was associated with men’s work, due to the associated danger and strenuous nature of welding, prior to Mao’s push for “women hold up half the sky.” This visual representation of the female worker is reflected in the article, “Comrade Sisters.” The article states, “Women appear doing things conventionally associated with masculine occupations and activities, demonstrating the principles and purposes of revolutionary struggle. They are young, healthy, strong, and invariably dressed in the same kinds of clothes as men,” (pg. 66). This representation of women is shown in many of the posters made during this era.
Loyalty to the party and determination for the revolution are great characteristics of the characters in these stories. I think that this aspect is very much propaganda because its always very positive towards the attitudes of the women, which is vey interesting to me. Also I think for women to take on roles of men it only made sense for them to dress like them too! Which the posters portray very well.
Deleteit is good that you bring up the quote in which the character refers to martyrdom. It is such a strong sentiment to uphold. Mao's words weren't simply policy or wisdom, they were words of war even when China was not fighting another country. Hsiu-chin viewed every action as either helping or hurting the revolutionary cause.
DeleteOne point that really stood out to me throughout these readings was the pure will power that these characters showed. These women were not afraid to work there hardest if they knew it was for the betterment of the society as a whole. "Her voice was trembling with cold. Hsiu- chin wrapped her arms around the younger girl. "It's not yet daylight," she said gently, let's stick it out a little longer" (14). This quote goes on to say something like it's all for the revolution, the harder we work to better the revolution will turn out. I think that everyone knew that there would always be some struggle throughout the revolution but weren't ever really told by officials how much, or to what extent. So everyone just kept going and going without thinking about the negative sides of thing. In Iron girl when the bulldozer broke down and they had talked about just going to get another one to finish there job, it was said that, "she ought to learn how to make revolution in the process of actual struggle" (65). I think that this quote could be used out of this context as well, and applied to the revolution as a whole, everyone had to struggle.
ReplyDeleteThe posters all had a very interesting face to them, yes they are all women, but the facial expression on almost every woman is happy, smiling, with rosy cheeks, and most of them are working. This stood out to me, and stood for women's liberation, as if "one day it will really be like this" sort of idea. "Strive for abundant harvest" was a single poster that stood out to me. This woman looks happy, healthy and very strong to carry such a large basket. Not to mention all the hay and food in trucks behind her. This says to me that the harvest will be plentiful, so just keep working now. Or it says even if we are the ones in the countryside struggling that somewhere in China, people are doing good for the revolution too, and we just need to keep working!
Reading "Comrade Sisters" alongside "Iron Girl" and "Good Daughter" immensely deepened my perspective as a reader of the Maoist propaganda. As discussed in class, the manner in which the CCP attempted to piece together the image of an ideal, revolutionary woman was to raise the woman standard and expectation to that of a man's. "Comrade Sisters" says "Feminism--in this context had long been rejected by the party as a bourgeois approach to women's problems," (pg 63). The CCP's approach to equalizing women was to issue many motivational stories and posters portraying women as leaders, but usually in the context of replacing male leadership with exactly the same type of masculine leadership. "The Iron Girl" feature a woman that is masculine in stature to the point that the reporter mistook her for a man. In "Good Daughter" Hsiu-chin follows the same line. Throughout the course of the story she: subues a man running from the storehouse, pushed wheelbarrows of sand faster than anyone else, carried an incapacitated man out of a burning building, quenched the fires within the building, and climbed miles to the top of a lookout in 18-below with already damaged and frozen legs. It is one thing to show women leading movements but the women portrayed here are almost indistinguishable from men in physique and attitude; what is left is male leadership from a female.
ReplyDeleteA poster representing Communist discourse is "We are proud to participate in the industrialization of the nation, 1954". It shows the face of a smiling woman in her padded jacket and baggy work pants. She is a metalworker sitting high in the iron skeleton of a industrial complex. In the background there is a man (although it could also be a woman) demonstrating the work that she must do. To show this woman doing this kind of work seems to say "woman can do this work just as well as men" but it also says " this hard, industrial work is helpful to the revolution." and poster after post of women performing industrial tasks can build up within a woman's mind and then claim to her that she is not as useful unless she is able to perform these sorts of tasks.
This idea that you mention here is really interesting to me, the fact that women replace a masculine role as a male themselves, so essentially they replace a man for a man. This is striking to me, because it sounds as if the female HAD to live up to the male, because "male" is the standard. Also, this was the only way to achieve the gender "sameness" which to me seems pointless, when you already have men to do the job, why make more men out of females?
DeleteThe quote that stood out to me from the Iron Girl was “what I’ve done is far too little compared with the needs of the revolution…I’ve nothing more to tell you” (pg. 60). This quote emphasizes the mentality of many people during the revolution. They were extremely devoted to the cause and felt that everything they did was not enough. In another instance, the author quoted “how I wish I could put twenty years’ work into one day and get the ore out of the earth this very night” (pg. 61). They were willing to work hard and keep on working to devote themselves to the cause of the communist revolution. Perhaps this was because of the issues they had under capitalism as the author quotes, “during the past seventeen years, the capitalist roaders wasted more than twenty million yuan on this project without digging out a single ton of iron ore” (pg. 61). In Good Daughter of the Party, the main character, Hsui-chin, states “Dividing management of the land among families is putting back the clock, it’s returning us to old society to suffer again. It certainly isn’t Chairman Mao’s way” (pg.7), signifying that the people of China incorporated Mao’s ideology into everything they did. Furthermore, both of the pieces have characters that quote Mao which also shows how deeply devoted they were to the Communist cause.
ReplyDeleteThe poster I find to be interesting is New View in the Rural Village. In this poster, men and women are working alongside each other in a field. However, as the caption states, life was not as easy for the people as the poster depicts. They worked from sunrise till sunset and were not dressed as well as the models in the poster. This piece of propaganda seems to focus on the pride of people serving their cause. An interesting quote I found in Comrade Sisters was “women and men may appear in very similar places, marked by symbols of industrialization process, revolutionary zeal and cross-class solidarity” (pg. 66). This related back to the poster as both men and women were seen working in the fields. Furthermore, there are other posters that show women as figures that are empowered (eg. Study the battle spirit of the Red Army during the Long March, conquer nature, build up our nation, 1953).
Throughout both “Iron Girl” and “Comrade Sisters,” it was still prevalent that the idea that woman and men being seen as equals was still rather taboo. Although women and men were now able to be put in similar jobs and represented in what seemed to be equal standing, they weren’t completely equal yet. In “Iron Girl,” there was much hesitation in the beginning by Master Chang to give Wang Ya-chin the job. He states, “…woman comrades are not allowed to work the night shift (61).” Although there is doubt in his mind, the girl was very persistent and wanted to convince him that women were in fact just as capable as men. As the story played on, it was clear to see that Wang Ya-chin must have changed the mind of this one man. She showed much resilience and wasn’t willing to let the job she was given defeat her. Regardless of all the obstacles that she faced during, she managed to solve them. In the end of the story, after Master Chang had discussed the story, the interviewer informs him that Wang Ya-chin was still at work. The quote that truly showed a switch in this man’s mind was when the story concluded stating, “Master Chang was all smiles, from which I gathered his satisfaction with and concern for the girl (66).” She showed what real women were capable of during this time period and proved that women could finish the job just as well as men could. And then some more on top of that. The fight that she showed just proves that women were willing to work for their equality to men and didn’t by any means expect it to be just handed to them. In “Good Daughter of the Party,” Hsiu-chin says, "For the safety of the motherland, I must persist. I'll get to the lookout point even if I have to crawl (26)." Hsiu-chin is portrayed as a follower who will give all. She is made out to be a hero and an example for all to follow just as Wang Ya-chin did in “Iron Girl”. Through the teaching she has followed she went to the peasants and workers and advocated Socialism and since she was educated she knew how to combat those who wanted to go to Capitalism. She was the educated woman who was allowed to be a hero so that the political views on Socialism could continue growing. However, I feel that in “Comrade Sisters,” it proved that there was still work to be done in order for women to reach equality. Although it was one thing that women were standing side by side or at least in the same presence as men within posters, they were still portrayed in a dimmer light. This reading explained that women might be shown behind men or simple in a way that made women seem lesser. One quote states, “women may be engaged in the same activity as men, but in contexts in which they appear together, doing the same thing, neither women’s position, their gestures, nor their gaze is seen to challenge male authority (69-70).” This shows that although it was positive to see women in the same roles as men, there was still a hesitation to truly view women as equals during this time. These posters could be viewed in many ways seeing as women were on posters without the presence of men still embodying powerful presences. However, it was in the presence of men that one could question if women were really thought of as equal.
ReplyDeleteThe poster that struck me as rather interesting was, “We are proud to participate in the industrialization of the nation, 1954.” When looking at this poster, it is obvious that a woman is welding which would typically be viewed as a man’s job. However when studying the poster closer, one can notice that the woman is not only smiling but also in much lighter colors rather than in darker colors to represent a “hard-working and gritty” woman. The lighter colors that were used gives a feminine touch to the poster which makes the woman seemed softer even though she is in a typical males’ role. Also, there is another human being in the background who is actually welding. In my mind this brings up the question of whether the other person is male or female. If they in fact as meant to be a male welder, then it shows that the woman in the foreground isn’t actually working but almost playing a role to portray that China has “changed.” This poster could go either way in connotation; whether it be good, bad or neither.
ReplyDeleteyour analyze of the poster is really good!!
DeleteThere are a lot of remarkable, and important time periods in the Chinese history, and the Cultural Revo is one of those time periods. And it is also one of the very few times that Chinese people always have disscussion on, it has a huge influence on the people that are my grandparents' age. For example, my grandma on my mother's side, she was really good at academic, and she was extremely good at math, when she was suppose to go to college, and during that time, students needed to have a background check by the government before they can go to the college they want, my grandma was accepted by the math department of Beijing University with a 100 score of math, and they checked my grandma's family background, and found out that my grandma's uncle is with nationalist party, so she had to go to Zhejiang University, which I assume was not that good as it is now.
ReplyDeleteAt that time, Chiarman Mao was trying to stable the communism, and trying to keep captalism away from our country. Well, it is hard for us to say it is right or wrong. but in my opinion, I think if we went with capitalism, we would live better. However, at that time, chairman Mao did not see the situation that China was in very clear, and it just did not go well. And after Mao has done a lot of great things for China, the Cultural revolution is something that he did not do well.
in the Iron Women, "Times have changed"(p61) is a quote form the article, and it shows that men and women are equal started then, and women can just do what men can do.