Gender Politics in a Global Market Place response

Please respond to "Marching from the Village" from Made in China and "A Lesbian Bar" from Sweet and Sour. What are the two types of working women represented in these two kinds of life stories? What are the similarities and differences? Pay attention to how the authors weave interviews into their critical analyses. Use quotes with page numbers to support your analyses. Due Wednesday April 23 by 8 pm, comments to two other responses due by 10 pm. I look forward to reading your last reading response for this semester! 

Gender Politics after "Reform and Opening Up" response

Shanghai Baby (DVD cover, from Asian Wiki)

Please respond to "Women and Work" and "Shanghai Baby" (p1-37). "Women and Work" includes fascinating first person accounts from the 1980s and a "test" on whether you are a "good housewife" at the end, "Shanghai Baby" is considered semi auto-biographical, written by a "beauty writer" in Shanghai in the late 1990s. Pay attention to the nature of sources: Is it scholarly work? Is it fiction? Is it based on first-person narratives? Response due by Wednesday April 16 at 8 pm, comments to two other responses due by 10 pm. Enjoy reading and writing!

Gendered Body in the Socialist Discourse response

Please respond to the fascinating body of materials for this week in the following order. Due Wednesday April 9 by 8 pm. Comments to two responses due by 10 pm.
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. 

A Legendary Female Writer response

Eileen Chang (1920-1995)
Photo source: Wikimedia

Please respond to "Sealed Off" and "Love in a Fallen City" by Eileen Chang. Chang is among the leading female writers of modern China. Both her fictions and her legendary life story have been the focal point of numerous TV soap operas, films, and other popular cultural representations. Read with the following questions in mind and feel free to raise your own questions and address issues that interest you most.

1. For you as a reader, what are the memorable characters in the stories? Why do you think they are important?
2. How is love intricately connected with the wartime historical condition in the stories? What are the metaphorical “wars” been fought in these stories?
3. Do you like Chang’s writing style? Among the many writers we’ve read since the beginning of the semester, who might be comparable to Chang in terms of writing style?

Enjoy reading! I look forward to reading your responses on Wednesday April 2 by 8 pm. Comments to two other responses due by 10 pm.

Woman Soldier response

Please respond to XIE Bingying's piece “War” in A Woman Soldier’s Own Story with the following questions in mind:

1. Xie became known as a "woman soldier" because she was first and foremost a writer. Discuss the significance of writing in constructing gender politics in Xie's case.

2. Xie's writing was highly promoted by male editors and translators both inside China and internationally. Discuss the implication of promoting a "woman solider of China" to the international audience.

3. Discuss the romanticism of Xie's piece. How is it different from/similar to the romanticism in the May Fourth women writers such as Ding Ling's Miss Sophia's Diary?

Feel free to address these questions and/or raise your own question. Due Wednesday March 26 by 8 pm. Comments to two responses due by 10 pm. 

Bound Feet and Western Dress response

Please respond to Pang-Mei Natasha Chang's oral history-based memoir Bound  Feet and Western Dress, a story of two generation of Chinese women told by the Chinese American female author. What is the most intriguing insight you took away from the book? How does this oral history echo recurring issues throughout our class? How might reading this book inform you about your midterm paper? Please use quotes with page numbers from the book to support your response. Due Wednesday March 5 by 10 pm for one extra credit. 

Working Women response

Please respond to "Modernizing Sex" and "The New Woman Incident" in the context of Shanghai working women. 

"Modernizing Sex" makes six approximations of Shanghai prostitution. Which ones interest you most? What valuable lessons this essay might provide for thinking through and writing about your midterm paper? 
          

(Goddess, 1934, Dir. WU Yonggang, with English inter-titles, video source: Youtube

The film portrays a Shanghai prostitute as protagonist)

          

(New Woman, 1935, dir.  CAI Chusheng, with Chinese inter-titles, video source: Youtube

Check out the film script in English on MCLC )

"The New Woman Incident" investigates the changing position of  film actresses, filmmakers, and the notion of the New Woman in Shanghai, using the 1935 silent film New Woman as a case study. What are the key issues surrounding the New Woman Incident? How can we better understand the case of the New Woman Incident in the context of past readings? Due Wednesday February 26 by 8 pm; comments to two other responses due the same day by 10 pm. I look forward to reading your responses!