- Paperback: 474 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press (21 Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0520221168
- ISBN-13: 978-0520221161
- Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,136,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The past two centuries have witnessed tremendous upheavals in every aspect of Chinese culture and society. At the level of everyday life, some of the most remarkable transformations have occurred in the realm of gender. "Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities" is a mix of illuminating historical and ethnographic studies of gender from the 1700s to the present. The essays in this highly creative collection are organized in pairs that alternate in focus between femininity and masculinity, between subjects traditionally associated with feminism (such as family life) and those rarely considered from a gendered point of view (like banditry). The chapters provide a wealth of interesting detail on such varied topics as court cases involving widows and homosexuals; ideal spouses of early-twentieth-century radicals; changing images of prostitutes; the masculinity of qigong masters; sexuality in the era of reform; and, the eroticization of minorities. While most of the essays were specifically written for this volume, a few are reprinted as a testament to their enduring value. Exploring the central role of gender as an organizing principle of Chinese social life, Chinese Femininities/ Chinese Masculinities is an innovative reader that will spark new debate in a wide range of disciplines.
About the Author
Susan Brownell is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. She is the author of Training the Body for China: Sports in the Moral Order of the People's Republic (1995). Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University. He is the author of Student Protests in Twentieth-Century China: The View from Shanghai (1991) and coeditor of Popular Protest and Political Culture in China (1994).
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First Sentence
Historians have long described notions of womanhood and the social conditions of women during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) with reference to the so-called cult of female chastity. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Historians have long described notions of womanhood and the social conditions of women during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) with reference to the so-called cult of female chastity. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
A great collection of insights from many angles on gender in China. The articles touch on the changing faces of law, crime, medicine, obscenity, rebellion, pollution, romance, and more. Through it all, we have a drama of conflicting visions for better relations between the sexes. We have a longing for equality between the sexes, but with rapidly changing images of what equality looks like. It's a helpful comparison with similar developments in the West.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Engaging academic reader about Gender Roles in China
4 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback
I'm not a sociologist or a gender-studies person. I have studied Chinese and China for several years, from various angles. I picked up this book to learn more about historical concepts of what is "masculine" and "feminine" in China. If that bores you, so will this book. However, if you're looking for an introduction to historical ideas of gender in China, this is a good choice. Admittedly, some parts of this book are dry, but overall I found it an engrossing read.
The book is broken up into parts. Each part has two subsections, looking at the topic from the "feminine" angle and the "masculine" angle. The chapters are: Gender and the Law (Qing dynasty), Ideals of Marriage and Family (Mid-Qing and Early Republican era), Gender and Literary Traditions (May Fourth to Reform era), Dangerous Women and Dangerous Men (A look at prostitutes and bandits from the late Ming to the Communist period), The Gender of Rebels (The Cultural Revolution), The Gendered Body (health practices and medicine in the Qing and Reform era), Shifting Gender Contexts in the Reform Era, and finally Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity (Reform Era).
I enjoyed reading about Gender and the Law, Marriage and Family, Dangerous Women and Men, and the Gendered Body. Each of these chapters featured a lot of content, helpful background information, and substantive arguments about the topic at hand. Some chapters (literary traditions, especially) dragged, and lacked background information and content. For all chapters, a basic understanding of Chinese history and intellectual movements is a must--this is not an introduction to these movements.
This book is a historical reader--it doesn't look much at recent gender roles, although it isn't supposed to. But if you want to know how "maleness" and "femaleness" were represented historically in late-to-early modern Chinese history, it's a good read.
The book is broken up into parts. Each part has two subsections, looking at the topic from the "feminine" angle and the "masculine" angle. The chapters are: Gender and the Law (Qing dynasty), Ideals of Marriage and Family (Mid-Qing and Early Republican era), Gender and Literary Traditions (May Fourth to Reform era), Dangerous Women and Dangerous Men (A look at prostitutes and bandits from the late Ming to the Communist period), The Gender of Rebels (The Cultural Revolution), The Gendered Body (health practices and medicine in the Qing and Reform era), Shifting Gender Contexts in the Reform Era, and finally Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity (Reform Era).
I enjoyed reading about Gender and the Law, Marriage and Family, Dangerous Women and Men, and the Gendered Body. Each of these chapters featured a lot of content, helpful background information, and substantive arguments about the topic at hand. Some chapters (literary traditions, especially) dragged, and lacked background information and content. For all chapters, a basic understanding of Chinese history and intellectual movements is a must--this is not an introduction to these movements.
This book is a historical reader--it doesn't look much at recent gender roles, although it isn't supposed to. But if you want to know how "maleness" and "femaleness" were represented historically in late-to-early modern Chinese history, it's a good read.
The evolution of gender in China
29 July 2010
Format:Paperback
A great collection of insights from many angles on gender in China. The articles touch on the changing faces of law, crime, medicine, obscenity, rebellion, pollution, romance, and more. Through it all, we have a drama of conflicting visions for better relations between the sexes. We have a longing for equality, but with rapidly changing images of what equality looks like. It's a helpful comparison with similar developments in the West.
--author of A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Chinese Civilization
--author of A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Chinese Civilization
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