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Jing Jiang, From Foot Fetish to Hand Fetish

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Jing Jiang, From Foot Fetish to Hand Fetish

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Madeline Dong, Who Is Afraid of the Chinese Modern Girl?

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Jose L. Ramos Hands Discussion Question Responses

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Jose L. Ramos Hands Discussion Question Responses

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https://padlet.com/earc/october-2024-modern-chinese-women-writers-ncta-online-semina-3rlqf521vopvls6s/wish/lDK1ZRbMoE5XZJ9z

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Shanghai Spring 1930 Discussion Questions

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Love in a Fallen City Discussion Questions

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Jose Luis Ramos     Modern Chinese Women Writers           10/27/24

Response Paper #2

Ding Ling Shanghai Spring 1930

The story Shanghai Spring 1930 unfolds in two parts with two primary protagonists in each part. The protagonists are male and female couples living in the throes of the beginning of the Revolution in China. In part one the primary protagonists are Zibin and Meilin. In part two the primary protagonists are Wang Wei and Mary.  The focus of both parts involves the impact of love and revolution on the relationships between the couples in each part of the story. The story is told in a four square format in which each of the characters represents an overarching philosophical/political  stance. In part one Zibin represents a bourgeois way of life. "Blessed by society  and the times, Zibin had gotten himself a pretty good position and, from a small number of intellectual women, he’d been able to select a young woman who was above average in appearance , bearing and culture.” (Ding Ling 115)  Meilin represents a progressive approach to life. “ So Far as Meilin was Concerned, a life of leisure was no longer acceptable. Action had become an intellectual need. She wanted to be with the masses, to try to understand society, and to work for it.” (Ding Ling 133)

In part two Wang Wei represents a progressive approach to life.  “ By then he had become very interested in contemporary politics and economics, was reading diligently and insatiably, and was also gradually becoming involved in practical struggles.(Ding Ling 140)  Mary represents a bourgeois way of life.

“Her excitement lay in erotic pleasures, in the pursuit and enjoyment of physical desire.” (Ding Ling 157)

The stories come together in that both involve relationships between lovers and both parts of the story evolve around the desire to be loved and holding on to a love that is torn apart by their disparate stances regarding their political/philosophical outlooks on how to live their lives and pursue what they believe to be their truth regarding their place in society and their dreams for living a fulfilling life. In part one Zibin is unable to coalesce his need to establish himself as a prominent writer with his relationship to Meilin. Meilin is younger than he is and decides that she needs to do something with her life that has meaning and chooses to join the movement for the working class. Zibin on the other hand does not espouse the same ideals and only wants to focus on his own

Path to success and continuing to live the good life he is accustomed to. In part two Wang Wei is fully immersed in the movement for the working class and the revolution and allows his involvement to interfere with his relationship to Mary.

Mary is accustomed to living a carefree life and resents Wang Wei’s constant work and lack of attention to her needs. In the end both relationships dissolve leaving Zibin alone, Meilin moving on to establish her own life, Wang Wei on the threshold of fulfilling his work for realizing the revolution, and Mary living a carefree life with a new suitor.

The themes that resonate in the story are the themes of the human struggle for love and acceptance as well as the theme of the incompatibility of reconciling divergent political/philosophical stances and lasting love. Although both couples profess love for one another it does not withstand the stressors of the disparate desires regarding how they wish to live their lives. Zibin is self absorbed and has nothing to offer Meilin. Meilin needs love and affection and decides to strike out on her own to fulfill her own life's purpose and dreams. Wang Wei chooses to follow his life's work and allow his lover to find happiness in her own way. Mary decides that Wang Wei’s life work and his unwillingness to sacrifice his work to return in equal measure the love she had given him; was not worth giving up her chosen carefree way of life. Thus, the disparities in their dreams and philosophies of life lead them all to go their separate ways.

Work Cited

Ling, Ding. I Myself Am A Woman: Selected Writings of Ding Ling. Edited by Tani E. Barlow and Gary J. Bjorge, Beacon Press, 1989.

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Love in a Fallen City Quotes for Discussion

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Love in a Fallen City Quotes for Discussion

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Love in a Fallen City-Quotes for Discussion

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Please let me know if I need to share this a different way.

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EARC Homework - Modern Chinese Women - Hands

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Jose L. Ramos                            Modern Chinese Woman Writers 10/26/24

Discussion Questions

Ding Ling, “Shanghai Spring 1930” in I Myself Am a Woman: Selected Writings of

Ding Ling, 112-171

Tani Barlow’s introduction to the story notes the four-cornered structure in “Shanghai Spring 1930” whereby each couple contributes one progressive and one bourgeois protagonist. Which protagonists are bourgeois, and which are progressive? What are the characteristics that the bourgeois protagonists have in common with one another? What do the progressive ones have in common?

In part one of Shangai Spring 1930 the couple is Zibin and Meilin. Zibin represents the bourgeois perspective and Meilin represents the progressive perspective. In part two Wang Wei represents the progressive perspective and Mary represents the bourgeois perspective.

Zibin and Mary share the characteristics of being concerned with the finer things in life and having a higher level of education than either of their partners. Both express a need to retain their freedom and find their connection to their lovers as a potential inhibitor to their desires.

The progressive protagonists in the story are Meilin and Wang Weii. Both have a desire to live a life of purpose which leads them to engage in work with organizations that seek to help and empower the proletariat/ working class. Meilin seeks out the guidance and support of Zibin's friend Ruoquon as a means of immersing herself in working with organizations that support the cause of the working class. Wang Wei works with an organization that is illegal and uses a faux business location as their head quarters.

2. Do any of the characters fit the discursive models of modern Chinese womanhood we discussed last week (May Fourth New Woman and Global Modern Girl)? Do first-person insights into the subjective thoughts and experiences of the New Woman/Modern Girl change your impressions of them?

The character Meilin comes across as a reflection of the model of the New Woman and Global Modern Girl. She lives with a man who is part of the middle class in an urban setting. They are fairly well situated from a financial perspective. Meilin’s first person thoughts give the impression of someone who wants to assert her own identity and sense of self but has subverted these needs for the sake of her love of Zibin.

3. What kind of relationship(s) between revolution and love does Ding Ling describe and establish in the text?

The relationship between revolution and love in part one seems to be one of struggle. It seems that Zibin is at odds with Meilin in their political positions. It also appears that Zibin loses his friendship with Ruoquan for the same reasons. The disparity in belief systems causes friction between the characters.

In part two Mary struggles with her desire to be free and her love for Wang Wei. In the end Mary chooses a care free way of life and leaves Wang Wei.

4. How does the text describe the relationship between revolution and art? How are different cultural texts—newspapers, novels, magazines, cinema etc.—characterized differently in their relationship to revolution?

The relationship between revolution and art established in the text comes across as one in which art can be used to cultivate change/revolution. Ruoquan’s argument with Zibin fosters a sense that he believes Zibin is not serving the cause of positive/progressive change through his writing. He sees newspapers, magazines,novels, and cinema as potential vehicles for educating a new generation in order to usher in a new time.

5. Why do you think Ding Ling chooses to give Meilin a Chinese name and Mary an English one? What other foreign motifs do you notice in the text?

I think that the choice of names is a reference to Meilin’s decision to work for the people and Mary’s decision to live a carefree self absorbed life (Western life).

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