Yu, Jennie—Assignment 1 by Jennie Yu

5th c BCE-220 CE: Classical Age

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:10:30 UTC

p. 15

Zhou & Han periods (Confucius --> end of Han dynasty)

960-1368: Middle Empires

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:12:44 UTC

p. 15-16

960-1279: Song
1279-1368: Yuan

Footbinding & widow fidelity

1368-1644: Ming Dynasty

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:18:41 UTC

p. 16

"unusual behavior": theater operas, cross-dressing, sexualized fiction, etc.

Buddhism + Daoism + Confucianism = "sagehood in ordinary persons"

Cult of qing: emotion/passion/love

1644: Manchu Invasion & Conquest

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:22:16 UTC

p. 17

Non-Han demographic group

1644-1911: Qing Dynasty ("Late Imperial")

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:25:38 UTC

p. 17-19

Manchu rule: restore moral order (p. 19)
- Ming emperors' "sexual indulgence & moral transgression" = fall of dynasty
- Strict Confucian values: husband/wife relationship most important
- Reward system for "virtuous women"

Democratizing effect of standardized family values: all people held accountable, regardless of social status

New edicts surrounding "bodily adornment":
- Men: queue & shaved foreheads
- Women: footbinding ban (many refused to comply)

nan xiang, nü buxiang: "men submit, women resist"

baojia system: household registration (mutual surveillance) (p. 35-36)
- Bare sticks (guanggun) excluded

2 main ideas about sex (91-92):
- Daoism: healthy sex = healthy & long life
- Confucianism: self-discipline included managing sexual desire (men = containment, women = seclusion)

1842: Opium Wars

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:34:29 UTC

p. 19-20

Military pressure along the coast from the West & Japan (latter post-1895)

Emergence of commercial sex market (p. 59) after the signing of treaties
- Concentrated in Canton --> Shanghai (post-1860)

1900: Boxer Rebellion

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:36:36 UTC

p. 20-21

Foreign powers threatening to "carve up the Chinese melon" (p. 20) = reforms aimed at creating a strong China through women's involvement & entry into public spaces

1950s: End of Footbinding

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:40:46 UTC

p. 21

Communist revolution in rural China = end of footbinding

206 BCE-220 CE: Han Dynasty

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 14:51:38 UTC

p. 28-29

Separation of the sexes (nan nü you bie) (p. 28)

Social order + cosmological & geophysical order
- The Way (Dao)

Gendered dichotomy: hierarchical but interdependent (p. 29)
- yin/qian (heaven): male (superior)
- yang/kun (earth): female

Relationship between ruler & subject comparable to husband & wife

1958-1961: Great Leap Forward

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 15:07:15 UTC

p. 49

"Red" phase

State striving for male-female equality
- Women engaged in "men's work" & political activism

1949-1976: Maoist Period

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 15:08:56 UTC

p. 49

"Red" phases (mass mobilization) & "expert" phases (economic pragmatism)

p. 119

Colorful clothing post-1949 Revolution (demonstrating govt's ability to provide for citizens) --> Mao suit in late 1950s (citizen's uniform)
- Gender neutral clothes = female emancipation, Communist Party's commitment to gender equality

1966-1976: Cultural Revolution

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 15:17:15 UTC

p. 49

1966-1969: early militant/"red" phase
- State striving for male-female equality
- Women engaged in "men's work" & political activism

1911: Republic of China Founded

jsy2130 — 2021-09-18 15:30:34 UTC

p. 59-61

Dynastic cycles end --> Chinese Communist Party

"New women"
- Education & employment
- Ideal "small family" partners: family still the foundation of social order
- Replacement for courtesans/prostitutes

End of male polygamy

Warfare & strife = trafficking, rape, & assault of women

Ended: Concubinage, female servitude, commercial sex markets
Promoted: widow marriage

1979: One-Child Family Policy

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 02:49:19 UTC

p. 63

Implemented by the CCP government during the reform era

Resulted in:
- skewed sex ratios (especially in rural areas)
- increased traffic in women

1915-1919: New Culture Movement

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 02:50:50 UTC

p. 66

Rejection of late imperial Confucian values by urban intellectuals

1930: Marriage Law of 1930

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 02:55:17 UTC

p. 67

Part of the new Republican government's attempt to support women's new social roles outside the home

1950: Marriage Law of 1950

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 03:08:58 UTC

p. 76-77

Mao era: work units (danwei) in cities & collectives in rural areas

Goals:
- Marriage reform (end arranged marriage)
- "eradicate 'feudal' thinking"

Banned:
- Bigamy (men marrying again without divorcing their first wives)
- Concubinage (men bringing multiple sexual partners into the family in addition to their wives)
- Female infanticide (p. 131)

Resulted in women's rights being inextricably intertwined with monogamous marriage & reproduction

1980: Marriage Law of 1980

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 03:18:26 UTC

p. 77-78

Post-Mao era

Goal: return to closely connected state and family relationship (as seen during the Qing dynasty)

Courts ruled that "inability to carry out sexual intercourse" was grounds for divorce

1997: Sodomy Removed From Criminal Code

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 03:24:03 UTC

p. 152

Post-Mao era stigma surrounding homosexual relations remained

1995: Women's Rights Law

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 03:34:34 UTC

p. 78

(Funü quanli baozhang fa)

Passed in response to the isolation that women began experiencing as a result of the "commodification of the feminine"

Granted women legal recourse if their rights were violated—could petition:
- Relevant administrative unit
- Women's Federation (fulian)
- Courts

168 BCE: Mawangdui Texts

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 03:39:53 UTC

p. 85-86

7 manuscripts on "nurturing life" (yangsheng) = earliest prototype of sex manuscripts

Healthy sex practices = health & long life

1910: First National Games (Beijing)

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 03:48:32 UTC

p. 97-99

Athletics = evolving presentation of both the male & female body

"Backward bodies" = "backward government and weak citizens"

A platform for China to present itself as a strong nation to the rest of the world

Late 1980s: Recognition for Disabled Citizens

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 04:01:32 UTC

p. 100

50 mil disabled Chinese (led in part by Deng Pufang) recognized as a "special population"

China Disabled Persons' Federation

Govt promoted heteronormative marriage for all disabled people
- Eugenicist beliefs: disabled men =/= "real men" (nanzihan)
- Beliefs about physical health
- Beliefs about men's legitimacy stemming from their family unit

20th c: "Modern Girl"

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 04:08:56 UTC

p. 103

Urban figure, distinct from "backward country" women
- "Natural" feet
- bob haircut
- "tight-fitting, high-slit skirts"

Post-1949, fashion was political

Mid-19th c: Taiping Rebellion

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 04:11:56 UTC

p. 106

Taiping rebels refused to shave foreheads & wear queues (symbol of honor/loyalty to Qing throne) = looked down upon as "long hairs" by Han officials

1925-1930s: Significance of the Qipao

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 04:21:51 UTC

p. 118

May Thirtieth Movement = increase in patriotism = quipao/cheongsam favored by middle class urban women in Shanghai, Tianjin, Canton, Hankou
- Androgynous, not sexy
- Echoed nationalistic men's outfit of choice = commitment to fight for their country alongside men

Sexualized in 1930s as "the female dress of Guomindang China"

1920s: The May Fourth Generation

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 04:28:56 UTC

p. 128

Radical young people

"The Woman Question"

Believed women's suicide was an indicator of China's backwardness

1990s: "Missing" Girls Phenomenon

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 04:32:28 UTC

p. 132

Sex-selective abortion contributed to extremely skewed sex ratios in rural China

1984: Post-Mao Reforms

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 19:52:22 UTC

p. 152

Homosexual acts no longer punished as crimes

1956: Homosexual Acts Criminalized

jsy2130 — 2021-09-19 19:54:26 UTC

p. 151-152

"Hooliganism": Marxist reference to male homosexuality/sodomy (p. 78)
- Use of term by the late imperial govt reinforced their view of "bare sticks" as outsiders

Acts involving violence, coercion, minors = crimes

1976-Present: Post-Mao Era

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 01:14:51 UTC

p. xviii

1980s: Suoyang/Koro (Panics)

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 01:36:12 UTC

p. 102

Periodic panics (suoyang/koro) over sexual vitality in South China
- Fears that fox spirits possessing victims & pulling sex organs into the body
- People tried to counteract through exorcism & potions

Last major incident: 1984-85, Hainan Island & Leizhou Peninsula

17th c: Courtesans as Trendsetters

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 01:40:37 UTC

p. 105-106

The significance of the woman's bound foot: "mystification of concealment"

Post-1895: Criticism of Footbinding

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 01:45:42 UTC

p. 117

Sino-Japanese War prompted criticism of footbinding as "backward and crippling" to the country as a whole --> "modern girl" fashion began to take over

1920s: Evolution of "Modern Girl" Fashion

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 01:48:56 UTC

p. 117

Natural, not bound, feet --> shorter hemlines, hose, heeled leather shoes

Women occasionally wore Manchu shoes that gave the illusion of bound feet

1912-1937: Mei Lanfang

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 01:55:32 UTC

p. 149

Celebrated dan (female impersonator) who brought visibility to the profession

Shift from "a courtesan and sex worker to status as a 'respectable artist and citizen'"

1990s: Growing Gay Community Consciousness

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 02:04:22 UTC

p. 152

Internet + TV + film = feeling of inclusion in a global community

Men identifying as "gay" (usually <30 yrs old) gathering in public in major cities

1931: New Family Law of 1931

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 02:07:55 UTC

p. 163

Nationalist

New guidelines re: divorce

Theoretically, new gender roles (but in practice, although more attention was paid to women's education, they were still expected to be wives/mothers & support their husbands' careers)

1970s: Criticism of the Communist System

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 02:14:39 UTC

p. 167

Early 1970s: campaign to "criticize Lin Biao, criticize Confucius"
- Criticism of "feudal" practices, especially oppression of women

Women writers challenged Mao ideology: published explicit accounts of female sex/sexuality
- Hostility toward men

Early 1990s: Female Desire in Literature

jsy2130 — 2021-09-21 02:17:56 UTC

p. 167

Prominent writers: Wei Hui, Mian Mian
- "Body writing": explicit sexual details, desire, "commodified bodies," "seductive foreigners," etc.
- Audience: Generation X (xin xin renlei/"new new humans")

1920s: Introduction of Social Darwinist Thinking

jsy2130 — 2021-09-23 13:45:33 UTC

p. 189

US-educated scholars (ex. Pan Guangdan) introduced social Darwinist thinking (based in eugenics) to Chinese society: "quality" (suzhi) of population = strength of country
- Supported by Qing-era ideology
- Incorporated into PRC's marriage laws