Issues of Gender and Sexuality in the Works of Contemporary Chinese Women Writers

Professor Hong Jiang, Chinese Language & Literature
Mara Sunshine Andersen, Asian Studies, ’00

Project Abstract

Mara Anderson and I went to China for a student-faculty research trip this summer under the support of the Freeman Foundation. We interviewed a total of six contemporary Chinese women writers there and did a productive research in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Among these six women writers, three of them began to publish in either the later 1970s or early 1980s; the others began to write in the late 1980s. Most of the writers we interviewed seem still not very interested in the Western feminist theories though one could easily find strong feminist voices in their talks and works. They preferred to figure out their own roles and values through their own experiences in a rapidly changing society rather than just to copy the Western ideas. We really enjoyed meeting with each of these various but equally strong-willed women writers and would like to further discuss the issues of gender and sexuality that were raised by these writers in our future papers and presentations. We also found some possible new projects from our research in the libraries and conversations with our friends in China. Finally, we are grateful for the ASIANetwork and Freeman Foundation for providing us this great opportunity.

Hong Jiang

We interviewed a total of six contemporary Chinese women writers. Most of the writers we interviewed seem still not very interested in Western feminist theories though one could easily find strong feminist voices in their talks and works. They preferred to figure out their own roles and values through their own experiences in a rapidly changing society rather than just to copy the Western ideas. We really enjoyed meeting with each of these various but equally strong-willed women writers.

We would like to further discuss the issues of gender and sexuality that were raised by these writers in our future papers and presentations. We also found some possible new projects from our research in the libraries and conversations with our friends in China.