Comparison of feminism between Maoist time and Modern Ages

Comparison of feminism between Maoist time and Modern Ages

In Maoist time, feminism was strongly influenced by Marxism. So the society sought to liberate women from the family and provide them job opportunities. Women apperaed as steel workers, cotton workers or red guards, oftern in contexts where production for the good of society was the dominent theme.
Here are some images of women at Maoist time.

We can see that the ideal women had shining eyes gazing into the distance, strong hands and robust bodies. They oftern symbolized energy, hard work and passionate commitment to an ideal. And the most important characteristic of women at that time is the effacement of feminity.

The ideal woman today is more femine than they were in Maoist time.
This picture is a famous Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

She is much whiter than normal Asian women. She daubed her face with thick make-up that empharsizes her eyes, lip and nose. It is obvious that she is trying to match up the Western beauty. . Her features correspond with a view of “oriental woman”,that corresponds moew closely with Western fantasies.The Chiese women is no longer mainly identified with local Chinese concepts of Chinese identity. But why does the image of women change enormously in just twenty years?

Images of Chinese women change over time, because ...
During the economic reform, China was opened to foreign investment and reconnected to the global order. Current Chinese conversations about sex – can not be categorized as either repressed or liberated. Indeed, Chinese conversations about gender and sex are entangled with larger social preoccupations. When Chinese talk about gender, they concerned about what gender relationships are appropriate to a modern nation. In short, images of women are images of a nation.

However, the beautiful Chinese woman does not stand for a universal notionof womanhood applicable to all Chinese women. The modern and urban women displayed in media neglect the vast majority of Chinese women: the rural, backward women. By excluding this kind of women, it reinforces hierarchies. Here are photos taken by my friends show the real images of today’s Chinese women.