Eileen Chang’s novels: The image of the Chinese new woman in the middle of the 20th century

Authors

  • Юлия Андреевна Куприянова National Research University Higher School of Economics, 20, ul. Myasnitskaya, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation

Abstract

The article examines series of novels written by the one of the most popular Chinese women writer of the 20th century — Eileen Chang. The author analyzes social and cultural changes taking place in the later period of Chinese Republic. Through the detailed analysis of Chang’s novels it can be seen that practically in all her works the main protagonist is a modern woman living in the big city and trying to play a new role in the family and society. The stories of numerous female characters help us to reveal main social conflicts and contradictions of Chinese society of 1940s. Sophisticated female characters show that in many ways Chinese woman was unable to adjust to rapid social change. While during the study period many city women acquired the new right to education and work, obtained a new legal status, their minds still continued to be subordinate to the old Confucian ideology. Refs 19.

Keywords:

Chinese literature, literary character, Republic of China, social conflicts, women studies, Eileen Chang

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References

Литература

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Published

2014-12-22

How to Cite

Куприянова, Ю. А. (2014). Eileen Chang’s novels: The image of the Chinese new woman in the middle of the 20th century. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, (4), 100–107. Retrieved from https://aasjournal.spbu.ru/article/view/2161

Issue

No. 4 (2014)

Section

Literary studies

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.