The Transformation of Gender Concepts and the Construction of New Women Images in Modern China

Yan Wang

doi:10.54097/w9h00f07

Authors

Yan Wang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/w9h00f07

Keywords:

Modern China, Gender Concept, New Women, National Mother, Female Citizen, Nora, Modern Girl

Abstract

Against the backdrop of repeated military defeats after the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Uprising, the urgent mission of national salvation drove Chinese intellectuals to launch a thorough critique of feudal Confucian ethics through Western ideological discourse. This nationalist narrative tied women’s liberation closely to national modernization, giving rise to a series of New Women images in modern China, including the National Mother, the Female Citizen, the Runaway Nora, and the Modern Girl. Throughout this process, male intellectuals dominated the discourse power of shaping female images, while women’s subjective consciousness gradually awakened and challenged the patriarchal-nationalist narrative. Based on existing research and historical documents, this paper systematically combs the evolution of new women images in modern China, analyzes the discourse logic behind image construction, and summarizes the contradictions and dilemmas in the transformation of modern Chinese gender concepts.

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