May Fourth Women Writers: Memoirs
May Fourth Women Writers: Memoirs
Edited by Janet Ng and Janice Wickeri
1996
135 pages
ISBN 962-7255-17-3
Few women's voices ring clearly through the Confucian tradition in Chinese literature. With the May Fourth Movement in 1919, this tradition was shaken to its foundations. Women's issues were publicly discussed and the rapidly developing literary vernacular provided women with a new, responsive idiom for self-expression. The May Fourth women writers who tell their stories in the memoirs collected here were emblematic of their generation. They were women who broke boldly with Confucian models to pursue modern education and careers and risk unconventional lifestyles, often at great personal cost. Their names are not widely-known, but their courage prepared the ground for succeeding generations of women writers. Autobiography is the arena in which women literally break through the silence imposed upon them. As these authors relate their personal experiences of women's education, friendship, marriage and mother-daughter relationships, we see the first steps in the formation of a new image of modern Chinese womanhood.
Janet Ng's introduction draws comparisons with Western women's experience while making clear the authors' achievements in the development of modern Chinese literature. Short biographical sketches of each of the seven authors are also included.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction Janet Ng — 7
Hsiu Hsiu Lin Hui-yin, translated by Janet Ng — 19
My Childhood Pursuit of Education: In Memory of My Uncle, Mr Chuang Szu-chien Ch’en Heng-che, translated by Janet Ng — 35
Mother Yü T’ien, translated by Janet Ng — 49
Amid the Sound of Firecrackers on New Year’s Eve Shih P’ing-mei, translated by Janet Ng — 63
Wanderings (excerpts) Lu Ching-ch’ing, translated by Amy Dooling — 73
Autobiography (excerpts) Lu Yin, translated by Kristina Torgeson — 95
Going Home Su Ch’ing, translated by Janet Ng — 12
Review(s)
Review(s)
'The individual offerings are fascinating and delightful reading; at the same time they are revealing portrayals of the thinking that prompted these women to write down their experiences.'
—China Review International
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EDITOR(s)
Janet Ng, born in Hong Kong, is Assistant Professor of Asian Literature at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island.
Janice Wickeri is managing editor of Renditions magazine in Hong Kong.