The Traditional New Woman and Emerging New Man in Republican China

Abstract

This study focuses on the agony of married New Women, as well as the emerging New Man, in the 1920s and 1930s. While the New Woman in love has attracted considerable scholarly attention, the dilemma of New Women after marriage remains mostly ignored. Relying on literary works as well as articles in newspapers and periodicals, this essay attributes the New Woman's acute dissatisfaction to the uncontested gendered division of labor and the discontinuity between romantic relationships and institutionalized marriage. Intellectuals proposed communal childcare as the solution to the New Woman's dilemma; however, this still left the gendered labor division intact. This essay identifies the traditional role of the New Woman in the family and observes the emergence of xianfu liangfu (賢夫良父, “good husband and wise father”), a counterpart to xianqi liangmu (賢妻良母, “good wife and wise mother”). This understudied discourse demands equal responsibility at home and an attentive fatherhood from men.