The "New Social History" in China: The Development of Women's History

Abstract

THE MOST REMARKABLE CHANGE in historical studies in China during the last two decades has been the rise of new social history.' It challenges the traditional historiography in three ways: in the objects studied, in the sources used, and in methodology. Social historians have shifted the focus of their research from the so-called "elite history" to "mass history." In addition to studying the lives of rulers and social elites, they are concerned with subjects preciously neglected--which include but are not limited to women, ethnic minorities, and working class people. Social historians contend that Chinese history should not be based only on the examination of a series of significant political events, dynasty changes, ruling ideologies, governmental policies, and institutional systems, but also on the understanding of human behavior, peoples' daily lives, and their feelings and experiences. New social history is also characterized by using new materials for research. Unlike traditional Chinese historiography whose primary sources are mainly from officially compiled historical books and documents, social historians also use oral history, folk literature, and materials from field investigation as primary sources for their research. Their new theory and methodology encourages an inter-disciplinary framework and the borrowing of conceptions and methodologies from anthropology, sociology, psychology, and related