《性别、亲密关系与社会》课程教学资源（女权主义与LGBT争论）A Historic Turning Point for the Women's Movement in China

Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA governments arrive first at basic consensus.The Platform as revised was officially approved,albeit with some countries expressing reservations on certain issues.One important victory was final approval,after two and a half years of heated debate,of the incorporation of women's unwaged labor into such economic measures as the gross national product.And yet,the UN's top-down approach to promoting women's interests in the past two decades has proven ineffective.Recent feminist analyses suggest as preferable the bottom-up approach,in which women and their grass- roots organizations exert control in the development and political pro- cesses,provide input to policymakers at different levels,and influence politics nationally and internationally.10 Government's agreement to eliminate the gender gaps in satisfaction of basic needs is fundamental to all people's life sustenance and survival. Governments should acknowledge the need for gender-sensitive and community-centered development that will empower people,build on women's rights and realities,eliminate poverty,secure sustainable liveli- hoods,build stable and healthy lives in communities,and promote peace on a long-term basis.New partnerships between government and civil society are in the making so as to solve women's problems more effec- tively.However,adequate resource allocations,organizational mecha- nisms,and processes for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action still require continued efforts worldwide to demand world govern- ments'accountability to moral imperatives in working with local NGOs and grassroots groups.The global women's movement has grown and made some waves in the past two decades.However,it still must "move mountains"to translate the Platform for Action into reality and to build a better world for women,men,and children. 10 Chow and Berheide,eds. Noeleen Heyzer,ed.,A Commitment to the World's Women:Perspectives on Devel- opment for Beijing and Beyond (New York:United Nations Development Fund for Women,1995),introduction. A Historic Turning Point for the Women's Movement in China Wang Zheng Mountain View,California S A CHINESE woman returning home from abroad,I was eager to learn how Chinese women would respond to the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW)and the Non- Governmental Organization(NGO)Forum and how this his- 192 SIGNS A4t4mn1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat,14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA governments arrive first at basic consensus. The Platform as revised was officially approved, albeit with some countries expressing reservations on certain issues. One important victory was final approval, after two and a half years of heated debate, of the incorporation of women's unwaged labor into such economic measures as the gross national product. And yet, the UN's top-down approach to promoting women's interests in the past two decades has proven ineffective. Recent feminist analyses suggest as preferable the bottom-up approach, in which women and their grass￾roots organizations exert control in the development and political pro￾cesses, provide input to policymakers at different levels, and influence politics nationally and internationally.10 Government's agreement to eliminate the gender gaps in satisfaction of basic needs is fundamental to all people's life sustenance and survival. Governments should acknowledge the need for gender-sensitive and community-centered development that will empower people, build on women's rights and realities, eliminate poverty, secure sustainable liveli￾hoods, build stable and healthy lives in communities, and promote peace on a long-term basis.1" New partnerships between government and civil society are in the making so as to solve women's problems more effec￾tively. However, adequate resource allocations, organizational mecha￾nisms, and processes for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action still require continued efforts worldwide to demand world govern￾ments' accountability to moral imperatives in working with local NGOs and grassroots groups. The global women's movement has grown and made some waves in the past two decades. However, it still must "move mountains" to translate the Platform for Action into reality and to build a better world for women, men, and children. 10 Chow and Berheide, eds. 1' Noeleen Heyzer, ed., A Commitment to the World's Women: Perspectives on Devel￾opment for Beijing and Beyond (New York: United Nations Development Fund for Women, 1995), introduction. A Historic Turning Point for the Women's Movement in China Wang Zheng Mountain View, California ,A S A C H I N E S E woman returning home from abroad, I was eager to learn how Chinese women would respond to the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) and the Non￾Governmental Organization (NGO) Forum and how this his- 192 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA Wang toric event would affect the women's movement in China.Because China was the host country,my views of the women's conference extend beyond the two weeks when it was in session. When the leaders of the Chinese government made a bid in early 1991 for hosting the FWCw,they were trying to use the opportunity to change their international image created by their brutal crackdown on student protests on June 4,1989.Their assumption that hosting a women's con- ference would help change their image reflects the power of the Maoist gender discourse created in the long period of revolution(1921-49)and socialism after 1949.One of the Marxist principles guiding the official view on women(actually a quotation of French socialist Charles Fourier) is,"The degree of woman's emancipation is the natural measure of the general emancipation."1 The Chinese leaders believe that the degree of liberation among women in China is higher than that of women in the West (a myth created in the Mao era);therefore,displaying the great achievements of women's liberation in socialist China would demonstrate to the world the high degree of general liberation in China.Seen in this light,the FWCW was to be the great showcase that China's top leaders had hoped it would be. Although the decision of the Chinese leaders to host the FWCW was mainly out of political expedience,it had some immediate positive effects on women.In its effort to present the best face at the FWCW,the govern- ment began to give ad hoc support to some projects in women's interest. For example,a project called "Welcoming the FWCW,Millions of Loving Hearts Devoted to Spring Buds"coordinated both government and public resources to help thousands of girls in poorer regions begin schooling.To be sure,projects of this kind directly benefit only a small percentage of women.Nevertheless,with much propaganda,Chinese leaders sent a message that the central government was making special efforts to im- prove women's status in honor of the forthcoming FWCW.Officials at different administrative levels understood that they had to do something special to welcome the FWCW.As a result,the National Women's Federa- tion was moved to a huge new office building in downtown Beijing;2 some 1This sentence is one of the most frequently cited Marxist tenets in Chinese texts on women in the People's Republic of China.It originally appears in the Chinese translation of Friedrich Engels's essay "Socialism:Utopian and Scientific."See Robert C.Tucker,ed., The Marx-Engels Reader (New York:Norton,1978),690. 2 The formal name of the National Women's Federation is the All-China Women's Fed- eration,the leading body of the women's federations nationwide.Women working in wom- en's federations at national and local levels are all government employees.The federations are,in fact,part of a hierarchical institution that has a dual function of a government branch and a national organization of women,derived from the Communist Party's the- ory that the socialist state represents the fundamental interest of the people. Autumn 1996 SIGNS 193 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat,14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA Wang toric event would affect the women's movement in China. Because China was the host country, my views of the women's conferencextend beyond the two weeks when it was in session. When the leaders of the Chinese government made a bid in early 1991 for hosting the FWCW, they were trying to use the opportunity to change their international image created by their brutal crackdown on student protests on June 4, 1989. Their assumption that hosting a women's con￾ference would help change their image reflects the power of the Maoist gender discourse created in the long period of revolution (1921-49) and socialism after 1949. One of the Marxist principles guiding the official view on women (actually a quotation of French socialist Charles Fourier) is, "The degree of woman's emancipation is the natural measure of the general emancipation."' The Chinese leaders believe that the degree of liberation among women in China is higher than that of women in the West (a myth created in the Mao era); therefore, displaying the great achievements of women's liberation in socialist China would demonstrate to the world the high degree of general liberation in China. Seen in this light, the FWCW was to be the great showcase that China's top leaders had hoped it would be. Although the decision of the Chinese leaders to host the FWCW was mainly out of political expedience, it had some immediate positive effects on women. In its efforto present the best face at the FWCW, the govern￾ment began to give ad hoc support to some projects in women's interest. For example, a project called "Welcoming the FWCW, Millions of Loving Hearts Devoted to Spring Buds" coordinated both government and public resources to help thousands of girls in poorer regions begin schooling. To be sure, projects of this kind directly benefit only a small percentage of women. Nevertheless, with much propaganda, Chinese leaders sent a message that the central government was making special efforts to im￾prove women's status in honor of the forthcoming FWCW. Officials at different administrative lvels understood that they had to do something special to welcome the FWCW. As a result, the National Women's Federa￾tion was moved to a huge new office building in downtown Beijing;2 some 1 This sentence is one of the most frequently cited Marxist tenets in Chinese texts on women in the People's Republic of China. It originally appears in the Chinese translation of Friedrich Engels's essay "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific." See Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader (New York: Norton, 1978), 690. 2 The formal name of the National Women's Federation is the All-China Women's Fed￾eration, the leading body of the women's federations nationwide. Women working in wom￾en's federations at national and local levels are all government employees. The federations are, in fact, part of a hierarchical institution that has a dual function of a government branch and a national organization of women, derived from the Communist Party's the￾ory that the socialist state represents the fundamental interest of the people. Autumn 1996 SIGNS 193 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA local women's federations received funds to remodel their offices;more women's studies centers appeared in universities;3 publishers began to look for monographs on women's issues,including feminist texts;editors of various journals and newspapers organized special issues either to dis- play women's achievements or to discuss issues related to women;and special television programs were produced to spread information about the FWCW and NGO Forum.The official line of welcoming the FWCW in the period preceding the conference greatly heightened public interest in women,a sharp contrast to the state's withdrawal from women's causes in previous years. However,not all women found the government's new attention to women desirable.Many women scholars and activists found that the state's interest in presenting a glorified image of Chinese women inter- fered with their effort to name and study women's problems in contempo- rary society.Referred to as research on women funii yanjiu),this effort has been carried on by women since the mid-1980s and aims at both theory and social practice.Many women researchers found the new atten- tion to women dubious.The problem was not only that energy and re- sources were being diverted from solving women's problems to praising women's achievements.More serious,it was that exposing women's prob- lems politically countered the move to display an advanced state of Chi- nese women's liberation.Some women researchers began to worry about a possible negative consequence of the FWCW:drawing state attention to the movement of research on women that previously had been largely overlooked by the state.If women's issues,or the representation of wom- en's issues,became connected with the political interest of the govern- ment,then research on women could be defined as political.In the People's Republic of China,"political"means something relating to the interest,position,and power of the government.Anything viewed as po- litical automatically invites regulation or surveillance by the government. Politicizing research on women,therefore,could lead to the end of wom- en's activism,which had been left alone in previous years.This chilling prospect almost became a reality in 1995,as I discuss below. In spite of this uneasiness among women researchers,up to the end of 1994 many women activists were still hopeful that the FWCW,especially the NGO Forum,would provide an impetus to the growth of a non- government-controlled women's activism in China.Preparation for the conference,which involved the efforts of many Chinese women inside 3 Women's studies centers began emerging in the People's Republic of China in the late 1980s.In 1994,the number of centers increased dramatically from four to more than twenty.But instead of having a curriculum that offers courses in women's studies,most of the new centers have only a few scholars who are interested in research on women. 194 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat,14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA local women's federations received funds to remodel their offices; more women's studies centers appeared in universities;3 publishers began to look for monographs on women's issues, including feminist texts; editors of various journals and newspapers organized special issues either to dis￾play women's achievements or to discuss issues related to women; and special television programs were produced to spread information about the FWCW and NGO Forum. The officialine of welcoming the FWCW in the period preceding the conference greatly heightened public interest in women, a sharp contrast to the state's withdrawal from women's causes in previous years. However, not all women found the government's new attention to women desirable. Many women scholars and activists found that the state's interest in presenting a glorified image of Chinese women inter￾fered with their efforto name and study women's problems in contempo￾rary society. Referred to as research on women (funii yanjiu), this effort has been carried on by women since the mid-1980s and aims at both theory and social practice. Many women researchers found the new atten￾tion to women dubious. The problem was not only that energy and re￾sources were being diverted from solving women's problems to praising women's achievements. More serious, it was that exposing women's prob￾lems politically countered the move to display an advanced state of Chi￾nese women's liberation. Some women researchers began to worry about a possible negative consequence of the FWCW: drawing state attention to the movement of research on women that previously had been largely overlooked by the state. If women's issues, or the representation of wom￾en's issues, became connected with the political interest of the govern￾ment, then research on women could be defined as political. In the People's Republic of China, "political" means something relating to the interest, position, and power of the government. Anything viewed as po￾litical automatically invites regulation or surveillance by the government. Politicizing research on women, therefore, could lead to the end of wom￾en's activism, which had been left alone in previous years. This chilling prospect almost became a reality in 1995, as I discuss below. In spite of this uneasiness among women researchers, up to the end of 1994 many women activists were still hopeful that the FWCW, especially the NGO Forum, would provide an impetus to the growth of a non￾government-controlled women's activism in China. Preparation for the conference, which involved the efforts of many Chinese women inside 3 Women's studies centers began emerging in the People's Republic of China in the late 1980s. In 1994, the number of centers increased dramatically from four to more than twenty. But instead of having a curriculum that offers courses in women's studies, most of the new centers have only a few scholars who are interested in research on women. 194 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA Wang and outside of the government,served as a process of consciousness- raising.For many Chinese,men and women,this was the first time they had ever heard of an "NGO."For those women involved in the prepara- tion,especially those who had the opportunity to attend international preparatory meetings,seeing how NGOs functioned and what issues they raised was an eye-opening and empowering experience.Inspired by global feminism,many women quickly began to popularize the idea of NGOs, the concepts of women empowering women and of sustainable human- centered development,and other major issues raised by women all over the world.By presenting global feminist activities to a Chinese audience, women scholars and cadres of women's federations changed their for- merly reserved view of feminism.The new slogan became "Connect the Rails"(jiegui,which means "merge")with international women's move- ments.The word feminism not only began to appear frequently in official women's journals and newspapers but also became a positive word. Preparation for the FWCW and NGO Forum both circulated ideas of global feminism and generated more women's activism in China.Women working on the Chinese official preparatory committee,local women's federations cadres,women researchers,and women activists in society made concerted efforts to increase Chinese women's participation in the NGO Forum.Originally,the Chinese government decided to organize thirty panels by government branches and the National Women's Federa- tion.With the increasing knowledge of what the NGO Forum was about, women in the Chinese preparatory committee maneuvered to expand the number of panels and to include the participation of nongovernmental organizations.In the end,there were forty-seven panels presented by Chi- nese women.Moreover,in order to "connect the rails"with global wom- en's movements,the organizers of Chinese panels also included topics that had not been discussed in public previously.Women and human rights, women and the environment,and violence against women were among the topics inspired by global feminism.As a result,the topics presented by Chinese panels closely resembled the major issues raised in the Plat- form for Action.Many women participants saw the FWCW and the NGO Forum as the greatest opportunity of the century for them to break China's intellectual isolation and to push the boundaries of women's ac- tivism in China.s They were also excited by what they perceived as the Collection of Women's Studies,published by the Women's Studies Institute of the Na- tional Women's Federation in Beijing since 1990,is the major journal in China promulgat- ing global feminism.In the issues published prior to the FWCW,articles introducing inter- national preparatory meetings and discussing global feminism exhibit an enthusiasm to merge with the global women's movement. s For more information on Chinese women's participation in the preparation for the conference,see Reflections and Resonances:Stories of Chinese Women Involved in Autumn 1996 SIGNS 195 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat,14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA Wang and outside of the government, served as a process of consciousness￾raising. For many Chinese, men and women, this was the first time they had ever heard of an "NGO." For those women involved in the prepara￾tion, especially those who had the opportunity to attend international preparatory meetings, seeing how NGOs functioned and what issues they raised was an eye-opening and empowering experience. Inspired by global feminism, many women quickly began to popularize the idea of NGOs, the concepts of women empowering women and of sustainable human￾centered development, and other major issues raised by women all over the world. By presenting global feminist activities to a Chinese audience, women scholars and cadres of women's federations changed their for￾merly reserved view of feminism. The new slogan became "Connect the Rails" (jiegui, which means "merge") with international women's move￾ments. The word feminism not only began to appear frequently in official women's journals and newspapers but also became a positive word.4 Preparation for the FWCW and NGO Forum both circulated ideas of global feminism and generated more women's activism in China. Women working on the Chinese official preparatory committee, local women's federations cadres, women researchers, and women activists in society made concerted efforts to increase Chinese women's participation in the NGO Forum. Originally, the Chinese government decided to organize thirty panels by government branches and the National Women's Federa￾tion. With the increasing knowledge of what the NGO Forum was about, women in the Chinese preparatory committee maneuvered to expand the number of panels and to include the participation of nongovernmental organizations. In the end, there were forty-seven panels presented by Chi￾nese women. Moreover, in order to "connect the rails" with global wom￾en's movements, the organizers of Chinese panels also included topics that had not been discussed in public previously. Women and human rights, women and the environment, and violence against women were among the topics inspired by global feminism. As a result, the topics presented by Chinese panels closely resembled the major issues raised in the Plat￾form for Action. Many women participants saw the FWCW and the NGO Forum as the greatest opportunity of the century for them to break China's intellectual isolation and to push the boundaries of women's ac￾tivism in China.5 They were also excited by what they perceived as the 4 Collection of Women's Studies, published by the Women's Studies Institute of the Na￾tional Women's Federation in Beijing since 1990, is the major journal in China promulgat￾ing global feminism. Inthe issues published prior to the FWCW, articles introducing inter￾national preparatory meetings and discussing global feminism exhibit an enthusiasm to merge with the global women's movement. 5 For more information Chinese women's participation in the preparation for the conference, see Reflections and Resonances: Stories of Chinese Women Involved in Autumn 1996 SIGNS 195 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA new openness expressed by the government.Unfortunately,that openness of the government ended abruptly. In early 1995,a suddenly changed political climate dispelled women's initial sense of empowerment in the process of preparing for the FWCW. Chinese government leaders,encountering challenges and protests by human rights organizations at international meetings,began to see the risks lying ahead.What if those organizations were to demonstrate in the middle of Tiananmen Square?The potential for such an event worried government leaders,and they responded swiftly to prevent this political nightmare from coming true.The site of the NGO Forum had to be moved far away from Beijing.Chinese women activists at home and abroad were stunned when they heard the decision.The implication was clear.An international honor to China had now become an international threat to China's political stability or,rather,to state control of power,in the eyes of the nation's top leaders.The decision to isolate the NGO Fo- rum expressed not only the leaders'determination not to let this event disturb China's political status quo but also the state's suspicion and hos- tility toward women's spontaneous activities.The ramifications of this de- cision had an immediate and adverse effect on Chinese women activists. The government wasted no time in tightening control over every aspect related to the women's conference.The forty-seven panels presented by Chinese women were closely screened through "rehearsals."Talks were geared more to displaying Chinese women's achievements rather than dis- cussing problems.All the delegates to the NGO Forum had to go through official training sessions that warned them against the would-be interna- tional hostility toward China.Nationalism was fanned up so that each delegate would consciously defend China's honor in front of foreigners even without the presence of security personnel.Disparaging rumors were spread through official channels to taint the image of the NGO Forum, to create a psychological gap between Chinese and foreign women,and to justify the tight security measures.5 Local newspapers were not allowed to send their journalists to report on the conference.Western scholars who wanted to do research on Chinese women were not welcome.Meet- ings held jointly by women in China and women from abroad on the topic of Chinese women were no longer granted official approval.Those women who had attended conferences abroad were visited and ques- tioned by public security personnel.In short,the si'uation was ironic. International Preparatory Activities for the 1995 NGO Forum on Women(Beijing:Ford Foundation,1995).In the book,more than fifty women write about their own experi- ences of attending international activities. The most widespread rumors were that many foreign prostirutes would come to the conference and that foreign women were planning to hold a naked parade in Tiananmen Square. 196 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat,14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA new openness expressed by the government. Unfortunately, that openness of the government ended abruptly. In early 1995, a suddenly changed political climate dispelled women's initial sense of empowerment in the process of preparing for the FWCW. Chinese government leaders, encountering challenges and protests by human rights organizations at international meetings, began to see the risks lying ahead. What if those organizations were to demonstrate in the middle of Tiananmen Square? The potential for such an event worried government leaders, and they responded swiftly to prevent this political nightmare from coming true. The site of the NGO Forum had to be moved far away from Beijing. Chinese women activists at home and abroad were stunned when they heard the decision. The implication was clear. An international honor to China had now become an international threat to China's political stability or, rather, to state control of power, in the eyes of the nation's top leaders. The decision to isolate the NGO Fo￾rum expressed not only the leaders' determinationot to let this event disturb China's political status quo but also the state's suspicion and hos￾tility toward women's spontaneous activities. The ramifications of this de￾cision had an immediate and adverse effect on Chinese women activists. The government wasted no time in tightening control over every aspect related to the women's conference. The forty-seven panels presented by Chinese women were closely screened through "rehearsals." Talks were geared more to displaying Chinese women's achievements rather than dis￾cussing problems. All the delegates to the NGO Forum had to go through official training sessions that warned them against the would-be interna￾tional hostility toward China. Nationalism was fanned up so that each delegate would consciously defend China's honor in front of foreigners even without the presence of security personnel. Disparaging rumors were spread through official channels to taint the image of the NGO Forum, to create a psychological gap between Chinese and foreign women, and to justify the tight security measures.6 Local newspapers were not allowed to send their journalists to report on the conference. Western scholars who wanted to do research on Chinese women were not welcome. Meet￾ings held jointly by women in China and women from abroad on the topic of Chinese women were no longer granted official approval. Those women who had attended conferences abroad were visited and ques￾tioned by public security personnel. In short, the siPuation was ironic. International Preparatory Activities for the 1995 NGO Forum on Women (Beijing: Ford Foundation, 1995). In the book, more than fifty women write about their own experi￾ences of attending international activities. 6 The most widespread rumors were that many foreign prostitutes would come to the conference and that foreign women were planning to hold a naked parade in Tiananmen Square. 196 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions