The Disappearance and Revival of Feminine Discourse
Author : Ziyun Li, Trans Qigang Yan
Keywords : May Fourth Movement, Zhang Jie, Lu Xun, The Ark, Zhang Ailing, Wang Anyi, Zhang Kangkang, self-reliance, Zhang Xinxin, sexual awakening
DOI :
![link](images/link-icon.svg)
Li Ziyun offers an in-depth analysis of the issue of women's
literary voice in China in “The Disappearance and Revival of
Feminine Discourse.” In this essay, Li discusses the development of feminine discourse in China in the twentieth century,
from the seeds of the May Fourth movement, through nearly fifty
years of repression, to the post-1978 revival of a unique feminine literary voice. Chinese feminine discourse had a promising
beginning with May Fourth writer Lu Xun and Ding Ling’s fiction
of the 1920’s and 1930's; however, Li Ziyun documents that
from the 1930’s to 1978, female discourse was largely neglected
in the literary circles of China. Due to the Japanese threat to
national survival, women’s consciousness was stifled by the
force of pressing social and political movements. Following the
fall of the Gang of Four, the proliferation of women’s writing in
China became remarkable, rich and diverse, as demonstrated
by the diversity of women’s voices, including contemporary
women writers in mainland China who wished to distance themselves from the women’s movement in their desire to compete
with male writers on equal terms including Zhang Kangkang,
Zhang Jie, and Wang Anyi. Also noteworthy are authors Wang
Anyi and Tie Ning, whose writing focuses on sexual awakening
and sexual experience. A final development discussed by Li
Ziyun is in direct correlation with the growing economic boom in
China—that is the proliferation of women’s fiction related to the
social changes instigated by economic development.