Intellectual Women In Shanghai And The Mass Media Under The Republic Of China

This dissertation, mainly based on newspapers and magazines published during the period of the Republic of China, studies through a perspective of socio-cultural change the relationship between the intellectual women in Shanghai under the Republic and mass media with a view to revealing the characteristics of that times and researching the growing process of intellectual women in Shanghai. The entire dissertation consists of eight chapters with a total of 190,000 words.During the modernization process of China, both the city and the mass media play very important roles. Along with the modernization of city, the life of the city women changes a lot. Such changes have been recorded in newspapers and magazines published at that time, making a notable impact on women's liberation in the meantime. Gradually, intellectual women began to control some periodicals, and made use of the mass media to promote social progress. Most studies of women at that time were made from a perspective of history of thoughts, culture and life, however, the interactive relationship between intellectual women and mass media has been neglected. Such studies can not adequately elaborate the transition of intellectual women from tradition status to modern. Therefore, a thorough analysis of the process of interaction between the intellectual women and the mass media, and the transformation of society in the studies of Chinese modern history has an important academic and theoretical significance.During the period from late Qing Dynasty to the Republic, the main problem confronting us was how to break the siege of the Great Powers. Therefore, the women's publications at that time mainly focused on women's liberation movement. However, the women's liberation slogan was put forward and the women's liberation movement was initiated by intellectual men because of the absence of intellectual women. At that time, the women's publications were themed on arousing the consciousness of protecting and founding a nation. Therefore, Women's Liberation discourse was brought into the discourses of founding a modern nation. Although Women's Lib movement was like a raging fire at that time, women still took on a dim and dumb appearance on the whole. The female discourses therefore lack independence.In the 1930's, various political powers and factions were gathered in Shanghai because its openness and special political policy- "concession". Various newspapers and magazines, on behalf of various classes,parties and factions emerged quickly. They competed with each other for the control of cultural resources in Shanghai. Popular periodicals also competed for more readers while the city combined with mass media made women the object of consumption. Therefore, the periodicals edited chiefly by educated men had already come up. Some of them were controlled by factions and served as a platform for the factions, such as Triones; some had already many women editors, but were still under the control of the men editors, such as Women Monthly; or some regarded women as the object of consumption, such as The Women's Pictorial. The women's discourses were interlaced with politics, class and merchandise, which couldn't give voice to women's thoughts completely.After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese war, Shanghai experienced from an isolated island ("Gudao" 1937-1941 ) to an enemy-occupied area, and the political and cultural backdrop became more complicated. During the period of Japanese occupation in particular, the politics became a forbidden field. Such topics as nation, state which men favor were forbidden. Only after the intellectual men lost their discourses collectively, could women dominate the cultural resources. Women's Voice, which were mainly edited by women editors, pursued the goal of "women's voice". It criticized publicly the oppression that men-dominating society brought to bear on women, and therefore made itself a platform for women of all ranks. Tian Di discussed problems that women would face in the transition from a traditional to a modern society. As a result, the periodicals could finally speak out the word standing for women. In the history of modern thoughts, the intellectual men acted as the torchbearer. Women could speak out only when the intellectual men lost their discourses. This phenomena was really odd.Taking Zhang Ailing as a case study, this dissertation describes the process that the periodical in Shanghai "created star" during the period of Japanese-occupation, analyzes the problem that how mass media created a "legend" Zhang Ailing. The paper also talks about the role the modem media has played in the growth of intellectual women and how women could make use of mass media to express themselves. What interests us most is how women became modern intellectuals who have their own and independent thoughts. This case study would help explain the interactive relationship between the intellectual women and the mass media, reveal the growing process of intellectual women and complement the description of history mentioned above.This dissertation shows that because of the continued change of circumstances, the relationship between the intellectual women and the mass media had its own characteristics different from any other times. Mass media is a product of modern society. The public room built up by mass media plays an important role in the development of society, and in the promotion of women's liberation.Under the women's liberation movement, more and more intellectual women were not only involved in but also became controllers of mass media gradually. The women's discourses were separated from the men's discourses step by step, until the women spoke out their own voices. Intellectual women made use of the mass media to influence the society greatly, which also changed the attitudes towards them. In this process, women came to realize the value of their lives. As a result, their personal thoughts came into being gradually, and finally women became modern intellectuals who have their independent thoughts. Without the view of the mass media, it would be impossible to comprehend the process that how intellectual women changed from traditional to modern status.