Washing Dirty Linen In Public: Research On Runaway Wives News Of The Eastern Times(1927-1937)

In the 1920 s and 1930 s,Shanghai's newspaper industry made rapid progress,the appearance of newspapers changed with each passing day,and the functions of newspapers were further expanded.In 1921,The Eastern Times was taken over by Huang Bohui.Huang Bohui is committed to promoting the transformation of news business,who turned The Eastern Times into a leisure newspaper focusing on photo news,sports news and social news.Based on the current research situation of social news which has not yet been fully carried out in academia,and the uniqueness of the social news historical materials of The Eastern Times,this paper takes Runaway Wives News of the Eastern Times from 1927 to 1937 as the research object,hoping to enrich the research of the history of newspapers,journalism,women,family,society and legal system.Based on the historical materials of runaway wives news,supplemented by social investigation,newspapers and periodicals,books in Republic of China,memoirs and anthologies,the author tries to reconstruct the marriage and family life of runaway in Shanghai area of the Republic of China.Unlike previous studies which only regard news as a single perspective of historical sources,this paper pays particular attention to the composition of the text.It not only analyses the narrative strategies of the parties involved in the case of runaway wives,but also considers the logical thinking implied in the discourse,and compares the gap between legal texts and legal practice.At the same time,it examines the media expression of runaway wives news,in order to reveal that when journalists produce news texts carefully,their personal values and judgment criteria will involvement unconsciously.Then it further explores the discrimination and Prejudice implied in news texts.Is this paper,the research on runaway wives news of The Eastern Times from 1927 to1937 shows that: First,during the period of the Republic of China,runaway wives were a group of women living in the cracks of modern cities in Shanghai,which were struggling for their livelihoods.Secondly,although modern law and judicial practice have given women certain rights,so that they can "voice" for themselves.By analyzing the narrative strategies incourt trials,it is found that women subconsciously acquiesced and accepted arrangements from gender differences.Judges and lawyers,who are skilled between traditional norms and legal rules,actually highlighted the gap between legal texts and legal practice in a patriarchal society.Thirdly,while catering to the readers' aesthetics and tastes,the production of news texts not only reveals the criticism of female behavior,but also stigmatizes and stereotypes female images,which further reflects the problem of gender order from the perspective of men.On the contrary,the phenomenon runaway wives was originally a family ugliness,but it was publicized in the media,so which was spread to the wider public.The process of“Washing Dirty Linen in Public” reflects exactly the process of forming,spreading,reconstructing and solidifying social concepts.In fact,this paper links the phenomenon of runaway wives,the case of runaway wives and runaway wives news,reveals the patriarchal culture and gender prejudice and discrimination in news texts,and tries to interpret the interaction between media and society.