Gender Hierarchy of Masculinity and Femininity during the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Focusing on the influence of Maoist ideology and masculinist power on the representations of women in revolutionary opera films made during the Cultural Revolution, this book considers the gendered hierarchy between masculinity and femininity in relation to the historic and cultural context in which they were made.
Using feminist methodology and epistemology to locate womens social identity, this book explores the sociological connections between the masculinisation of women and masculinist domination in the context of the Cultural Revolution. Through film analysis, the author examines whether women, rather than liberated, were in fact re-gendered and oppressed by masculinist power. By critically evaluating gender hierarchy during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the book provides hitherto neglected insights into gender within its social and cultural context.
This an interdisciplinary book which should appeal to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including gender studies, Asian studies, China studies, cultural studies and film studies.
Zhuying Li holds a masters degree from Monash University and a Ph.D. in Communication and Media Studies from RMIT University in Australia. Her research areas include gender studies, China studies, and cultural studies.
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First published 2021
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2021 Zhuying Li
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Li, Zhuying, author.
Title: Gender hierarchy of masculinity and femininity during the Chinese
Cultural Revolution : revolutionary opera films / Zhuying Li.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Focus on global gender
and sexuality | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2020025048 (print) | LCCN 2020025049 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367617219 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367622701 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003108207 (ebook) | ISBN 9781000220896 (adobe pdf) |
ISBN 9781000220957 (epub) | ISBN 9781000220926 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Sex roleChina. | MasculinityChina. | Femininity
China. | Revolutionary operasChina. | ChinaHistoryCultural
Revolution, 19661976.
Classification: LCC HQ1075.5.C6 L535 2020 (print) | LCC HQ1075.5.C6
(ebook) | DDC 305.30951dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025048
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020025049
ISBN: 978-0-367-61721-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-10820-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book derives from my PhD thesis. I would like to thank my PhD supervisor, Professor Lisa French from RMIT University, for her patience, motivation and support throughout my PhD project. Likewise, I would like to thank my masters supervisor, Dr. Liz Conor from Monash University, who first inspired me to conduct this project. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Rosemary A. Roberts. As one of the external reviewers of my PhD thesis, she gave me fantastic criticism which contributed to the adaption of this book.
I also thank Professor Craig Batty, Dr. Enqi Weng, Dr. Padmapriya Padmalochannan, and Dr. Huang Jifeng, who gave me advice and encouragement throughout this publishing process. Importantly, I could not complete this book without the unconditional support of my parents.
Women hold up half the sky! (Mao Zedong, 1955) Times have changed, and today men and women are equal. Whatever men comrades can do, women comrades can do too! (Mao Zedong, 1965) These famous political slogans highlighted gender equality in Maoist China. A general viewpoint was that Mao was a radical and enthusiastic advocator of gender equality and one of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders who could impact Chinese gender politics with political authority. This book centres around the question: During the Cultural Revolution, how did Maoist ideology and masculinist power influence the dominant representation of women in the revolutionary opera films (19661976)?
To answer this, I will investigate the influence of the Cultural Revolution on the image of women, which was impacted by Maoist gender politics represented through the revolutionary opera films. Initially, film can be viewed as discourse because film analysis must link to social and cultural analysis (Stephen, 1993). Discourse analysis is a significant method of analysing the structure of texts to account both for their linguistic content and their sociolinguistic context. In a cinematic discourse, each text incorporates elements that come from another text (Fairclough, 1995) or what Stephen (1993) identified as the discourse of images, which allows critical scholars to examine how images are associated with power and ideology by focusing on ideological analysis and critical interpretation.
With specific reference to the films made during the Cultural Revolution, I will examine the gender hierarchy between masculinity and femininity and its representations in the revolutionary opera films and consider this hierarchy in relation to the historic and cultural context in which it was made.
The exploration of the dominant representation of women in the opera films will contribute to revealing knowledge of Maoist gender discourse and womens gender identity during the Cultural Revolution. I will show the influence of Maoist gender discourse on female identity as constructed through the opera films, which will contribute to understanding how the shift in gender identity mobilised through the films. I will interrogate the images from a feminist perspective, including understanding how patriarchy (masculinist power) is expressed in the gender discourse of the films. The image of female warriors in the films is explored by deconstructing relationships between patriarchal power and womens roles and bodies.
