Women's Changes From Cultural Revolution To Modern China

The issue of gender had deeply rooted in Asian culture. Confucian ideas which were prevalent in Chinese history considered women to be inferior than men. The leading role of Confucianism in Chinese government set the base for women subordination to men. During Confucianism’s rule, weak, gentle, and obedient women were ideal female. This pattern lasted till the last dynasty Qing. Revolutionary ideas broke gender stereotypes and spread the equality ideas so that ideal women figure shifted to involve independence and strength in the 1960s. A controversial issue has been whether the ideal women figure’s changes from Cultural Revolution to modern China could reflect real social value changes. Although some argue that advertisements do not reflect

According to Yang, Culture Revolution was an overthrow of culture. Chairman Mao Zedong and his supporters started the revolution to check the power of the right wing officers. The society was overturned by attacking symbols of authority, such as teachers, books, religious beliefs, and traditional customs, while promoting unflinching loyalty to Mao and his ideas (Yang). Cultural Revolution ended with the death of Mao Zedong and the arrest of the leaders. By 1974, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping came into power, and brought reforms to fix the smashed economy and culture. Reform and Open policy was presented by Deng Xiaoping and it worked nicely to improve China’s economy. Women were encouraged to work in order to improve the country’s productivity. Erdenebileg argues that “in the late 1970s, almost ten years after Chairman Mao famously remarked that ‘women hold up half the sky’, about 90 percent of working-age women in cities were participating workforce” (Erdenebileg). The increasing work rate affected the idealized female figure, who has a strong, masculinized appearance. Typical propagandas carried unique cultural meaning and revealed the inclination to strong, masculinized, and independent women. For example, in the following propaganda poster, the woman is portrayed as a masculinized figure, holing tools, wearing

Gender equality, with Chairman Mao Zedong’s support, intensified women’s level of control in propagandas. Generally, as Burnett argued, women were depicted as fighters and workers alongside men; such created a new perception of women that has been referred to as “socialist androgyny” (Burnett). “Social androgyny” pointed out how masculinized women’s spirits were. Men had the level of control for thousands of years in Chinese history. Fighters and workers were both the words that used to only connected with men. No they were applied to women, which indicated that women also gained certain level of control. In figure 1, the woman worker was a good example of women having control (Pollack). Instead of of being objectified as an ornament, she is the main character of the poster. Holding her tools and standing confidently, even though the woman just stands by the agricultural machine, she still shows a great level of control over any other in the poster. In modern China, women’s level of control in advertisements are preserved. In 2012 Mercedes-Benz commercial, Li Na drives a car along a road confidently, just like the women who holds her tool. In that commercial Li is not an ornament either. If accords to some gender stereotype, a woman in machine advertisements is more likely to be objectified to show advantages