Feminism and China

The main discussion throughout Spaces is how a public sphere or space can be carved out for women of Transnational China. Yang uses Jurgen Habermas's concept of "Offentlichkeit," or open/public sphere, which refers to the "public expression and debate that reflexively feed back into the self-knowledge and restructuring of society" (Yang, 1999, p. 2). In early capitalistic societies, this meant a physical space, such as the town square, as well as a collective conscience of a particular group of people. Currently, it can refer to any public place where expression occurs, including periodicals, radio, television, the Internet, and even telephone hotlines. Yet, as Yang and othe

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media were lifted and public demonstrations were finally considered legal. Chinese women began to carve a bit of public sphere out of the space available (Sang in Yang, 1999). In Hong Kong, Chinese women were part of those colonized in the public sphere and subject to the same laws as Chinese men. In the private sphere, however, traditional values were still in play. While exposure to Western thought opened up opportunities for women, this meant embracing Western values to the detriment of their own culture (Ho in Yang, 1999). Setbacks of Females in Society Each of these societies provided some form of public sphere for the Chinese woman, yet each also had its own setbacks in offering it. For example, in the PRC, being equal meant making everyone comrades-in-arms, erasing gender. Boundaries between public and private spheres were collapsed as the state took over private sphere traditional functions, controlling such issues as birth control and marriage (Yang, 1999). While this raised women's status in the PRC, with the advent of the market economy, there was no longer a place for women, who were being encouraged to leave their jobs, take longer maternity leaves, and become more "feminine," after years of being admonishe
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Approximate Word count = 1492
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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