The special focus of this book is the lives and experiences of women in China in the first half of the 20th century. Part One - Historical Interpretations - presents essays by Western-educated Chinese women and men, on the historical role of women in a time of great social and economic upheaval. Part Two - Self-Portraits of Women in Modern China - presents the views of women who experienced life in this period through essays and autobiographies that range from women as concubines to women as factory workers, from women suffering footbinding to women serving as nurses, from women in traditional role in a traditional family to women as scientists and teachers.
Biography
Li Yu-ning received her Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. She has edited several volumes on Chinese women’s history, including Autobiographical Writings and Poems by Modem Chinese Women, and co-edited Documents on Women’s Movement in Modern China and Collected Essays on the History of Chinese Women (all in Chinese). She is the author of numerous articles in both English and Chinese on women in Chinese history. Professor Li has been the editor of Chinese Studies in History (published by M. E. Sharpe) since 1967, is a past president of the Historical Society for Twentieth Century China, and was awarded an Outstanding Faculty Medal by St. John’s University, where she has been teaching Chinese history since 1973.
