The Builders of New China

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23115, 13 August 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Builders of New China

War Hastens Woman s Emancipation in the Land of Confucius

By GEORGE HARCOURT

'A s , a creature of porcelain delicacy she patters before the eye of fancy, leaving behind an atmosphere of mystic charm, an impression of tiny feet, blossom cheeks, the inconsequential fragments of her personality that have become lodged in Western imagination. But, in reality, the Chinese woman, subjected in youth, reverenced in age, stands forth, not as the charming accessory of an ancient culture, but as the sturdy symbol of a nation's hope —the Builder of New China! The athletic, bobbed-haired, shortskirted modern Miss of tliQ Orient has taken strides, which have carried her 'over a thousand years beyond the mental outlook of her squashed-footed, betrousered mother. See her in the once laughter-loving Canton, or even in staid Peiping, and you realise that she has gathered not only the secrets of modern beauty culture into her satchel of knowledge, but can flaunt them with an independence that bespeaks the death' of Chinese convention. And if there lingers any doubt concerning the reality of these modern women, a belief that they are still confined to a scattered and therefore invisible minority, another glance at royal Peiping, valiantly striving to preserve its age-old atmosphere of stiff conservatism, will be enough to dispel all such doubts. There, under normal conditions, women airing the latest Parisian modes now tftrong the theatres, take tea with the übiquitous cigarette dangling from slender fingers in Central Park —once the playground of men—or play miniature golf, which has had a tremendous vogue in China. Escorted by their men folk, they no longer fall demurely behind, but stride vigorously ahead, the incarnation of progress; and among these thousands of sleek, slant-eyed girls a head of long hair is about as difficult to find as the proverbial needle in a haystack. Even middle-aged females, so often nervous of innovations, can be seen mincing down the streets with "lily" feet topped with Bmartly cropped heads. As in Shanghai, now too frantically intent trying to climb out of the cauldron of murder to worry about fashion, there are for every plapi "bob" a dozen " 'perms." The Elders are Perplexed Tho Kingdom of Freedom, like that of Heaven, is apparently taken by the violent, but as the doorkeepers of that kingdom have always been men, how are the sons of Confucius reacting to the attack launched by women? The younger men, whose enthusiasm shows thp tinge of romance, see in the emancipated limbs of their girl friends the concrete expression of ideals that hold the spice of adventure; but the brows of the older men, like those of the grandmothers, are creased with perplexity and not a little worry. It was they who, not so very long ago, ventured to proclaim to an amused world that their women, unlike the

heroism of tho modern woman and declare itself in favour of full equality.for women. It was then that the slogan "Educate Your Daughters" was circulated throughout the land, with the result that the schools were overtaxed and, in many instances, compelled to refuse applicants. It was the death-knell of traditionalism, nothing more nor less. Among the educated classes girls are no longer regarded as empty vessels whoso lives must be moulded by parents, wise or otherwise, but as a powerful factor in a nation that is struggling to gain her rightful place in the sun. For women raised to observe tho "Throe Obediences," Father, Husband, Son, tho action of the National Government, way back in the early nineteenthirties, in providing billets for young women clerks and secretaries was tho opening of the door of a new life. Women were able to step forward without apologies into commercial and political life, and so vigorously have they done so that many men are of the opinion that the Three Obediences have been reversed to Mother, Wife, Daughter. At the moment, of course, China is facing a grave crisis. It is not the first she has faced but it is certainly the first great crisis that the manhood of that country has faced with its

womanhood. And it is to the everlasting credit of China's modern men that they so soon realised the lolly of struggling alone. The Chinese drama to-day is compelling the attention of the Western Powers for the simple reason that in its tragic scenes many see hut tho prelude to a greater tragedy in Europe. Speculations concerning its conclusion fill the air. Whether China will gyrate impotently, whether, afflicted by enemies and traduced by politicians, sho will plunge down to destruction and oblivion, or whether, gathering momentum with each disillusioning crisis, she will move forward to a place among the great ones of the earth, are questions the answers to which are still in the unfolded Book of Time. But whatever China's destiny, one thing is certain, it cannot be conceived apart from its women.. Led by that remarkable person, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the women of modern China no longer bow to outworn shibboleths but pin their faith to the new catchword "Progress." Maybe they still have their fears—we all have —but they also havo tho courage to face them. And so, with the tattered illusions of past glories, goes also the decorative myth of Chinese womanhood, and, in its place stands the modern woman —the Builder of New China 1

women of rude foreign nations, would never, never expose their legs and arms to public gaze. But some sardonic imp decreed otherwise. To-day the popular dress is akin to the "scholar's robe," a veritable tube, and, incidentally, extremely becoming to the slender Chinese -figure. Its collar remains high and stiff. But to permit a decent stride the sides are slit; sometimes the hem of a petticoat is visible, but more often than not it is a multi-coloured garter or the exquisite hem of some fabric more mysterious. The summer brings many a gurgle to the throat of Mother Grrundy, for the gowns are astoundingly transparent and, strangely enough, the elders love to "take the air." Out of the Jungle of Tradition Yet China is still a country of contrasts. Ancient, vivid and mysterious, her whole life is charged with the unexpected and she remains to the youthful, if somewhat cynical,' eyes of the West humanity's greatest enigma. For that very reason there are currents, emotional and intellectual, in China's female life that can never be plumbed; but the Chinese woman's history allied with her modern activities may reasonably lead many to assume that the future of that great country is to be found in her women. Yet the westernisation of the Chinese woman is not quite so amazing as it may appear at first sight. In referring to her modernity it seems usual to-'stress "the centuries of bondage" from which she is now freed —an unfortunate term if it implies that the state of the Chinese woman in the past has been degraded. Her activities were restricted, yes, because she was relentlessly thrust into the background by the country's Moses, the sage Confucius; but there always have been, as in France, innumerable back-seat drivers whose very competence was bound eventually to steer the vehicle of their fate into the paths of progress. These paths, however, lead through the jungle of superstition and prejudice which so often conceal themselves under that familiar foliage, tradition. The going, therefore,-has been and continues to be rough, but the Chinese woman is not easily discouraged. "Educate Your Daughters" A strol! through any large Chinese town is fraught with almost Gilbertian possibilities Sorrow and joy walk hand in hand and what may seem to the casually observant fantastically funny often holds the element of gri,m tragedy for some, simple family. For those who are so inclined, it may also be an excursion into an ancient history whose Bcenes —scenes that have changed little in five thousand years —are improvised at every street corner. But then, after all, it is really just a world of ghosts. The muffled roar of thousands of shuffling feet to tho music of sing-song voices; tho jerky glimpses one secures of flower-like faces behind the curved shadows of canopied carts; the orthodox bridal party whose veiled principal is a faithful student of tho Four Books; the loose stride of the ' 'longshorewomen" —all such are little more than the flesh and blood ghosts of a civilisation that is dying or dead. For the real soul of China is no longer to be found in this fading past, but in the pert creature whose modish air is reminiscent of New York, Paris and London as she picks her way. along the thoroughfares of the East. She has cut the roots that bound her to tho past, but the knife that did it was not supnlied by fashion hut hv politics. It was Moscow influence which, in 1924, leu the Kuomintang to acknowledge the