Chinese modern girl: Professional women in China, 1900s-1940s

From the early 20th century to the middle of the 20th century, China as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society during this period, its social life had changed a lots. Girl’s education as one of the parts of changing, had revolutions and new developments. With these changing, the role of women and female’s status in society also had a big change. Since the system of education for women was gradually perfected, it giving opportunities for women to live independence and their living space was also expended. In this circumstance professional women were born, and women had more opportunities to come into the public, to play a new role in family and society, and became Chinese modern girls.

There are four chapters in my paper, in the beginning I will introduce the reason, significance, background and research gap of this topic. Through analyzing different historical researchers’ ideas on Chinese modern girl to reflect the situation and achievements of it, and via examining the changing of social role of women to demonstrate the development of women’s role recognition. And in analytical method, it uses the literature research and qualitative research method. In the first chapter, it mainly discusses the development of girl’s education. This part will examine the aim for women’s education and conclude some articles from mass media in early twentieth century, to learn how the concept of women’s role in society changed. In the second chapter, it will focus on the development of professional women. How girls became a worker, what kind of vocations that was for women, and how this new identity influenced the gender relationship and promoted the modernizing life in China. In the third chapter, this part expounds the modern girl’s image in the magazine, and how it effected women’s modern life in reality. In the last chapter, it is to conclude how women changed their status and living space in family and society, by improving their literature level and expending their working space to show us the process of being modern girl.

Chinese modern girl as the opposite of the traditional feminine during Publican period, its development was not just for the transformation of Chinese female’s status in family and society, but also reflected the way of Chinese modern life. All right reserved.