ABSTRACT
EXERCISE IS AN important location for publicly presenting and dramatising the body as a cultural artefact. A history of the body at exercise is a history of aesthetic, cultural and political investment in the body. A history of exercise in modern China, therefore, comprises an important chapter of the history of the body. However, virtually all scholars of Chinese studies still largely disregard the historical role of exercise in efforts to improve the status of women and mostly ignore the significance of exercise in women's emancipation. Nevertheless, because exercise is directly connected with the body, the most conspicuous symbol of women's oppression and a fundamental fact of women's exploitation, for Chinese women its availability represented a new and important dimension in their lives.
