ABSTRACT
Perhaps one of the most significant effects of globalization can be viewed in local cultural forms. This includes social movements, and the Chinese women's movement, due to its particular ties to the international sphere in the 1990s, has been a particular agent as well as recipient of such effects. As discussed in the previous chapter, there is an increasing awareness among Chinese activists that the women's movement in Communist China has largely been top-down and state-led. The 1990s have witnessed the emergence of a greater sense of “collective identity” among Chinese women's movement activists, and in particular a greater sense of their own agency. Part of this process has included the wider introduction of issues originating outside of China, and particularly learned about in the process of preparing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. Such aspects of “globalized culture” have, however, been interpreted and discussed in uniquely Chinese terms, and in ways that make them more amenable to acceptance by the state as well as by societal elements. In particular, activists have taken advantage of existing state commitments to gender equality to “frame” new issue agendas for the contemporary Chinese women's movement. In this chapter, I will first briefly discuss the general cultural implications of reform for Chinese “civil society.” I will then look at elements of collective identity among Chinese women's movement activists, as well as their increased view of commonalities with the international feminist movement. Finally, I will look in detail at the ways in which activists seek to introduce new issues gleaned from abroad to a wider Chinese audience.
