ABSTRACT
In the process of helping women to help themselves, female activists have assumed a decisive role in negotiating social and political transformations in Chinese society. This is the first book that describes and analyzes the new phase of women's organizing in China, which started in the 1980s, and remains a vital force to the present day. The political and social changes taking place in contemporary Chinese society have, surprisingly, received scant attention. This volume enriches our understanding of the working of grassroots democracy in China by exploring women's popular organizing activities and their interaction with party-state institutions. By subjecting these activities to both empirical enquiry and theoretical scrutiny, a rigorous analysis of the exchange, dialogue, negotiation and transformation among and within three groups of political actors - popular women's groups, religious groups and the All China Women's Federation - is concisely presented to the reader. This book will be of tremendous interest to students of Chinese Studies, Political Science and Gender Studies alike.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|21 pages
Chinese Women Organizing In/Outside
part II|53 pages
Contextualizing and Transcending East-West Boundaries
part III|43 pages
Ethnic, Diaspora and Religious Perspectives
part IV|70 pages
NGO Discourse and Deconstructing the Women’s Federation
part V|43 pages
Pockets of Space
part VI|19 pages
Positioning Women’s Studies
part VII|17 pages
Post-workshop Reflections
part VIII|20 pages
Lexicon of Chinese Women Organizing