EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Gender Studies 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 192 Qian Nanxiu (Rice University) “ExemplaryWomen” (Lienü) versus “Worthy Ladies” (Xianyuan): The Two Traditions inWritingWomen’s History in the Sinosphere Key words: Exemplary Women, Worthy Ladies, Women’s History, Sinosphere, Sinocentrism This book project studies the evolution and transmission of two genres in writing women’s history in the Sinosphere (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam), namely, “Exemplary Women” (Lienü 列女 ) and “Worthy Ladies” (Xianyuan 賢媛 ). Both originated from the Han Confucian Liu Xiang’s 劉向 (77–6 BCE) Biographies of Exemplary Women. Each, however, formed into a tradition that represented women’s lives and guided their behavior in its own way. “Exemplary Women,” being incorporated into official histories, became increasingly bound by Confucian norms, whereas “Worthy Ladies,” rooted in the free-spirited Wei-Jin 魏晉 (220–420) intellectual aura and written by private scholars, featured strong-minded, talented, and self-sufficient literate women. The two genres also generated numerous works in other countries in the Sinosphere. A close reading of these works will show the existence of different voices on women’s lives, rescuing the previously ignored “Worthy Ladies” from the dominant discourse of docile “Exemplary Women.” This study also explores larger issues related to cultural continuity and change in this important area. It will subvert the longstanding Sinocentrism of East Asian Studies, showing that once cultural prod- ucts travel into another cultural context, they quickly become embedded in that space and evolve into new species of literary life that bear indigenous qualities and features. These “domesticated” cultural products, when repatriated, could play a significant role in the country of their origin. Ristivojevic Dusica (Academia Sinica) Gender Issues and Post-1989 Socially Engaged Chinese Diaspora Key words: Chinese women’s rights, diaspora, “One child policy”, transnational networks, social activism Post-1989 socially engaged Chinese diaspora has well-developed contacts with influential English-lan- guage media, international NGOs, foreign governmental bodies and foundations, as well as close relation- ships with individuals, and activist organizations within China. This intermediary position allows activists in diaspora to have a powerful voice in creating and disseminating globally the information about China. The main research question this paper will attend to is how post-1989 socially engaged Chinese diaspora address gender issues. I will focus on the prominent representatives of diaspora who have, together with their transnational support networks, significantly contributed to formulation, imaginary, and treatment of gender issues in China. I will examine three sets of primary material that have the potential to influence a broad international audience: their testimonies before the US Congress; the websites of the organizations they established, as well as their English-language autobiographical writings.This paper will suggest that the activists in diaspora tend to focus on the violations of Chinese women’s rights resulting from “One child policy”, thus making it one of the most invested Chinese women’s issues. The paper will also address the role that these emotionally-charged textual and visual representations related to family planning policy play in the politics of post-1989 Chinese diaspora in the context of on-going global reconfigurations of geopolitical and symbolic power relations. Runge Robin (The George Washington University) The Making of China’s National Anti-Domestic Violence Law Key words: gender, violence, East-West, influence, law After years of domestic and international advocacy, on December 27, 2015, China adopted its long- awaited national anti-domestic violence law. It was adopted twenty years after the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing marking the beginning of the anti-domestic violence movement in China. In this paper, I trace the domestic and international influences represented in the law