The Traditional New Woman and Emerging New Man in Republican China

This study focuses on the agony of mar ried New Women, as well as the emerg ing New Man, in the 1920s and 1930s. While the New Woman in love has attracted con sid er able schol arly atten tion, the dilemma of New Women after mar riage remains mostly ignored. Relying on lit er ary works as well as arti cles in news pa pers and peri od i cals, this essay attri butes the New Woman's acute dis sat is fac tion to the uncon tested gen dered divi sion of labor and the dis con ti nu ity between roman tic relationships and institutionalized marriage. Intellectuals proposed communal childcare as the solu tion to the New Woman's dilemma; how ever, this still left the gen dered labor divi sion intact. This essay identifies the tra di tional role of the New Woman in the fam ily and observes the emer gence of xianfu liangfu ( (sic)(sic) (sic)(sic) , "good hus band and wise father"), a coun ter part to xianqi liangmu ( (sic)(sic) (sic)(sic) , "good wife and wise mother"). This understudied dis course demands equal respon si bil ity at home and an atten tive father hood from men.