CHINESE WOMEN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 388, 24 November 1932, Page 3

CHINESE WOMEN

changing customs PROGRESS SINCE GOYERNMENT ABOLITION OF POLYGAMY. BECOMING WESTERNISED. China has been slower in general than Japan to absorb Westernisation, but her women, on the contrary, have gone far ahead of the women in the Land of the Rising Sun. In Chinese treaty parts, where the dominant influenee of foreign residents is felt, the Chinese woman is no longer a household drudge, with th'e single purpose of honouring the parents of her husband, catering for his needs, and, ahove all, bearing him niany-sons. Her ideas of domestic life now are perhaps more those of th'e Englishwoman than any other of her "Western sisters. She is her husband's interested, as well as interesting, companion, living on equal terms with him, advising him on business matters, and freely sharing his p'leasures. The present National Government, which was founded in 1927, abolished polgamy. This was, perhaps, one of the most vital steps toward the emancipation of the Chinese woman. But wealthy Chinese outside the cities still keep a "harem," and even in the cities those who do not mix with Western eivilisation still have several wives. The modern woman in China has progressed to other interests besides that of acting as helpmate to a husband. She studies political and medical science, law, business, and journalism. One of the best-lcnown lawyers in China is Miss Saumei Cheng, whose emancipation began at the age of 10, when she tore the hindings from her crippled feet. Four years later she again challenged an ancient and honourahle custom of her people by refusing to marry the man who had been chosen for her from birth — the Governor of Canton. Miss Cheng, now 38 years old, studied intensively, with a definite career always in mind. She travelled in England, France, and America, lecturing as she went. When she returned to her country she influenced the Government to finance the education of 20 Chinese girls, whom she took to Paris to study under her personal supervision.

She was the first Chinese lawyer of either sex to be admitted to practise in the Freneh mixed court at Shanghai. She is an authoress of repute, having written, besides books and articles in her own language, "A Model Chinese Family" in English, and "Souvenirs d'Enfance de Revolution" in French. Miss Fong Mei-sun has just received an honorary degree of Doetor of Scieence from the Kyoto Imperial University of Japan for her scientific thesis on the Chemical Study of Rice! Dextrine." Outstanding Women. The three most outstanding women of modern Chinese culture and Western eivilisation are sisters, according to an article in the News Chroniele. They are Madame Sun Yat-sen, widow of the founder of the Chinese Republic, Madame Chiang Wai-sh'ek, and Madame H. H. Kung, wife of the former Minister of Industries. Each of them plays a quiet but tremendously important part in the politics of China. . During the recent Shanghai hostilities an other interesting factor in the Westernisation of Chinese women was brought to light. Although' China has suffered civil wars and invasions for many centuries, it is only recently that women have been permitted to nurse the wounded. When Shanghai was the centre of warfare mere girls of 12 and 13 came calinly in from the war areas with the stretcher-bearers, having gone to the front with them to render first aid. Schoolgirls ,hastily banded together at the h'eginning of the trouble, dressed wounds with admirable and truly Oriental stiocism. Wealthy women came for ward and publicly. solicited funds for temporary hospitals. Even more amazing were the splendidly keen and modern methods which they used to get these institutions into proper shape, In the days of the Manehu Dynasty the Chinese woman stayed in the women's quarters of her home, painting embroidering, and gossiping, while her lord and master sought his pleasuie in the gambiing and opiufn houses or dallied in a teahouse with pretty Ahnond Blossom. Now, however, since the foreign man has come to China and opened( his night clubs and cabarets, the Chinese lady is taken there, too, by her husband. This step in Oriental emancipation was a startling one, and probably the most diastic in the whole history of the gradual Westernisation of Chinese women. It made the assertion that a woman could be seen in public and yet be modest! Unfortunate Fashion. One foreign custom that the modern Chinese woman has adopted has had a really unfortunate effect. That is the bobbing of her hair and the attempt to make its stiff, straight quality into permanent wave curls, worn shoulder length. Miss China's pleasures are far less eoninlicated than her Western sister's. She is an extremely light and supple dancer, easily adapting herself to American jazz, although its rhythm has nothing to do with the Chinese music to which she has been accustomed for centuries. Very rarely does she drink and cocktails are only known— and tben in extreme moderation— by the girl who has been educated in America. On the other hand, she is inordinately fond of soft drinks, and especially ice-eream soda and the coneoction of sundaes which has drifted over from America's versatile drug stores. Fortunately, they seem to have no effect on the straight slenderness of her figure. Dieting, by the way, is the one' phase of occidental feminine life that has no interest for the Chinese woman. Chinese dishes are mainly vegetarian, which is as well, seeing that th'e Chinese^women, with very few exceptions, are totally disinclined to exercise.