In the first decade of this century, the number of books on Chinese women and feminism has risen exponentially, but none of them puts weight on the multi-faceted nature of Chinese feminism. Does this term have plural forms? Ya-Chen Chen is successful in making explicit the plurality of the term. “What is Chinese feminism?” and “What is not Chinese feminism?” are two major questions that The Many Dimensions seeks to address. The book convincingly argues that “Chinese feminism is not one” (pp. 1–2, 213).
Drawing on fifty interviews with feminist scholars, detailed historical and textual analyses, and a wide range of secondary literature and periodicals, the book presents its argument through seven chapters. Chapter 1 briefly highlights a variety of experiences and expressions of Chinese feminism. The term, as Chen ambitiously states, should include “studies or activism about women or gender issues in as many periods and places as possible” (p. 5). This introductory chapter clearly shows her hope of clarifying how Chinese feminism has varied across the divergent socio-political conditions of 1990s Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Chapter 2 intriguingly sets the historical scene of feminism in modern China since the Opium Wars. For Chen, there were more than three waves of feminism in the three regions. The Eastwards direction of feminism demonstrates how Chinese feminists selectively transfer, localize, and apply Western feminist theories into their local environments.
Academic acceptance of feminism in Taiwan and Mainland China are central thematic issues of chapters 3 and 4. Chen skillfully presents the valuable experiences of anonymous informants on how to deal with a set of subtle yet complicated academic problems. Of paramount importance is how these feminist scholars—Taiwanese and Mainlanders alike—avoid being labeled as “radical feminists” and devise practical survival strategies within their respective academic environments. Chen cautiously contrasts the case in Taiwan with that in Mainland China. Her informants generally felt that Taiwan academic feminism “was more advanced, mature, systematic, theoretical, Westernized, and radical than” the Mainland one (p. 126). This is true, to some extent, because certain political, social, and cultural conditions have impeded Chinese Mainlanders' reception of Western feminism in the 1990s.
Chen then moves to her fascinating textual analyses of the two regions' prestigious journals in chapters 5 and 6. Zhongwai wenxue of the 1990s introduced the latest Euro-American feminist literary theories to Taiwan scholars, whereas Wenyi lilun of the same period played the same role to Mainland scholars. Both journals have a preference for French feminism, a version more philosophical and less radical than the American one. Both Taiwan and Mainland scholars have adopted cross-lingual and cross-cultural strategies in transferring Western feminism to suit local needs. Chen rightly observes the different reasons for the scholarly preference for French feminism in the two regions. For example, Anglo-American feminism attracted Taiwan scholars earlier than the French approach, thus making French feminist theories appear to be “new” and “popular.” Mainland scholars were more receptive to French feminism than American because of their fear of radical activism immediately following the 1989 June Fourth Incident. Avoiding radical activism would help safeguard Mainland feminists from the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Chen argues forcefully that the acculturation of Western feminism depends on the willingness and efforts of local Chinese “theoretical translators, appropriators, and introducers” (pp. 190–91).
The concluding Chapter 7 offers a holistic view of Chinese feminism. According to Chen, “Chinese feminism must be studied in its multiple forms” (p. 204) rather than focusing on the Mainland only. This “Mainland heat” may be attributable to the rise of China in the recent decades. Frankly, the Eastwards direction of feminism is no longer valid, but is a round trip. The Many Dimensions has several strengths. It provides much food for thought for scholars who are enthusiastic about Chinese feminism. In spite of Chen's somewhat ambitious definition of what Chinese feminism is, her “not-one-ness” approach to the issue is consistent through all chapters. The book is most rewarding in its placing feminism in the much wider historical, political, social, cultural, and linguistic contexts. However, it is a great pity that Chen had not given enough space to academic feminism in Hong Kong. The Gender Research Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong did offer dozens of Gender Studies courses in the 1990s. How did Hong Kong feminist scholars struggle to launch their degree programs? How did they filter, reshape, and adopt Western feminism and which version, British, American, or French, did they adopt? What kind of survival strategies did they develop? How similar or different are Hong Kong and Taiwan feminism(s), given that the two regions were under different colonial powers? These omissions notwithstanding, The Many Dimensions is a welcome addition to the fields of Chinese history, gender and cultural studies. Anyone interested in these areas should have a copy.
