SSStttooonnnyyy BBBrrrooooookkk UUUnnniiivvveeerrrsssiiitttyyy The official electronic file of this thesis or dissertation is maintained by the University Libraries on behalf of The Graduate School at Stony Brook University. ©©© AAAllllll RRRiiiggghhhtttsss RRReeessseeerrrvvveeeddd bbbyyy AAAuuuttthhhooorrr... The Making of National Women: Gender, Nationalism and Social Mobilization in China’s Anti-Japanese War of Resistance, 1937-45 A Dissertation Presented by Dewen Zhang to The Graduate School in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University December 2013 Copyright by Dewen Zhang 2013 Stony Brook University The Graduate School Dewen Zhang We, the dissertation committee for the above candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, hereby recommend acceptance of this dissertation. Iona Man-Cheong – Dissertation Advisor Associate Professor, Department of History Nancy Tomes - Chairperson of Defense Professor, Department of History Victoria Hesford Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory Danke Li Professor, Department of History Fairfield University This dissertation is accepted by the Graduate School Charles Taber Dean of the Graduate School ii Abstract of the Dissertation The Making of National Women: Gender, Nationalism and Social Mobilization in China’s Anti-Japanese War of Resistance, 1937-45 by Dewen Zhang Doctor of Philosophy in History Stony Brook University 2013 Drawing on materials from the Second Historical Archive of China, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Special Collection of American Bureau for Medical Aid to China, as well as other published and unpublished materials gathered in mainland China, Taiwan and the U.S., this dissertation discusses a broad spectrum of women of various social and political affiliations performed a wide range of work to mobilize collective resistance against Japanese aggression. Integrating women and gender into the exploration of the war and society of 1937-45, this dissertation reveals that women’s social relief activities were as much about the emergence of the patriotic female subject of modern women as they were about the wartime deliberations on resistance and the making of the nation. Women portrayed themselves as national citizens who shared half the responsibility for national reconstruction, and took civic pride in their patriotic deeds. During the war, Chinese women gained greater mobility and visibility in public arenas, and cultivated a profound sense of politicization in their relief work in the areas of nursing, war orphan relief, front line service and propaganda work. Their public activities brought them into leadership positions, which often demanded independent and strategic performances in order to survive the deprivations of war. At the same time, women’s activities became the embodiment of their commitment to the collective goals of the nation, which was a drastic change from their May Fourth sisters’ championing of individual subjectivities and romantic love. Women were often placed in a secondary position and their work was supplementary in nature to the battle work of the soldiers, which was deemed as an ultimate masculine field that excluded women. Thus this dissertation argues wartime conflict affirmed the gender segregation that perpetuated the image of women’s non-essentiality. iii Table of Contents List of Abbreviations vi Acknowledgement vii 1. Introduction 1 Women and the discourse on nation building 10 Format 14 A note on sources 15 2. Embodying and Propagandizing Revolutionary Femininity at War: Xie Binging and Hu Lanqi’s Chinese Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps 18 May Fourth revolutionary feminism in exile 21 Embodying the feminist wartime revolution: the formation of the Chinese Women’s Auxiliary Corps 23 Women working for the resistance army in supplementary capacities 32 Shanghai Working Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp and Hu Lanqi 36 Women confronting state gender ideology 42 Conclusion 45 3. Rescuing the Dying and Healing the Wounded: Wartime Nursing and the Construction of Professional Femininity in the Army 47 Voluntary nursing: embodying nurturing femininity in the time of national crisis 53 Military nursing 58 Zhou Meiyu and army medical nursing training programs 64 Female nursing educators and wartime nursing development 74 Conclusion 81 4. Patriotic Motherhood and China’s Future Citizens: Wu Jufang and Guangdong Children’s Homes and Schools 84 Regional variations for the care and education of war orphans 94 Wu Jufang and her path: the mother in military uniform 102 Rescuing children: mothers in actions 112 Surviving the war: persistence and strategies 119 Educating China’s future citizens: motherhood, war orphans, and nation 124 iv Interpreting Wu’s role 132 Conclusion 141 5. Mobilizing Rural Women for the War of Resistance: CCP Women Cadres and the Introduction of a Revolutionary Vocabulary 145 Context: the CCP gender regime and women’s mobilization 148 Organizations and cadres: technology and personnel in mass mobilization 158 Politicizing women’s mass mobilization 167 6. Drafting Women’s Labor: Transforming Domestic Women from the Patrilineal Kinship System to Subjects of the Communist Nation State 175 Mobilizing peasant women: introducing a revolutionary vocabulary to the rural population 177 Women’s labor: revolution and its limits 189 Making communist subjects 198 Women’s own voices 201 Conclusion 204 Epilogue 206 References 210 v List of Abbreviations Archives ABMAC American Bureau for Medical Aid to China RF Rockefeller Foundation Archive SHAC the Second Historical Archive of China Abbreviations Used in Footnotes XBYWJ Xie Bingying. Xie Bingyin wenji (A Collection of Xie Bingying’s works), compiled by Cao du, Ai yi. Hefei: Anhui wenyi chubanshe, 1999. GDFN Guangdongsheng funu yundong lishi bianzhuanzu. Guangdong Funü yundong fazhan shilia (A collection of the primary sources on Guangdong women’s movements). Guandgong: Guangdongsheng funu lianhehui, 1991. NBLZ Nübing liezhuan (Biographies of Chinese Female Soldiers in the Red Army). Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 1984. LNRZJSH Li Xiaojiang eds., Lang nuren ziji shuo: duli de licheng (Let women speak for themselves). Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2003. JCJ Jinchaji bianqu funu kangri douzheng shiliao bianjizu. Jinchaji beiyuequ funu kangri douzheng shiliao (Primary Sources on Women’s Resistance movement in Beiyue Jinchaji base area). Beijing: Zhongguo funu chubanshe, 1990. vi Acknowledgments I spent the most important and informative years of my life as a graduate student in the intellectually intensive and supportive atmosphere in the Department of History at Stony Brook University. I thank Iona Man-Cheong, who supervised this dissertation. She shares my passion for the history of women in China. Moreover, she has and continues to provide intellectual generosity and unfailing support. I owe the inspiration to study women and gender studies to Nancy Tomes and Victoria Hesford. Their critical insights into the conceptual and interpretive challenges of women’s studies have informed my research and writing. I also thank Danke Li for agreeing to serve on my dissertation committee and her insightful critique. I am also in debt to my professors in both China and the United States. They led me into the field of history and fostered in me the ability to appreciate the magic of the craft of history. Foremost among them are Ka-che Yip, Constantine Vaporis, Warren Cohen, Ira Livingston, Gary Marker, Chris Sellers, April Masten, Herman Lebovics, Zhang Qing, Jin Guangyao, Wu Jingping, Dai Angang, Wang Licheng, Zhang Ronghua and Huang Yang. While writing this dissertation, I received generous support from many colleagues and friends in the United States, as well as in China. My friends from Stony Brook University generously shared their time and helped with proofreading. Bridget María Chesterton, Jenise DePinto, Dianne Creagh, Ron Van Cleef, Luke Feder, Stephen Patnode, and Yvie Fabella read drafts at various stages. I was truly fortunate to have been surrounded by warm, funny, and patient classmates during my long graduate career. They generously shared their time to correct embarrassing grammar mistakes and offered meaningful critiques. They never failed to provide friendship and encouragement that was fundamental in helping me survive these graduate years. The Chinese clique at Stony Brook composed of Xu Tong, Guo Aimin, Zhang Aihua, Wo Chingling and Lu Xiaoning provided a mini-village where we shared home-cooked meals and thoughts. I am grateful for Liu Qiong, Tan Shi, and Su Yangyang for the wonderful time spent together at the Second Historical Archives of China in Nanjing. Their presence provided invigorating conversation and warm friendship. Many institutions generously supported my research and writing. The Harvard -Yenching Library provided a grant which allowed me to use their collection on wartime Chinese women’s publications. The Rockefeller Archive Center generously funded my research on the Peking Union Medical College and China’s wartime nursing. The ASIANetwork Luce Foundation aided the final stage of writing and revising by offering support through their post-doctorate teaching fellow program. Washington and Jefferson College warmly supported my writing and research as my home institution while I was a Luce teaching fellow there. Numerous individuals have generously shared their time and expertise along the way. Xiaohe Ma and Chen Jin of Harvard Yen-Ching Library introduced me to their collection