Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Transnational Chinese Feminism

Abstract

The impact of Mrs. Warren’s Profession in China shows how it took decades for the Chinese to develop transnational feminism after the first Chinese production in the spring of 1921, four years before the censored play’s British premiere in 1925. Shaw had been systematically introduced into China especially because of his advocacy of individualism and his strong protagonists, his iconoclasm, Fabianism, and sympathy for socialism and communism. However, instead of taking his prescriptions for China as they were, the Chinese made use of his works, developed their own agenda, and established their unique perspective of Chinese feminism, one most notably advocated by the legendary Soong Ching-ling, who invited Shaw to lunch with her in Shanghai.

I would like to thank Stanley and Rodelle Weintraub for their wonderful support and excellent advice. I am also grateful to Professors Melba Cuddy-Keane and Robert Fothergill for reading various drafts of this chapter.