Abstract
This chapter examines lived experiences of women of the revolutionary generation who came of age prior to the 1949 revolution. Using life stories of female and male informants of the revolutionary cohort, this chapter presents urban women’s sense of ownership and belonging to their workplace and the feelings of heroism they experienced when participating in the projects of nation building and socialist enterprise. It finds urban women’s pursuit of obligation equality with men is the main explanation for their devotion to state projects and for the fact that they lack a sense of injustice at being paid less in the workplace and doing more at home. The data also show the variety of experiences of women from different classes.
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Notes
- 1.
This accounted for more than one-third of Zhang’s family monthly income.
- 2.
Tong Ren Tang is the most well-known Chinese pharmacy, founded in 1669 in Beijing.
- 3.
The best hospital in Beijing.
- 4.
A system of payment in kind which was practiced during the revolutionary wars and in the early days of the PRC, providing working people and their dependents with the staple necessities of life.
- 5.
This can be found in almost all versions of the Doctrine of the Communist Party of China, and in all forms of propaganda, such as radio, newspapers, danwei bulletin boards, and lectures.
- 6.
Grain coupons were first introduced to urban households in China in November 1953 because of widespread grain speculation by private grain traders as the state began to sell grain at low prices to households to avoid starvation. The CPC-led government rationed grain by issuing monthly grain coupons which would be good only for the month in which they were issued. The calculation of each person’s monthly grain ration was based on age, gender, and occupation. The total amount of monthly coupons for each household was decided by the designated grain store in the household’s residential area. The grain coupon policy finally ended in May 1993 as food supply became abundant.
- 7.
The third most senior national leader to be denounced following the fall of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping during the Cultural Revolution.
- 8.
An architectural style with an open space enclosed either by houses or by a combination of walls and houses.
- 9.
Also see Ching Kwan Lee. 2002.
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———. 2013. Women’s liberation and gender obligation equality in Urban China: Work/family experiences of married individuals in the 1950s. Science & Society 77(98–125): 2013.
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Zuo, J. (2016). Socialist Workers, National Heroines. In: Work and Family in Urban China. Politics and Development of Contemporary China. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55465-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55465-9_3
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