This thesis examines the feminist literature of the so-called new women in the early 20th century during the influential May Fourth Movement, when China witnessed a significant upsurge of feminist discourse and widespread dissemination of feminist ideas. The emergence of feminism in China occurred in the midst of a deep national crisis in the late 19th century, when the country was facing numerous challenges brought on by foreign, primarily Western, imperialism and domination, which had driven the Chinese nation into decline and weakening of its historical prestige, power and pride. Within this historical context, feminism became a broadly embraced new ideology that male intellectuals and reformers employed in their efforts to confront and find solutions for the urgent sociopolitical issues and bring China along the path of modernization. While the May Fourth feminist discourse was predominantly shaped by the literary contributions and perspectives of male intellectuals, such as Lu Xun 鲁迅 (1881 – 1936), Mao Dun 茅盾 (1896 – 1981), Ba Jin 巴金 (1904 – 2005) and Ye Shaojun 叶绍钧 (1894 – 1988), Chinese women, from the very beginning, actively participated in the struggle for their autonomy and future and through their literary writing constructed a feminist discourse of their own. Instead of promoting and reinforcing dominant male visions of female emancipation, May Fourth new women writers, such as Lu Yin 庐隐 (1898 – 1934), Ding Ling 丁玲 (1904 – 1986), Shi Pingmei 石评梅 (1902 – 1928), Feng Yuanjun 冯沅君 (1900 – 1974), Chen Xuezhao 陈学昭 (1906 – 1991) and Xie Bingying 谢冰莹 (1906 – 1987), not only consistently exposed and highlighted the enduring obstacles and injustices women still faced in their pursuit of autonomy and independence but also contested and challenged the problematic aspects of male-centered May Fourth discourse.
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