Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T22:16:50.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

More Than Half the Sky: Women and Urban Neighbourhood Workshops in China, 1958–1978

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2019

Hanchao Lu*
Affiliation:
School of History and Sociology, Georgia Institute of Technology. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

From the Great Leap Forward (GLF) of 1958–1960 onwards, China's urban neighbourhood workshops and services mostly hired women. The GLF marked the beginning of a large-scale and irreversible trend towards near universal employment of women in China's cities. By the end of the Mao era, about 42 per cent of women working in industry were employed in “collectives” that were largely developed from urban neighbourhood industry. This article takes Shanghai as a case study to examine this type of employment for women in China. It documents the origin and development of the institution, explores the nuances of state–labour interactions at its site, and argues that as far as the enduring effects of women's participation in the workforce are concerned, the disastrous GLF was indeed the initiator and in this respect may well be seen as a blessing in disguise.

摘要

摘要

从 1958–1960 年的大跃进开始,中国城市的街道社区工厂和服务设施主要雇佣妇女劳工。大跃进开启了中国城市妇女大规模走出家庭参加工作的先河;自此之后,妇女就业的潮流不可逆转。到毛泽东时代结束时,约 42% 的中国工业界的女性职工受雇于从街道社区作坊发展出来的 “集体事业”。本文以上海的里弄生产组为个案,研究此种类型的中国妇女就业。作者以档案文件等原始资料为基础,陈述中国城市街道集体事业的起源与发展,引领读者深入上海街坊邻里,探寻国家政权与妇女劳工的微妙关系,并指出就城市妇女参加工作的长期影响而言,灾难性的大跃进运动实际上却起了始作俑者的积极作用,可谓塞翁失马,焉知非福。

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Andors, Phyllis. 1983. The Unfinished Liberation of Chinese Women, 1949–1980. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Bauer, John, Feng, Wang, Riley, Nancy E. and Zhao, Xiaohua. 1992. “Gender inequality in urban China: education and employment.Modern China 18(3), 333370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Jeremy, and Johnson, Matthew D. (eds.). 2015. Maoism at the Grassroots: Everyday Life in China's Era of High Socialism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Croll, Elisabeth. 1995. Women and Rural Development in China: Production and Reproduction. Geneva: International Labour Office.Google Scholar
Davin, Delia. 1976. Woman-Work: Women and the Party in Revolutionary China. Glasgow: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Deng, Yunchao. 1994. Deng Yunchao wenji (Collected Works of Deng Yunchao). Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Evans, Harriet. 2008. The Subject of Gender: Daughters and Mothers in Urban China. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Joshua. 2006. “The remains of everyday: one hundred years of recycling in Beijing.” In Dong, Madeleine Yue and Goldstein, Joshua (eds.), Everyday Modernity in China. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 260302.Google Scholar
Harsch, Donna. 2008. Revenge of the Domestic: Women, the Family, and Communism in the German Democratic Republic. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Heilmann, Sebastian, and Perry, Elizabeth J. (eds.). 2011. Mao's Invisible Hand: The Political Foundations of Adaptive Governance in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.Google Scholar
Hershatter, Gail. 2007. Women in China's Long Twentieth Century. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Howell, Jude. 2016. “Adaptation under scrutiny: peering through the lens of community governance in China.Journal of Social Policy 45(3), 487506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, Jude, and Pringle, Tim. 2018. “Shades of authoritarianism and state–labour relations in China.” British Journal of Industrial Relations. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjir.12436.Google Scholar
Jiang, Yongping. 2001. “50 nian Zhongguo chengshi nüxing jiuye de huigong yu fansi” (Reflections on 50 years of female employment in urban China). In Qiufang, Li (ed.), Ban'ge shiji de funü fazhan (Half a Century of Women's Development). Beijing: Dangdai Zhongguo chubanshe, 152162.Google Scholar
Jin, Yihong, 2006. “‘Tie guniang’ zai sikao: Zhongguo wenhua dageming qijian de shehui xingbie yu laodong” (Rethinking the “iron girls”: gender and labour in China during the Cultural Revolution). Shehuixue yanjiu 1, 169193.Google Scholar
Jing'anqu difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui. 1996. Jing'anqu zhi (Gazetteer of Jing'an District). Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press.Google Scholar
Liu, Ping. 2007. “Chachu weifa dajian de xiangguan falü wenti yanjiu” (Research on legal issues regarding unauthorized building constructions). Zhengfu fazhi yanjiu, http://cpfd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CPFDTOTAL-SXZF200700001013.htm.Google Scholar
Lu, Hanchao. 1992. “Arrested development: cotton and cotton markets in Shanghai, 1350–1843.Modern China 18(4), 468499.Google Scholar
Lu, Hanchao. 1995. “Away from Nanking Road: small stores and neighborhood life in modern Shanghai.The Journal of Asian Studies 54(1), 92123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, Hanchao. 1999. Beyond the Neon Lights: Everyday Shanghai in the Early Twentieth Century. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, Wenrui. 1958. “Jin yi bu jiefang funü laodongli(Further liberating women's labour power). Laodong 15, 57.Google Scholar
MacFarquhar, Roderick. 1983. The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Maloney, William F. 2004. “Informality revisited.World Development 32(7), 1159–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qiu, Guosheng. 2009. “Ershi shiji wushi niandai Shanghai de funü jiefang yu canjia jiti shengchan” (Women's liberation and participation in collective production in 1950s Shanghai). Dangdai Zhongguo shi yanjiu 16(1), 7077.Google Scholar
Read, Benjamin L. 2012. Roots of the State: Neighborhood Organization and Social Networks in Beijing and Taipei. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Research Institute of All-China Women's Federation. 1991. Statistics on Chinese Women (1949–1989). Beijing: China Statistical Publishing House.Google Scholar
Richman, Barry M. 1969. Industrial Society in Communist China. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Salaff, Janet Weitzner. 1971. “Urban residential committees in the wake of the Cultural Revolution.” In Lewis, John Wilson (ed.), The City in Communist China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 289323.Google Scholar
Schurmann, Franz. 1968. Ideology and Organization in Communist China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Shanghai Changjiang hangyunzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui. 1997. Shanghai Changjiang hangyunzhi (Gazetteer of Shanghai's Yangtze River Shipping and Navigation). Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe.Google Scholar
Shanghai funüzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui. 2000. Shanghai funüzhi (Gazetteer of Shanghai's Women). Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe.Google Scholar
Shanghai laodong zhi bianzuan weiyuanhui. 1998. Shanghai laodong zhi (Shanghai Labour Gazetteer). Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe.Google Scholar
Shanghaishi difangzhi bangongshi. 2005. Shanghai tongzhi (Comprehensive Gazetteer of Shanghai). Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Shanghaishi tongjiju. 1989. Xin Shanghai sishi nian (Forty Years of New Shanghai). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Shanghaishi Xuhui quzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui. 1997. Xuhui quzhi (Xuhui District Gazetteer). Shanghai: Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe.Google Scholar
Shih, Ch'eng-chih. 1974. Urban Commune Experiments in Communist China. Westport, CT: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Teiwes, Frederick C., with Sun, Warren. 1999. China's Road to Disaster. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. 2011. World Population Prospects, The 2010 Revision. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Wang, Zheng. 2005. “‘State feminism’? Gender and socialist state formation in Maoist China.Feminist Studies 31(3), 519551.Google Scholar
Whyte, Martin King, and Parish, William L.. 1984. Urban Life in Contemporary China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Xu, Gang. 2013. Xiang xiang chengshi de fangfa (The Way the City Was Perceived). Taipei: Xinrui wenchuang.Google Scholar
Yao, Xianguo, and Xie, Sisheng. 2006. “The economic effects of occupational segregation: an analysis on occupational discrimination against Chinese urban female labour.Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences) 36(2), 7379.Google Scholar
Zhang, Niumei. 2014. “Lizhi yihuo kuangre: Shanghai jiating funü canyu gongye shengchan yanjiu” (Rationality or fanaticism: on Shanghai housewives’ participation in industrial production from 1958 to 1962). Journal of East China Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences) 1, 7884.Google Scholar
Zhang, Weiguo. 2016. “Mao Zedong shidai de yundong yu zuiming” (Political campaigns and accusations in Mao's era), http://2newcenturynet.blogspot.de/2016/09/blog-post_50.html.Google Scholar
Zhong, Xueping. 2010. “Women can hold up half the sky.” In Ban, Wang (ed.), Words and Their Stories: Essays on the Language of the Chinese Revolution. Leiden: Brill, 227247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhonggong Shanghai shiwei dangshi yanjiushi (ed.). 1999. Shanghai shehuizhuyi jianshe wushi nian (Fifty Years of Socialist Construction in Shanghai). Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zuo, Jiping, and Jiang, Yongping. 2009. Urban Women's Work and Family in Social Transition. Beijing: Contemporary China Publishing House.Google Scholar
(File titles are provided whenever they are available in the original)Google Scholar
SMA, A20-1-30.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-1-52-97. CCP Changbai Street Committee neighbourhood industry investigation report, 20 August 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-1-58. CCP Committee of Yangpu district, Shanghai, “Lilong funü canjia shehui laodong hou chuxian de xin maodun” (New contradictions arising from neighbourhood women participating in the social workforce), July 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-6-23. Industrial bureau report, 10 May 1960.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-7.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-15-15. Zhabei district report, “Jiedao lilong shengchan de qingkuang he zhuyao wenti” (The conditions of neighbourhood productions and key issues), 14 August 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-17. CCP Shanghai municipal branch internal bulletin, 16 March 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-24.Google Scholar
SMA, B29-2-899. “Guanyu fazhan jiedao gongye shengchan zhong jige wenti de yijian” (Comments and recommendations on issues concerning the development of street industry), 7 June 1960.Google Scholar
SMA, B123-5-327-11.Google Scholar
SMA, B158-1-459-42.Google Scholar
SMA, B158-1-569-134.Google Scholar
SMA, B158-2-9-66. CCP Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Handicraft Industry Committee report, 6 September 1965.Google Scholar
SMA, B182-1-1111-1.Google Scholar
SMA, B246-2-423.Google Scholar
SMA, B246-2-423-1. Shanghai Handicraft Bureau investigation team report on APTs, 4 March 1969.Google Scholar
SMA, B252-2-58. Shanghai Municipal Revolutionary Committee statistics report, 1973.Google Scholar
SMA, C21-2-2895. Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labour meeting minutes, 25 July 1966.Google Scholar
SMA, C31-1-61. Shanghai Municipal Women's Federation report, “Shanghaishi funü zuzhi qingkuang” (Organizational conditions of Shanghai's women), 1952.Google Scholar
(File titles are provided whenever they are available in the original)Google Scholar
SMA, A20-1-30.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-1-52-97. CCP Changbai Street Committee neighbourhood industry investigation report, 20 August 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-1-58. CCP Committee of Yangpu district, Shanghai, “Lilong funü canjia shehui laodong hou chuxian de xin maodun” (New contradictions arising from neighbourhood women participating in the social workforce), July 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-6-23. Industrial bureau report, 10 May 1960.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-7.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-15-15. Zhabei district report, “Jiedao lilong shengchan de qingkuang he zhuyao wenti” (The conditions of neighbourhood productions and key issues), 14 August 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-17. CCP Shanghai municipal branch internal bulletin, 16 March 1961.Google Scholar
SMA, A20-2-24.Google Scholar
SMA, B29-2-899. “Guanyu fazhan jiedao gongye shengchan zhong jige wenti de yijian” (Comments and recommendations on issues concerning the development of street industry), 7 June 1960.Google Scholar
SMA, B123-5-327-11.Google Scholar
SMA, B158-1-459-42.Google Scholar
SMA, B158-1-569-134.Google Scholar
SMA, B158-2-9-66. CCP Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Handicraft Industry Committee report, 6 September 1965.Google Scholar
SMA, B182-1-1111-1.Google Scholar
SMA, B246-2-423.Google Scholar
SMA, B246-2-423-1. Shanghai Handicraft Bureau investigation team report on APTs, 4 March 1969.Google Scholar
SMA, B252-2-58. Shanghai Municipal Revolutionary Committee statistics report, 1973.Google Scholar
SMA, C21-2-2895. Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labour meeting minutes, 25 July 1966.Google Scholar
SMA, C31-1-61. Shanghai Municipal Women's Federation report, “Shanghaishi funü zuzhi qingkuang” (Organizational conditions of Shanghai's women), 1952.Google Scholar