Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.7, 2013

 

A Wide Open Space and Female Liberation: A Review of Women Writers in Yan’an

(Abstract)

 

Zhao Xueyon

 

In the 1930s-1940s, when drastic changes were taking place and when national survival was at risk, a group of women writers gathered in Yan’an, forming a prominent creative group. With state independence and national liberation in mind, they went through a hard spiritual transformation, broadened their vision of creation, and engaged themselves in the cultural design and construction of New China in a peculiar way. They exhibited a strong group characteristic of female liberation and social revolution, which imbued their discourse with richness and multi-dimensionality. The women writers in Yan’an opened up a new space of expression for women’s discourse characterized by a distinct sense of history, aspiration and mission. Their contribution was irreplaceably important to the development of new Chinese literature, particularly female literature.