Changing Perceptions of Marriage

IN a Beijing hospital a group of young women from Heze, Shandong Province, work as temporary employees. When the Beijing No. 1 Hospital Attached to Beijing Medical Sciences University was recruiting oddjob helpers in their hometown, these young rural women grasped the opportunity.     

They Melt "Hard Ice" Women Wardresses Preside Over Weibei Jail

WEIBEI Jail is located in the north of the Weifang area, Shandong Province. Its 8th brigade of women prisoners is a holding facility for most women convicts in Shandong. Nearly 20 policewomen work in the facility and are in charge of more than 300 convicts from Yantai, Qingdao, Weihai and Weifang. In order to reform criminals to observe laws so that they     

不少女性不想过早做母亲(英文)

The Social Survey Agency of China has conducted a survey among 600 married women in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, which shows that 39 percent women do not want to be a mother early.     

短讯(英文)

Becently a survey was conducted among 2,055 urban women from 18 to 40 years old in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenyang. According to them, independence and equality between men and women are the striking features of women in the new century. 63.2 percent were willing to compete with men in the workplace. In terms of the best family mode, 42.2 percent of them partially agree that a perfect woman needs to     

Sexual Equality, Contradictions Between Beliefs and Reality

"The Beijing Area Study" (BAS) is a large-scale social investigation and research project planned and implemented by the Beijing University Research Centre for Contemporary China together with the Beijing Municipal Government Policy Research Office. The purpose of the survey is to understand the attitudes of Beijing residents towards the changing social atmosphere under a market economy. It also includes some questions related to women's issues.This BAS survey questions people between the ages of 18 and 70, and is carried out once a year, in order to keep a current database.     

女性新闻(英文)

University for Elderly Women Established in Beijing中国第一所妇女老年大学在北京成立The China Women's Development Foundation established the country's first university for elderly women on February 21,2008.The university is in Beijing. The purpose of the university is to offer elderly women a favorable place in which they can enrich their lives,expand their knowledge,cultivate their interests and make friends, Gu Xiulian,Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and President of the All...     

Editors Discuss Women's Publications

IT was only about ten years ago that there were only a few of newspapers and periodicals about women in China. But China has seen a rapid development of newspapers and periodicals on women since it began the policy of reform and opening to the outside world. Today the All-China Women's Federation and local women's federations sponsor and publish 47 different publications about women and children, some of which have a circulation of more than one million. These colorful, influential women's newspapers and periodicals are now some of the most interesting publications in China. Why have these publications been so successful? Recently our staff reporter interviewed several women chief editors about their work. The following interviews are in their own words.     

China's Floating Population

HAIXIA, a young housekeeper working for my family, left her hometown in Wuwei County, Anhui Province, and came to Beijing two years ago when she was only 18 years of age. Her older sister and cousin also work as housekeepers in our neighborhood compound. The older relatives, both of whom have worked in Beijing for a number of years, visited their hometown and convinced Haixia to come to the city to seek work. Just as many other young village women, Haixia graduated from junior middle school and failed to win     

“女强人”新解(英文)

The 2006 "Special Forum on Women's Leadership," was hosted by the Guanghua Administration Institute of Beijing University. Here, several women who attended the forum give their perspectives on the highlights and challenges of being a woman leader. 在北京大学光华管理学院2006新年论坛“女性领导力专场”上,与会者对中国现代女性高级管理者的现状和所面临的挑战各抒己见。 Organizer: 'The Term Iron Lady Generated Heated Debate.' 活动组织者:“‘女强人’含义惹争议。” Lin Lanjuan, one of the forum's organizers, said, "Through the survey, we have discovered that many senior women administrators oppose the term 'Iron Lady,' as they believe that, in addition to the acknowledgement of their career success, it hints that their family relations lack harmony. It also implies social discrimination against them. However, most of the women leaders feel society is becoming more tolerant, and they have a neutral position on the term."     

Women Promoted Industry at Turn of Century

IN the early years of the Republic of China (1912-1949), a great upsurge to promote industry and commerce spread across the country. Women, who were used to doing spinning and weaving, became involved in this industrialization. In early 1912 women intellectuals wrote newspaper editorials advocating women to initiate industrial and commercial enterprises. They said that women were not suited to work in industries such as the railways, mines, and navigation, but were suited for work in spinning and textile mills, breeding silkworms, raising tea, and working in handicrafts factories. They hoped that women would pool their funds to set up business organizations, improve their lives and become economically independent.     

Close to Wurina

AT the Central University for Nationalities campus, I met a Mongolian teacher. Knowing I am a journalist in charge of the column "Ethnic Women," he opened-up. He told me that Mongolian women are traditionally good at singing and dancing, warm-hearted, outspoken and industrious. Pride can be read from his words, "At the Central University for Nationalities, there are a lot of female Mongolian teachers. Prof. Wurina, who teaches the history of foreign literature in the Chinese Department, is one of the most prominent. She is deputy to Haidian District People's Congress of Beijing.     

Disabled Woman Heads Beijing Fans Association

THE next time you go to a football match in Beijing, look around the edge of the field. You might see a young woman in a wheelchair cheering her favorite team. Wu Jinghong is more than a handicapped person, more than a woman football fan. She is the head of the Beijing Football Fans Association, a group more than 1,000 members strong. Wu alone started the association in 1988 and because she is a woman, encouraged other women fans to openly support their favorite teams.     

Women's Dress in Modern China (2)

THE changes in collars, sleeves and lace of women's clothing should be regarded as changes in form. But the early 20th century also saw changes in the ideology of and attitudes towards women's fashions. The first striking change was that women began to adopt men's fashions. Some women who struggled for emancipation chose to dress as men in order to change the image of women as delicate and frail. Around 1903, Qiu Jin, a famous woman fighter of the Chinese democratic revolution, lived in Beijing. A Japanese friend was deeply impressed by     

Recalling the Iron Girls

The phrase "iron girl" is symbolic of an era. Widely used in the 1960s and the early 1970s, it was a term that described women who, in the spirit of sexual equality, found in themselves a physical strength that surpassed their psychologi cal expectations. With their might and power, they proved to society that women could do everything that men could. The title of "iron girl" was their pride.The well-known writer Fan Xiaoqing, was one such iron girl. She says the "iron girls" were nothing less than a quest for perfection.     

Rural Women Get Help from Women Students

SINCE more and more rural women have become involved in commercial production, they have become more and more eager to learn about scientific technology. The Women's Federation of Beijing had long been looking for a direct and effective way to help them. Luo Xiaolu, vicedirector of the Federation, found in her investigation of the present conditions of intellectual women in Beijing that women students were also eager to get in touch with society. Then she had an idea that women students in universities and colleges should go to the countryside. Thus, an activity developed called "women college students and rural women, hand in hand."     

To Our Readers, on the 40th Anniversary of the Magazine

Dear readers, Women of China was first issued in 1956, a full 40 years ago. In that time, the magzine's format has changed from a quarterly, to a bi-monthly, to a monthly. Our magazine is distributed in more than 130 countries and regions and is well-received by our readers. Women of China is a comprehensive English monthly concerned with the conditions of Chinese women. It aims to enhance contacts and exchanges between Chinese women and women from all over the world, and to increase their understanding and friendship. In the 40 years, forerunners in Chinese women's movement and women state leaders, Soong Ching Ling, Cai Chang, Deng Yingchao, Kang Keqing and     

Joint Exhibition of Women Painters from Beijing and Hong Kong

Hong Kong's return to China is another supreme symbol of peace and dignity. Celebrating this historical occasion, Beijing Women Painters' Association and Hong Kong Contemporary Women Painters' Association held a joint exhibition in Beijing, providing women painters from Hong Kong and the mainland an opportunity to learn from each other. Over more than a century time has brought great changes to the world. The Chinese women's profound love and pursuit of a unified culture for the Chinese nation makes their arts all the more splendid.     

妇女进步与我们的未来 全国妇联副主席孟晓驷在香港“北京＋15妇女地位论坛”上的演讲（摘要）

It is my pleasure to be here in Hong Kong at the Beijing ＋ 15 Forum of Status of Women amid the elegance and charm of China＇s Pearl of the Orient, and to have the opportunity to meet and discuss with the women of Hong Kong their good works. As this year marks the 15th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, it is an apt date indeed for the Hong Kong Federation of Women to hold this forum. One hundred years ago, the Second International Socialist Women＇s Conference designated March 8 International Women＇s Day. Since then, March 8 has been a festival for women around the world.     

老式床(英文)

These ancient beds shown here usually consist of two parts: a base for the mattress and a frame for hanging a mosquito net. The structure of the bed in the north is more complicated than southern designs, and can include an impressive amount of carved timber. The carvings either depict Beijing opera or folk legends. The bed as a whole is a piece of great artistry. In the Chinese feudal society, women were not allowed to show their faces in public or to participate in important family activities. So the bed became a place where women spent     

"Readers Forum" in Shanghai

On 23 April in Shanghai, a "Readers Forum" was held by Women of China to promote contact and exchangewith our readers and improve our work. It was a great honor that some of our foreign women readers, who areliving in Shanghai with their families on business at present, joined us, and nine of them made speeches at theforum. Moreover, two readers who couldn't attend the forum in person, accepted a telephone interview. Shown hereare their kind comments and suggestions for our magazine.