Understanding Women's Status and Legal Rights

IN this new column we will introduce to readers the laws relating to women and children. To understand this is very important if you want to study Chinese women's status and legal rights. In 1982, the principle that women enjoy equal rights with men was written into the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which was originally promulgated in 1954. In the new Constitution of the PRC that was revised and adopted in 1982,     

Kenyan Women's Delegation in Beijing

"I didn't have much chance to look at China the last time I was here, but what I've seen this time is amazing. This opportunity is good for me to look at the insight of Chinese women," said Zipporah J. Kittony, the president of Kenya's largest nongovernmental women's organization—the Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization—upon being warmly received by Chen Muhua (R), President of the All-China Women's Federation, and Huang Qizao (1st L), Vice President of the ACWF.     

Looking Back to Make a New Start——The 40th Anniversary of Women of China Magazine

ON June 26, 1996, Women of China held festivities in the International Hotel of Beijing to celebrate the 40th birthday of this English monthly. Chen Muhua, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and President of the All-China Women's Federation, Lei Jieqiong, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the NPC, Ma Yuzhen, Deputy Minister of the Information Office of the State Council and more than 200 female celebrities from all walks of life, as well as some foreign experts in Beijing were present at the celebration. With beautiful pictures and comprehensive reporting, Women of China started publication in 1956, aiming to introduce China and the situation of Chinese women to the outside world. China's only English-language women's magazine, Women of China consistantly gives comprehensive coverage of issues of concern to the international community. Its writers focus on the empowerment of women, Chinese women's advancement in the market economy, women lifting them     

To Our Readers

WE, the staff of Women of China would like to wish you a happy new year. Last autumn, the Seventh National Congress of Chinese Women was held in Beijing. It summarized the experience of the women's movement, the kind of work done by women during the reform and opening over the last 15 years, and defined the task for the women's movement in the 1990s. The successes have greatly insoired millions of Chinese women to thrive for the country. Our magazine will report more about all nationalities of women who are involved in the reform and     

THE SITUATION OF CHINESE WOME (Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China)

On June 2. the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued a White Paper in Beijing about the situation of Chinese women.The 20, 000-word white Paper consists of a foreuord and eight parts. Through a large number of facts and data, it introduces in details hou' Chinese uomen obtained historical liberation during the new' democratic rerolution and socialist rerolution led by the Chinese Communist Party, and how under the socialist system Chinese women hare stepped onto the path of equality and derelopment and become an important force in China's construction, derelopment and progress.In Seplember 1995, the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women is to be held in Beijing. To satisfy our readers' desire to knou' about the situation of Chinese women, we will publish the excerpls of the White paper, "The Situalion, of Chinese Women," in this and the Norember issue of our, magazine.     

The Times are Changing Women's Employment

IN the mid- and late-1980s a debate was held in China concerning the issue of women's employment. It was a time when economic reform involved both the management and labor force of the country's state-rum enterprises. What the Chinese women in the workforce had experienced from the late 1980s to the early 1990s in many ways differed from our predictions about the debate. Perhaps we can make a closer analysis of the trend in Chinese women's employment by learning the differences. Both the employment rate and the population of Chinese women in urban and rural areas have steadily grown as the economy has developed. In 1982 the Chinese workforce was     

Women and the Environment: Declaration Encourages Active Participation

JUNE 5, 1994 has been mandated World Environment Day. On this day the first meeting on Women and the Environment in China was held in Beijing and the Declaration of Chinese Women on Environment was established. According to the declaration, environmental pollution and the destruction of the ecology have posed a serious threat to the survival of the human race. It has become a great issue of common concern. The functions of women in procreation and social development are directly affected by the deterioration of the environment. It is the common interest of the populations of the world to protect the environment. The declaration notes that Chinese women are greatly concerned about the environmental conditions of their     

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     

Follow-up Actions of the FWCW

In order to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Chinese government issued and implemented the "Program for the Development of Chinese Women, 1996-2000." The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), in accordance with the 12 priority areas set by the Platform for Action, has taken active and fruitful measures in such areas as poverty-relief for women, education for women, reemployment for laid-off women workers, women's political participation, the protection of women's rights and interests, cultivating family culture, the protection of children's rights and interests, international communication, etc. Chinese women are gearing up for the 21st century from a new position.     

City Women Confront New Choices

THE Chinese economic reform has pushed society into a period of transformation. City women—especially career women—once again are confronted with new choices. Compared to Nora's choice to leave or stay at home, as depicted in the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, the Chinese career women's choice is obviously more complicated. It involves social roles and the expectations society has about their gender. Several women doctoral students with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently talked about this issue.     

Early Women's Newspapers and Magazines in China

WOMEN'S newspapers and magazines began to appear in China almost a century ago, during the Constitutional Reform and Modernization (1898), which is also referred as the Reform Movement of 1898. When the western bourgeois democratic ideology was introduced to China at the end of the 19th century, the Chinese bourgeoisie, influenced by the thought of equality of the sexes, initiated the women's movement. This movement was mainly characterized by promoting women's education, the abolition of foot-binding and the founding of publications for women.     

读者来信

Dear Women of China, I am currently directing The World Made by Women （BBC/CCTV）, a landmark BBC documentary series on the global history of women, One of the fihns in the series will locus on the roles and fates of women under Confucianism and Buddhism -- to be filmed in Vietnanl, China and Japan. 1 am keen to explore gender ideology during the Ham Tang and Song dynasties in China. 1 am very keen to interview and talk to female Chinese historians,     

How to Be Women Leaders?

CHEN Muhua, Vice Chairperson of the China National People's Congress Standing Committee and President of the All-China Women's Federation, once had this to say about Chinese women's situation in the high-ranking decision-making positions. Although a large number of women have become leaders in many fields, she said, most of them take deputy-level positions and in fields traditionally viewed as     

EDITORIAL MAILBOX

I was happy to read the June 1996 issue of Women of China by chance and come to know something about Chinese women from your magazine. I found that there are good references and realities concerning Chinese women in your magazine which are useful to those women who are striving for development in other countries, like Nepal.     

A Health Club for Women Opens in Beijing

THE Xinhongzhuang Beauty and Health Club located near the foreign embassy area in Beijing is the first of its kind in China to provide services to women only. Though this club is a novelty in China, clubs catering to women's concern for beauty and fitness are popular in many cities in the world. The founder of the club said that the purpose of opening is to remake the image of the women of Beijing. "It should be an entirely new and perfect image," she said. Miss Ye, 32, is a general manager of a real estate company. It was not easy for her     

They Walked out of Home—The First High Tide of Chinese Women's Employment

THE founding of New China in 1949 put an end to a half century of strife and war in China. Encouraged by the government of New China and because of the state's need to resume production and develop the economy, Chinese women, who for thousands of years had been enclosed within the walls of their home, obtained the right and the chance for extensive employment for the first time. They took a historical step out of their homes. At the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) which was held just before the founding of New China, the "CPPCC Common Program"     

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     

Chinese Women's Role in Environmental Protection

WOMEN have played a key role in sustainable development worldwide. In China, women are regarded as "half the sky." Like women from all walks of life, Chinese women have been the new force in environmental protection.     

Editor’s Notes

CHINA has achieved great leaps in the 20 years since it launched itsreform. Economically it has reached a vital junction — the reform ofstate-owned enterprises. China is aiming to enable the majority of thelarge- or medium-sized state-owned enterprises to rid themselves of deficitand those serving as China's economic backbone to establish a modernenterprise system, all by the end of the century. This is the hard, urgent taskfacing the Chinese people. In this reform, women have given, and are stillgiving, an important contribution. Wang Hongming, General Manager of theShenyang Dawn Garments Group, provides a suitable focus for this issue.     

There Is Green Grass Everywhere

Elizabeth's arrival in our life came by a chance event.But she makes me believe that in America,in China and in any other corner of the world,there are people who have lofty minds and who are ready to give their love to others.I believe this is especially true among women,as they communicate with not only language but also with their heart.It is because of women that this world has a better understanding among peoples of all nationalities.It makes this world a better place to live in.