Women Warriors and Wartime Spies of China

Abstract

In this compelling new study, Louise Edwards explores the lives of some of China's most famous women warriors and wartime spies through history. Focusing on key figures including Hua Mulan, Zheng Pingru and Liu Hulan, this book examines the ways in which these extraordinary women have been commemorated through a range of cultural mediums including film, theatre, museums and textbooks. Whether perceived as heroes or anti-heroes, Edwards shows that both the popular and official presentation of these women and their accomplishments has evolved in line with China's shifting political values and circumstances over the past one hundred years. Written in a lively and accessible style with illustrations throughout, this book sheds new light on the relationship between gender and militarisation and the ways that women have been exploited to glamorise war both historically in the past and in China today.

Militiawomen, Red Guards, and Images of Female Militancy in Maoist China

“…It is the militiawomen's femininity, their youth and beauty, that underscores the pervasiveness of military training and the readiness of the entire nation to defend the country-down to those groups within the population that according to more conventional notions of gender relations would be those to be defended. 38 It is not incidental that, according to one version of the story describing how Mao Zedong wrote his poem for Li Yuanhui, he added the most conventional and ubiquitous trope about armed women: "You young people should be courageous, you should not emulate Lin Daiyu [the tragic and frail heroine of Honglou meng (红楼梦 Dream of the red chamber)], but Hua Mulan and Mu Guiying." 39 The latter two legendary women warriors entered the army in their father's and husband's stead; Louise Edwards has shown that the literary figure of Hua Mulan actually worked to stabilize rather than disrupt the patriarchal system.…”

Jeep Girls and American GIs: Gendered Nationalism in Post–World War II China

“…For studies on women warriors and sex spying during 1930s and 1940s China, especially concerning the conflicting calls for female fidelity and national service, seeEdwards (2016Edwards ( , 2020.…”