Across the Geo-political Landscape
: Chinese Women Intellectuals’ Political Networks in the Wartime Era 1937-1949

Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisDoctor of Philosophy

Abstract

Examining women intellectuals’ political networks across different political parties, organisations and institutions, my PhD thesis aims to provide an in-depth analysis of women intellectuals’ political engagement, communication and identification during the War of Resistance (1937-1945) and the following Civil War (1946-1949). Taking “network” as an approach to study modern Chinese history, this thesis aims to reveal and interpret the historical dynamics of war, politics and gender in the 1930s and 1940s China, at national, local and individual levels.
Focusing on “women intellectuals” as both a social and political group active in the KMT-held major cities, this thesis places their networks in the spaces of knowledge and identity making, in the context of China’s war and crisis. I consider the process of their political engagement and identification as both a reflection and a component of the wartime geo-political landscape. I also argue that the War of Resistance enlarged the geographical, social, cultural and political spaces for women intellectuals’ political networking cross party lines and political boundaries. These spaces were never fixed, but changing according to the social, political and economic conditions, within which women intellectuals’ political identification with the KMT, the CCP, and the minor political parties were shaped and reshaped.
Breaking through the “barrier” years of 1937, 1945 and 1949, this thesis aims to demonstrate both the consistencies and variations in women intellectuals’ political networking, not only during the War of Resistance, but also before and after the War. And avoiding a teleological view of the wartime women’s movement based on CCP narratives after 1949, I will not only analyse archival documents collected from non-CCP organisations but also explore the personal accounts of women intellectuals who held different political affiliations during the War. By revealing the complexity, diversity and flexibility of women intellectuals’ political networks, this thesis will deepen the current knowledge of the social and political transformations in wartime China.
Date of Award2015
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • King's College London
SupervisorAnna Boermel (Supervisor) & Jennifer Altehenger (Supervisor)

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