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28 China Review International: Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 1995 about the introduction ofWestern science into China through the mediation ofthe Jesuits. Xu Minglong I1FBSII, ed., Zhongxi wenhuajiaoliu xianqu tíi1'MXi'u^M%W (The forerunners ofthe cultural exchange between China and the West: From Ricci to Castiglione) (Beijing: Dongfang, 1993), 375 pp. ISBN 7-5060-0421-6. A collection of more than twenty biographies of missionaries (mostly Jesuits) all written by mainland scholars. Etiemble, Gernet ärfflliilffu'B)', et al.; Geng Sheng ?ß> trans., Ming-Qingjian ruhua yesuhuishi he ZhongXi wenhuajiaoliu WftT$\W$1^±$W¥$i~&A]ä£M (Jesuits who entered China in the transition period between Ming and Qing and the cultural exchange between China and the West) (Chengdu: Bashu, 1993). 311 pp., ISBN 7-80523-525-2/G.19. A collection oftranslated articles from the Actes du Colloque International de Sinologie held in Chantilly, France. Sun Shangyang Wk%, Li Madou yu Xu Guangqi iïMÏÏWtèJtfê (M. Ricci and Xu Guangqi) (Beijing: Xinhua, 1993), ISBN 7-5011-2140-0/G.791. A book by a young scholar whose Ph.D. dissertation on a similar subject was published in Taibei in 1992. H. Bernard, S.J., Üftfr, and Guan Zhenhu ^UM, trans., Li Madou pingzhuan ^IJSBfffPW (A critical biography ofM. Ricci) (Beijing: Commercial Press, 1993), ISBN 7-100-01228-7/ K.230. Translation of the famous work Le Père Matthieu Ricci et la société chinoise de son temps, first published in Sienhsien in 1937. M Christina K. Gilmartin, Gail Hershatter, Lisa Rofel, and Tyrene White, editors. Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State. Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London: Harvard University Press, 1994. xii, 454 pp. Hardcover $49.95. Paperback $22.95. The publication ofthis collection marks the beginning a new era in Sinology, feminist inquiry, and dialogue between East and West. As pronounced by the editors and indicated by the title, the objective of this project is not simply to add gender as another category. By viewing China through the lens of gender, this volume contributes to an undertaking that promises to transform and vitalize the entire landscape ofSinology. With regard to feminist inquiry, the work ofWestern feminist scholars represents intellectual endeavors which are rooted in, but are struggling to grow beyond, the Western feminist tradition of the '70s and '80s. The work ofactivists and scholars in China constitutes an effort to define their own© 1995 bv University agenaa in the face ofanumber ofpowerful forces: Western feminism, the socialist ofHawai'i Pressstate, newly arrived capitalism, and patriarchal practices lingering from the past. The editors of this volume, Christina K. Gilmartin, Gail Hershatter, Lisa Rofel, and Tyrene White, deserve additional applause for their effort to rectify the Feature Reviews 29 existing hierarchical relationship between Western feminists, as the theory producers , and indigenous feminist scholars, as suppliers ofthe raw materials. It is a major breakthrough in the politics ofthe representation of Chinese women for this volume to include translations ofkey Chinese thinkers and researchers on women's issues in China. Activists and scholars such as Chen Yiyun, Gao Xiaoxian, and Li Xiaojiang have had a major impact on women's studies in China, but before this their work has never been introduced to the field outside China. Their concerns and insights as articulated in this volume open up avenues for potentially fruitful dialogue between East and West. This volume assembles sixteen articles organized around four topics: "Beyond Family, Household and Kinship"; "Sex and Social Order"; "Where Liberation Lies"; and "Becoming Women in the Post-Mao Era." Although the articles come from a variety ofdisciplines, they all address one underlying issue: the politics in the representation of Chinese women. I will therefore organize the main body of my review around this central theme, and look at three different aspects of the issue. Rather than touch on each contribution, this review seeks to point out major breakthroughs, raise unanswered questions, and identify future directions. In the first section, I focus on the articles by Katherine Carlitz, Susan Mann, and Gail Hershatter that treat the category "Chinese women" as an ideological construct. I will also review Charlotte Furth's article, which calls for a rethinking of R. H. Van Gulik's work. The...

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