Feminism and China's New "Nora": Ibsen, Hu Shi, and Lu Xun

THE COMPAKATIST FEMINISM AND CHINA'S NEW "NORA": IBSEN, HU SHI & LU XUN Ying-Ying Chien During the May Fourth Cultural Movement of early twentieth-century China, the country's traditional feudal systems and values were being drasticaUy reevaluated and new ideas and models eagerly sought from the West in an attempt to modernize. The introduction of the works of Ibsen and especiaUy of his the image of Nora to China at this time exerted great influence on the thoughts and works of Chinese inteUectuals concerned with the issues of individual freedom and women's Uberation. Two ofthe most articulate and prolific Chinese critics of traditional Confucian ideology and its effects on society during this period were Hu Shi and Lu Xun, whose profound influence on China's inteUectuals and young people has been widely studied. Both writers acknowledge the influence ofIbsen on their thinking; in fact, they can be seen as responsible to a great extent for Ibsen's influence in the country. Each of the two Chinese writers modeled fictional female characters on Ibsen's Nora, which have been labeled "New Women" to distinguish them from the traditional Chinese ideal of a "good" and submissive woman. Since Hu Shi and Lu Xun were haüed as preeminent May Fourth inteUectuals, scholarly attention to them has focused primarüy on major topics popularized in that period, such as modernization, reaUsm, and social criticism (Lee, 1987, 1985; Semanov, 1980; Goldman, 1977). Recently, however, there has been increasing interest in the study of women's issues and female characters, specificaUy of foreign influence (such as Ibsen) on the work of Chinese writers ofthat period (Eide, 1987; Tam, 1985). StUl, a full-length study of their importance for women's issues in China from both the comparatist and feminist revisionist perspectives is needed. Considering the great impact of these writers' works on the formation ofthe prototypic New Woman in modern Chinese Uterature, the present study is intended to help fill a gap in this area of Uterary scholarship. This paper incorporates the methods ofboth comparative influence study and feminist revisionist critique (Showalter, Kolodny, 1985; Rich, 1972)'?? reexamine the presentation ofso-called "New Women" characters in the works of Hu and Lu. In terms ofthe comparative perspective, in addition to simüarities, the less widely acknowledged crucial differences between Ibsen's themes and those of Hu and Lu wiU be addressed and emphasized. In terms of the feminist perspective (de Lauretis; Chow) more fundamentaUy, the representation offemininity and the rise of the New Women characters modeled after Nora in both writers' literary works wiU be specificaUy questioned and reevaluated. While the May Fourth writers no doubt saw themselves as using "new" Western notions to 'liberate" Chinese women for the sake of the Vol. 19 (1995): 97 IBSEN, HU SHI & LU XUN nation, a feminist view of the appearance of New Women in Chinese fiction casts a different Ught on the matter. A critical look at Western influence and the fictional Chinese New Women characters reveals a sort of double oppression/silencing of Chinese women. First, Chinese male inteUectuals prescribed a "new" role for Chinese women to passively foUow, and secondly, the standards these intellectuals looked to for this role were foreign ones that were subtly adapted for the sake of "modern" China, not for that of women per se. The specific textual reflexes ofthis double oppression can be seen in the two works of fiction that I consider: Hu's play Life's Great Event (Zhongsheng dashi, 1919) and Lu's story "Regret for the Past" ("Shangshi," 1925). In order to evaluate the notion of"New Woman" as presumably Ulustrated by these two writers, specific attention wiU be paid to rereading these works to question the vaUdity of the label "New Woman," as weU as explore the interpretation and representation offemale heroines in both. I. China's Ibsen and Nora In June 1918, the publication of a special issue of New Youth (Xin qingnien) magazine on Ibsen marked the welcome arrival ofIbsen and his Nora on the Chinese Uterary scene. This pubUcation included a biography ofIbsen, translations ofADoll's House, An Enemy ofthe People, and Little Eyolf, as well as articles on Ibsenism. The issue...