CSWS Newsletter

Contents:

1. CSWS Members Meeting 2000
2. Election of the New Board
3. Reports from CSWS Members
4. Welcome New Members
5. Announcements
6. CSWS Membership Renewal

1. CSWS MEMBERS MEETING IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE 2000 AAS CONFERENCE IN SAN DIEGO (March 9-12, 2000)
CSWS will hold its annual members meeting in conjunction with the 2000 AAS conference. The CSWS members meeting will be held on March 10 (Friday) at 7:00 p.m. The pre-registration deadline is February 14, 2000.

2. NOMINATIONS TO THE NEW BOARD (2000-2002)
As we are about to bid farewell to the year 1999 and welcome the new landmark year 2000, it is time to elect our new board members. Members below have expressed their intent in serving the organization and submitted their personal statements. If you are interested in a position or want to recommend someone, please contact Hui LI by email (dawnli98@aol.com) or by phone (301-515-6853) by February 14, 2000. Results will be announced at the AAS members meeting.

Nominee: Ping-Chun HSIUNG
Position: Co-Chair

Ping-Chun HSIUNG, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Toronto, Scarborough College, Canada.

My research and teaching interests: feminist theories, methodology, and epistemology; tensions and dialogue between local and global feminisms, and between academic/intellectual pursue and community activism; gender and development.

1) facilitate a mechanism that may encourage more individual members to participate in the Society's functions;

2) build a base for closer consultation and dialogue with scholars and activists in China;

3) explore alternative forms of activist organizing by taking advantages of the information technology.

Nominee: Yanmei WEI
Position: Co-Chair

Yanmei WEI, Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the State University of New York at Stony Park.

My name is Yanmei WEI. I came from Nanjing, China. I will receive a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook this December. I currently teach at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. I have been a member of the Chinese Society for Women's Studies (CSWS) since 1995, and have participated in many of the translation projects and conferences organized by the Society.

As co-chair of the CSWS, I will strive to continue the good work of the previous officers in promoting the international activism for the welfare of Chinese women. Our Society has seen rapid growth since its establishment ten years ago. Joining CSWS was one of the most important decisions I made in graduate school, as I have truly benefited from the camaraderie and intellectual exchange among members of the society. Through active recruiting and fund-raising, I hope to spread the name of our organization, increase its membership rolls, and further its development. In addition, I'd like to facilitate more communication and collaboration within the society at both the formal and informal levels. For example, we have a wonderful web site now; in the future it can certainly become a regular space for on-line discussion and brainstorming among the members. As for project development, I think we should continue to sponsor feminist activities that aim at incorporating the concerns and approaches of Chinese studies and women's studies. As we introduce Western feminist concepts and activism into China through workshops and translation projects, we can also organize conferences and exhibitions, produce radio and TV programs that present contemporary and complex images of Chinese women to the outside world as well as initiate dialogs between the Chinese women and their counterparts in other parts of the world. To accomplish this, I will work with fellow board members at the Society to mobilize the collective resources and efforts of members sister organizations, women's studies programs, and various agencies. It is a daunting task, but given the interdisciplinary nature of our membership, and the progress we have made so far down this road, I am confident we can achieve our goals.

Nominee: Jiping ZUO
Position: Newsletter Editor

Jiping ZUO, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of East Asian Studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

I joined CSWS in 1997 and have benefited a great deal from the organization regarding conference opportunities, networking in Chinese academia, and others. Now I would like to take this re-election opportunity to express my desire to serve the organization. The position I am running for is the CSWS newsletter editor. CSWS newsletters have played an important role in making possible effective communications among CSWS members around the world, disseminating information to facilitate academic exchange and activities, increasing the publicity of CSWS as an active organization promoting studies of women in China as well as connecting CSWS with a broader circle of women's studies. If I get elected, I would try to keep up the good work of previous newsletter editors. I would work closely with other board members to make the newsletter serve the purpose of the organization. I would also try to incorporate new ideas and suggestions to make further improvements. Like everyone else, I am tied up by many work demands, neither do I have much experience with newsletter editing, but I am sure I will survive with the support of the all CSWS members.

Nominee: Emily Mei-hwa LEE
Position: Treasurer

Emily Mei-hwa LEE, Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Iowa.

My name is Emily Mei-hwa LEE and I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa. I am currently living in the Washington D.C. metro area while writing my dissertation titled "A Story of Tactics: Negotiating State and Society in Chengdu City, China." My research interests are: anthropology of China, gender and anthropology, feminist ethnography, state and society. During this school year, I am able to dedicate my time entirely to writing due to the generous support of the Seashore Fellowship, granted through my university. Meanwhile, I am honored to be involved with CSWS and hope to contribute to the society more fully in the coming year.

When I was first introduced to CSWS, I was particularly drawn to its efforts in bridging the local implementations of feminist activism with academic theorizings about gender through the exchanges between Chinese feminists at home and in the diaspora. As a participant of CSWS, I wish to be part of this process. As treasurer, I will donate my time towards the practical maintenance and management of the organization while supporting others to expand membership, existing programs, and communication.

Hui LI, our current newsletter editor and Web publisher, has agreed to continue her work on the Web site. She looks forward to working with the new board members to improve the Web site, making it truly a useful communication tool. Your ideas and comments regarding the Web site are appreciated.

3. REPORTS FROM CSWS MEMBERS

Report on the 10th Anniversary Conference

By LI Zongmin, Ph.D.

The conference, "Reevaluation and Repositioning - Gender, Women's Agency and Development in China at the Threshold of the New Century", was jointly organized by the Chinese Society for Women's Studies, Inc. (CSWS), the Women's Studies Program of Tufts University, and the Gender Studies Workshop of Fairbanks Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University. Held on March 10th and 11th, 1999 in Boston, USA, the conference was occasioned by the 10th anniversary of CSWS, an organization that was founded in 1989 by a small group of pioneering women scholars and that has now grown into an association of over 100 members residing in over 10 countries. The goal of the conference was to promote discussions among scholars with a wide range of perspectives and to identify new approaches to meet the challenges of the new century.

The Boston of March 9th saw unexpected snow storms, but participants from various parts of the world - Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada and United Kingdom - and different parts of the US arrived in time for the conference, despite the air flight delays. With the conference open to the students and faculty of the two host universities, over 80 people attended the conference on the first day, and over 60 on the second day.

The conference focused on women/gender studies and women and development in China.There were ten panels in total, with topics ranging over a broad spectrum of issues and disciplines. 45 participants presented papers at these sessions. Their topics included the following:

1) Women's studies in China
2) Women and development in China
3) Gender and women's agency
4) Women's image and representation
5) Women studies in the US
6) The contention between feminism and nationalism
7) Women's identification and position in a transitional economy
8) Negotiating the personal and public: women, morality and modernity in reform-era China
9) Gender roles and women's literary writing
10) Reevaluation and repositioning a decade of CSWS.

The conference provided a rare opportunity for interactions among women scholars, professionals and activists, some of whom had worked on the same projects before. Imagine the excitement when colleagues who worked only on the phone or email for a period of time could now talk face to face again. Enthusiasm could be felt in the hallways and the hotel rooms. Everyone was eager to contribute, and to exchange views and information with others. Because of the tight schedule of the conference, many thoughtful presentations left little time for discussions at the sessions. Participants made use of the evenings and continued their discussions late into the night.

On the first evening, the participants who stayed at the Friendly Inn gathered together and exchanged experiences and research projects. On the second evening, CSWS had a business meeting. The board members reported CSWS' work projects and yearly expenditures. All members were encouraged to discuss the effectiveness of the projects and the management of CSWS' funds. There was a lively but inconclusive debate on how to best balance academic research and social development activities in CSWS' future work.

The funding of the conference was provided by Tufts University and the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research of Harvard University. The air fares and accommodations of a few scholars from Mainland China were funded by the Ford Foundation in Beijing.

Report on the 10th Anniversary Conference
By LI Hui Ying

LI Hui Ying has written an extensive report on the Boston conference in Chinese, which will appear in "Women Studies Series" sponsored by All-China Women's Federation. Click here for her article.

Collection of Papers Presented at CSWS' Boston
Conference, March, 1999 Planned to Be Published

By SU Hongjun, Ph.D

We have heard many positive comments on the conference entitled "Re-evaluation and Repositioning: Gender, Women's Agency and Development in China at the Threshold of the New Century," Boston, March 10-11, 1999.

At the suggestions of some participants of the conference, we have decided to publish a scholarly collection of articles presented at the conference.

As the title of the conference suggests, the collection will concentrate on important new areas of study in the area of Chinese women and feminism. It will include perspectives from different fields, approaches, and methodologies engaged in various disciplines. We consider this collection a continuous dialogue on projects concerning feminist inquiries into Chinese women that Christina K. Gilmartin Gail Hershatter, Lisa Rofel and Tyrene White pursued in their "Engendering China" (1994). Our collection focuses on critical inquiries into themes such as the complexity of Chinese women's agency, the challenges that Chinese women are encountering in recent economic development, the generational, geographical, and ethnic diversity of Chinese women, and the dynamic relationship between contemporary Chinese feminist consciousness and the globalization of feminism.

The editors of the collection are: SU Hongjun, MA Yuanxi, Chris Gilmartin and Delia Davin. We plan to have the collection published in late 2000 or early 2001 after we secure a publisher.

Inquiries concerning this collection may be directed to:

SU, Hongjun, 415 S. Summit Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52240; 319-354-9360; hongjun-su@uiowa.edu.

MA Yuanxi, 405 North Wabash Ave. #4005, Chicago, IL 60611; 312-832-1934; Yuanxi.Ma@BakerNet.com.

Women Organizing in China Conference

By Ping-Chun HISUNG, Ph.D.

The Women Organizing in China Conference was held in Wolfson College, Oxford University, England, July 12-16. The conference brought together British and international feminist theoreticians as well as Chinese activists.

The aim of the conference was to engage in an empirical inquiry and theoretical analysis of women organizing in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The term "women organizing" had been chosen to include, first, organizing women by others as well as women organizing on their own initiatives and, second, different types of organizing within and outside formal organizations as well as networks that cut across organizations. The scope of women as organizers addressed by the conference included the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) and other party/state institutions, the many new forms of collective action that had emerged in recent years going beyond institutional organization to include any form of collective action by women. This institutional recognition of the fundamental change in the organization of women from a state-centered, hegemonic framework into a multi-centered, heterogeneous one brought about by the impact of the contradictory effects of the economic reforms initiated in 1978, with women shouldering a disproportionate share of the burden of economic transition, and the simultaneous political relaxation.

The conference addressed economic, political, social and cultural aspects of women organizing and also critically assessed the role of the international funding agencies in influencing the nature and scope of women projects. Its objectives were to situate Chinese women organizing in the context of China's current reforms; analyze opportunities and structural obstacles faced by women organizing; analyze strategies and practices of women organizing; and challenge stereotypical images of Chinese women as blind, passive victims of the hegemonic state and patriarchal tradition and to question the usefulness of the application of dominant western civil society approaches, with their focus on an oppositional relationship to the party/state, to understanding of the cultural context of women organizing in China.

The conference was organized by Drs. Ping-Chun HSIUNG, University of Toronto at Scarborough College, Maria Jaschok, Research Associate, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, Oxford University, and Cecilia Milwertz, Research Fellow, Institute for Chinese Studies, Oxford University. It was co-sponsored by the Institute for Chinese Studies and the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, Oxford University. The Universities' China Committee (United Kingdom), Sino-British Fellowship Trust, Great British-China Centre, Institute for Chinese Studies (Oxford University), Ford Foundation, Reuter Foundation and British Academy provided funding.

Conference presenters and their topics included:

Naihua ZHANG, "National Policy Machinery, and the All-China Women's Federation: Renegotiating Space and Position in Between Women and the State in Post-Mao China."

XIE Lihua, "How the Women's Federation is Facing the Challenges of the Market Economy."

MA Yanjun, "Progress of the All-China Women's Federation since the Inception of the Open and Reform Policy" (in absentia).

Irene Tong, "What do they teach at Women's Cardre Schools? An Outsider's Perspective."

GUO Jianmei, "The Emergence and Development of Chinese Women's Organization: A Case Study of the Women's Legal Services Center, Beijing University."

JIN Yihong, "Women Organizing: Future Trends and Current Challenges."

Astrid Lipinsky, "Reinventing the Grassroots: Structure and Organization of Fulian Work in Rural Hebei."

HAN Henan, "Network, Reputation, and Professional Approach: A Case Study of the Changwen Women's Federation."

LIU Bohong, "A Preliminary Study on Women's Studies Organization in Contemporary China."

FANG Lian, "The Roles of Women's Studies Programs in Higher Education in Rural Development."

LIU Guanghua, "It's all for the Sake of Women's Psychological Health: A Case Study of the Huaguang Women's College."

Sharon Wesoky, "Symbolic Discourses and the Contemporary Chinese Women's Movements."

Marianne Hester, "Organizing Against Violence Against Women in China."

HUANG Yan, "Women Organizing and Getting Truly Liberated by Relying All on Their Own Efforts: A Case Study of Wei Ling and her Sunshine Lunch Service for Schoolchildren."

MIN Dongchao, "The Continuing Process: Transition of the Words 'Feminism' and 'Gender" into Chinese."

GE Youli and Susie Jolly, "East Meets West Feminist Translation Group."

HE Danting, "Lesbian and Gay Beeper Hotline."

Kimberley Manning, "The Ties that Bind: Gender and Guanxi in Women's Organizing."

ZHU Li, "Economy in Mosques and Temples under Women's Management."

SHUI Jinjun, "Comparative Study on Characteristics Featured in the Development of Christian (Protestant) and Islamic Women's Organizations in the Central Region of China."

WANG Xingjuan, "Social Change in China: The Roles and Development of a Chinese Non-Governmental Organization."

GUO Yanqiu, "Women's Mass-Media Network in China."

GAO Xiaoxian, "The Space and Strategies of Women's Groups in China: A Case Study."

For abstracts or further information, please contact any of the organizers at pchsiung@scar.utoronto.ca, maria.jaschok@qeh.ox.ac.uk, or Milwetz@nias.ku.dk.

Project on the Compilation of a "Gender Dictionary" (Shehui Xinbie Cidian in Chinese)

LIU Bohong, Associate Director of the Women's Studies Institute of the All-China Women's Federation (the "Institute"), has proposed to collaborate with CSWS in the compilation of a "Gender Dictionary" which will be a dictionary of terminology on women/gender studies, feminism, development, and others. The entries of the dictionary will be in English and the explanation will all be in Chinese. A group has been formed by the Institute headed by Liu Bohong, who will be the editor-in-chief of the dictionary, and has been working on this project for some time. They have selected 423 entries and have received US$25,000 from the Ford Foundation in Beijing for this project. It is anticipated that the dictionary will be published in 2002. Scholars and specialists in China will choose entries and work on their explanations based on their respective expertise. Liu would like to have those members from CSWS who are interested in the project to each pick a few entries to work on as well. It is a big project and requires the participation of many people. She also proposes to have two editors-in-chief from our side supervising the project and reviewing the entries and their explanations together with her. Liu is planning to come to our meeting in conjunction at AAS in San Diego to talk over the project with us.

CSWS Board would like to see how much interest there is in this project among our members so as to decide whether we want to take on this project. Those who are interested please contact Ma Yuanxi (her e-mail is: yuanxi.ma@bakernet.com) by the end of December 1999.

Report on the 1999 Beijing Seminar on Gender Analysis and Rural Development

CSWS and the Institute for Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences jointly held a seminar on gender analysis and rural development in Beijing in October 18-19, 1999. Ms. Gao Xiaoxian, Director for the Research Office of Shannxi Women's Federation, gave a review of gender and development in rural China at the beginning of the seminar. Dr. Caroline O.N. Moser, Senior Specialist at the World Bank Latin American and Caribbean Regional Office, gave presentations on gender analysis and gender planning, and the asset vulnerability framework. She reassessed urban poverty reduction strategies and offered a conceptual framework for violence reduction. Ms. FENG Yuan and LIN Zhibin conducted two training sessions on gender consciousness and gender and development for the seminar participants. Three case studies on gender and rural development were examined during the seminar. They were (1) UN-funded and local women's federation-led project on poverty alleviation, women and development in Chifeng, Inner-Mongolia, (2) the All-China Women's Federation-led nationwide activities of Shuangxue Shuangbi (learn to read and write and learn technical skills; compete in achieving greater success and compete in making better contributions), and (3) the Institute for Rural Development-led projects on micro-finance to the poor. The seminar used participatory approach to provide opportunities for participants with diverse backgrounds to interact with each other in training, case studies, and discussion. The participants' evaluation of the seminar was very positive.

The reason for organizing this seminar can be traced back to the 1993 Tianjin Workshop, jointly organized by CSWS and Tianjing Normal Univeristy Center for Women's Studies. Dr. ZHANG Naihua, a CSWS member, introduced Caroline Moser's work on gender planning in her presentation. In 1994, Dr. LI Xiaoyun, a leading researcher in Chinese rural development in China cited Moser's method of gender planning in his publications. In 1996, our colleagues in China requested CSWS to systematically translate Moser's work into Chinese. Since 1997, several CSWS members (LIU Dongxiao, NU Hui, KANG Hongjing, MA Yuanxi) translated three Moser's articles into Chinese which were published in Selected Works on Gender Studies (shehui xinbei yanjiu xuanyi, Sanlian 1998), edited by WANG Zheng and DU Fangqin, and Selected Translations on Gender and Development (shehui xinbei yu fazhan yiwen ji, Sanlian 2000), edited by MA Yuanxi, KANG Hongjin, and DU Fangqin. Our colleagues in China have applied some of Moser's analytical framework to their practice in gender and development. They asked CSWS to facilitate a direct dialogue between Dr. Moser and Chinese researchers and practitioners in the field. Assisted by the CSWS Board, GE Youli, then UNDP Beijing Gender Program Officer, LIU Bohong, Associated Director of the Women's Studies Institute of the All-China Women's Federation, and ZHANG Hong, Project Officer at the Rural Development Institute organized this seminar.

CSWS members XU Wu, MA Yuanxi, and SU Hongjun attended the seminar. They gave remarks at the opening and closing sessions, moderated sessions, provided translation for the seminar, and participated in all discussions. The success of the 1999 Beijing seminar indicated the completion of the CSWS 1998-1999 grant project awarded by the Ford Foundation. In the course of conducting the activities of this project, CSWS strengthened our partnership with our long-term friends and colleagues, expanded our collaborations with developmental and anti-poverty program people, provincial and grassroots women's federations, and national research institutions in rural development. CSWS has made its important contribution to mainstreaming gender in China. For more information contact Xu Wu at (801) 942-8209 or wuxuutah@aol.com.

Women's History Seminar

In August, the Women's Studies Center at Tianjin Normal University and Chinese Women Historians Network hosted a one-week women's history seminar in Tianjin. About 50 scholars in China attended the seminar. The CSWS members WANG Zheng and BAO Xiaolan provided reading materials for the seminar. WANG Zheng also helped to obtain a grant for the seminar from the Shaler Adams Foundation in San Francisco and participated in the seminar. The seminar explored the ways both to create women's studies courses in higher education in China and to produce text books for these courses.

4. WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

We warmly welcome new members who joined CSWS this year.

TONG Xin, Associate Professor at Peking University, recently joined CSWS. Her topics of interest include: sociology of women, women and employment, and violence against women. Among her current projects are: establishing a course on the sociology of women in Peking University; occupational careers of working women in China from 1999-2002 (a China's Academy of Social Sciences project); young female criminals and victims; social transition and the change of the women's role from 1999-2002 (a Peking University project). She is currently doing research at the Centre for Research in Women's Studies and Gender Relations in Vancouver, Canada (till the end of Nov. 1999). She can be reached at tongxin@public3.bta.net.cn.

ZHAO Jianhua is an instructor of English at the South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, Hubei, China. His topics of interest include: fashion, family and kinship; changes of Women's Identity in the 20th century. His current projects are: transformation in rural China focusing on the role of kinship and women's status. He can be reached at z741027@public.wh.hb.cn or andrewzhao@hotmail.com.

Kristin Fitzpatrick is a professor at Tunghai University, Taiwan. Her topics of interest include: Gender Studies, especially current women's issues in Taiwan. She can be reached at kristinfitzpatri@hotmail.com.

Celilia Milwartz is a Research Fellow at Nardic Institute of Asian Studies in Denmark. Her topics of interest are: women's organizing/reproductive health/population issues. Her current topics include: organizing for gender equality - a process of cultural and political change - study of women's organizing activities in Beijing. She can be reached at: milwertz@nias.ku.dk.

Friederike Fleischer is Ph.D. Candidate of Sociology. His topics of interest are: Changing Role/Identities of Women in PR China through Economic Transformations. His current projects include: Preparation of Dissertation, Field work on the Above Topic. He can be reached at ffleisc377@aol.com.

5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to WANG Zheng! Her book Women in the Chinese Enlightenment: Oral and Textual Histories has been published by University of California Press. It is a valuable and rich account of the women pioneers in the early decades of this century in China who have almost been forgotten. Her study reevaluates the Chinese feminist movement early in this century and offers new insights on the relationship between feminism and nationalism in China. Recently, WANG Zheng also won a research grant from the Committee on Scholarly Communications with China. Her research topic is Gender and Maoist Urban Reorganization. She is currently doing research in Shanghai. Click here to view the beautiful cover.

Congratulations to LI Zongmin! LI Zongmin recently got a new job as Assistant Professor in Economics in the Department of Economics at Guilford College, North Carolina. Among the courses she teaches are Microeconomics: Public Policies, Public Sector Economics, and Institution Economics and China Reform.

6. CSWS MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Those who have not paid their membership dues for the year 1999, please fill out the membership renewal form and send it to XU Wu as indicated on the form. Thank you.