How far Chinese women have come since my grandmother’s time
I have more equal status than my grandmother did in the pre-communist era. But young women are still pushing back against discrimination
When it comes to women’s changing roles in society, China has much to be proud of. The stories of my family – my grandmother, a one-time prostitute; my mother, a lifelong factory worker; and myself, a writer – bear witness to Chinese women’s progress.
Women of my grandmother’s generation endured harsh lives, but she suffered more than most. Born in Zhenjiang, an ancient city on the bank of the Yangtze River, she lost her parents to famine as a child and was taken in by her aunt, basically as a servant. When she blossomed into a beauty at 14, her aunt’s husband sold her to his brothel in Yangzhou. Women in those days were treated like commodities.
At the establishment called the Pavilion of Spring Fragrance, she met my grandfather, a small-time grain dealer. Smitten by her, he bailed her out and installed her in his household as his concubine, but her inferior position led to constant bullying by his wife and children. In 1949, after Mao Zedong took power, men could keep only one wife. My grandfather chose his sweet-natured concubine and perhaps for that reason alone, my grandmother loved Chairman Mao.