ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: WOMEN IN THE CHINESE MILITARY Xiaolin Li, Doctor of Prulosophy, 1995 Dissertation directed by: David R. Segal, Professor, Department of Sociology This dissertation provides a sociological analysis of patterns of women's military participation in ancient Cruna (5000 years ago-1840), during the post-Opium War period ( 1840-1949), and in modern times. It addresses three sociological issues: 1) under what conditions have Crunese women taken part in military operations? 2) Do Chinese women participate in direct combat? 3) Does the military institution facilitate women's social mobility to education, jobs and higher social status? The following questions are also addressed: does Chinese women's military participation go through cycles of expansion and contraction? What are the People's Liberation Army (PLA) women's evaluations of their military lives? The study scrutinized 717 Chinese military women from the secondary sources and 230 PLA women through a survey conducted in Beijing in 1992. Women participate in Chinese conventional and unconventional warfare across time. From the first female general, Fu Hao, who lived about 3200 years ago, to the 12 women generals who serve in the PLA today , women's frequent presence has been observed in both regular and irregular military formations. Chinese women participated in direct combat--50% in trus study with a 12% combat casualty. Female guerri11a fighters suffered the heaviest, but no casualty of women has been recorded since 1949. Sixteen percent of these women commanded battles. Seventeen percent ranked major and above, 3.5% of them became national leaders. Most women warriors are of the Han nationality. Nearly half of the ancient and the PLA women were from official and officers' families . Cultural and ideological support for women's military participation has also been frequent. Military service is one of the social mobility channels which allow women to achieve or hope for social recognition or higher status. The scope of women's military participation goes in cycles of expansion and contraction, particularly affected by group security situation and shortage of manpower. Women's representation in regular military formations has been increased. Modem military women in mainland China and Taiwan are career makers. Most PLA women did not expect combat participation nor becoming a woman general. WOMEN IN THE CHINESE MILITARY by Xiaolin Li Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Maryland in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1995 G I Mi. 5oC i'o IO•., '1 Advisory Committee: Professor David R. Segal, Chair/ Advisor Professor Mady W. Segal Professor George H. Quester Associate Professor Reeve D. Vanneman Associate Professor Sandra Stanley L~ © Copyright by Xiaolin Li 1995 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section List of Tables List of Figures Acronyms Chapter I. Introduction Introduction Major Sociological Issues Purpose of the Study Literature Reviev,' Relationship between Women and War Study of Military Women Women's Military Roles in the Pre-industrial Period Case Studies of Women's Roles in the Military Comparative Studies of Women's Role in the Military The Policy Issues of Women Soldiers' Combat Roles Study of Chinese Women Chinese Women's Social Status Gender Relationships in China Significance of the Study Chapter II. Theory Segal & Segal's ( 1983) and Mady Segal's ( 1992) Models II xi - xiii xiv xv I 3 6 7 7 11 J J 13 ]4 15 ]5 15 J 8 20 24 24 The Author's Theoretical Approach 29 The Central Arguments 29 Dependent Variables 32 Women's Participation in Conventional (DVJ) and Unconventional Military Operations (DV2) 32 Women's Positions in Regular (DV3) and Irregular Military Formations (DV4) 35 Major Independent Variables 35 Contextual Factors 36 Situational Factors 3 7 Cultural Factors 38 Structural Factors 3 8 Theoretical Linkage 39 Chapter Ill. Methodology 43 Methodology for the Study of Chinese Women Warriors in Ancient Time 43 Data Availability and Quality 43 Method and Research Design 49 Notes on Documenting the Research 51 Methodology for the Study of Chinese Military Women in the Post-Opium War Time 52 Data Availability and Quality 52 Method and Research Design 52 Presentation Method 54 Ill Study of Chinese Military Women in Modern Time Data Availability and Quality Questionnaire Survey Focus Interviews Infonnal Conversations and Personal Observations Method and Research Design Statistical Analysis Chapter IV. Ancient China Chinese Forerunners and Pre-historic Societies Five Thousands Years of Written History The Chinese Patriarchal System Unique Characteristics of the Chinese Bureaucratic Feudalism Development of Ethnic Groups and Nationalities 55 55 55 56 56 57 60 61 61 67 69 73 76 Chapter V. Ancient Chinese Military Thought and Technology 87 Ancient Military Thought Civilian Supremacy Over the Military "Great Wall Mentality" Military Institutions Ancient Military Technology Patterns of Peasants' War in Ancient China Chapter VI. Women Warriors in Ancient Time Women Warriors as Commanders IV 87 88 90 91 94 98 l ll 120 Women Leaders of Peasants' Uprisings Women Warriors as Defenders Patterns of Women Warriors' Participation in Ancient Military Operations Summary Chapter VII. Post Opium \Var China, 1840-1949 Imperialist Invasions Revolutions and Civil Wars Peaks of Revolution Civil \Vars Military Technology and Institutions Women's Status and Movement Women's Suffering Women's Education Women's l\fovement Summary Chapter VIII. Women Fighters in Post Opium War Period 1840-1949 127 132 138 143 146 147 15 I I 5 l 158 161 164 164 167 168 182 183 Women Fighters In Wars and Revolutions From 1840 to 1927 186 Women Combatants in Anti-imperialist Warfare 186 Women Participants in the Taiping and Other Rebellions 189 Women Fighters in the Taiping Rebellion 189 Women Revolutionaries of the Small Sword Association 195 V Women Fighters of the Red Lanterns Shining 196 Women Fighters in the 1911 Revolution and the Northern Expedition War 199 Women Fighters in the Armed Uprisings 209 Women Fighters in the Northern Expedition War 213 Red Army Women Soldiers 228 Women Red Army Guerrilla Soldiers 229 Women Red Army Soldiers on the Long March 240 Battles Fought by Women Soldiers of the West Wing Army 266 Military Women in the Anti-Japanese War and Liberation War Period 272 Women's Participation in the Northeast China Anti-Japanese War 290 Military Training 292 Women's Armed Forces and Direct Combat Experiences 294 Women's Military Operation in Anti- Japanese Bases 295 Women Soldiers in the Third Civil War 1947-1950 300 Women's Defense of the Liberated Areas 301 Women's Roles in the Final Decisive Engagement 307 Patterns of Chinese Women's Military Participation in This Period 3 IO VI Chapter IX. Modern China Overview Modern Chinese Society Status of Women The PLA Civil-military Relationship Technology and Defense Modernization Conversion of Military Industry to Civilian Production Ideo-political Work Chapter X. \\I omen in the PLA Basic Information on PLA Women Total Number of PLA Women Civil Official System Within the PLA Rank Distribution Service Distribution Service Length Six Traditional Categories Age Distribution Geographic & Ethnic Origins Family Background Education Vil 314 3 14 316 327 332 333 336 340 341 344 345 345 346 348 349 349 351 354 354 355 356 Participation in Wartime and Peacetime Operations 36 1 Military Operations 361 Peacetime Operations 365 Expectations of Combat Participation 365 Promotion and Career Predictions 367 Promotion Expectations 369 Finding a Job in the Civilian Sector 375 Military Life 3 78 Basic Information on PLA Women's Military Life 3 78 Income 378 Marriage and Family Status 3 78 Gender Relationships Within the Military 380 E,·aluations of Military Life 383 Career Evaluations 383 Recent Assignment 383 Job Stability 3 84 Job Security 386 Business Trip Opportunity 3 86 Education and Training Opportunity 3 8 7 Promotion Opportunity 388 Future Welfare After Retirement 389 Evaluation oflncome and Living Standard 39 J Income 39 J Living Standard 392 Evaluation of Military Life 393 Career Goals 3 96 Summary 397 Vlll Chapter XI. \\'omen Soldiers in the Chinese Nationalist Army 401 Demographic lnformation on the NRA Women 40 l Participation During the Anti-Japanese War Period 406 Participation In the Anti-Japanese War 406 Distribution and Functions of the NRA Women 408 Summary 410 Chapter XII. Conclusion 41 l Patterns of Women's Participation in Chinese Military Operations 4 I l Women's Presence in Chinese Military Operations is Constant Across Time 41 l Women's Increased Representation in Chinese Regular Military Formations 413 Chinese Women Participated in Combat Across Time 414 Women Combatant Casualties Differ in Different Military Operations 415 Women Command Battles in Different Military Operations 416 Women Served as Officers at the Rank of Major and Above 4 l 7 Some Women Warriors Became National Leaders 418 Ethnic and Social Origins of Chinese Military Women 419 Modern Military Women Are Career Makers 421 What Affects Chinese Women's Military Participation 421 Frequent Cultural and Ideological Support for Women's Military Participation 422 IX Group Security Situation and Shortage of Manpower Affect Women's Military Participation in Unconventional Warfare and In Irregular Formations 425 Male Family Head's Military Experiences Are More Effective in Ancient and Modern Times 426 Different Contextual Factor's Effects on Women's Military Participation Do Chinese Women's Military Roles Go in Cycles? Cross-cultural Comparison Appendix I. A List of the Topics Covered in the Questionnaire for the 1992 Survey of The PLA Women Conducted from April 17 to May 18, 1992 Appendix II. English Translation of the 1992 Survey Questionnaire Appendix Ill. The Chinese 1992 Survey Questionnaire Appendix IV. A Brief Chinese Chronology Appendix V. A Simplified Table of Chinese Population in the Past Two Thousand Years Appendix VI. Pictures of Qiu Jin and Some PLA Women References X 428 431 433 437-438 439-448 449-455 456 457 458-462 463-488 LIST OF TABLES NUMBER Table 6. I Women Warriors in Ancient China 16th Century B.C.- 1840 AD. Table 8.1 Women Combatants in Anti-Imperialist Warfare 1840-19 I 1 Table 8.2 Women Combatants in the Taiping and Other Rebellions Table 8.3 Women Fighters in 19 I I Revolution Table 8.4 Women Participants in the Northern Expedition War Period (around 1926) Table 8.5 Women Red Army Soldiers in Guerrilla Warfare Table 8.6 Women Red Anny Soldiers on the Long March Table 8. 7 Women Combatants in Anti-Japanese War Period (1931-1945) Table 8.8 Women Combatants in the Third Civil War Period ( 1946-1950) Table 10.1 Rank Distribution of the PLA Women Table IO. 2 Service Distribution of the PLA Women Table I 0.3 Job Distribution of the PLA Women Table 10.4 Geographic & Ethnic Origin of the PLA Women Table 10.5 The PLA Women's Age By Current Education Table I 0.6 The PLA Women's Service Duration By Current Education Table 10.7 The PLA Women's Rank By Current Education xi PAGE 1 12-118 187 190 200-208 214-220 230-237 241-259 273-288 302-305 348 349 353 355 359 359 361 Table 10.8 The PLA Women's Combat Experiences 364 Table 10.9 The PLA Women's Rank By Combat Expectation 367 Table 10. 10 The PLA Women's Age By Promotion Expectation 371 Table 10.11 The PLA Women's Rank By Promotion Expectation 372 Table 10.12 The PLA Women's Age By Expectation of Becoming a General 3 73 Table 10 13 The PLA Women's Rank By General Prediction 375 Table 10.14 The PLA Women's Age By Better Civilian Job Expectation 3 77 Table IO. 15 The PLA Women's Rank and Finding a Good Civilian Job Expectation 3 77 Table 10.16 Marriage and Family Status of the PLA Women 379 Table 10. I 7 Number of Children By Rank of the PLA Women 3 79 Table IO . 18 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Gender Relationships 3 81 Table 10.19 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Job Assignment 384 Table 10.20 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Job Stability 385 Table 10.21 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Job Security 385 Table 10.22 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Mobility 386 Table 10. 23 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Education Opportunity 388 Table 10.24 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Promotion 389 Table I 0 .25 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Welfare After Retirement xii 390 Table 10.26 The PLA Women ' s Evaluations of Their Income 391 Table 10.27 The PLA Women ' s Evaluations of Living Standard 392 Table 10.28 The PLA Women's Evaluations ofl-Iaving Many Friends 394 Table 10.29 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Children's Education 394 Table I 0.30 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Military Life 395 Table I 0.31 The PLA Women's Career Goals 396 Table 11 .1 Military Women In Chinese Nationalist Army 402-404 Table 12.1 Chinese Women ' s Representation in Regular Military Formations 413 Table 12.2 Women Combat Participants in China 414 Table 12.3 Casualties of Chinese Women in Direct Combat 415 Table 12.4 Women Combat Commanders in China 416 Table 12.5 Women Officers Rank Major and Above 417 Table 12. 6 National Leaders Among the Military Women 418 Table 12. 7 Ethnic and Social Origins of Chinese Military Women 419 xiii LIST OF FIGURES NUMBER Figure I . Mady Segal's 1992 Model Figure 2. Schematic Diagram of Chinese Women's Roles in the Military Figure 3. Geographic Distribution of Women Warriors in Ancient China Figure 10.1 Service Length of the PLA Women Figure 10.2 Age Distribution of the PLA Women Figure J 0.3 Combat Expectation of the PLA Women Figure 104 Promotion Prediction of the PLA Women Figure I 0.5 The PLA Women's Prediction of Being a Woman General in Future Figure 10.6 The PLA Women's Prediction of Finding a Good Job in Civilian Section XIV PAGE 26 33 121 350 354 366 370 373 376 ATAA CCP CNP ERA GGSA GNP GPD NFA NRA PLA POW PRC RMB WSDA ZSWB ACRONYMS Anti-Japanese Allied Army Chinese Communist Party Chinese Nationalist Party in this document, KMT in Western scholarship Eighth Route Army Guangxi Girl Student Army Gross National Product General Political Department of the PLA New Fourth Army Nationalist Revolutionary Army under CNP People's Liberation Army prisoner of war People's Republic of China Ren Min Bi--Chinese Currency Women Self Defense Army Zhejiang Shaoxing Women Battalion xv Chapter I INTRODUCTION Introduction Chinese women warriors have played roles on ancient battlefronts, in peasants' uprisings, and in guerrilla warfare. They have also participated in modem military operations and served in regular military formations (Segal, Li and Segal, l 992~ Li, 1992). Chinese women's participation in military operations has a long history, from the time of the first female general, Fu Hao 18:tff-, who lived about 3,200 years ago, 1 to the twelve women generals who serve in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) today. Legends of heroic women warriors form an important part of China's history and cultural heritage. Women revolutionaries contributed to the ending of the last feudal dynasty at the beginning of this century. Chinese women fought vigorously as defenders of their motherland when Japan invaded China in the 1930s. At present, about 240,000 women serve either on active duty or as civilians in the PLA. They constitute 7.5% of the PLA's 3.2 million personnel (The State Report, 1994).2 About 1,500 military women serve in Taiwan, in the Nationalist Revolutionary Army (NRA) under the leadership of the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP in this document, KMT in Western scholarship). This 1 The first name is the surname according to the Chinese custom. Her deeds are inscribed on animal bones or tortoise shells which were carved in the middle and late Shang Dynasty (16th century BC lo 11th century BC), and were discovered by a fan1ous Chinese epigraphist, Wang Yirong in the year 1899 (The Institute of Archaeology, CASS, 1980; Kwok Kian-Chow, 1984; 1991). 2 The State Report was submitted to the United Nations on March 10, 1994 by the People's Republic of China on the Implementation of Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for Advancement of Women information was obtained through a focus group interview which was conducted by this author in 1992 in Washington, D.C.. Many scholarly works on Chinese women have been published in English since the 1970s (Kristeva, 1974; Curtin, 1975; Broyelle, 1977; Andors, 1983; Croll, 1983 . ' Johnson, 1983; Wolf, 1985). Literature in the Chinese language on women's studies is also rich, although it is difficult to synthesize with the findings of the English scholarship because of different qualities of data and different terminology. The study of women in the Chinese military is still in the fledging stage. There are some published works in Chinese on the images of ancient Chinese women warriors {Yu, 1978; Liu, 1981 ; Chen, 1991; Lu, 1991 ). There exists also an unpublished dissertation, written in English, that offers an historical comparison of the images of French and Chinese women warriors in the 17th and 18th centuries (May, 1985). With regard to women soldiers in modern China, some oral histories have been collected and compiled from veteran female soldiers since 1980 (Dong, 1990; Zhu et al, 1990; Li & Liu, 1991). An article written by this author with Mady W. Segal and David R. Segal is the first published study in English on modern military women in China (Segal, Li and Segal, 1992), followed by two publications by this author (Li, 1993; 1994). In sharp contrast with the many literary and artistic works that portray modem Chinese military women, no comprehensive scholarly study of Chinese military women's hi h appeared The analysis of Chinese women's storical functions and recent status as · military roles thus remains an uncharted area. 2 In order to fill the gap and to provide a systematic analysis of Chinese women in the military from a sociologicaJ perspective, this research focuses on women's military service during China's different historicaJ periods, as we11 as in the PLA today. It starts by asking basic questions about the participation of Chinese women in military operations in ancient China, in the period fo11owing the Opium War (I 840-1949), and in modem times, as well as their recent status and functions within the military. Questions about the action of women's military participation and the participants themselves are addressed: Who are these Chinese women soldiers? What are their social origins? Where and how did they get involved in military operations and for how long? Why did they want to participate in military operations? What are their major functions within the armed forces? What is their social status? How do they evaJuate their military career? By seeking answers to these questions, a portrait of Chinese women in the military is presented and compared with women's experiences in military affairs in other countries. Since the data available to the study varies in quality for different historical periods, the research is descriptive in nature. Major Sociological Questions Warfare is prototypicaJly and normatively a male domain. Nevertheless, women have fought alongside men in different types of warfare at different times and in different human societies. Many studies of women and war have been published in the West (Holm, 1982; Davies, 1983; Stiehm, 1983; Elshtain, 1987; Elshtain & Tobias, 1990; 3 Hunter, 1991 ; Howes & Stevenson, 1993). Women's participation in warfare and their functions in military fonnations have varied widely across cultures and over time. In the Chinese case, history has bequeathed us mainly legends in oral, artistic and literary fonns . The scope, frequency, and degree of women's participation in military operations have not been observed and analyzed systematically. The research for this dissertation has aimed at the development of a theoretical model built on existing theories and empirical evidence. This model is used to identify and analyze patterns of Chinese women's participation in military operations under different historical and societal conditions. Therefore, in addition to seeking answers to basic questions discussed above, three sociological questions have been raised for this research. The first question is: If warfare is also prototypically male in China, under what situational and social conditions have Chinese women taken part in military operations, thereby deviating from the gender typing of the military role? The following question is also relevant to this issue: Does Chinese women's military participation go through cycles of expansion and contraction as has been shown in other nations? (Segal, 1992) The second question is: Do Chinese women participate in direct combat? Relevant questions are: Do women command battles in China? Are there women combat casualties? Do Chinese military women expect combat participation in their career? It is universally recognized that the exclusion of women from military roles is one of the main aspects of the gender-based division of labor in most human societies 4 .... (Goldman, 1982; Bradley, 1989). Women have been particularly excluded from combat roles in most regular armies (Rustad, 1982). The major reasons for these exclusions seem to be based on -cultural values rather than on women's ability to perform combat tasks (Goldman, 1982; Devilbiss, 1990; McCullough, 1990). Changes in the nature of the military institution, in demographic trends, in the philosophy that governs manpower policy, and in women's roles in the larger society have led to an increased use of women in the armed forces in most developed countries (Stanley and Segal, 1992). Some countries have already opened combat roles to women (Segal & Segal, 1989; Scheuer, 1989). On the other hand, "civilian occupational sex segregation is still strong, and resistance to expanding women's military participation remains" (Segal, 1993). Arguments for and against allowing women in combat include consideration of differences between average men and women in physical and psychological traits, the perceived impact of women on unit cohesion, and cultural values regarding gender roles (Quester, 1982; Segal, 1982). According to Segal and Hansen (1992), the proponents' side stresses citizenship equality and its relationship to military service. The opposing side focuses on negative impacts of women on military effectiveness and possibly on women themselves. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Chinese women have worked in combat zones but have been excluded from combat roles. This issue is addressed by several questions in a questionnaire survey conducted for this dissertation and discussed in Chapter III. 5 The third sociological question for this research is: Does the military institution serve as one of the channels which facilitates women's social mobility to education, jobs and higher social status in China? A relevant question is what are the PLA women's evaluations of their military lives? In sum, this dissertation examines the historical context, contemporary situation, social structural and cultural factors, changes in military institutions, and policy factors that relate to patterns of Chinese women's participation in military operations and their functions within the armed forces. Preliminary answers to the research questions posed above are provided in the concrete descriptions of Chinese women's military experiences. Purpose of the Study The principal objective of this research is to draw a portrait of Chinese women in the military against an historical backdrop, and to develop a theoretical model to explain women's roles in the Chinese armed forces . The model is based on an integration of historical evidence on women in the military and current theories of women in the armed forces . This case study researches Chinese women's participation in different types of warfare, and analyzes women's positions in regular and irregular armies. Relevant historical documents dating back to ancient times were partially retrieved and analyzed to provide an historical background and ethn°graphic description for the research, but the focus is on the period since the 18th century. This study is a sociological analysis, not an historical one. 6 In sum, this dissertation studies Chinese women in a traditionally masculine role under a variety of historical, social, cultural and situational conditions. Literature Review The literature review covers: l) relations between women and war; 2) the study of military women themselves; 3) case studies of women in wars; and 4) the study of Chinese women's social status in general. The goals are to identify patterns of women's roles in the military, to discuss key issues related to women's military activities, and to list major variables relevant to women's functions and status in the anned forces. Relationship between Women and War A group of feminist scholars has been struggling to specify the relationship between women and war. To most of them, historical women warriors are mythological, and fictional women commanders are superficial (Macdonald et al, 1987). Some of them regard women warriors as the "Ferocious Few", who reversed cultural expectations by donning warrior's garb and doing battle (Elshtain, l 987:8). The representation or misrepresentation of women in military history is a central theme of this scholarly concern. Several characteristics can be identified for this category of literature: I) This scholarship focuses on ways in which images of women in war and their places within the wider social order are constructed. Scholars of this school share a common idea that within modem Western culture, explanations of warfare and gender differences are based upon suppositions of evolutionary and biological drives. A clear theme exists 7 about the close relationship between eroticism (or militarization of sexuality) and warmaking (MacdonaJd et aJ, 1987; Cooper et aJ, 1989). Anything military is closely associated with the ideas of masculinity, aggression and depersonaJization. This kind of association leads some feminists to regard warfare as inextricably bound up with violence against women (Stiehm, 1983). 2) As part of the creation of a well-ordered ideology, dualities have been developed in Western culture: aJI women are regarded as potentiaJ mothers and all men as potential warriors. Man is viewed as the dominant war maker and "just warrior", and woman as the submissive homemaker and "beautiful soul" (Elshtain, 1987). In a society where war is defined as a male activity and highly-valued masculine characteristics are often associated with war, a female warrior must be seen as inherently unsettling to the social order. These dualities have caused many intellectual struggles among feminists, as Elshtain points out: From its inception, feminism has not quite known whether to fight men or to join them· whether to lament sex differences and deny their importance or to ackn~wledge and even valorize such differences; whether to condemn all wars outright or to extol women's contributions to war efforts. At times, feminists have done all of these things, with scant regard for consistency. Feminism moves along a number of planes: as the action of women in and on the world; as abstract theories and utopian evocations; and as a_ story o~ self-c~nscious feminists breaking down extant barriers t?. take their place m prev1ou.sl~ all-male institutions--for example, the rruhtary ... At the m~ment, ferru_msts are not only at war with war but with one another, as well as bemg locked m combat with women not self-identified as feminist (Elshtain, 1987: 231-23 3 ). 3) In order to be consistent with the prevailing ideology of dualities of war and peace, man and woman, public and private, female warriors have to be depicted either as 8 abnormal, unique, or unusual (Stiehm, 1983; Macdonald et al, 1987; Cooper et al, 1989); or as a normal part of an alien social order that is highlighted with its perceived peculiarity of primitiveness. This phenomenon probably explains why many stories of women freedom-fighters in Third World countries emerged at the same time as recollections of female veterans of the two great wars in developed countries. This case study of Chinese women does not have to deal with the close association between eroticism and war and the ideological duality of man/war or woman/peace. Thanks to a powerful and influential Chinese cosmology that was developed in the period of the Zhou dynasty (11th century BC- 221 BC), it is possible to regard all of the parts of the entire cosmos as belonging to one organic whole, in which all interact as participants in the spontaneously self-generating life process. Such a cosmology implies a holistic, immanentist view of the world, with Yin and Yang serving as a ·universal dichotomy that reflects any kind of polarity. Women are symbolized as Yin, men as Yang. The moon is Yin, the sun is Yang. The individual human body is also part of the cosmos, and thus is also dichotomized by Yin and Yang. The state of health represents the balance of Yin and Yang within the body. To an ancient Chinese medical doctor, a person's liver could be Yin, and his stomach could be Yang. Thus the dichotomy is a continuum and the distinction is curvilinear. There are Yin elements in yang, and Yang elements in Yin. Transposing ~his idea to the arena concerned in this study, the war-peace duality represents a continuum rather than a Manichean set of xt Th S the Chinese see a peace factor in war and a war factor in peace. e remes. u , . 9 whereas the Western view points posits peace as a total absence of war and war as a total absence of peace. This kind of world outlook severs the link between war and gender, even though war has been fought by men more than by women. Gender has never been a crucial organizing principle of the war system in China. Some scholarship on images of Chinese women warriors has followed the Western cultural tradition and looked for dual meanings of these images (May, 1985). This author believes, however, that war as a system or concept is gender-free in China. Sun Zi ftJ\-f-(Sun Tzu in Western scholarship) used concubines and palace maids to demonstrate how discipline and military training can tum civilians into soldiers. Mo Zi ~T, the father of Chinese military engineering, discussed how to use women to build defense fortifications (Yates, 1982). In a recent major discovery at the Yangling j)BWi cemetery of the Western Han dynasty period (206 BC - 24 AD), more than 50 pieces of multicolored female warrior figures were unearthed (People's Daily Abroad Edition, July 20, 1993). These facts indicate that military thinkers as well as ancient leaders regularly use women in military affairs. The above observations do not mean that the Chinese culture is not gendered or that Chinese women's roles in the military are not limited by cultural expectations. The point is to emphasize that no culturally endorsed split exists between warlike man and peaceful woman in China's cultural heritage. Being able to avoid the difficult theoretical issue of dualism, this study can focus on patterns of women's military behavior and IO address the issue related to the conditions under which women began to experience regular military service. Another major cultural difference relevant to this issue is that warriors have never been glorified for their own greatness in Chinese history. There are famous patriotic and loyal Chinese generals, such as Yue Fei ffi~ and Wen Tianxiang )(Jc~ , who inspire later generations to go to wars when they are needed. There are no figures however ' who parallel Alexander the Great or Napoleon in Chinese culture (Kierman & Fairbank 1974). Patriotism and loyalty are glorified, not war heroes. On the other hand, both men and women have been recorded in Chinese history as glorified defenders and just warriors. The stereotype of Chinese warriors emphasizes mastery of military strategy, tactics, leadership, and martial art rather than masculinity. Study of Military Women The study of military women in the West is a recent phenomenon that has emerged only in the past two decades. Nevertheless, it covers women's involvement in military activities during more than 2000 years. The review of this category of literature is organized in four parts: military women in the preindustrial period; case studies; comparative studies; and the policy issue of women soldiers' combat role. Women's Military Roles In the Pre-industrial Period Three features are prominent in research on women's military roles in pre- industrial Western societies: 11 ' 1) Legendary women warriors, who appeared worldwide during the past 2000 years, have been frequently discussed (Duiker, 1982; Boulding, 1988; St. John Williams 1988· , , Dugaw, 1989; Salmonson, 1991 ; Stanley and Segal, 1992; Dever and Dever, 1995).3 Few systematic studies of these warriors as individuals have been conducted, however, let alone any efforts to identify the patterns of their wartime life and behavior. Most of these women warriors were described in artistic and literary works rather than in historical records. Nevertheless, this category of literature provides references to the ' societal and situational conditions that brought women onto the battlefield. Thus, it can contribute to the theoretical framework for this study. 2). There are studies of camp followers, who were women oflower social status and "followed" the military. They participated in different ways in different periods since the 16th century in most European countries and since the period of the Revolution in America (Turner, 1965; Ploss, 1964; Horward, 1973; Enloe, 1983 ; Hacker, 1988). They were frequently wives, fiancees, or sisters of soldiers. This literature teaches us that study of women's military involvement should pay specific attention to experiences of women from the range of status positions. While Queens and female commanders have been glorified for inspiring people to mobilize for war, women of lower social status have worked harder and suffered more from their war experiences. Although the scale and degree of their involvement with military operations may have been larger and deeper than that of Queens and female commanders, they are less recorded and studied . 3 Heroines are prominent in legends either because the uni~ueness of such events, or due to their heroic deeds which are probably in contrast to prevailing expectations of gender behavior of women. 12 This situation does not indicate that their experiences are less significant. On the other hand, it enjoins us to pay careful attention to what is regarded as military. Many camp followers performed roles that are now performed by military personnel. For example, they served as cooks, camp guards, nurses, and people in charge of equipment repair. 3) When women fought shoulder to shoulder with men in battles, they tended to disguise themselves as men (Wheelwright, 1989; Salas, 1990). This phenomenon is another general feature of women's participation in military activities in earlier times. The notion that women have played men's roles in the military is probably true across countries and over time. This particular feature of women's military experience shows that role expectations and other cultural factors are closely related to the study of women's military roles. Case Studies of Women's Roles In the Military Case studies of military women in developed countries have two major themes: women's experiences in the two world wars; and different patterns oflabor-force participation in wartime and peacetime. This literature not only provides recognition of women's contributions and sufferings in great wars but also produces foundations for theory formation and policy making. Studies of women soldiers in Yugoslavia, in the Russian Revolution, in the Algerian and Vietnamese liberation struggles, and in ~icaragua, Mexico and Mozambique, are prominent among those case studies of women's military roles in less developed countries and mostly in unconventional military operations (Griesse and 13 Stites, 1982; Alexiyevich, 1985; Helie-Lucas, 1988; Harris, 1988; Cooke, 1989· Salas ' ' 1990; Jancar, 1990; VJastos, 1991 ). The literature in this category illustrates a common feature: most women's participation in unconventional operations is irregular and temporary and represents women's responses to urgent need of collective survival in emergency situations. The temporary feature has deprived women of full military status, and the irregularity has kept them at lower operational levels. This literature demonstrates clearly that when war intrudes into society, as in the case of invasion or colonialism, it is difficult to maintain the traditional social order and boundaries, including those of gender. On the other hand, unconventional warfare in third-world countries is frequently intended to destroy the traditional social order and boundaries. Thus women's military roles are less restricted in these cases by cultural expectations. This literature also shows why the study of women's roles in the military should include women revolutionaries and women defenders, as well as regular soldiers. Comparative Studies of Women's Role In the Military Some cross-national comparisons have been conducted to provide a descriptive foundation for further analysis of the patterns of women's roles in the military and for the development of a comprehensive theoretical framework (Berkin and Lovett, 1980; Goldman 1982. Macdonald et al, I 987; Isaksson, 1988; Cooper et al, 1989; Stanley and ' ' Segal, 1988, l 992). Although this dissertation is a case study offering historical comparison of Chinese women's military behavior in different time periods, with less 14 cross-cultural comparison, reference to patterns of women's behavior in th . o er countnes is useful as a base of comparison. The Policy Issues of Women Soldiers' Combat Roles This literature reflects the debate in developed countries about military , women combat roles. Sometimes the debate focuses on whether women should be protected or not; sometimes it discusses whether women soldiers should have the same combat liability as men in a standing force during a prolonged time of peace. The study of Chinese military women cannot avoid this issue. As is mentioned above, equal opportunity and combat readiness are the two major lines along which opinions are divided . This research will address the issue within the context of broader patterns of women's military participation. Study of Chinese Women Although many publications about Chinese women have appeared since 1970, only the relevant literature on women's social status in general and gender relationship in particular are reviewed in this section. Chinese Women's Social Status It is safe to state that for most Chinese women and for most of the time, social status is derived from the men with whom these women associate. 1n Chinese feudal society, girls had no social recognition before marriage, and only some had maiden names. U h . Chinese woman took her husband's surname, plus her pon er mamage, a a: (shi) Thus a woman's name was used to father's surname, plus a universal nee L.-\i · 15 ' connote her as somebody's wife who used to be someone else's daughter. This situation may explain why so few women are recognized and recorded by China's official hi t s ory. A major set of historical records on ancient China is entitled The Twenty Four Histories =+ID151: (er shi si shi). This set has been regarded traditionally as the only official records with a biographical style. Modern historians include the History of the Oing Dynasty m-51:m and the New History of Yuan Dynasty ~JC5e into the official set, so that the modern official records of ancient China are called The Twenty Six Histories = +R5f . These official histories are ordered and supported by each court and compiled by contemporaries or historians. Aside from empresses, princesses and imperial concubines, who receive due presence in these official histories because of their "high" social status, only 839 outstanding Chinese women are recorded in China's official history (Lu, 1991 ). 4 Most of them are officially recognized as women of chastity who either sacrificed their lives to be loyal wives (in most cases loyal widows) or risked their lives to be dutiful daughters. In short, a Chinese woman's social status has been determined by her relationship with the male family heads (the husband in the nuclear family, the father in the extended family) . If the male family head enjoys high social status, such as occurs in royal families the female members may also have such status. This phenomenon is called "a ' noble lady is recognized because of her famous husband "7e5R~Y{ (fu rong qi gui). 4 Another numeration conducted by Dong Jiaz~n (l 979) is based 0~ a Collection of Books and Pictures in All Times if-tOO=fH~Jvt ordered by the ~ng court and compiled by a group of scholars headed by Jiang Tingxi ~jf~ in l ?25. According to this source, there are altogether 49,383 women of chastity or virginity in ancient China. 16 Only a few famous women scholars and poetesses are recognized because of their talents, and most of them are still recorded as famous scholars' wives or daughters. 5 This phenomenon still persists in contemporary China. Ordinary women receive recognition because of their famous husbands or fathers . There have been some changes, however. First, the Communist Party's indoctrination of the concept of equal status for men and women has led women to retain their names after marriage. Secondly, women are encouraged to develop themselves and to seek equal status with men . Thirdly, monogamy has become the norm and there has been a shift from arranged to free marriage, especially in the cities. Some model women have been recognized because of their outstanding deeds. Women are encouraged to participate not only in economic production, but also in politics. Nevertheless, Chinese women, like their counterparts in most other countries, have not achieved truly equal status. Men as superior to women still lingers in people's minds. Gender discrimination has been recognized as a social problem by both women themselves and by government officials (Wei, 1984). In sum, women's status in Chinese culture is subordinate and submissive. The magnitude of the inertia, caused by a long history of feudalism, cannot be overcome easily by any single revolution or ideological indoctrination . Most Western scholars who tried to evaluate the social status of women in modern China after almost a century of 5 . As is the case in other civilizations, extremely beautiful women have inspired many Chinese literary and artistic works. Some of these women were prostitutes with no social status at all, but these famous prostitutes were recognized because of their special relationship with certain famous male officials and scholars. 17 revolutions and liberation struggles have found out that the revolution was postponed (Wolf, 1985) and the liberation is unfinished (Anders, 1983). Gender Relationships in China Male dominance in Chinese society has been reinforced by a feudal history of more than 2000 years. In the past, the predominant female image in China was that of a woman who was submissive to men at three levels: as daughter obedient to father; as wife obedient to husband; and as mother obedient to grown-up son. As Mao wrote in 1927: A man in China is usually subjected to the domination of three systems of authority: ( 1) the system of the state (political authority) ... (2) the system of the clan (clan authority) ... and (3) the system of gods and spirits (theocratic authority) As to women, apart from being dominated by the three systems mentioned above, they are further dominated by men (the authority of the husband). These four kinds of authority--political authority, clan authority, theocratic authority, and the authority of the husband--represent the whole ideology and institution of feudalism and patriarchy, and are the four enormous cords that have bound the Chinese people and particularly the peasants (Mao, 1953 : 40) . The authority of the male family head can be regarded as a major element in the structure and culture of gender. After more than 40 years of socialist revolution, according to Judith Stacey's ( 1983) study, the patriarchal system based on "peasant family economy" has been rather enhanced than reduced, because the land reform policy is actually a "land-to-the-families- of-tillers" policy. It does not affect the internal structure of the Chinese family . Another scholar who has taken three field trips to a village in Guangdong J* Province since 18 1979 for his anthropological study has found that the new household registration system, the patrilineal inheritance system, and the patrilocal residence arrangement are exactly the same as before the revolution. Land has been allocated to each household according to family size. Decisions on how to use the land and how to distribute the income from the land among family members remain in the hand of the male family head (Potter, 1984). Some studies show that women now have better economic status in families and that some fundamental changes in marital relationships have occurred (Liu, 1991) The major determinant of these changes is that since the beginning of Communist rule in 1949, most Chinese women have participated in productive work and earned independent incomes. More than 900,,o of Chinese women aged 15 to 54 participate in production (Statistics on Chinese Women, I 991 ). Such large-scale participation in the labor force has lessened women's economic dependence on men. It has also spawned social changes related to Chinese men's sharing of household work without fear of humiliation from their male friends and the equality of husband and wife in family decision-making (Xia, I 991 ) . The greater equality is also reflected in the fact that more and more Chinese families in urban areas live as nuclear families. Some social scientists assume that such family organization allows more democracy in decision-making than is possible in an extended-family organization, in which the elderly father still decides everything. More and more young Chinese women have selected their marital partners 19 by themselves, though scholars cannot reach a consensus about the extent of this phenomenon (Xue, 1991; Zhao, 1991 ). In sum, although traditional patterns persist, there are promising changes and developments in gender relationships within the Chinese family. Significance of the Study The study of women's military roles is closely related to the origins of gender stratification and the evolution of human society. Women's military roles also form part of the existing system of stratification. Given the long history of Chinese women's involvement in the military, the patterns of their military activities over different historical time periods provide glimpse of historical variation and facilitate further cross- cultural comparison. With regard to current military manpower policies, women's military role is one of the major concerns in most developed nations. With the advance of human society and technology, the military is no longer an exclusively masculine territory. Demographic developments, economic considerations, technical innovation and cultural changes have influenced changes in the philosophy of military-manpower management in many countries. The modernization of weaponry not only has relieved human beings from heavy dependency on physical strength--particularly upper-body strength, for which women generally are weaker than men--but also has blurred the lines between front and rear. Keeping women and children protected in the rear is no longer a feasible priority for group survival. The modernization of warfare has not only necessitated more 20 manpower, but also has broken through the traditional noble-class privilege to engage in war. The all-volunteer system has opened doors to most people who wish to serve their country by joining the anned forces and can meet the criteria for recruitment. The worldwide citizenship revolution has fostered a widespread belief that no citizen should be deprived of the right to military service simply because of his or her ascriptive characteristics such as gender, race and sexual preference. This move toward gender equality has made the policy issue of military women very "political" in several developed countries. In short, women's military role is no longer an issue of interest only to a few scholars and policy-makers. In the Chinese case, women have served in the military on a comparatively regular basis since I 949. It is no longer a phenomenon of "phoenix feathers and unicorn horns", in the words of a Chinese proverb. The continuous presence and function of women in the regular armed forces will remain a positive factor in women's struggle to obtain equal status with men There are several reasons for choosing China for this research: first, Chinese women have a 3,000 year history of military participation; second, there have been great variations over time in their participation in military operations, including scale of participation, frequency, duration, and degree of involvement; third, Chinese women have participated in various types of military operations, ranging from conventional to unconventional warfare, including peasants' uprisings and guerrilla warfare; fourth, Chinese women have served in both regular and irregular military formations. 21 The history of women's involvement in military activities in China is probably longer and more continuous than that of any other country in the world. This long history of military involvement, along with its variation over time, provides a basis for cross-national comparison. This case is ideal for testing and modifying historical, macrostructural models such as Mady W. Segal's expansion and contraction theory. Patterns identified by this study will provide a solid basis for comparison and contrast in the future. In order to collect empirical data for this study, the author traveled back to China from April 17 to May 18, 1992. With permission from the military leadership of the PLA, 500 questionnaires designed for this research were distributed among air force, navy and army units in Beijing; 230 women serving in the PLA have responded. Two of the twelve contemporary women generals were interviewed by this author. More data was collected informally during the visit. Details will be provided in Chapter III. Historically, this study is the first attempt of its kind. Although the data may not meet the quality standards of Western social science research, because of the political situation in China, this pioneering set of empirical data itself increases the significance of the study. In sum, warfare has historically been a male domain, but exceptions exist. The scale and d1egree of Chinese women's involvement in warfare and the functions and roles performed by these women in irregular and regular military formations during a period of 22 spanning more than 3,000 years provide a unique case study, as well as the development of a coherent theoretical framework. Chapter II Theory In this chapter, Mady Segal's theoretical model (1992) and Segal & Segal's earlier paper (1983) are discussed as an organizing framework, followed by the author's theoretical model with a schematic diagram to show the theoretical linkages and hypothetical relationships among different variables. A historical, macrostructural model with emphasis on structural, cultural, situational and institutional factors is developed to explain Chinese women's roles in the military. Segal & Segal's (1983) and Mady Segal's (1992) Models Segal and Segal's ( I 983) paper is intended specifically to explain women's roles in the American am1ed forces. It is an historical and macrostructural model. Using the nation-state and its manpower policy as the major focus of concern, the model examines major factors that affect women's roles in the U.S. armed forces. This model is further developed in Mady Segal's paper "Toward a Theory of Women in the Am1ed Forces" (1992), which outlines a theory of the variables that affect the degree and nature of women's participation in the armed forces through history and across nations. The paper also states Mady Segal's thesis that "women's military roles go through cycles of expansion and contraction" (Segal, 1992: I) . Such cycles are affected by variables categorized as military, structural and cultural. The relationship between military threat and women's military roles is hypothesized as curvilinear. "At the high 24 end of threat to the society, women's military roles seem to increase. If the very existence of the society is imminently threatened, many women are involved in military operations including as combatants" (Segal, 1992:6). "In societies with low threats to national security but with cultural values supporting gender equality, women's military participation also increases" (Segal, 1992:6). The extent of women's participation in combat jobs will be minimized when a medium-intensity threat prevails. In this situation, society is not threatened with extinction, but the likelihood of military action on the country's soil is high. Segal observes that "women's lives are risked if the society is threatened. But there seems to be resistance to risking large numbers of women casualties unless there is severe threat" (Segal, 1992:7). More common in history has been a bifurcation between the military's needs for people to soldier in war and cultural values which limit women's roles in the military, which has been defined "traditionally as a masculine institution" (Segal, 1992: 1 ). By broadly reviewing Chinese women's participation in military operations over a history of 3200 years, this dissertation raises the question of whether Chinese women's military participation goes through cycles of expansion and contraction. The Segals' model includes three sets of factors that are identified first in Segals' paper of 1983 and further developed in Mady Segal's most recent model. These are military, social structural, and cultural categories (See Figure 1 ). 25 MILITARY National security situation Military Technology Combat to support ratio Force structure Military accession policies SOCIAL STRUCTURE Demographic patterns Labor force characteristics (women 's labor force participation and occupational sex segregation) Economic factors Family structure CULTURE Social construction of gender and family : Social values about gender and family Public discourse regarding gender Values regarding ascription and equity PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN THE MI LIT ARY (degree of representation and nature of activities) Figure 1. Mady Segal's 1992 Model 26 The first set of factors reflects changes in the nature of the military institution, such as changes in military technology, combat-to-support ratio, force structure, and military accession policies. It also includes military situational factors such as the national security situation. Technological changes in America over the past century have enabled the greater participation of women in the armed forces . "Women's involvement in military operations is currently negatively affected by the proportion of combat jobs and positively affected by the proportion of support jobs. This is because combat has been viewed as (and has been primarily) a man's activity" (Segal, 1992: 10). The second set of factors is structural, including demographic patterns, labor force characteristics, economic factors, and family structure. It is hypothesized in Mady Segal's model that "in general, the greater the family responsibilities for the average woman, the less women's representation in the armed forces" (Segal, 1992: 17). The third set includes cultural factors such as social values about gender and family, public discourse regarding gender, and values regarding ascription and equity. It is hypothesized in Mady Segal's model that " the more egalitarian the social values about gender, the greater women's representation in the military" (Segal, 1992: 19). The model emphasizes that technology and economic development play important roles in determining women's military participation. It points out that changes in military technology make warfare more capital-intensive and permit a reduction in ·the size of the basic weapons systems. The industrial revolution and the progress of technology lead to the occupational specialization of the armed forces, which 27 increasingly depend upon vehicular transport, electronics, and miniaturized weapon systems. This situation makes the early justification of the exclusion of women from the armed forces less applicable, since more and more military personnel were involved in transportation, communications, electronics, supply, and other specialties that are frequently performed by women even in the civilian labor force. The smaller and lighter infantry weapons can be used more easily by American women, who are generally smaller in stature than the average American male soldier. This fact further explains why the rigor of infantry combat can no longer be invoked as the justification of exclusion of women from military service. The model also stresses changes within the military system itself, such as the shifts of definition of military mission . The modern military mission is increasingly defined in terms of constabulary or peacekeeping operations. Troops are oriented "not to wage war but to preserve the peace" (Segal and Segal, 1983:239). The peace mission of the armed forces not only changes the old image of warriors, but might also resolve the theoretical concern about the dualism of gender and war, which is briefly discussed in Chapter I . Indeed, some leading military sociologists predict that a post-modern warrior will be a peace-keeper for most of his or her military career. Another important characteristic of the Segals' model is its link between women's military roles on the one hand and women's increased labor force participation and the citizenship revolution on the other. Since 1920, 11 it has become increasingly common for American women to work outside the home for all or most of their adult lives" (Segal & 28 Segal, 1983 245). Along with this social trend, the current phase of the citizenship revolution is marked by the exiension of equality to women in both civilian and military institutions. The movement of females into male-dominated areas is a major reflection of these two societal trends. With regard to cultural factors affecting women's labor force participation and citizenship, cultural acceptance of a division of labor based on gender has been reinforced . The world of work has been viewed as a man's world, while a woman's world has revolved around the family. Derived from this general acceptance is the constellation of cultural values about appropriate roles for women. As is discussed in the Segals' model. Such values have had two interrelated thrusts. First, women have been seen as psychologically different from men . The stereotypical feminine personality traits include warmth, nurturance, submissiveness, dependency, passivity, and lack of aggressiveness: characteristics that are not highly valued in the military. Second, the belief in psychological differences between males and females has reinforced cultural acceptance of a division of labor based on gender (Segal & Segal, 1983:244) The Authors Theoretical Approach The Central Arguments In early human societies, victory in warfare depended mainly on the military leader's mental capability in strategy and tactics, the arrny's collective physical strength and martial arts, and the sophistication of weaponry, which, in tum, relied mainly on the user's upper-body strength. The level of development of weapons systems is determined 29 by the general level of economy and technology of the given society An individual warrior's mastery of the martial arts derives from lengthy discipline and training. Given these conditions, war has been primarily a masculine activity worldwide and over time, due to the gendered division oflabor; the generally smaller stature of women compared with men; and women's long-term commitment to reproduction and child- rearing. Whenever there is a threat to collective survival of the human group (family, kinship, and nation), however, or when a shortage of manpower exists, women participate in military activities and hold positions in military formations. They have played men's roles in warfare and have replaced men in their nonmilitary jobs if needed . As functions of group security and the manpower situation, women's participation in military operations occurs in cycles of expansion and contraction . Such expansion and contraction have left an impression that women's military involvement is less frequent or of smaller scale, or ofless duration than that of men. Women's involvement in military activities has been regarded as unusual or irregular because of this cyclical participation. This irregularity of women's presence and function in the military sphere accounts for the fact that their military roles have not affected gender role expectations, have not altered women's social status, and have not changed the division of labor by gender and gender stereotypes that have prevailed worldwide for thousands of years. Indeed, women's participation in military activities has been regarded as unique events in the history of most human societies. 30 During the process of modernization, with the development of science and technology, weaponry has become increasingly sophisticated. Dependency on hand weapons and on users' physical strength has diminished. With proper training, both men and women can handle most military machines and instruments. At the same time, the delivery systems of weaponry increase the range of the battlefield and the scale of warfare. It is harder to distinguish the front from the rear. Thus, the fundamental consideration of keeping women and children protected in the rear for group survival will no longer be the top priority. The industrial revolution and technology bring occupational specialization in the armed forces, which are increasingly dependent on vehicular transport, electronics, and miniaturized weapon systems. All these specialties require professionals with relevant expertise and training. In short, military technology developments will increasingly create a need for mental capability rather than physical strength on the part of military personnel. A perc~ived shortage of manpower has been a concern for some developed countries, where demographic trends indicate that more people are having fewer children. Manpower shortage has been a constant problem for most unconventional warfare. Women participate in most revolutionary struggles, since insurgent forces always needs considerable manpower. Women's contributions to revolutionary struggles enforce the ideology of gender equality, which is advocated by.some revolutionary parties. Nevertheless, revolution, the 31 ideology of gender equality, and modernization of weapons systems do not automatically bring about the constant utilization of women in the anned forces. As soon as the revolution or war is over, women's participation in military operations contracts. The situational factor of utilization of a large standing force in prolonged peace- time must also be taken into account. Men and women join the military service more for jobs and skill training than in response to a calling. Through education and training, increasing numbers of women become qualified to serve regularly in the military, and their presence becomes constant when they become occupational specialists. In addition to these historical, macrostructural deliberations, one may still ask what factors influence young women to select military service as a career. It is hypothesized that in China, the military institution has served as one of the social mobility channels which makes it possible for women to obtain higher education, stable jobs, and higher social status. ( It is also hypothesized that the male head of household's military experience, as a structural factor, affects a woman's decision to participate in military operations or join the military. Dependent Variables Women's Participation In Conventional (DVl) and Unconventional Military Operations (DV2) Defined by the military operation, which is defined as an arnied conflict engaged in by groups of people, women's participation in military operations means women's 32 Contextual Factors Time Period and Levels of ,___ Technology & Economy DV1/DV2 Women's Participation in - Conventional/ -Situational Factors Unconventional Military Operations Group Security Situation Shortage/Perceived - Shortage of Manpower DV3/DV4 Cultural Factors Women's Positions in -- Regular/Irregular Military - Ideological Support for Pormations Women's Military -- Participation Structural Factors Male Family Head's Military Experiences - Figure 2: Schematic Diagram of Chinese Women's Roles in the Military 33 presence and action in military operations, either in or out of uniform and either as conscripts or volunteers (please see Figure 2). This broad definition is designed to include women whose military participation is limited to only one major battle-- a common case for women warriors' military engagement in ancient China. In other words, female participants in military operations, for the purpose of this study, are not limited to those who hold official positions in military formations . In most studies of Chinese women, the term female warriors refers not only to women combatants, but also to female knights errant in the pre-industrial society of China (Yu, 1978; Jiang, 1986; May, 1985) In this study, Chinese female knights errant are excluded, since most of them were engaged in individual armed actions rather than as participants in col!ective military operations; the latter is the major focus of this dissertation. The female knights errant were "women social bandits" (May, 198: 1985) who tried to single-handedly correct wrongs in the society by violence. Another technical reason for exclusion of these women is that most of them are fictional characters, who are presented in imaginary literature and art, and their identities are difficult to verify. With regard to different types of military operations, this research focuses on conventional warfare, in which regular armies comprise the conflicting sides, and unconventional warfare, in which at least one of the contending parties to the conflict is composed of revolutionary forces or other irregular armies. 34 Women's Positions In Regular (DV3) and Irregular Military Formations (DV4) Women's positions in the military are defined as women's jobs in military formations, with associated job performance and role-relationships with other components of the formation. Regular formations are defined as military formations that have governmental support, while irregular armies are those formations that have chains of command and some kind of military discipline but do not have political authority or legitimacy from the state. For example, a warlord's troops and guerrilla armies are irregular in this sense. However, the Red Army under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the post-Opium war period is regarded as a regular army due to its political authority or legitimacy over certain Chinese territory. The distinction between the two formations corresponds to different types of warfare, which are denoted in the definitions of DVl and DV2. Major Independent Variables This research, drawing upon existing academic studies, considers four categories of major determinants of women's roles in the military. They are: (1) contextual factors; (2) situational factors; (3) cultural factors; and (4) structural factors. In the following section, no attempt has been made to draw an exhaustive list of factors in each category. Only those factors that are being tested by this study are defined and discussed. 35 Contextual Factors Derived from the Segals' models on women in the armed forces, this theoretical framework considers time and levels of technology and economic development as contextual factors that have an overarching impact on women's roles in the military It focuses on the historical time periods that are characterized by technological and economic sophistication No attempt to evaluate the levels of sophistication of technology and economy in detail has been made in this study, however. This dissertation defines time as time period instead of time point. At the operational level, time period is mainly defined by sophistication of weaponry, which is defined as the quality of weapons in regard to lethal capability, velocity, range, and degree of dependency on the user's physical strenf,rth. For this case study of Chinese military women, China's history is divided into ancient ( 4000 years ago to 1840 AD), post-Opium War ( 1840 -1949), and modern (1949-present) time periods. Ancient time is characterized by low levels of technology and economy. Both the post-Opium War and the modern time periods are generally marked by high technology and a sophisticated economy, though it is obvious that technology and economic levels in China in 1949 were not the same as they are now. There are two reasons to distinguish further the post-Opium War from the modern time period in this case study. One is that the post-Opium War time period in China can be roughly characterized as the time of early industrialization, while the modern period marks the threshold of the era of high technology The other reason is that in the J 00 years of the post-Opium War period, China suffered continuous warfare of different scales, whereas in modem times China is generally at peace. Sophistication of military technology corresponding to each time period is studied and discussed briefly in relevant chapters, but no detailed research on levels of development is conducted for this study. Situational Factors The model for this dissertation treats the existence of a manpower shortage, or perceived manpower shortage by the leadinl! elite, as a major situational factor In this study, situational factors reflect conditions that dramatically change women's roles in the military from time point one to time point two. Group security situation, defined by the presence of a threat or perceived threat to collective survival of the family, kinship group and nation is considered as another situational factor. The study focuses on how badly women are needed for the emergent military threat, or how this threat is perceived. This factor is identified as a military factor in Mady Segal's theory, which is briefly discussed in the previous section. It is based on the hypothesis that if the very existence of the society is imminently threatened by an enemy, women will be involved in defense, even as combatants. In other words, if the group is threatened with possible extinction, women's military history will be recalled, and women will be encouraged to risk their lives for group survival. The need for survival in the face of an imminent threat will overcome the potential need of the group to survive through protection of its reproducing force '>7 Cultural Factors Along the Jines of Segals' models, this framework also considers the impact of the degree of ideological support for women's participation in the military, as well as the impact of cultural constructions on women's military participation. Limited by the scope of this dissertation, the study focuses on only one cultural factor--ideological support for women's military participation. Gender ideology is defined as the idea that distinguishes women from men not only in a biological sense but also in terms of political rights and social status. Gender inequality is defined as unequal access to and possession of economic and political resources in general, and unequal job opportunities and ranks for men and women of equal qualifications and skills in particular. Gender stereotypes are defined as gender-specific assumptions about expected and appropriate behavior. They are manifestations of the gender ideology that is prevalent in a certain society and/or advocated by the governing elite. Considering the limited availability of data, this dissertation uses only official indoctrination of heroines as the indicator of ideological support for women's military participation Structural Factors Derived from Segal's 1992 model on women in the armed forces, family structure is one of the major variables in this category. The male family head's military role and its relationship to the woman's military participation are studied and discussed, particularly for micro-level analysis The previous chapter discussed the male head of household's 18 dominance in the Chinese family. Since all the important decisions in a Chinese woman's life are made by the male family head, it is hypothesized that Chinese women's military participation is closely related to their male family heads' military experience. This hypothesis is tested by observing women's behavioral patterns in different historical periods. In this study, male family head refers to the man who holds decision power at home--in most cases, the father figure of the subject. He can be either the father of an extended ·family, which is defined as at least two married couples included in a single unit (grandparents and parents, parents with a married son and his wife), or the father in a nuclear family. Theoretical Linkage Based on the previous discussion and literature review, patterns of women's roles in the military are defined by the contextual factors of time and the general levels of sophistication of technology and economy. They are functions of the combination of situational factors, such as the group (national) security situation and a shortage of manpower. Cultural factors, such as the ideology of supporting women's military participation, have a direct impact on women's military behavior and role expectations. Structural factors, such as the male family head's military experience or lack thereof, have effects on women's military participation. 39 The basic assumptions underlying the hypotheses are that universal needs of survival and fundamental considerations of expediency and efficiency exist which affect patterns of the gendered division oflabor in most human military activities. The basic hypothesis is that general patterns of Chinese women's roles in the military over time are affected by a number of variables at the societal, institutional, and individual levels. These variables include contextual, situational, cultural, and structural factors . Various configurations of the contextual factors of general levels of technology and economy in specific time periods, plus the various configurations of the two major situational variables of group security situation and manpower shortage, affect the degree and scale of women's participation in military operations. When a conventional war ends, most of the women participants will be discharged immediately or gradually from the military formation, since the determining situational factors no longer exist. In unconventional warfare, especially in revolutional)' warfare, survival needs and manpower shortages are assumed to exist persistently for the insurgent side; therefore, women's participation in the military operations for this side can be predicted to be high in frequency and scale, both in ancient times and modem times. In ancient times, when society was characterized by a low level of technology and economic development, women who were skilled in martial arts, and whose male family heads held military positions could hold positions in the regular military formation during both war and peacetime. A few women warriors may have held commanders' 40 positions. In modern times, characterized by a high level of technology and economic development, women's decisions to join the peacetime regular military formation are affected by their male family head's military experience. Women's current education level can be predicted by her entry education level based on the hypothesis that military institution serves as one of the social mobility channels which makes it possible that women achieve higher education, have stable job or job security, and have higher social status. In sum, this dissertation focuses on four categories of variables and their effects on Chinese women's military roles, which are studied as dependent variables. Several hypotheses have been discussed in the previous section, although the research i.s not conducted strictly as a formal test of these hypotheses. The major reason for forgoing a formal approach is the consideration that data collected for this study are variable in quality. Further details about the methodology of this research are provided in Chapter III. The research model is grounded in existing academic work on women in the armed forces and on gender-based division oflabor and gender ideology in the larger society. It is derived mainly from the Segals' theories on women's roles in the military, which focus on historical, comparative characteristics with emphasis on structural, cultural and military factors . The study applies the theoretical model to identify and analyze patterns of Chinese women's participation in military operations under various historical and societal conditions. Specifically, it addresses the questions of under what 41 conditions have Chinese women taken part in military operations and whether Chinese women's participation in military operations reflects cycles of expansion and contraction. ' do Chinese women participate in direct combat, command battles in battles and the relevant question on casualty; and does the military institution serve as a channel which facilitates women's social mobility to education, jobs and higher social status. Four categories of independent variables and four dependent variables are defined and discussed in this chapter, with the purpose of organizing the research in a systematic way and presenting the description in an orderly manner. Since the model is not intended as a formal approach, no detailed definitions of indicators are offered in this chapter 42 Chapter Ill Methodology This chapter discusses data availability, data quality, methods of data collection and their analysis It is divided into three parts. Section one deals with methodological issues for the study of Chinese women warriors in ancient time. Section two discusses research methods for the study of women fighters in the Post-Opium War time period. Methods of data collection and analysis for military women on the CNP's side are also included in this section. The third part discusses the methodology of the study of Chinese military women in the modern PLA Theoretical considerations, together with concept definitions and criteria which guide the selection of methods, were discussed in the previous chapter. Methodology for the Study of Chinese Women Warriors in Ancient Time Data Availability and Quality The study of Chinese women warriors in ancient time covers a time period of over five thousand years (more details in Chapter IV and Chapter\'). There exists a huge literature, probably the longest and richest one in the world, which is relevant to the research topics specified for this research. These sources include: Chinese expression in earliest form created in prehistory societies and inscribed on pottery, bones and tortoise shells by priests and priestesses; classic work published on bamboo slips, cloth and ancient paper; official histories in thousands of volumes; and scholarly work produced by Chinese intellectuals over the centuries. In order to limit the universe of existing work 43 on Chinese women warriors, but at same time avoid the risk of selectivity bias, historical women warriors are identified by criteria based on the theoretical framework discussed in Chapter II-they must be real participants in actual military operations in China's ancient time. Also, they must be recorded as historical figures, not fictional ones. Thirdly, they must be recorded either by designated historiographers or scholars, not tellers of folklore. And forth, they must be recorded by at least two reliable sources. The earliest translation of Chinese inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells f:f3 ff )(. (iia gu wen) was accomplished by modern scholars in the 1930s. Due to the interruption of warfare, revolutionary changes, and ruling party's policies, not too many scholars have been trained to understand this language, and the scope of its translation is quite limited . Forty years later, archaeological diggings resumed and reached a significant scale in the 1970s when academic work was encouraged again by the ruling party. This explains why at this moment, very little research can be conducted on the basis of this very limited source. In the 3000 year history of Chinese patriarchal society after the Zhou Dynasty (1 l th century- 221 BC), 49,383 women have their names and deeds recorded by written materials. Unfortunately, no figures about men have been recorded in the same source (Jiang, 1725; Dong, 1979). This figure comes from the encyclopedia-type anthology composed by scholars in the midst of Qing, the last feudal dynasty in China. As an integral part of this huge product, the 45th volume to 290th volume are called Song of Elegant Women fiJ n HE (gui yuan qu). These 245 volumes in several dozens books 44 have recorded 37,226 "women of chastity" -=pjS (jie fu), and 12,157 "girls of virginity" ?.N3C (lie nyu)1. This data is heavily biased by feudal indoctrination and ideology on chastity and virginity, formulated by scholars in the Tang dynasty, and spread widely in the Song and the Yuan dynasties, when this feudal ideology was fiercely indoctrinated. For example, among 1,016 recorded model women from Song and Yuan, 496 (49%) committed suicide for virginity according to one numeration (Dong, 1979). Many of them disfigured their faces, cut ears, noses or fingers for the purpose of chastity. Technically it is hard for this author to verify women recorded in this collection with another source. So it was decided at an early stage of this research that the dissertation will not use data from this resource. As discussed briefly in Chapter I, official historical records of ancient China are entitled The Twenty Four Histories. Each represents a dynasty or dynastic period in China's feudal history. From the first Chinese comprehensive history!£_ it. (shi ji) composed by Si Maqian fiJ "fb :if in the Han dynasty to the book of Ming history ~ !£_ (ming shi), these history books have been regarded as the "right as well as the original history" iE5e (zheng shi) in opposition to "unofficial or uncultivated record" Jf 5e (ye shi) .2 These twenty four collections were supplemented in modem time by the History of the Qing Dynasty r1i' 5e ~ (qing shi gao) and the New History of Yuan Dynasty fJr 1. In Chinese, jfl (Fu) means married woman, -J;: (nyu) means unmarried girl. As for the two adjectives put in front of these women, jic means sacrifice happiness even physically discomposed one's own body in order to maintain her chastity. Lie means losing one's life for the sake of virginity. 2 . At the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., these ancient histories are contained in hundreds of cases. Shi Ji, the first comprehensive history, covers a time period of two thousands years before the Han (206 B.C. - 220 AD.). Others arc single dynastic record with many volumes. 45 JC !1:. (xin yuan shi) . Altogether the 26 official histories cover a 5000 years written history of ancient China3• Since Chinese orthodox scholars believe that women are inferior to men, and they don't think recording women's deeds is an integral part of history, there are only 901 officially recorded outstanding women, in addition to female royal family members, who have their due presence in these official histories (Lu, 1991 ). Another numeration is 821 (Chen, 1984 ); the third one is about 600 (Liu, 1978). All numerators agreed that since there are about 60 ( 62 for Lu, 61 for Chen, 58 for Liu) women being recorded twice in the history, the total should be either 839 (Lu, 1991 ), or 760 (Chen, 1984), or 600 (Liu, 1978). Since this research is not designed to numerate all recorded historical women in China's official history, 760 is selected arbitrarily by the author as the basic population for this research, simply because Chen Dongyuan's research has a detailed report with a table and descriptions, while Lu Yinquan has only published his research in a newspaper article, and Liu Ziqing has a special purpose of selecting wise and capable women whose deeds have been regarded as positive by him in Chinese history. These women are recorded in special volume entitled Biography ofWomen~J -Ji: {{ (lie nyu zhuan). Only ten of the twenty four histories have women's biographies. The composition of women's biographies was started by a scholar named Liu Xiang xtJ rffi in late Western Han dynasty (206 BD-24 AD). He put women of chastity or virginity in seven volumes of record. This effort was complimented with one volume by 3 • A New Dictionary of These Twenty Six Histories was published in February 1994 with three volumes on historical figures . This dissertation does not benefit from this new source. 46 Ban Zhao f1f gg, a female advocator of women virginity in the Han dynasty (25-220). Historians agreed that the main purpose of this specific volume of women's biography was setting up role models for Chinese women with special focus on virginity and chastity. That means this data is also ideologically biased by feudal orthodoxy. Some of these biographies are rewritten or interpreted into modern Chinese (Yan, 1939; Liu, 1981 ; Yu, 1978). This makes cross verification possible by different sources for this author. Scholarly work which this research is based upon are similarly secondary in nature. For the purpose of cross examination and verification, this author has used data from four scholarly works and two biographical dictionaries devoted to famous Chinese women. Yu Zhenbang (1978), Liu Ziqing (1978) and Wang Panting (1966) have contributed by translating women's biographies into modern Chinese, which makes it more readable. Yan Jikuan ( 1939) cites national heroines in ancient China for a clear purpose of mobilizing Chinese women for the cause of national defense against the Japanese invasion in late 1930s. Three biographical dictionaries of famous women have been published recently in mainland China. Who's Who of Chinese Women 9=1 00 t3 fl:.. 1; A~ edited by a group of scholars headed by Xue Weiwei (1988), is focused on modern time with 1,439 Chinese women's short biographies. This study cannot draw upon it for research on ancient women. Bibliog_raphic Dictionary of Famous Women in Hua Xia~ Ji t3-!;: 1; A ii¥J. (1988, simplified as Hua Xia Dictionary in the text) records 3,300 Chinese women in both ancient and modern times. Biographic Dictionary 47 of famous women in China and Abroad in All Times t," ~ q:t 9~ 1;I: ~.A~~ (simplified as All Times Dictionary in the text) was compiled by the Administrative Cadre's Institute of Chinese Women and published in 1989. The dissertation is based more upon the last two dictionaries for verification purpose. Other academic works have aJso been scrutinized for cross verification. This includes a recent comprehensive book on all Chinese empresses (Li, 1990) and a book on Chinese female royaJ family members (Shang & Yang, etc., 1992). The third category of literature used in this research is records of peasants' uprisings. Such records are in different forms. Traditionally Chinese historians tend to use materials both from the official records with negative perspectives and from literary works. The quality of these data is hard to control. Due to this quality problem, after three waves of library research, this author decided not to retrieve any data from this category, but mainly to rely on official histories, scholarly works on Chinese ancient women, and women's biographical dictionaries. At the last stage of library research, a special effort was made to research archaeological publications in order to verify the identity of Fu Hao, the earliest woman general in China (presented in Chapter VI). Three sources on her tomb have been found and used for clarification. One is a huge volume published by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Science in 1980. This book is entitled Tomb of Lady Hao at Yinxu in Anyang with several hundred pictures. The other two were done by Kwok Kian-Chow. One is his copy-righted master's thesis entitled The 48 Tomb of Fu Hao; the other is his article "Quadrilateral Patterning in the Tomb of Fu Hao" published in the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association's Bulletin in 1991 . In short, the main materials for the study of Chinese women's roles in the military in ancient times are women warriors' biographies and relevant scholarly work based on historical records. By nature the data is all secondary. Due to the feudal ideology and patriarchal nature of ancient Chinese society, Chinese women as a whole are a quiet group of nameless people who are buried by tons of books and records composed by orthodox male scholars. Most of the women's biographies are very sketchy, partly due to the writing style of ancient scholars, partly due to the fundamental insignificance attached to women's personal lives by Confucian philosophy. Method and Research Design Research for this period of study involved several steps: l) library research through historical documents for the collection of women warriors' records and biographies; 2) special research to distinguish historical from fictional women waniors; 3) verification of individual woman warrior's biographies; 4) library research on contextual and situational factors relevant to each women warrior's participation; 5) analysis of the biographies; 6) analysis of background materials. After the first wave of library research, 19 historical woman warriors in ancient time were identified with their biographies. A second wave of library research identified 49 89. The third wave was focused on second sources for verification. In the end, 40 women warriors met the double source criterion and have been selected for this study, while 49 have only one source record . These 40 women are listed in Table 6.1 appended to Chapter VI to facilitate future research. To audit the quality of the data, the first difficult task is to distinguish historical women warriors from fictional women heroines. Since the materials will be all historical and secondary, the major method will be cross clarification and verification through different sources. The second task is to verify the biographies, especially for those women warriors who have different versions of biographies. If the biographies of one single woman are too diverse and hard to verify, the author will consider whether to use those materials or not In short, the quality check will focus on the quality of the materials themselves rather than how many women warriors could be identified through this systematic study. For contextual and situational variables related to women warriors' military participation, the focus was on collecting materials from both the Chinese and English literature on Chinese societal, cultural, structural, and situational conditions in war, revolution, and women's status and roles. As for data on women warriors themselves, research was conducted to focus on answers to the research questions stated in Chapter II. In short, the goal was to produce a three dimensional portrait of Chinese ancient women warriors with a backdrop which is understandable to modem readers. 50 Notes on Documenting the Research The research on women warriors in ancient China is presented in three Chapters: Chapter IV is a description of ancient China, focusing on contextual and situational factors . Chapter V is a description of ancient Chinese military thought and technology. Chapter VI is the discussion of ancient women warriors. Several notes are offered here to explain why the presentation is organized in this way: 1 ). Thanks to frequent new discoveries in recent years, this author feels that no existing Chinese chronology is satisfactory. A self-composed one is provided in Appendix IV with its sources listed at the bottom of the table. 2). Limited by research time and source limits, a simplified table of Chinese population in the past two thousand years is provided in Appendix V. 3) . China proper is defined as exists today: 20 degrees to 40 degrees north latitude, and 100 degrees to 121 degrees east longitude. About 2600 years ago, the China proper was approximately 33 degrees to 38 degrees north latitude, and 106 degrees to 119 degrees longitude. 4) In order to make the presentation as clear as possible, Chinese names of persons and places are presented with both the English and Chinese letters with possible translations of their meanings attached. This is done not only to assist bilingual readers, but also to avoid confusion caused by the similar sound but different words in the Chinese language. For example, Ii can be the name of two different fami lies'* and~ , the name of two 51 different Chinese ethnic groups @ and ~ , the Chinese distance![, a beautiful horse $iJ , and many other words. The Chinese characters will only appear once in the text, except when distinction is absolutely necessary. Methodology for the Study of Chinese Military Women in the Post-Opium War Time Data Availability and Quality The first category of data available for this element of the study is oral history records of veteran women fighters (Preparation Committee for the Fiftieth Anniversary of Yanan Women University, 1989; Feng, 1990; Yie, 1990; Yuan, 1990; Li And Liu, 1991 ; All-China Women's Federation and Alumni ofHuangpu Military Academy, 1991). The second category of data is veteran women fighters' and martyrs' biographies (Xue et al, 1988; Wang, 1988; Hua Xia Dictionary, 1989; All Times Dictionary, 1989). The third category is records of revolutions and warfare (Liu, 1989; Zhu Hong et al, 1991 ; All-China Women's Federation, 1989;1991). Since the focus of this research is concentrated on the period since the 19th century, records of The Tai Pin Tian Guo peasants' movement are emphasized in the research on historical records of peasants' uprisings. Method and Research Design Research for this period of study was also designed as several steps: 1) library research through historical documents for collection of veteran women fighters ' and martyrs' records and biographies; 2) research for verification of their biographies; 3) 52 library research on contextual and situational factors relevant to these women fighters' participation; 4) analysis of the biographies and records of revolution and guerrilla warfare. Again, after the first wave oflibrary research, some published records of the oral history of the women warriors have been identified, and 2 I 3 veteran women fighters and martyrs have been identified with their biograprues in contemporary time. In the second wave of library research, the figure was increased to 717. Focus was placed first on identification of more veteran women fighters for the purpose of producing a sample of these women soldiers, though again, the research relied on secondary resources. The second difficult task was verification of these women's biographies. If at least two similar versions of one woman's biography could be located and verified, that woman was selected and put into the sample. If only one biography was located from a reliable resource such as a dictionary of famous Chinese women, that person \Vas selected too. If the person was known to the author personally or through relatives and friends, that woman was selected and information from informal conversations and personal observation were also combined into the verification. Special attention was also paid to individuals' recollections and names mentioned in the records of the oral history. Library research on contextual and situational factors relevant to these women fighters' participation relied mainly on oral history records and scholarly studies of the same historical period. And the analysis of the biographies and records of uprisings and 53 guerrilla warfare focused on addressing the first sociological problem of whether women's military participation goes in cycles of expansion and contraction. Special attention was paid to information about women on the CNP's side during the library research. The same methods were used for data verification and quality control. Presentation Method The contextual and situational factors are presented in Chapter VII. Chinese women soldiers in post Opium-War period are presented in Chapter VIII . In Chapter VIII, the 717 women warriors identified for this period are listed and presented in 7 tables. Table 8.1 listed 14 women combatants who participated in military operations from 1840 to 1911 . These are women combatants in anti-imperialist warfare and in the Taiping and other rebellions. Table 8.2 presents 113 women fighters in the 1911 revolution; while Table 8.3 lists 59 women participants in the Northern Expedition war period ( 1926 and early 1927). Table 8.4 presents 50 women red army soldiers in guerrilla warfare. Table 8.5 lists 23 l women red army soldiers on the Long March. This group of women soldiers is further categorized in four sections: 33 served in the First Front Army; 27 served in the Second Front; 7 nurses served in the 25th Red Army; and the remaining 164 served in the Fourth Front. Seventeen women had more than one entry in these tables because of their long- term participation. One had three entries. The other 16 had double entries. The cell of 54 the series number was shaded to indicate that the woman would reappear in the following period. The cell of the name was shaded to indicate the person had a previous entry. The final statistic comparison was conducted on the actual total numbers of women soldiers in this period Study of Chinese Military Women In Modern Time As for the current time, my focus was on those PLA women who currently serve in the armed forces either as active duty military personnel or as ''civilians"--officer- turned occupation specialists. A detailed description of the Chinese civil service system within the military is offered in Chapter X. Data Availability and Quality Questionnaire Survey With a long term goal of conducting comparative study in the future, a questionnaire was designed, based upon the 1985 Department of Defense SUR VEY OF OFFICERS, 1985 Department of Defense SURVEY OF ENLISTED PERSONNEL, and 1985 Department of Defense SURVE Y OF MILITARY SPOUSES of the United States of America. The questionnaire is composed of fifty-four questions in four sets of topics, which are: a set of questions on military information, one on career intent and expectation, one on individual and family characteristics, and a set on evaluation of military life. Appendix I is a list of the topics covered in the questionnaire for the I 992 55 Survey of Chinese Military Women conducted in Beijing, China from April 17 to May I 8, I 992. Appendix II is the English translation of the questionnaire. Administration of the survey is discussed below. Focus Interviews In addition to the questionnaire, this author also managed to interview two of the twelve current women generals of the PLA on May 9, 1992 and May 12, I 992. Each interview was a face-to-face, question-and-answer type interview which lasted over two hours. This author also interviewed twice by telephone the Deputy Director of the General Political Department of the PLA (GPO), who is in charge of military personnel, for about half hour each time; and interviewed face-to-face the Minister of the Department of Culture under the GPO for about an hour. Informal Conversations and Personal Observations During a one month trip back to Beijing, China, this author also had informal conversations with two three-star generals, twelve Chinese colonels (two women); four captains (one woman); two women civilians whose ranks are equal to that of colonel; and four veteran women soldiers who have already retired from the military. Much infom1ation about the recent situation in the PLA has been obtained through this kind of conversation. 1 also drew upon my own experience. I served in the PLA for eighteen years, from October 1969 to June 1987. Working as a telephone operator, English typist, cadet, interpreter and translator, and staff officer, I have military experiences in the 56 Navy, the Afr Force and the Anny of the PLA, and retired at the rank of battalion commander. Before this lengthy military service, my personal observation of the PLA started from early childhood in a family with a father who was a general and a mother who retired from the army in 1956 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Although this personal experience was obtained before my systematic training in sociology, I found it useful in the sense of understanding the real situation in the PLA, and having unique access and a powerful network to conduct the survey. Method and Research Design The survey questionnaire was prepared in English in the United States and was translated into Chinese as soon as I arrived in Beijing. Under the time limit of one month, I realized that the survey had to be restricted to the Beijing area. But without getting permission from the top leadership of the PLA, I could not do anything. So I went to talk directly with the officers in the GPD, and obtained oral pennission with the requirement of" doing it quietly". My interpretation of this instruction is that: 1) there is no regulation about whether a scholar like me can conduct this kind of survey in the PLA. It was the first case of this nature considered by the appropriate authority. Since the officers in charge know me personally, they had no or few doubts about the purely academic purpose of this study. These were basic reasons that I obtained the pennission. 2) Politically, the timing of the survey was good. Mr. Deng Xiaoping gave an important speech while he was touring the open zone near Hong Kong in February 1992. More economic reform 57 and open-minded policies have been encouraged since then . The failure of the Soviet coup had a deep effect on many top Chinese leaders. More openness to the West was favored rather than showing loyalty to Communism. 3) At the same time, the PLA was holding a major conference on enhancing secrecy and fighting against leakage of state secrets within the military. Military personnel are forbidden to take part in civilian activities without permission. Those officers who used to have memberships in civilian academic associations have to be re-registered through the GPO and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In such a situation, I was advised not to openly conduct the survey, not to use the public postal service, and not to go through the formal chain of command. I was encouraged to use my personal channels through old friends, colleagues and acquaintance. 4) Since no formal paperwork has been done to verify this permission, I was totally responsible for the process and results of the survey. If in the process, anything went wrong, no one would come to my rescue, since I have no official affiliation with any Chinese organization Under such conditions, the only way I could conduct the survey was through snowball sampling methods, relying on my old friends, colleagues and acquaintances to help me. Fortunately, Chinese military women are fairly concentrated in six major categories of work: medical workers, administrative personnel, communications specialists, logistic support staff, political and propaganda workers, scientific researchers and technicians. The Navy, the Air Force and the Army all belong to the PLA, so the situation and arrangement are the same for these different services. 58 Five hundred questionnaires were distributed to l 2 units stationed in Beijing and suburban areas: 3 units in the Air Force, l in the Navy, and 8 in the Anny. Among these units, one was a telecommunication regiment, one was a technical intelligence brigade; two were research institutes, one was a brigade of interpreters and translators; one was a political and propaganda workers' unit, two units were cultural troops (one singing troop, one art college); two were logistical support units, and the remaining units were medical units (two military hospitals). Two hundred and thirty women military personnel aged from 12 to 65 years old completed the questionnaire voluntarily without personal identity. The questionnaire survey was self-administered. Toward the end of the survey, new regulations against leakage of state secrets were adopted by the PLA conference. People involved in the project started to become nervous. Under such circumstances, trying to postpone my departure time to collect more data would have been irrational. I had to carry these collected data out of China as early as possible before the new regulation was implemented throughout the military Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted to draw a portrait of Chinese military women. In addition to analysis of historical materials and individual biographies, the questionnaire survey and focus interviews, information has been gathered also from informal conversations and personal observations. 59 Statistical Analysis The third step was statistical analysis of the quantitative data collected through the questionnaire survey. Mainly simple descriptive statistics such as percentages and rates were obtained. For the purpose of internal comparison, cross tabulations and bivariate analysis were conducted. Subjects were mainly grouped by age and rank. The findings of these statistical analyses are provided in Chapter X. As discussed in the previous chapters, the sample was not randomly selected due to political and technical reasons. The quantitative analysis serves mainly illustrative purposes. 60 Chapter IV Ancient China To facilitate the discussion of Chinese women warriors in ancient times, this chapter will provide as background a description of ancient China. Guided by the theoretical framework outlined in Chapter II, this chapter focuses on the contextual ' situational and structural factors relevant to women's military activities and behavioral patterns. Two themes run through the whole text: the types of societies where these women lived and the wars and revolutions in which they participated. The chapter starts by describing the development of Chinese civilization, the patriarchal system, bureaucratic feudalism, and the evolution of ethnic groups and nationalities. Then, ancient military thought and technology, patterns of peasants' revolutions, and military institutions are discussed in the following chapter. Within this context, Chapter VI wiII analyze women warriors' military activities. Chinese Forerunners and Pre-historic Societies Archeological discoveries have verified that archaic forms of Homo Sapiens existed in the area of China proper as early as 600,000 to 800,000 years ago. 1 The existence of primitive human societies in China in the Paleolithic Period is proved by the most famous discoveries, such as the Lantian ape-man .iii. e1 #. A (Ian tian yuan ren ), Peking man (sinanthropus pekinensis) ~~ if: #.A.(beijing yuan ren), and Shandingdong 1 For articles on the most recent discoveries, ~· e.g., "~hine~ human forms date back 200,000 years" (China Daily, 3110194 ) and "Xuanzhou Ruins _ m Anhui ProVInce, dated 700,000 to 800,000 years ago and unearthed in December 1992 (People's Dally, 12116192). 61 ape-man J..J Tjf ~ A (shan ding dong ren).2 At least 13 sites and cultures have been discovered for Chinese forerunners in the Old Stone Age, according to a preliminary count by this author. In terms of their physiological characteristics, most of these early Sinitic peoples belonged to the Mongoloid racial group. Some belonged to the Caucasoid group (Ma et al, eds. , 1984; Moser, 1985). Some scholars suggest that the presence ofNegritos in the South, including the Pygmy of the Indo-China peninsula, was also supported by records from the Three Kingdoms period (220-280) (Lin, 1984). These clan societies spread and developed along the Yell ow River ~ i;" (huang he) and the Chang Jiang river (also called Yangtzi) *- iJ.. and, in the Neolithic Age, all over China.:~ The most important discoveries from the New Stone Age are the Yangshao culture {tp fa :t. 1-t, which existed about 6,000 years ago; the Dawenkou culture ..:k ii.. P j: 1.t , which existed about 4,500 to 4,000 years ago; and thirdly, the Longshan culture k. J..J :t. 1.t , which existed 4,300 years ago. Studies of Yangshao culture, which was unearthed in Henan Province in 1921 reveal human lives in Chinese ' matriarchal societies (Chen, 1930; Ren, 1935). It is believed that the Chinese language system was formed during the period of Dawenkou culture (Xu, 1988). The subsequent Bronze Age Longshan culture marked the change from matriarchal to patriarchal societies, and the development of villages into states (Du, 1992). Accounts of human activities of this era were memorized and passed down orally. This is the so-called "legend era"# it Ht~ (chuan shuo shi dai) in ancient Chinese history. Many popular legends of the time of the Xia dynasty (21th century B.C. - 16th 2 Major current discoveries of primitive societies in Old-Stone-Age in China include: "Stone Age Relics Found at Dam Site" (China Daily, 2/16/94); "Yabulai Cave Hand Paintings on Rocks" , dated 30,000 years ago and discovered in January, 1993 (People's Daily, 1/7/93); and the "Jigongshan Relics" in Hubei Province unearthed in October 1992 (People's Daily, 7/22/93). 3 One of the most recent discoveries for this period is the "Xinglongwa Ruins", located in Inner- Mongolia and dug out from July to October 1992 (People's Daily, 7/22/93). 62 century B. C.) or earlier were recorded in written fonn during the Shang dynasty ( 16th century B. C. - I Ith century B. C. ), when Chinese started to have a comprehensive language system. Heroic figures in this legendary era are creators of tools and technology. They are also major characters of Chinese mythology. The oral traditions and the earliest written records in the Shang dynasty suggest that tribes called "Pan Gu Shi '' .t * ~ ( people at the beginning of time), "You Chao Shi"~~~ (people in nests on trees), and "Sui Ren Shi" tl A I\ (people who know how to drill wood to make fire) were pre-historic Chinese societies. Based on similar ancient written sources and systematic investigations, modem Chinese ethnologists classify people of various tribes in the central plain as Yi Ji and Qiang X, (this character means people with sheep), and tribes in the South Man ~ and Yue~. In order to distinguish the pre-historical Man people from the modem Man~ (also called Manchu) nationality that originated in the northeastern China, these people will be referred to in this dissertation as the Southern Man If} ~ people. There were also Rong /.x, and Di .tk. peoples in the West and North; and Su Shen~ ·ti!- people in the Northeast (Ma et al, eds., I 984). Further discussion of Chinese ethnology will be offered in the following section for ancient ethnic groups. At least nine clans of Yi people lived along the lower courses of the yellow River, Chang Jiang and Huai River. The most famous chieftain of these clans was called Tai Hao±~, or Fu Xi Shi 1l,4ll\. His sister was called Nyu Wa Shi* :i;, ~. Fu Xi Shi is one of the earliest legendary kings, and Nyu Wais the Goddess in Chinese mythology who creates human beings out of clay. Those who came out of the kiln first were white people, while those came out last were black people. Those in between were yellow people. This legend teaches that there were different racial groups in prehistoric times. 63 The Yi people have four major branches. The descendant of one of these branches, called Qi~ , became the first leader of the Shang dynasty, which was the second earliest one in ancient Chinese history. In the central area of China, in what is now Shaanxi ~ ~ province, there lived a clan that was headed by "Emperor Yan".( ,t (Yan Di), whose mother was An Deng* 1t- , also called "magic farmer" if!!{ I\ (shen nong shi). People of this clan were the descendants of the ancient Qiang people. 4 Another major clan in the area was headed by "Yellow Emperor" -,t- ,t (Huang Di), whose mother w~s Hua Xu 1µ. ¾; some sources say it was Fu Bao -H" ,f1.: or ;1f ,t I\ (you xong shi, someone who has bears). 5 The two clans were the cores of the Hua Xia f. -X.. tribe, one of the fusions of Yi, Qiang and other peoples (Lin, I 984; Ma et al, eds., I 984). 6 The three most influential chieftains of the Hua Xia tribe were Yao~ , Shun~, and Yu ~ ; all three were believed to be descendants of Huang Di. Shun passed his position as chief of the federation of tribes to Yu, after the latter won a I 3 year struggle against the flood . Yu became the first king of the Xia dynasty and started the hereditary system in China by passing the throne to his son Qi~ - In Huang Di's same legendary era, Chi You -t- Jt was the chieftain of "Jiu Li 11 ~ .$, a branch of the Southern Man people. He won fame for his war against Huang Di, which is discussed later in this section. With regard to the Di people in the West and 4 A family of this tribe with the surname Li has a 100 million descendants all over the world today. 5 Chinese people tend to regard themselves as the "descendants of Yan and ~uang" _.l * T ,l,j, (yan huang zi sun). The two symbolic figures have been used to e~ress the obsession of some Chinese their ancestors, the national pride in the oldest continuous culture m the world, and, sometimes, "Grand Han" Chauvinism. . 6 Hua, meaning flowery in Chinese, might be _the totem of those anc1~nt clans_ wh? worshipped plants. As a modem term it appears both in the official names of the Republic of China m Taiwan and the People's Republic ~f China. ()verse.as Chinese have regarded t?emselves as "~xpatriate Hua" ~ ~ (hua qiao). Vietnam's Sinitic minority is called_the Hoa, the Vietnamese version of the word Hua (Moser, 1985). Xia, followed by Qin and Han, 1s the name of th~ first_ dynasty and has been used to name majority Chinese, who are officially labeled as the Ha~ nat1on'.31~ty. More literally, the two words of Hua Xia are put together and used as a synonym for Han m descnbmg the Sinitic people. 64 the North, it is known that one branch became "Xong Nu" jJ k , the major raiding nomad cavalry that emerged around 220 B.C. Later, the Northern Xong Nu clan became the forerunner of modem Hungarians (Ma et al, eds. , 1984). All the legendary ancestors during the Xia dynasty are creators of tools and technology. Fu Xi Shi created a net for fishing; Yan Di developed the bow and arrow for hunting; and Huang Di's wife, Lei zu -t,J -;jll, created the ways to raise silk-worms. Some recent discoveries and new interpretations also reveal ancient worship of human reproduction, animals and plants. A recent discovery of seven carved stones portrayed pregnant women giving birth in a squat position. 7 Some scholars argue that legend and the earliest written record do not reveal with certainty the real gender of these pre-historic chieftains. The ancient character for "emperor" was a symbol of a female genital part placed above a fire _t (huang). Thus huang was used for female chieftains, while ,t (di) was used for male ones (Chen, 1930). Other scholars believed that di was also a symbol of a female genital part placed above the wooden shelf, or it was the form of a flower with a big ovary (Xu, 1988). In either case, the Chinese character for chieftain is related to human worship of female reproduction. Qin Shihuang, the first male emperor, who unified China in 221 B.C., decided that huang and di should be put together for the word emperor _t '*' (huang di) . It must be noted, however, that names ·of mothers of most of these ancient leaders have been passed down to later generations; names of the fathers are not identified. Wars between or among these pre-historic clans occurred frequently and on a significant scale. At least three major ones are ~orth noting. The first was the war between Gong Gong ~ .;r_ of Yan Di's tribe and Chi You of the Southern Man people. 7 These so-called Chinese Venuses were carved 6,000 to 7,000 years ago and were unearthed in Hebei province ("An Important New Stone Age Discovery: the First Discovery of Prehistory Stone Goddess at Leaning County of Hebei Province, " People's Daily Abroad, June 24, 1994 ). 65 In the beginning, Chi You's Southern Man people occupied all the territory of the nine clans of Yan Di. The angry Gong Gong fought back so fiercely that the mountain called Bu Zhou Shan r:, ft] J-J was broken, the sky tilted in a northwest direction, and the earth was ruptured in the southeastern direction! In reality, an earthquake might have caused these phenomena. Later, in alliance with Huang Di, Gong Gong defeated Chi You. The second major war in this legendary era was between Huang Di and Chi You. Relying on the assistance of the Goddess in charge of drought, Chi You was killed by Huang Di in this war. It is likely that rice, the major grain in the South, was domesticated in South and Southeast Asia earlier than in the North (Moser, l 985); thus, the Southern Man people under Chi You depended upon this grain for their logistic supply, which required more rain than did the millet and wheat grown in the north. The legend about these two wars fought between northern and southern tribes in pre-historic time teaches that logistic supply is vital to victory. The third war was between Huang Di and Yan Di, who vied for the position of chief of the federation of tribes. With support from other clan chieftains and after a fierce battle in the area of modem Hebei ~ JG province, Yan Di was defeated, and Huang Di became the most powerful leader of his era. Some scholars believe that the above- mentioned archeological discovery ofYangshao culture was the culture of Huang Di's tribe (Ma et al, eds., 1984). In sum, discoveries and studies of archeologists, anthropologists, ethnologists, etymologists and others, have all provided some descriptions of Chinese forerunners and their cultures. These findings indicate that there were autochthonal Homo Sapiens in China proper in the Old Stone Age, as well as a diversified Neolithic cultures. New discoveries have emerged more frequently in the past two decades. Chinese and foreign 66 scholars have been more active and open in their publications and debates. Chinese legend and mythology also provide valuable information on primitive societies in pre- historic China. More archeological discoveries and systematic studies must be undertaken to produce a better picture of Chinese ancestors' lives. It is certain that the continuity of Chinese culture from matriarchal to patriarchal societies has influenced the Chinese language and ways of thinking. On the other hand, some scholars believe that Chinese culture is the only continuous human culture thanks to the unique nature of the Chinese language (Xu, 1988). At any rate, the existing relics and findings affirm that China's culture has explicit geographic origins and unique habits of mind, which affect its conception of the world, its ideology, its religion and the laws and codes that determine the rights and obligations of the Chinese people. Five Thousands Years of Written History As the world knows, the written language of Chinese is hieroglyphic. Symbols dated 6,000 years ago and found in identical positions outside the earthen bowls at many sites of Yangshao culture have been regarded as the earliest form of Chinese language (Guo, 1977). These symbols could not yet have been regarded as a comprehensive language system, however (Xu, 1988). The "inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty" lf ~ j: Gia gu wen), dated 3,500 years ago, have been used as the signs of the beginning of the Chinese written history. Out of 100,000 pieces of such inscriptions, 4,500 Chinese ancient characters have been identified that compose a whole language system. An important recent archeological discovery of the "Longshan Inscription on Pottery" k ~ j,J !f FlJ Jt (long shan ke zi tao pian), dated 4,300 years ago (People's Daily, 12/30/92; People's Daily, 7/21/93), adds 800 years before the time of Jiaguwen, 67 the period illustrated by inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells. This fact is relevant to the inscriptions on pottery of the Dawenkou culture, dated 4,500 to 4,000 years ago, which experts regard as a systematic language (Xu, 1988). Both discoveries suggest that China has a written history dating back 5,000 years and starting in the New Stone Age. Jiaguwen no longer can be used to mark the beginning of Chinese civilization. Epigraphs cast on bronze ware~ .:t, (iin wen) in the period of 3, I 00 to 2,300 years ago mark another stage of development of the Chinese written language. Later, through the emergence oflanguage forms called "seal character" ,J, f'_ (xiao zhuan) and "slave character" :i]t-15 (Ii shu), a simplified form to record thousands of slaves quic~y, which were developed before and during the first unification of China in 221 B. C. , the Chinese language gradually obtained its modem form. This form is called Kai Shu ~ -15 . Some scholars believe that these ancient forms of Chinese were classic language-- as distinguished from Chinese dialects-- which has never been spoken (Moser, 1985). Rulers of China from the first emperor in the Qin dynasty to the Communist leaders of the PRC have exercised, in Michael Foucault's words, "the hegemonic power over lan,b'1lage" by unification of languages. The development of the "common language" ¾ il -i! (pu tong hua), based on Beijing Mandarin and implemented since the early 1950s, has been regarded by some modem linguists as indispensable to the development of China as a unified nation (Gladney, 1991). Other scholars tend to focus on the continuity and uniqueness of the Chinese language. Today, not only calligraphers in China, Japan and Korea know how to write xiao zhuan and Ii shu, the old forms of Chinese~ it is believed that ordinary Chinese could read and understand Jiaguwen and the inscriptions on ancient pottery after simple training (Xu, 1988). The language was first carved on pottery, animal bones and tortoise shells, and subsequently was cast on bronzeware and written on cloths and bamboo slips ft it.i (zhu 68 jian) by brush in the Shang dynasty. Primitive paper made of gunny cloth was found for the period of the. Western Han (206 B.C.-24). Finally in 105, Cai Lun #--~ invented paper. In short, Chinese civilization has a written history dating back 5,000 years. The continuity and the pictographic characteristics of the language facilitate the study of ancient China. Studies of inscriptions on pottery of the Yangshao and Dawenkou cultures, as well as the Jiaguwen in the Shang dynasty, can reveal Chinese forerunners' lives in the legendary and mythology era. The pictographic characters cast on bronze ware, as well as those written on bamboo slips and cloth, also make the written record of China a huge treasure house--so huge that it intimidates modern scholars. The Chinese Patriarchal System As the previous section observes, the Xia dynasty began by Yu started the hereditary system of the throne. This dynasty continued its war against the Southern Man and enslaved the prisoners of war. It started the transition from primitive society toward a society based on slavery. It also marked the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. The Xia dynasty lasted for 17 generations spanning 4 71 years. It was defeated by the Qi Kingdom fr" I@ , whose people were descendants of the Yi people in the low course area of the Chang Jiang. Qi started the Shang dynasty (16th century B.C. - 11th century B.C.) and established China's first capital at the place now called Anyang * fET, in Henan ~ !TI province. Many tribal states surrounded this central kingdom, which were called "square kingdom""# I@ (fang guo). The Shang dynasty, which waged many expeditionary wars against these tribal states, lasted 17 generations spanning 700 years. 69 Shang was defeated by a tribal state called Zhou ~, which originated in Shaanxi province, the homeland of the ancient Qiang people. In 1,027 B.C., in alliance with southern and western tribal states, the King of Zhou called "Zhou Wu Wang" %] A_ .3:. defeated Shang at Muyie ~ :ff . Zhou continued the expeditionary wars against other tribal states, plundered their resources, and forced them to pay tribute on a regular base. Records show that at that time the tribal state called "Su Shen " ~ •t1!: at the border area between China and Korea, started to pay tribute to Zhou. In 770 B.C., the Zhou king called "You Wang" ~ .I. was killed at the bottom of Li Mountain .%a J-J after an attack by an ally of the western and northern tribal states. This period of the Western Zhou dynasty was followed by the Eastern Zhou dynasty, which lasted another 500 years. The Zhou dynasty lasted about 1,000 years altogether, the longest of all in ancient history. The patriarchal system was formerly established in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It emphasized women's subordination, obedience and dependence on men, as well as hierarchical orders by status for the whole society. The codes for ideal human behavior were called "rituals", or "etiquette" iL (Ii), which is referred to in Chinese history as the Zhou etiquette ~ ;j-L (zhou Ii). This code has been regarded as the most influential cultural heritage of Chinese written history (Li, 1988). The ideal Chinese society, as thus formulated in normative terms, was hierarchic within both the family and the state. Order rested essentially on the belief that certain persons were of superior status and certain others were by the nature of things inferior. The female gender is regarded as inferior to the male in this patriarchal system, in accordance with the situation in almost all feudal societies. The culture of Western Zhou was enriched by developments in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, which is divided into two parts: the "Spring and Autumn" ~-;f:k. (chun qiu) (770 70 B.C. -464 B.C.) and the "Warring States" !~00 (zhan guo) (463 B.C.-221 B.C.). During this period, a new market economy, based largely on metal coinage, replaced the barter-exchange or gift-giving economy of the past, agricultural production was increased by the technique of casting iron, and social differentiation and stratification were further elaborated and enforced (Yates, 1982). Moreover, from the ancient forms of free marriage, bridal capture, purchase and arranged marriage in primitive societies, a system of formal monogamy for women and informal polygamy for aristocratic men was established (Mo, 1955; Xu, 1955). Social control methods were sophisticated. The foundations of the major Chinese philosophies were laid with the establishment of Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, and Daoism (Taoism); and bureaucratic administration was developed. The patriarchal systems were thus established and lasted for more than 2,000 years ever since then . Among the philosophical traditions developed in this period, Confucianism and Daoism have the strongest influence on Chinese culture. Together with Buddhism, which was imported from India in the 1st century AD , these belief systems have been regarded as the three main religions of China. Confucius, who was parroted by many feudal scholars in the following years, spent his whole life (551 B.C. - 479 B.C.) preaching for a full recovery of "Zhou etiquette." Complementing Confucianism was Legalism, a school of thought that flourished in the same era and developed the ethics of the "three cardinal guides " ...=:. jpJ (san gang) and the "five constant virtues" Ji. 't (wu chang). The "three cardinal guides" teach that ruler guides subject, father guides son, and husband guides wife. The "five constant virtues" are benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and fidelity. These moral principles form the core of Chinese feudal ideology. With major ideological 71 enforcement from the Han dynasty (206 B.C - 220 AD.) and the Song dynasty (960- 1279), the Chinese feudal system, strengthened by the cultural heritage of the Hua Xia tribe, endured for 2,000 years. In Confucian teaching, the "superior man" ~-=f (jun zi), extolled in the classics as the highest product of self-cultivation, should be able to attain his ends without violence In addition to self-cultivation, the first and preferred means of social control is education-- indoctrination in the classical teachings--to enable each individual to understand thoroughly the etiquette and know how to behave. When this process fails, the second level of social discipline, especially for the inferior person without adequate education, is the system of rewards and punishments. Filial obedience to parental authority is the foundation of the system (Bodde, 1991 ). Military force functions on a third level in this normative structure, as a last resort when disorder has reached such proportions that neither indoctrination nor persuasion is effective. Following this emphasis on self-cultivation and classic indoctrination, a whole system of indoctrination of so-called "Women's Virtue"~~ (fu de) was developed in the latter part of the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C. - 24 AD.). This period witnessed the publication of the first volume of Biography of Women ~U -!J,: f~ (lie nu zhuan) composed by Liu Xiang xtJ rffl (see Chapter III for more details). Women of chastity and virginity who received recognition either from the court or the populace were selected by scholars like Liu Xiang and recorded in this type of book, which serves as an attachment to official history books in succeeding centuries. Chinese women were encouraged to follow the role model prescribed by these books, even though education was never encouraged for women in Chinese feudal society. Indoctrination of women in the ideals of virtue was reinforced strictly in the Song dynasty, which was the second pinnacle of Chinese feudal ideology. During this period, 72 women's suicide rates reached a record high because of the indoctrination of chastity and virginity. Female infanticide and footbinding began to prevail as social trends. In sum, the Chinese patriarchal system made women inferior to men and emphasized women's subordination to and dependence on men, in a manner similar to that of other patriarchal societies. The Chinese feudal system that developed subsequently was characterized by a Confucian emphasis on self-cultivation, indoctrination and hierarchic orders. These concepts are rooted in normative codes established in the Western Zhou dynasty. This feudal heritage has unique Chinese characteristics that are discussed further in the following section of the dissertation. Unique Characteristics of the Chinese Bureaucratic Feudalism The continuity of Chinese culture developed from primitive societies bestowed on ancient agrarian society in China a different complexion from that of other states. The Chinese peasant community has a long standing identification with the national totem--the "Dragon"-- which is the incarnation of the emperors. A Chinese emperor is regarded as the "Genuine Dragon and Heaven's Son" 4 .£ ~ f (zhen long tian zi) . This nomenclature may represent a continuation of the prolonged worship of a certain animal as the symbol of a major clan in the Neolithic period and Bronze Age. Chinese agrarian society also has a deep-rooted peasant egalitarian mentality, however. If the ruler is widely acknowledged to be fatuous and bad, Chinese peasants felt no guilt about ousting him as a "stupid emperor" it-:t" (hun jun). Several hundred peasants' uprisings took place during the 2,000-year feudal period; a discussion of the patterns of peasants' revolutions is provided in Chapter V Nearly every dynasty ended with a peasants' uprising. The Chinese "right of rebellion" could not be asserted simply in the name of individual or of corporate freedom against the ruling class, however. It had to be declared in the name of the system, with an allegation that the ruler had forfeited Heaven's mandate by failing to maintain the social order adequately. Rebels usually arose in the name of the social order, which is the legitimizing myth of the state and the underlying moral sanction for all who resort to warfare (Fairbank, 1974). Another feature of Chinese agrarian society was the absence of a system of primogeniture--a system that is prevalent in European history. Family property was traditionally shared among the sons. This inheritance system made it difficult for wealthy Chinese to accumulate huge amounts of capital or to keep their property over the c~urse of several generations. Few Chinese families can track their family roots for more than five generations; famous families, such as that of Confucius, are an exception. This situation is the result of such factors as the inheritance system, migration and death caused by wars and natural disasters, and the general illiterate conditions of the populace. In the modern revolutionary period, Chinese people do not bother to track individual family roots. For example, this author does not even know her maternal and paternal grand-parents' names. Chinese tradition emphasizes a universal symbolic identification with common Chinese ancestors, the land, and Chinese norms and culture as compared with the emphasis on individual family lineage that was prevalent among aristocratic families with military privileges in ancient European societies. The Chinese pattern increases the importance that is placed on each generation's producing at least one male descendant bearing the family name. Without a male heir, there is no guarantee that the family lineage will be retained . In China, this vital idea is expressed as "keeping the joss sticks and candles burned in front of the ancestors" . 74 It also explains why patrilineal and patrilocal systems have been enforced so strongly in China. The third feature of the Chinese feudal system was its administrative bureaucracy. The country was ruled by only one feudal lord-- namely the emperor himself-- with the assistance of the non-hereditary civil service, which was recruited from the scholar- gentry class (Creel, 1970). This concept of the scholar-gentry has had a great deal of fluidity according to time and place and was especially important during periods when imperial examinations played a large role in civil service recruitment. Families that could not produce the appropriate talents for success in the examinations and, later, in the bureaucratic service, were unlikely to retain a high social level for more than a generation or two. Thus, the "scholar-bureaucrat" -±- (shi), served as the literary and managerial elite of the nation for 2,000 years. The concept of "career open to talent," which many people date from the French Revolution, is neither French nor even European (Needham, 1981 ). It has been a Chinese concept since the Han dynasty (206 B.C-220 AD.). On the other hand, a literary tendency, feudal ideology, and bureaucratic constraints severely limited the development of talent in ancient Chinese society, in which people were encouraged to focus only on literary sophistication. In sum, the ancient Chinese are known as inventors of the crossbow, cast iron, and gunpowder, as well as paper, printing, civil service examinations, and bureaucracy. The Chinese system of government, with its Confucian-based civil service, compared very favorably with system in pre-modern Europe. The emphasis on the literary rather than the scientific abilities of the civil service system presented quite an unfavorable contrast, however. 75 Development of Ethnic Groups and Nationalities As the previous section of this study notes, forerunners of various Chinese ethnic groups co-existed in China proper as early as in the Old Stone Age. The Hua Xia tribe, the ethnic group of the ancestors of the modem majority Chinese nationality, was formed from a blending of the clans of Yan Di and Huang Di, other tribes of Yi, Qiang, Miao ~ , Southern Man, Rong, and Di peoples in the Xia dynasty. The succeeding dynasties witnessed ethnic fusion, symbiosis, genesis, and subjugation on a larger scale. All these processes occurred through aggressive wars, military colonization, voluntary and forced migrations, dynastic changes, formation and disintegration of various tribal kingdoms, inter-marriage, and natural disasters. Different levels of civilization have existed among different ethnic groups since prehistoric time. Animal breeders and nomads in the North and hunters as well as people engaged in swidden agriculture (slash-and-bum) in the southern mountainous areas have all engaged in the same simple production activities over the centuries. Horticultural societies of matriliny still exist in modem Yunnan -i:;-1*) province. Foraging societies are also common among other ethnic groups who live in remote areas. 8 These dynamic ethnic changes were also affected by policies of exclusion, insulation, and enlistment adopted by various rulers. Western scholars of Chinese ethnic groups have cited the phenomenon called the "Central Kingdom" mentality of the majority Chinese, as well as the process of so-called Sinicization, in which people of other cultural and ethnic groups fell before the Han juggernaut (Moser, 1985; Gladney, 1991 ). Most Chinese ethnologists believe, however, that the assimilation has been 8 Western scholars tend to apply modern democratic value systems to ancient China, and become very critical of Chinese intellectuals' attitude toward other ethnic groups. For example, the fact that ethnic groups were called "barbarians" by Chinese rulers and scholars has generated considerable criticism. 76 mutual. They also hasten to point out that there were five major historical periods in ancient Chinese history when China was ruled by non-Han ethnic elite. These included the Tu Jue ~ Jlk elite, which ruled China from the Later Tang era (923-936) to the Later Han period (947-950), as well as four out of the five dynasties after the Song: namely, the Qi Dan ~ -!t people in the Liao dynasty, the Nyu Zhen -k ~ people in the Jin dynasty, the Mongolians in the Yuan dynasty, and the Man ,~ people in the last Qing dynasty. Although all these non-Han people came from the northeast, with its strong tradition of cavalry, all the non-Han dynasties adopted the Han-style patriarchal system and bureaucratic feudalism . The so-called Sinicization was a political as well as cultural phenomenon. The study of ethnicity has posed difficulties for Chinese and Western ethnologists. Officially, 56 ethnic groups exist in modern China; but this division grew out of an administrative decision made hastily in the early 1950s. Among these ethnic groups, 15 have a total population of more than a million; 15 have more than 100,000 but below a million; 19 have between 10,000 and 100,000; and 6 have less than 10,000 ( 1982 Census). These figures are inaccurate, however. For example, the 1982 census counted only 19 Tu Jia .± t people, a minority group in a county of southwestern Sichuan ~ Jll province. In 1984, when the county applied to be an autonomous Tujia county with special privileges, including an exception from the one-child policy applied to the majority Han people, 218,000 individuals claimed to be members of the Tujia! As another example, China's Muslim population numbered 2.4 million in 1953 and 2.6 million in 1978. This figure doubled in .I 982 to 4.3 million, however, and reached 9.8 million in 1988 (Gladney, 1991).9 9 It is reported that in the past five years, more Chinese people claimed to be descendants of Israeli people who came to China in the eighth century. To be connected with foreign people was regarded reactionary in the Cul~ral Revolution period (1966-1976), but has since been regarded positively. 77 A major reason for this difficulty in ethnic identification lies in the fact that it is based mainly on self detennination. Other criteria, such as common language, common territory, common economic life and common culture cannot be applied in some cases. For example, the Chinese Muslims are scattered among 60% of China's counties and cities. The 7,000 Wuzibek J¾ Ji R•J ,t people are represented in all 60 counties and cities in Xinjiang flr'if province. These ethnic groups thus lack a common territory. The language situation is much more complicated. A11 Chinese Muslim, Man and She it" peoples speak the Han dialect. Nevertheless, sub-ethnic groups of Han such as Ke Jia ~ j (Hakka in the West) and Min Nani~ lfJ (people living in the southern Fujian ;j£}!_ province) speak their own dialects. Sometimes a single family of Jing Bo "* .iJi (Kachin in the West) in Yunnan uses two to three languages, depending upon the generations present (Gladney, 1991). There are eight kinds of spoken Han languages and five major types of Mandarin, the main dialect of Han (Moser, 1985)1°. In short, there is much scholarly work to do before the ethnic identity problem for China's people can be solved scientifically. It is necessary to analyze a period of several thousand years and a huge diversity. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period, there were more than 140 tribal kingdoms in China. In the east were various kingdoms of Yi people. By that time, hundreds of tribes of Di and Qiang people in the west had formed a strong kingdom called "Qin" j.. built through centuries of wars and annexations. The various tribes of the Southern Man people formed a kingdom called "Chu" jt . In the southwest were "Ba" e, and "Shu" Jj kingdoms, as well as various tribes. In the southeast, there were hundreds of tribes of Yue~ (Viet in the Western 10 It is officially believed that more than 60 lan~ges used are by Chinese people. These belong to five language families, ten language branches, and srxt~n language sub-branches. The m?sl popular one is the Sino-Tibet language family. wruch include Han 1"1... , Zhuang Tong .:f± 1J/J, Zang M1an ii..~ and Miao Yao ~ JI; four language branches (Ma et al, eds., I 984). 78 parlance), who had an uneven development of civilization among themselves. For example, the Southern Yue °ffl ~ and Luo Yue~~ people in Guangdong, _Guangxi and southern Yunnan had entered the Bronze Age by that time, while other Yue people were still in the Stone Age. Together with local Southern Man people, one branch of the Zhou tribe formed a kingdom called "Wu"~ along the lower course of Chang Jiang river. During the same time, there existed various strong tribes of Qiang people in Tibet, Qinghai and Gansu. All these Rong, Di, Man and Yi people tried to expand into the central plain area. Led by a major Hua Xia kingdom called "Qi", mentioned briefly in the previous text, the Hua Xia kingdoms launched many wars against the Rong, Di, Man and Yi people; there were also wars among the Hua Xia kingdoms. By the year 4 76 B.C. , when the Warring States period began, there were seven major kingdoms and several minor ones remaining in the arena. All these annexations and unification efforts centered around the major Hua Xia kingdoms and were accompanied by inter-marriage and mixed living among various ethnic groups. More frequent exchanges among various ethnic groups facilitated the development of their economy, political and cultural systems, and levels of civilization. By the time the first emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C., the Hua Xia people prevailed and were called "Qin people" after the name of the first feudal dynasty. This dynasty lasted only 15 years, however, and was replaced by the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220). The Hua Xia people have been called "Han people" since then.11 At present, 95% of the total population of China belong to the Han nationality, . 11 Chinese who went abroad in significant quantity during the Tang dynasty. These people were called by the name of their dynasty too. That is why Chinatowns aU over the world are translated into "Tang People's Street" in Chinese )MA ::f!i · 79 Qin Shihuang i--* .t , the first emperor of China, unified the language and currency and linked the existing walls of several kingdoms of the Warring States period into the Great Wall. He also established prefectures and counties within China's territory, as well as the areas where various ethnic groups lived together. He sent 300,000 troops to defeat the Xong Nu tribe which was composed of the descendants of the Di people in the north, and established 34 counties in the territory of the Xong Nu. The following Han dynasty annexed and united more areas from other ethnic groups, and its territory expanded to a much greater extent than that of the Qin. At the beginning of the Han dynasty, Xong Nu also was developed into a bigger kingdom. Headed by its king called "Mo Du Chan Yu" f ffi ..f.. -f , who had a cavalry of 300,000 soldiers, Xong Nu conquered the Dong Hu ,t J-}J tribe in the east and the Ding Ling T * tribe in the north, and expelled the Da Yue Shi ;k J1 J:\. tribe away in the west, whose members became the majority people of Central Asia. This slave kingdom held a huge territory across Mongolia: its eastern border reached Korea, and its southern territory extended to northern Shanxi and Shaanxi. Facing this strong enemy state in the north, Liu Bang ~1J lfS , the first emperor of the Han dynasty decided to try a new stratagem. He asked a beautiful ordinary woman to pretend to be the princess, and he married her to the Xang Nu King. This policy of political marriage, called "He Qin"~ If- , is designed to cement relations with rulers of tribal states in the border areas by marrying princesses to them. This creative policy was followed successfully by many rulers in the subsequent dynasties. The most famous examples are Wang Zhaojun .I. eg ~ , the most beautiful imperial concubine, who herself asked to marry Xang Nu King in 33 BC. (her deeds have been used for indoctrination of patriotism for many generations),12 and the real Princess Wen Cheng .:t 12 There were thousands of imperial concubines in the Han emperor's palace. They had to bribe the painter for a better portrait in order to sleep with the Emperor. Wang Zhaojun knew she was the 80 n\ ~ ..i.. of the Tang dynasty, who married the Tibetan King named Song Zan Gan Bu t~ "f'-f ~ in 641 AD. Princess Wen Cheng introduced much advanced technology to Tibet, and her contribution was cherished by both the Han and the Tibetan people. Emperors of the Han dynasties also married princesses to kings of tribal states in the west. Sometimes these efforts were aimed at forming alliances with those kingdoms to deal with the main threat from Xong Nu, and sometimes the policy was adopted for the purpose of peaceful coexistence. Many famous diplomats emerged during this period, including a woman named Feng Liao )Jbi;,- . A well educated maid to Princess Jie You Wf. 1t{. ~ ..i.. who was married to King Wu Sun Jt :fir.!., Feng Liao made many constructive contributions to the friendly exchanges among various ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and she enjoyed the respectful title of Madame Feng among them. Despite the efforts of He Qin, ethnic wars persisted. The Han dynasty defeated the Kingdom of Nan Yue in the period of 140 B.C. to 87 B.C. and established prefectures and counties in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas. There were several dozen uprisings ofQiang people during the Eastern Han period (25-220). The longest uprising lasted more than 11 years. Similar rebellions occurred in southwestern China, where many tribes of Yi people lived. In the northeast, more efforts were made to encourage nomadic tribes to settle in the central plains area. In the year 207 alone, Emperor Cao Cao f ~ moved more than 1 O 000 households of Wu Huan E, ~ people into the central plains. ' All these people subsequently were assimilated into the Han. Emperor Cao Cao also moved thousands of households ofXong Nu to Shanxi, where Xong Nu nobles prettiest concubine and thus refused to offer a bribe. Wi~ a p~ai~ portrait presented to the Emperor, she had no chance to see him. To avoid a lonely and empty hfc within the palace, she offered herself when Xong Nu King asked to marrv a princess of the Han. When Han Yuan Di 'iX. JC..~ met her before the departure, he was stunned by ·her bea~ty and k~lled the ~nter .. Wang's. n:,amage to the Xong Nu king kept the border at peace for a longer ume. This famous ZhaoJun He Qin st0ry has been used to instill patriotism in women. 81 became the chiefs, and Han officials were assigned as the "Si Ma" ,gJ !:!, to supervise them. A similar policy was applied to tribal states in the southwest . The Han people also were forced to migrate. At the beginning of the Qin dynasty, 500,000 criminals were sent to live in the south with the Yue people. After many years of blending, some Han people became Yue, and some Yue became Han. Contacts with people in Taiwan started in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), when the Shan Yi tribe J., ~ ~ ( mountain Yi people; also called Dao Yi tribe~ ~ ~, island Yi people) lived on the island of Yi Zhou~ w+I (Yi's island), now called Taiwan. These Shan Yi people were a branch of the forerunners of the present-day Gao Shan ~ J., ethnic group, the majority Taiwanese people. Other forerunners of the Gao Shan included the Yue people from Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, who moved to the island during the Spring and Autumn period. The Three Kingdoms period was followed by the two Jin dynasties (265-420). From 304 to 439, there were 23 kingdoms of seven ethnic groups in China. After 135 years of warfare, the Northern Wei (386-594) of Xian Bei ~ .if- people unified the northern part of China and confronted the Song of Southern dynasties (420-479) in the sou th. In 5 81, all these areas were unified by the Sui dynasty ( 5 81-618). It was not until the establishment of the Tang dynasty ( 618-907) that the Chinese could enjoy several hundred years of unification and stability without major ethnic wars or peasants' uprisings. The chaotic situation since the end of the Eastern Han (220) was marked by large-scale ethnic migrations and by natural or forcible national assimilation. The migrations were characterized by thousands of minor ethnic groups moving into the central areas and settling in the main cities. They were also marked by the movement of many Han people to the peripheral areas in order to escape 82 from wars. Southern people moved to the north, and northern people moved to the south. All these migrations led to natural assimilation among ethnic groups. Another characteristic of the ethnic relationships in this period was that people of various ethnic groups participated in the same uprisings, such as those against the Western Jin and against the Northern Wei. Advanced Han culture influenced many of the elite of the kingdoms of minor ethnic groups. Han people also learned from other ethnic groups, for example, they learned how to grow watermelons ~ ~ (xi gua, melon from the West) and tomatoes~ f.:r.. lqi (xi hong shi, red persimmon from the West). Rulers of the Tang dynasty adopted the same policy of the He Qin for dealing with the ethruc kingdoms in the border areas. At that time, the strongest ethnic kingdom in the north was that of Tu Jue people. There were many wars between the Tu Jue and whatever kingdom occupied the central area. By the time of the Tang dynasty, the Tu Jue people were split into western and eastern branches. After defeating the Eastern Tu Jue, the Tang rulers allowed them to settle in Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei. Many Tu Jue military officers served in the court of Tang. After the extinction of the Tu Jue, the Hui He @l ~ tribe became strong. Tang rulers married their daughters to the kings of the Hui He. In 788, the tribe's name was changed by its ruler into Hui Hu @l f:% . The Hui Hu was destroyed by the Xia Jia Si 1.t I ~ tribe in 840, and its remaining people migrated westward. Some of the Hui Hu people became the Uygur ~ ¼ ~ (wei wu er) nationality, which now lives in Xinjiang between the border of the former Soviet Uruon and China. Tang rulers also helped the Chief of the Wu Man ~ ~ tribe, who unified the six tribal states in Yunnan province. In northeastern China during the Tang period were Shi Wei i: -f1 , Xi 1: , Qi Dan, and other tribal states. In 90 I, the king of Qi Dan called Ye 83 Lu A Bao Ji Jr~# JfoT 1* *fl.. annexed Xi and Shi Wei and established the Qi Dan kingdom. As mentioned above, four out of the five latest Chinese dynasties were northeastern non-Han kingdoms whose peoples originated along the Songhua Jiang ~~.«,i.L, Mudan Jiang ~J:.-!h'.l.. and Heilong Jiang ,W-J~}.L rivers in the northeastern China (Ma et al, eds., 1984 ). In addition to all these autochthonal ethnic groups, there existed other ethnic groups of faraway origins. The first group consisted of Arabian and Persian merchants . ' who came to settle in China's coastal cities during the middle of the 7th century. At the beginning of the 13th century, more Arabians and Persians, as well as central Asian tribes, moved to China while the Mongolians were engaged in expeditionary wars to the east. Since most of these people adhered to Islam, they were labeled "Hui Hui" @J @J in the Yuan dynasty. The Hui people have spread all over China since that time. For the Hui people who lived in China, genealogical descent was the most important aspect of identity. For urban Hui communities, an expression of identity through a Hui lifestyle, such as the pork taboo, entrepreneurship and craft specialization was more important. For northern rural Hui people, ethnic identity was often expressed and perpetuated through strategies of community maintenance (Gladney, 1991 ). A Muslim imperial eunuch named Zheng He ~ ~ commanded six of the seven expeditions to the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433 · His fleet included 100 junks, some of which displaced 2,500 tons and carried up to 25,000 men. "These forays stand in stark contrast to the seaborne expeditions to Asia commanded by Vasco da Gama and his immediate successors after 1498, which rarely exceeded 10 vessels, most of them 84 under 200 tons." (Levathes, 1994)13 In modern China, the Hui population is the second largest, after the Mongolians, among the minority nationalities. The study of this foreign ethnic group has recently attained a significant scale. Other foreign ethnic groups include the Korean Chinese, who moved to China from Korea in the 19th century, and several thousand Jewish people who moved to China and settled in the central plains during the same period as that of the Arabian immigration. In sum, ancient people of various tribes lived in China proper from the time of the Old Stone Age. People of Hua Xia reached an advanced level of civilization earlier than did other tribes, and they became the forerunners of the majority Chinese who are now called Han. Various tribal states coexisted for many years. Warfare and conflict among them sometimes lasted for many years, however. Unification through annexation has been a frequent phenomenon in China's history. Cooperation through friendly exchanges and inter-·marriage has also taken place over a long time span. During most of history, there was a central kingdom of Han people surrounded by many tribal kingdoms in the peripheral areas. There were also important dynasties of minor ethnic groups that ruled China. Irrespective of who ruled China's central kingdom, however, tlhe ruler always followed the rules and codes of Confucian feudalism. This powerful cultural heritage has overshadowed the cultural heritage of other ethnic groups. The natural and forced assimilation process among various ethnic groups has never ceased. In addition to more than 60 modern spoken languages, about 16 to 20 written languages were developed in ancient China, some of which were n As a Muslim boy from a family named Ma Zheng was captured by the Ming anny in Yunnan and was castrated three years later in 1385. He was placed in the serve of the Prince of Yan for 20 years both at the court and on expeditions. 85 discovered recently by archeologists. More digging and systematic analysis will be required to gain better insight into this subject. 86 Chapter V Ancient Chinese Military Thought and Technology Ancient Military Thought Inscriptions on bones or tortoise she11s of the Shang Dynasty record endless warfare among Chinese clan societies. An extensive record of military institutions and exploits has been kept throughout written history. In the Spring and Autumn period alone, about 150 clan states were extinguished and annexed in a period of 300 years, leaving 22 that were gradually consolidated into a dozen big states during the appropriately titled Warring States period. These, in tum, were reduced to half a dozen in a grinding free-for-all until the final unification of China in 221 B.C .. Unification and social order have become the major concerns of all Chinese leaders since that time. There was no end of war, however. The Qin dynasty, which was the first unified kingdom, lasted only 14 years. Each of the dozen major dynasties and an equal number of smaller ones were founded by military means. Thus, the Chinese case has proved through at least 5,000 years of history that central power grows out of the sword. As Mao Ze Dong said, "state power grows out of the barrel of a gun" (Mao, 1954). Along with the development of bureaucratic feudalism and Confucianism came ancient Chinese military thought. The "arts of war" were described in 3,380 books, of which 2,308 remain in existence ~eople's Daily, 3/1 3/1989). Some scholars believe that the so-caJled "soldiering culture"* .i: 1.t (bin wen hua) exemplified by Sun Zi, has the 87 same qualities of mind in Zhou etiquette as does Confucianism; but it evolved with an emphasis more on utilitarianism than on paternalism (Zhang, 1992). Both rulers and rebels must study the arts of war to win battles militarily and politically. Thus, the intellectual development of military strategy and tactics in China never ceased, despite persistent efforts by orthodox Confucian scholars to discredit and reduce the influence of military issues. Nevertheless, the soldiering culture has never prevailed in China, even during prolonged turbulent times of wars or peasants' uprisings. The reasons for this phenomenon are discussed below. Civilian Supremacy over the Military As another achievement in the ordering of society, the Chinese during the Western Zhou dynasty established the idea of civilian supremacy over the military. Some scholars believe that this early triumph of "civil over military",~ (wen) over .J( (wu) in Chinese (literate culture over brute force), is a major reason why China acquired a reputation for pacifism in Western folklore (Kierman & Fairbank, 1974). In order to enhance the idea of civilian supremacy, warfare was deprived of esteem in the imperial orthodoxy of the Han bureaucrats (206 B.C. - 220 AD.); deprivation of esteem acquired an ethical basis that has colored Chinese thinking ever since that time. War is difficult to glorify because ideally it should never occur. The moral absolute is on the side of peace. No economic interest suffices to glorify warfare; no wealthy neighbors entice Chinese freebooters across the border or over the sea 88 (Fairbank, 1974). As Creel observes, while foreign conquest and warfare became a major industry in Rome, China consistently put less stress on the glory of combat (Creel . ' 1970): Generals had few triumphs and they lost their heads at least as often as anyone else. Chinese youth were given no equivalents of Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon to admire or emulate ... Likewise, holy wars are not easy to find in the Chinese imperial record, just as an avenging God and the wrath of Jehovah are far to seek. The whole view of the world is less anthropomorphic and less bellicose than that of the Old Testament, or oflslam (Fairbank, 1974:7). The efforts of scholar-moralists to tame men of violence were reinforced by the early establishment in China of bureaucratic government with a structure of territorial administration through prefectures~ (jun) and/or counties-! (xian). The effect of this arrangement was to bring the military more easily under central control, partly because the collection of taxes enabled the civil bureaucracy to maintain its independence from the military; and partly because the military itself became bureaucratized, subject to the same kinds of control over personnel and resources through orders from the center: Soldiers found that civilians assigned them to duty, wrote their fitness reports. provided their supplies, directed their strategy, and evaluated them in the , historical record. The opportunity for the energetic commoner to rise in the world as a soldier was thus circumscribed except in times of breakdown (Fairbank, 1974:9). In short, no one has systematically analyzed the phenomenon, evident throughout Chinese military history, of how the military failed to develop into a separate profession and reach the top level of power. The military high command was regularly in the hands of civilian officials. Law is subordinate to and inseparable from morality. The rule is 89 based on the Confucian teachings of social order. The military is only a subordinate echelon within the imperial bureaucracy. Warfare, as a fonn of managed violence, is regarded as the last resort if other methods of social control fail. As Sun Zi makes plain, violence is only one part of warfare and not even the preferred part. "Great Wall Mentality" Another major characteristic of Chinese military thought is a focus on inland defense, including high walls and other defensive structures. Scholars of Chinese military traditions believe that the genn of China's defensiveness, along with her primary concern for social order at home instead of expansion abroad, arises from the landlocked position of North China, remote from other centers of civilization and from sea routes (Kierman & Fairbank, 1974) Geographically speaking, the germ of Western expansiveness arises from Greco-Roman use of the sea, which fostered maritime trade, colonies, and empires in the Mediterranean. This expansiveness developed into 19th century European imperialism, which briefly took over the world. This Western tendency may be described as a "blue sea" military tradition. In contrast, Chinese military thinking may be labeled as the "yellow earth" tradition. So far, this geopolitical explanation of the major difference between Western and Chinese military experiences remains the most influential one. The rough equivalent of the Mediterranean Sea in ancient China's military experience was the vast grassland and desert area of Inner Asia, where China's intensive agriculture could never be established and the raids of nomadic cavalry could never be 90 entirely eliminated. The nomadic threat has persisted for more than 2,000 years, at least since the 4th century B.C., when the Xong Nu tribes on the border of North China first began to raid the settled farmlands to the south. The threat was one of raiding and plundering rather than actual conquest. The defenders' aim was to capture Xong Nu leaders, blunt their striking power, deter their attacks and, if possible, subdue them. The most that could be achieved would be freedom from raids for a decade or two (Loewe . ' 1974). After the nomad cavalry acquired true stirrups about the beginning of the Christian era, their striving power naturally increased. The period from about the 4th to the 14th centuries, the millennium of the mounted archer, came to a climax in the Mongol conquests of Persia, S~ut~ Russia, and Chi~a. By 1279 the Song empire fell completely under the dommat1on of Mongol tnbesmen whose predecessors had intermittently but increasingly been invading North China during the previous 1500 years (Loewe, 1974: 12). This long trial has left upon Chinese military thinking an indelible mark: defensive-mindedness, or what we may call a "Great Wall mentality." The continuous menace from nomadic raiders has been fact oflife through Chinese history. Military Institutions As the previous section briefly notes, control of the defense lines in ancient China was part of the task of provincial administrations. From the Qin laws, the "Grand Defender" ;k_ ~ (tai shou) or "Defender" '1 (shou) served in the late Warring State." Eind at least in the Qin periods to administrate the territory of a prefecture~ (jun). This personage ranked higher than the county chief in the hierarchy. He was in charge of all 91 matters relating to the defense of the city. Thus, the bureaucratic title of Tai Shou or Shou combined both military and civil functions . No standing army was created, but the defense of the city required full support from all men and women in the territory. The Defender also gathered all the peasants from the surrounding countryside into the town and placed both the urban and the rural population under military law when the city was under attack (Yates, 1982). This meant organizing them, men, women and children, into 5-person squads for those actually fighting, and 5-family units. These units and squads were made legally responsible for each other's c~nduct under t~e "mutual responsibility ~El ~ (xiang zuo) system. By segmenting and regulating the population in this · way, the central authorities extended their ability to demand taxes and labor services from a larger and larger proportion of the people living within their borders, thus expanding their economic, social, and military base (Yates, 1982:451). This system of mutual responsibility was further developed and incorporated into the early Tang dynasty's militia system .J 1M" (mu fu): 600 regional military headquarters Jf+ (fu) kept their registered complements of self-supporting farmer-soldiers under territorial administrative control, while military personnel were drawn from this pool in tactical units under central military command (Kuhn, 1974} Another institution with a similarly long history is the "military colony" ~ Eij (tun tian), a self-supporting military community that was often composed of criminals and Was positioned to defend the frontiers against barbarians. The traditional arrangement of this Tun Tian system is still evident in China in such institutio~s as Military Zones, and Military Districts. How to achieve civilian control in the virtually self-supporting military 92 community is beyond the scope of this document; but this short discussion alone already indicates that the ancient Chinese developed a unique territorial defense system that emphasized centralized control, civilian supremacy, and self-reliance. Military officers enjoyed certain autonomy within their own camps. For example, marshals and generals normally were empowered to refuse entry to all except those who bore special imperial authority to enter their camp. Under unusual circumstances, even an order from the Emperor himself could be denied by the Commander in Chief, if he could cite military secrecy or emergency as a rationale. This situation was epitomized in the popular saying that "when the general is out in mission, even the emperor's order can be ignored"~ Ji Jr , ~ ·~ ,t~Jt Giang zai wai, jun ming you suo bu shou). There were also privileged military units. Admission to these units was a reward for previous service, for social origin, or for distinction irrespective of personal merit. The duties of these units were less onerous than those of others. The Tang and Qing dynasties offer examples. Such units may have been designed to give an emperor a last line of defense in case of life-threatening emergencies. Perhaps the basic idea was discernible in the recruitment on a voluntary basis of "sons of the superior houses" R ~ 1- (Jiang jia zi) under the Han dynasty (Loewe, 1974). Later, under the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties of conquest, military colonies of the invading forces were established at strategic points within China to defend the dynasty against the populace. The principle Ming military institution was the "guard unit" ]. (wei) of registered hereditary professional soldiers, which was independent of the local civil administration. Five 93 hundred Guard units were created, some on their own lands as garrisons within the wall and others as commanderies among tribal units on the frontiers. Under the Qing "banner'' ,M. (qi) system, another privileged military unit arrangement, the original eight "Man" ,~ nationality banners were supplemented by eight Mongol and eight Chinese banners. In sum, the Chinese military institution has a tradition of territorial defense, self-reliance, and farmer-soldier militia system with occasional elite units. Ancient Military Technology Before the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the expensive war chariot was developed as an aristocrat carrier and archery platform (Kierman, 1974). During the Warring States period, wars become more intensive, organized, and severe, fought by bigger states with more sophisticated techniques and larger forces . The introduction of the crossbow around the middle of the Warring States period and the use of iron for weapons coincided with the development of bigger and more disciplined armies of conscripts, which were coordinated in action by signals and were commanded by comparatively more professional military men. The aristocratic war chariot by then had largely given way to infantry. Soon afterward, cavalry was introduced from the northern "barbarians", as were trousers for riding astride-- though as yet without the iron stirrup . By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD.), most battles were wars of position, which were fought with adversaries operating from relatively secure and supplied bases (Peterson, 1974). 94 Chinese military engineering is exemplified by Mo Zi, the greatest military innovator as well as a famous philosopher in the Warring States period, (who) harnessed all the latest technological innovations and recently discovered mechanical principles, such as the lever and the pulley, to the defense and attack of towns and cities in the late Eastern Zhou" (Yates, 1982:449). Trebuchet, the most important siege engines, were introduced in Mo Zi' s time; they included the "throwing machine" Jl:fJl (tou ji) or "trampling cart" ,ffi ..$- (ji che ). Ordinary well-sweeps were used for four other purposes by the defenders of a city under siege in the Warring States period. These purposes were to draw water from wells that were dug every 600 feet inside the city walls; to suspend screens that shielded the walls from enemy missiles; to drive bellows that blew choking smoke into enemy lines; and to raise signals on top of the walls. One of the methods for forcing the enemy off the face of the city walls during a mass infantry assault was to suspend flaming screens$ (da) either horizontally or vertically Other contraptions included the "suspended spleen" ,!. ,W. (xuan pi), the "fire-thrower" ;I(~ (huo zhi), and the "heat-transferor" # ~ ( chuan tang). Planting sharp iron stakes iJt.~{li (rui tie zhuang) at the base of the city walls was very popular in those periods for defending the cities (Yates, 1982). The first heavy artillery crossbow was called the "revolving shooting machine" #¾r:fJl (zhuan sheji) which also received mention in Mo Zi's book (468-346 RC.) (Yates, 1982). Crossbows and catapults, the most important heavy weapons prior to the invention of firearms, were the best weapons against towns. Most combat in the Song and Yuan dynasties stressed the use of fire projected by big catapults, the siege artillery 95 operated by as many as 40 or even 100 men to pull the lever ropes. These "cannon" }(_~ (huo pao) were not real firearms although they threw grenades and bombs made of gunpowder for their incendiary effect in burning gates and wall structures as well as wooden houses. Other projectile weapons included Zhen Tian Lei ~ _;l ~, Hui Hui Pao @? fil?,J:e, created by Chinese Muslim called Hui Hui people), and Fei Huo Chiang "1.k.~ etc. (Dreyer, 1974). With regard to logistic arrangements and support, Chinese military writers assumed that an army with foot-soldiers and baggage wagons could march over land at a rate of 30 Ii per day (about IO miles). A campaign force of 10,000 cavalry required about 1,320 wagons to carry a month's supply of grain and another 360 wagons for salt. Grain for 10,000 horses required 1,440 wagons. For logistic reasons alone, it is believed that campaigns in ancient China seldom lasted beyond two months (Dreyer, 1974). Starting with the Han dynasty, cities were not only the centers of administration, but also the residence of the wealthy. The walled town, in contrast with the European style castle, was designed for both the safety of people and the storage of accumulated property. The functions of the troops who guarded the walls were to check both ingress and egress (Loewe, 1974). An elaborate system of beacons and signals also existed since Han: a brass-wind instrument La Ba i+Jir/\. and small cymbals were for retreat and drums for advance· the colors of flags and lanterns corresponded to the four directions. ' Communication was exemplified by ready-made paper slips that were one inch long and were stored and passed in "wax balls" ~;)L (la wan), etc .. 96 The basic structure of China fortified locations included an outer wall, shoulder- high and nonnally an earthwork which stood some distance from the main walls; the main walls~ (cheng); about 50 feet in height; and an inner fortress .:i..~ (zhu cheng). Some provincial capitals and perhaps other towns had an even smaller enclosure ya Cheng'(~ , which held the residence and administrative premises of the governor or other senior official. There were also 'Jar-like walls" it:~ (weng cheng), or "crescent- shaped walls" JI~ (yue cheng) too (Franke, 1974). Discussion of various hand weapons and other offensive machinery is either beyond of the scope of this study, or lacks convincing scholarship. It also worth noting that although most existing studies of ancient military technology have focused on the defense of walled cities, the use of early Chinese arcuballista "was not confined to siege warfare" (Yates, 1982:441 ). The deployment of powerful trebuchets and arcuballistae for use in sieges had numerous effects on architectural, social, political and economic development in ancient China. In sum, the history of Chinese military thought and technology is characterized by the following features: I) a tendency to de-emphasize heroism and violence rather than glorify them; 2) a tradition ofland warfare that prefers defense to offense; 3) a link between militarism and bureaucracy, rather than between militarism and commercial expansion-- least of all overseas; 4) a strong traditionalism--continuity of military strategy and technology; 97 and 5) a gradual improvement of Chinese military technology. City defense depended upon civilian auxiliaries and militiamen. The Chinese military institution was characterized by territorial administration through prefectures and counties, as we11 as military colonies and autonomous military camps. It was rare for a military subculture to develop either in elite units or in the rank and file. Chinese generals were praised for their loyalties to the court, not for their victories on the battlefield. Soldiering was not a glorified career in ancient China. Patterns of Peasants' War in Ancient China As the previous sections mention briefly, there were hundreds of peasant rebe11ions occurred in ancient China. Some of these revolutions contributed directly to dynastic transition. Most of them failed in the end. Some of them involved ethnic conflict, which was another constant phenomenon in China's history. The fo11owing section wiJI describe the most famous peasants' rebeliions in China's ancient history and offer some analysis about the patterns of these revolutions. The first large-scale peasants' war was launched by Chen Sheng 1* )It and Wu Guang -:k /" in 209 B.C., twelve years after the first emperor Qin Shihuang unified China. About 900 defense militiamen ~ 4 revolted under these two leaders in the southeastern part of Su county & -I in Anhui province. Several thousand peasants joined the insurgent army and established a political power called Zhang Chu * Jl_ in 98 Henan province. There ensued many uprisings against the Qin dynasty that were led by officials, scholars, and noble family members of annexed kingdoms. Before long, the anned forces against the Qin were arrayed all over eastern China. Chen was murdered by a traitor, and his successor was killed in another battle. After these episodes, two other insurgent armies under Xiang Yu ~j ;J;J and Liu Bang jrJ .JJt became the main forces . 1 In 207 B.C, Xiang Yu won a vital battle at Ju Lu E. .It and defeated Qin's main troops, but Liu Bang attacked and occupied Xian Yang ~ Ff.1 , the capital of the Qin dynasty, and overthrew the dynasty. Xiang committed suicide during a final defeat after many battles against Liu. Liu became the first emperor of the Han dynasty in 206 B.C. At the end of this dynasty around 17 AD., three major peasants' revolutions erupted. One was known as the "Green Woods Army" f1.. .#. + (lu lin jun, the name of the mountain that was used as the base); the other was called "Bronze Horse Army" '1];J ~+(tong ma jun: the name of the place where the uprising broke out); and the third was called the "Red Eyebrow Army" # Ai ~ ( chi mei jun: participants painted their eyebrow in red) . The first uprising erupted in Hubei province in the year 17, the second was the main force among the 15 insurgent armies in Hebei province, and the third arose 1 Liu Bang was a junior official in charge of recruitin~ laborers for the construction of the Great Wall. When he dismissed several dozen forced la~rers. agamst the court's order, he became a fugitive himself. The only way out was to lead an uprising. Hts wife and father were held hostage by his enemies on several occasions. Liu made himself the first emperor of the powerful Han dynasty. His wife was one of the few able empresses in ancient history, as well as _the crueles! empress dowager. She tortured one of her husband's favorite imperial concubines to death 10 such an mhumane way that her own son, the emperor, was irrevocably shocked by the scene and never recovered. He died soon afterward. 99 in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces in the year 18. Total participants in these revolutionary armies reached more than several million people. A common trigger for all these rebellions was large-scale starvation and natural disasters. The major political factor was that Wang Mang .£'*- had controlled the court and tried to tum a Liu family's dynasty into a Wang one. In the second year of the Green Woods uprising, rebels supported Liu Xuan :*1J i: , a remote royal relative of the former emperor, to be the new emperor. Wang Mang sent 420,000 fighters in combat against the Green Woods Army, but his forces were defeated and the main force was totally wiped out by the rebels. Wang Mang was killed when the insurgent army attacked and occupied the capital. As soon as Liu Xuan, the emperor who was supported by the peasant rebels, moved into the capital, he betrayed the revolution and killed the rebel leaders. He was forced to surrender when the Red Eyebrow Army attacked and occupied Changan in 25. At this time, landlords of the central plain stored up and hid grain and organized their own armed forces. In the year 26, the lack of grain supplies forced the rebel army to withdraw from the capital. In the following year, Liu Xiu became the first emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220), which ruled China for 32 years. All three of the rebellions ultimately failed, with a result of changing the head of the Han dynasty At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, in the year 184, the "Yellow Scarf Uprising" if ryi ~ 51... (huang jin qi yi: participants wrapped their heads in yellow scarves) erupted. At that time, the court was controlled by eunuchs, peasants were 100 heavily burdened by taxation and labor rent. Land was concentrated in the hands of powerful and wealthy despots, and many peasants were forced off their lands and became a large wandering population. Under these circumstances there emerged Zhang Jiao * fil, a leader of a religious group called "Heavenly Peace Way" :k.. -f .i! (tai ping dao ), who had preached and gathered several hundred thousands followers in a decade. Believing that the time for rebellion was at hand, he created a slogan saying that "the blue sky { meaning the royal court) is dead, the yellow sky {meaning the political power of the peasants} should be established, the right time is 184, for an ever lasting happiness"-%~ b JE. , jr ~ ~ ..!!.. , t /j:. 'f -f , ,{_ r :k. t ( cang tian yi si, huang tian dang Ii, sui zai jia zi, tian xia da ji). All his followers in eight provinces revolted simultaneously. Officials' mansions were burnt, tyrannical local officials were killed, and rich landlords' stockade villages were attacked by his Yellow Scarf Army. This rebel anny won several battles against the imperial army in Hebei and Henan provinces but suffered major defeats when the imperial army allied itself with local despots. Zhang Jiao died of a sudden illness, and his two brothers were killed in battles. The main force of the Yellow Scarf Anny lasted about nine months, and its remaining troops engaged in guenilla warfare for more than 20 years. This revolution ended in failure, but it contributed to ending the Eastern Han dynasty in 220 and initiated a 60-year period du.ring which three kingdoms existed in China and fought against each other. 101 At the end of the Sui dynasty ( 58 I-6 I 8), there was another period of large-scale peasants' revolution. In 6 I 1, peasants' uprisings broke out in Shandong, Hebei, Shaanxi ' Gansu, Guangdong, and the lower course of the Chang Jiang and Hui rivers Five years later, these rebels fonned three main annies: Wa Gang Jun "ff... ~ 4 in Henan province, a rebel anny in Hebei that was headed by Dou Jiande f ,ti .ft. , and an army in the lower course of Chang Jiang and Hui rivers which was headed by Du Fuwei ~ 1:x. fix. . Sui's main forces were wiped out by these peasants' annies. During the same time, landed gentry such as Li Yuan 4: ~, Liu Wuzhou j-,J A, ftJ and Wang Shichong ..f. -t4t- ft, arose to form their own armies and fought against Sui. With strong support from military officers and officials, Li Yuan's army marched into the capital of Changan (modem Xian in Shaanxi province) and established the Tan dynasty in 618 (Li 's daughter Princess Ping Yang will be discussed in Chapter VI). Li's Tang dynasty was ended by a major peasants' revolution in the middle of the 9th century. It was started in 874 by Wang Xianzhi ..f. 1J.r .t. with several thousand rebels in Henan. In the following year, this anny grew to a force of Jess than a half million and merged with an insurgent army headed by Huang Chao* l. . After a major victory three years later, the two leaders separated and their armies fought continuous battles against the imperial army in several provinces. Wang tried to surrender on several occasions but was eventually killed by the imperial army in 878. His lieutenant who designated himself as the "Towering General" If k :k.. ~ 4- (chong tian dajiang jun) brought the army back to Huang Chao, and established his own court. He decided ]02 to move eastward. After a forced crossing of the Chang Jiang and Hui rivers and a passage through Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, the rebel anny opened a 300-miles road across the mountain range and entered Fujian province. In 879, this army attacked and occupied Guangzhou (known as Canton in the West), which had a population of one million. Huang decided to launch a northward expedition and fought all the way north to Changan. In 881 , his army entered the capital, and he changed the name of the new dynasty to Da Qi *. ~ . Lacking a solid revolutionary base, his capital was surrounded by Tang's imperial army, and Huang Chao was soon forced to withdraw. After a 300-day-long attack against Huaiyang in Henan province, his troops were defeated. In 884, Huang Chao committed suicide after suffering defeat in a battle at the bottom of Tai Mountain in Shandong province. This revolution lasted ten years and spread to twelve provinces. The Tang dynasty never recovered fully from this rebellion. It ushered in an era when several ethnic groups from northeastern China established various kingdoms starting in the year 907 (please see the section on the development of ethnic groups in the previous chapter). The Song dynasty was divided into two: the Northern Song (960-1127), co- existing with the Liao dynasty of the Qi Dan ethnic group; and the Southern Song o 127_ 1279), co-existing with the Jin dynasty of the Nu Zhen ethnic group. Each witnessed some peasants' rebellions, which for the first time in China's hist0ry explicitly expressed the peasant's egalitarianism of "equalizing the nobles with the low, and averaging the rich 103 with the poor" -f jt Ml ' #J ~..___ ':; . One uprising of tenant peasants and tea farmers broke out in 993 in Sichuan province and lasted about two years. Two others erupted at the end of the Northern Song, one in 1119 in Hebei and Shandong provinces and the other in 1120 in Zhejiang province. Both were headed by famous leaders: Song Jiang ~ iJ. 2 and Fang La~ J1!. Song Jiang and his 36 comrades established a revolutionary base in Shandong province but were defeated by the Song dynasty's anny in 1121. One of his subordinate designated himself as the emperor in Shaanxi in 1127 but later also suffered a defeat by the imperial anny. Today, scholars still debate whether Song Jiang surrendered to the court, and whether he rebelled again after the surrender. One of the most popular novels in China's history is based on Song Jiang and his base. Fang La was a hired laborer who had strong support from peasants through a local religion called "Ming Jiao" flJ} ~ . When he rose to rebel in I 120, other religious groups responded quickly. Before long the rebellion spread to all 52 counties in the East. The Song dynasty's anny sent by the emperor to suppress this revolution was led by General Tong Guan~ 1f in command of 150,000 soldiers. Fang's rebel army was defeated, and he was captured and executed the following summer. In the beginning of the Southern Song, there was a peasant uprising in Hunan province that was headed by Zhong Xiang #~fl . He spent twenty years and relied upon 2 Song Jiang was a junior official who spent his spare time seeking the acquaintance of chivalrous delinquent knights. His activities had been watched by his disloyal wife, who wanted not only to divorce him, but also to put him in jail. Song Jiang killed his wife and became a fugitive. He had no other choice but to participate in the local rebel army which had wanted his talent for a Jong time. 104 a local religion called "Wu Jiao" ~~to mobilize people and established a base near the Dongting Lake. In 1127, he sent 300 militiamen to the court to battle against the invading Jin kingdom of the Nyu Zhen ethnic group. This effort was rejected by the court, and the troops were sent back. The militia troops became the core of the rebel army. In 1130, the belongings of people around the lake were constantly looted by Song's imperial soldiers, bandits, and the Jin's army. Zhong launched an uprising in self- defense and was supported by peasants in the entire area. Before long the rebels occupied 19 counties, and the army grew to a force of several hundred thousand. Zhong was designated as the "Chu King" l .£ . He was captured and executed in the summer. The youngest leader, Yang Mo ;ffr] ,Z. , became the new chief In l 133, he designated himself as "the Grand Saint Heavenly King" * $; J:.. .£ and named Zhong's son as the crown prince. He commanded a militia force of 200,000 people, who farmed as well as fought. They won many battles against the Song. In 113 5, he was betrayed by traitors and executed by Yue Fei , the famous anti-Jin general of the Song dynasty. At the end of the Yuan dynasty, there was another spurt of various peasants' uprisings. They assisted Zhu Yuanzhang JF,. ;{.. Jf. , a rebel leader, in starting his new dynasty called "Ming" El}]. As the previous section on ethnic groups notes, the Yuan dynasty was a Mongolian state power. In the middle of the 14th century, China was beset by natural disasters and by the conuption of its feudal system. The Yellow river overflowed three times in a single year. Many starving peasants had to eat tree bark and 105 roots of grass. In 13 51 , Han Shantong # J-, ~ relied on a Buddhist religion called "White Lotus" al{.~ and mobilized laborers along the Yellow river to rebel . This force was marked by the wearing of red scarves. Han was killed in the early stage of the revolution, and the red scarf army was led by one of his disciples named Liu Futong .M ;j£ ii. , whose main activities were in Anhui province. Many groups responded to this rebellion, including one led by Zhu Yuanzhang. The rebels attacked cities, killed landlords, and established various short-lived political powers. The revolution spread all over the country. The Mongolian power was fatally destroyed by this over ten-year rebellion. On the other hand, the rebelling troops never formed alliances and were defeated separately by the imperial army. Zhu Yuanzhang's force managed ultimately to overthrow the Yuan and establish his Ming dynasty. His wife Empress Ma will be discussed in the next chapter. The Ming dynasty lasted about 300 years and was overthrown by another peasants' revolution. In the middle of the 17th century, land was heavily concentrated in the hands of officials, despots and big landlords. Thousands of peasants were forced away off their land when large-scale drought hit the country. Militiamen stationed at the border areas as well as unemployed staff participated in various uprisings of starving peasants. In the period from 1627 to 1633, about 36 uruts of the peasants' armies fought against the Ming imperial army in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. This wave of rebellion started to cross the Yellow river and entered the central plain in 1633. In 1635, 13 leaders representing 72 rebel units met and discussed strategies together. Gradually the 106 revolutionaries concentrated themselves into two camps, one headed by Li Zicheng .. ~ n\ and the other by Zhang Xianzhong * 1'.t ,t . After several major defeats, Zhang surrendered and Li escaped to the high mountains in I 638. In the following year, the rebelJion experienced a resurgence, and Zhang's troops entered Sichuan province. Li's revolution also endured ups and downs. In I 640, with only 40 cavalrymen, Li entered Henan holding a slogan calling for "averaging land, and exempting tax" J!J E£J _t. -M. (jun tian rnian fu). Within two years, his troop strength increased to one million people. In 1643, Li designated himself as the "New Lucky King" if' JI/Ji.£ (xin shun wang) in Xiang Yang$.. FE1 . Zhang designated himself as the "Grand Western King" :k !'I 3:. (da xi wang) in Wu Chang A ~ . The following year, Li's army attacked and occupied Beijing, the capital, and overthrew the Ming dynasty. Ming's Emperor Chong Zhen f ~ 1. ~ hanged himself at the Coal Hill behind his Forbidden City. The victorious peasants' army was corrupted quickly, however, and Li was killed in a battle in 1645. In the following year, Zhang was also kiJled in combat. This failed revolution facilitated the enforcement of the political power of the Nyu Zhen ethnic group in the northeast, which marched in and established the last Qing dynasty. Thus, once again, a new dynasty was ushered in by a peasants' revolution. The Qing dynasty itself was fataJJy attacked by peasants' revolutiops called the Tai Ping Tian Guo Movement and the Boxer Movement, which will be discussed in the chapter on China in the Post-Opium War Period, 1840-1949. 107 From the short description in this section, it is clear that most of the major dynastic transitions in ancient China were generated by peasants' revolutions. These peasant rebe!Jions were joined by various ethnic groups, officials, militiamen, delinquent knights, craftsmen, small and medium landlords, workshop owners, staffs, and scholars. The Chinese peasantry itself consisted of hired hands in the fields, tenant farmers, serfs , and free farmers . These people were labeled as individual laborers or small private owners by Marxist scholars (Zhao & Gao, 1955). They were the major producers of ancient China. One half and sometimes two thirds of their income had to be handed over to support rich landlords and officials, as weI1 as aI1 the national expenses, including the support of the royal family and court and the imperial military forces . Moreover, the peasants were caI1ed upon whenever there was a manpower demand for soldiers or laborers. This large mass of peasants was ruled by a tribal elite of landed gentry and scholar-gentry. There existed a very sophisticated feudal hierarchical system with territorial prefectures and counties. The feudal bureaucracy not only contro11ed the construction and maintenance of all the infrastructures, such as hydraulic projects and transportation network, but also was exclusively in charge of substantial necessities such as salt. Systems of sale of land, usurers' capital and commercial capital were established much earlier in China than in other countries. The concentration of land ownership versus the dispersion of its usage has been regarded as the constant contradiction in ancient China's agrarian society. In short, no matter how deeply the identification of the 108 Chinese peasantry with the head of the royal power was culturally enforced by continuous tradition, the peasants were exploited and ruled by a much smaller group of people composed of officials, tribal elite, despots, landed gentry, and eunuchs. A common saying in China explains a lot: "officials are forcing ordinary people to rebel" 1; ~~Ji (guan bi min fan). In this case, the officials represent all the beneficiaries of the Chinese feudal system. That is why all modern scholars agree that Chinese peasants are egalitarians, though they debate whether the peasantry was against the imperial power because the rebellions were rarely aimed at the royal head himself (Xie & Jian, 1981 ). Within this broad context, it was the combination of corrupted court and natural disaster that usually trigged rebellion. Concentration ofland, extra burdens of taxation, factional struggles within the ruling elite, and foreign invasion or border conflict, coupled with a natural disaster caused violent revolt. Revolts led to dynastic transitions or political refonns, as well as to changes within the feudal system with less taxation and sometimes land re-distribution. There ensued a certain period of peace, which, in tum ' brought another round of corruption and concentration of land. This cycle repeated itself, accompanied by various uprisings, peasant revolutions, and ethnic conflicts. With regard to the results of these revolutions, they might not be universally regarded as positive to China's social-economic development, even by pro-revolutionary scholars (Xie & Jian, 1981 ). AJI the winners of these peasant revolts adopted the imperial power system and became emperors themselves. Most of the attempts at rebellion ended in bloody failure. A common mobilization slogan of the Chinese peasant 109 revolution was "equalizing nobles with the low class people and averaging rich with poor". Land and taxation have always been the focus of revolt. Religious activities and indoctrination have been repeatedly used by revolutionary leaders to organize peasants into rebel1ion. China's peasant revolutions have also been intertwined with ethnic conflicts and wars. In the 2,000 years of China's feudal history, no dynasty lasted 300 years, and a few lasted more than 200 years. In sum, background materials provided in this chapter elucidate the societal, cultural, situational, and military environment in which the behavioral patterns of Chinese female soldiers in ancient times will be presented and scrutinized in the foJlowing chapter. IlO Chapter VI Women Warriors in Ancient Time This chapter focuses on Chinese women's actual participation in military operations in ancient times The research is based on secondary sources of historical data. Chapter III provides a discussion on the quality, availability and selection criteria for these data. Forty women warriors in ancient China have been identified by this author for the time period before the year I 840 ( see Table 6.1 Women Warriors in Ancient China on the following pages). These women warriors represent a small minority (5.3%) of the 760 historical women from whom they are selected (see Chapter III). They emerged during more than 3,000 years before I 840. Most of the 40 Chinese women warriors commanded armed forces, including those engaged in rebellions and urban defense. Some were just ordinary citizens who participated in the defense of their home or city. Some had an official designation, some did not. Some were high commanders with long-time military careers and political skills, while others lacked military training or experience prior to their participation in the military operations described here. Some were well educated, with literary talent, while other had limited or no education. Only one woman started her military career as a sergeant (see Hua Mulan in the following text). Otherwise, no data exist about women in the rank and file, though we know that many of them served under the command of women generals 111 #. Na.me 1 Fu Hao Shang ~,ff 1}f 2 WeiHuahu Han (HuaMulan) ,3l tt-#..~ ( ?t-*. ~) 3 LiXiu Jin 4:t .,11<. El - -tv 4 Madame Xi Sui ~.*-A ~ 5 Princess Tang Ping Yang It -f-rEr /~~ 6 Xiao Chuo Liao (Empress it. DowJe~ Xiao) ( ~±.J§) 7 Liang Hongyu Southern ~ ti: .1 Song 1*)~ Table 6.1 Women Warriors in Ancient China (16th Century B.C. -1840 A.D.) Dates Origin Eth.ttic SES ather Commanders of Official Armed Forces 16thc-llthc Henan Han Tribe B.C. -a Chief 206 B.C.- Shan- Han Sergeant 220 AD. Dong -a 265-420 AD. Si- Han Governor Chuan i3l General 502-557 AD. Guang- Li Tribe Dong « King 588-623A.D. Shanxi Han Emperor (601) (624) ,3l 953- Inner Qi Dan Premier 1009 A.D. Mongo- ~-Jt lia 1127-1279 Jiang- Han Military Su ,3l Officer Marital (Husband King Wu Ding not married Governor General Grand Defender General Emperor General Mil Combat Title Skills Time yes many years yes 12 years yes years Madame or 1 year Town Pacifica- tion yes many Madame years National Watcher yes many Princess battles yes at least Empress two Dowager battles yes many Madame years National Defender #. Name Dynasty Dates Origin Ethnic SES Marital Mil. Combat Title (Father) (Husband) Skills Time 8 CenHua :Ming 1498-1557 Guang- Zhuang Tribe County yes many Designated (Madame Wa Shi) El}] Xi ~± King Official years Female 4-- ,?t Commander in R. J!\..*-A. ) Chief 9 Qin Liangyu :Ming 1574-1629 Si- Han Official Grand yes many Commander in J. tl.1 El}] (1584)(1648) Chuan ,X Defender vears Chief Leaders of Uprisines (11easant & nationality) 10 LuMu Western 206B.C.- Shan- Han Rich widow no one g-zt Han 18A.D. Dong ,X Farmer battle ~,X 11 Chen Shuozhen Tang ?-653 AD. Zhe- Han Farmer married no many Self '* ,;Ji -1¼- A- Jiang ,X battles Designation 12 Yang :Miaozhen Southern 1127-1279 Shan- Han Farmer Uprising yes many (Si Nianj{i) Song Dong ,X Leader battles #J±J 1') * .... ( 'ZE1 Ji -J- ) w 13 Madame Xu Yuan 1271-1368 Fu- She Tribe County yes many * -*.A. J(. Jian ,t- Chief official battles 14 Empress Ma :Ming 1333-1382 Anhui Han Uprising Emperor no many Empress 11i _t Xi El}] ,X Leader battles 15 Tang Saier :Ming 1403-1424 Shan- Han Farmer married yes many Jt.f.JL El}] Dong ,X battles 16 Wang Conger Qing 1777-1798 Hubei Han Itinerant Uprising yes many Self named ~Jl,lf.JL * ,X entertainer Leader battles Buddhist Mother Defenders 17 XunGuan Jin 265-420 Henan Han General not yes one 6j i,fl .:1k ,X married battle El 18 Han Shi Jin 265-420 Han no married no one (ZhuXu's .ilk El ,X inf. battle Mother) -# 1!\. C-*'ff~) #. Name Dynasty Dates Origin Ethnic SES Marital Mil. Combat Title (Father) {Husband) Skills Time 19 Shao Shi Jin 265-420 Hebei Han Grand General yes many (Liu Xia's Wife) ~ ~ Defender battles ®~ ( j•Jif!-t- ) 20 Lu Shi Jin 265-420 Han no Military yes one (Zhang Mao's .,n,. ~ inf. Officer battle a Wife) ~I\. C*-i1_..) 21 Mao Shi Jin 265-420 Han no Military yes many (Fu Deng's Wife) .,n,. ,'1-. inf. Officer battles a -{,~ (.?i,i- ... ) 22 Liu Shi Northern 386-581 Hebei Han no Grand no one son (Gou Jinlong' s ;fr, ..f1J ,'1-. inf. Defender hundred titled Wife) jl) ~ days county chief ~~£.-t- 23 Zhao Shi Northern 386-581 Hebei Han ordinary ordinary no one An Ping (Sun Daowen's ;fr, ..f1J ~ citizen citizen battle County Wife) Superior Man ~~ -1,Ht~.f- 24 Meng Shi Northern 386-581 Hebei Han no high no one Dowager Ren Cheng's ;fr, ..f1J ~ inf. rank battle Concubine Mother official .1.~ *~ .-!]: 25 Ren Shi Tang 618-907 Si- Han ordinary Grand no one Madame (Madame Huan ft Chuan ,'1-. citizen Defender battle HuanHua Hua) 1£-~ ii~ J:.. .A. #. Name Dynasty Dates Origin Ethnic SES Marital Mil. Combat Title (Father) (Husband) Skills Time 26 Yang Shi Tang 618-907 Han no County no one (Li Kan's Wife) At ~ inf. Chief battle ~ Jc\ c *oc-t- > 27 Xi Shi Tang 618-907 Han no Grand yes one Madame (Zou Baoying 's Jt ,X. inf. Defender battle Honesty Wife) Chastity ~t~-t- 28 Gao Shi Tang 618-907 Han no County no one Loyal (Gu Yuanying's At ,X. inf. Chief battle County Wife) Superior Man iii~ * ~ .&..-t- 29 Hou Si Niang Tang 618-907 Han no not yes many Courageous ~'l9:t~ Jt ,X. inf. married battles General -VI 30 Tang Si Gu Tang 618-907 Han no not yes many Courageous Jt~# It ,X. inf. married battles General 31 Wang Er Niang Tang 618-907 Han no not yes many Courageous ~=-l~ At ,X. inf. married battles General 32 Yan Gong Ren Song 960-1279 Han Rich Widow no many Gong Ren ~.$-A :t: ,X. Farmer battles 33 Shu Lyuping Liao 879-953 Inner Hui Gu Tribe Emperor yes one Empress (Empress u. Mongo- @1~ Chief battle Dowager Dowager Shu Lu) lia *#-1- *4tk,{i 34 Sha Lizhi Jin 1115-1234 Hei- Nyu Tribe ordinary yes one Madame (A Lin's Wife) ~ Long- Zhen King citizen battle Jin Yuan i}· Jf..)Ji Jiang *-A-( JfoT -~<-*- ) 35 ALuzhen Jin 1115-1234 Hei- Nyu Tribe widow yes one Madame ir,,T -t J{.. ~ Long- Zhen Royal battle Prefecture Jiang *J. Family Duke #. Name Dynamy Dates Origin Ethnic SES Marital Mil. Combat Title (Father) (Husband) Skills Time 36 Shen Yunying Ming 1368-1644 Zhe- Han Grand Grand yes one Guerrilla ~** SJl Jiang ,'5l Defender Defender battle General 37 Zhong Jin Ming 1550-1612 Inner Mongol Tribe King no many Madame (San Niang Zi) BJl Mongo- f.-i, King battles Loyalty i'f~ lia Obedience ( .E.. -Ji --1- ) 38 Yang Shi Ming 1368-1644 Hebei Han ordinary ordinary no one (Zhang BJl ~ citizen citizen battle Guohong's Wife) #., J;\ *- I!l % 4 39 Bi Zhu Qing 1644-1840 Anhui Han Military ordinary yes one !f~ ~ ,'5l Officer citizen battle 40 Madame Xu Qing 1674 Hubei Han Official Governor Yes one 14-J...A '/.)...t..r battle 1:f, ~ 1. Balded numbers are dates of birth and death, others are beginning and ending years of the dynasty. 2. Numbers in brackets are from a second source. 3. Name is arranged according to the Chinese custom, that the first name is the family name (surname). 4 . Mil.: militaI)'. 5. no inf. : no information. Notes: 1. Bolded numbers are dates of birth and death, others are beginning and ending years of the dynasty. 2. Numbers in brackets are from a second source. 3. Name is arranged according to the Chinese custom, that the first name is the family name (surname). Sources: Biographic Dictionary of Famous Women in Hua Xia ~ X. :a* .,t A~ JJtt l,IIJ :;.., ' ' composition committee of Hua Xia Fu Nu Ming Ren Ci Dian, Beijing: Hua Xia Publisher, 1988. Biographic Dictionary of Famous Women in the World in All Times -t' ,tr- i=f:' Jr* _,t A If~ , compiled by College of Chinese Women Administrative Cadres, Beijing: China Broadcasting and Television Publisher, 1989. Chen, Mingfu. Chinese Women Waniors Through the Ages i:f:' 00 /h ~*A , Beijing, Chinese Women Publisher, 1991 . Chou, Ying. Illustrated Women Biography (1368-1644) ~ IE Jij *#,edited by Wang, Shi, Taibei: Zhong Zheng Publisher, 1971 . History of Wei«,~ , Biography of Women Jij *#. History of Jin if- -.:J; ,Biography of Women J1J -k # . History of Northern Dynasties ;ft j:, Biography of Women J1J * # . History of Tang (Old) IS Jt ~ , Biography of Women J1J -k# . History of Tang Jt ~ ,'Biography of Women Jij -k # . History of Song ~ j: , Biography of Women J1J -k # . History of Liao ll,j:, Biography of Women Jij -k # . History of Mingtl}J j:, Biography of Women J1J -k # . 117 Huang, Canzhang. "Hua Mulan's Last Name is not Hua" People's Daily Abroad, April 10, 1991 . Li, Anyu. The Complete Book of Chinese Empresses tp 00 JJi ft _t. ff; ¼ -=J; , Beijing: China Friendship Publisher, 1990. Liu, Ziqing. Commentary Biography of Wise and Able Women Through the Ages of China tp 00 }Jj ft 1J ft~ *-if#, Taibei: Li Ming Cultural Cause Limited, 1978. Shang, Chuan & Yang, Lin (eds.) Biographies of Empress and Imperial Concubines Through the Ages of China tp 00 }Jj ft Jf; -ic. # , Beijing: International Cultural Publisher, 1992. Wang, Fanting. Women Through the Ages of China tp ~ JJi ft :l3 * ,Taiwan: Shang Wu Publisher, 1966. Yan, Jikuan. Biographies of Chinese National Heroines tp 00 ~ ~ * * ~ # ic. , Taiwan: Shang Wu Publisher, 1939. Yu, Zhenbang. Biographies of Famous Women Through the Ages of China tf 00 JJj ft,,t * 11J # Taibei: Lian Ya Publisher, 1978. Zi Zhi Tong Jian f-- ~f; .i! ~, Volume 86. 118 These women are divided into three groups, according to the positions they occupied in the armed forces, the nature of the military operations in which they participated, and the length or frequency of their military activities. These groups are labeled as women commanders, female rebel leaders, and women defenders. Nine Chinese women (22 . 5% of the sample) were commanders of official armed forces- in most cases, imperial armies. Most of them served in the armed forces for years, and participated in military operation more frequently . They are categorized into the first group of women commanders. Seven (17.5%) were leaders of peasant or ethnic uprisings. They belong to the group labeled rebel leaders. These women were involved in military activities for shorter or less frequent occasions compared with women commanders, but they participated in more than one battle. Twenty four (60%) were women warriors who engaged either in urban defense or in warfare against rebel assault. Most of them participated in a single battle related to urban defense- a battle that lasted days or years. They are put in the group labeled defenders. Readers might notice at this point that this study identifies fewer women aggressors than women defenders. Most orthodox Chinese historians tend not to record rebels in history books, as Chapter III notes. More academic work is needed to overcome this ideological bias inherent in the historical data. Time constraints obliged this author to identify the seven rebel leaders as the only women aggressors, other than women commanders, for this study. More sources, such as annals of prefectures and 119 counties, must be scrutinized in order to expand the research-a time-consuming process that lies beyond the scope of this study. Figure 3 on the following page illustrates the geographic distribution of the women warriors selected for this research. Numbers in the map correspond the series numbers in Table 6.1 . Most (75%) of the female soldiers have their origins recorded; thus, the map is illustrative. Chinese territory in ancient times included mostly the areas in eastern China; while most of the western areas had few permanent inhabitants. The southern part of China was unstable because of various tribal states of minor nationalities Moreover, China's territorial boundaries changed frequently during the time span of 3,000 years. That is why a modern map of China is used instead of the map of any feudal dynasty. The relevant discussion of the geographic distribution of the female warriors is provided in the section on pattern analysis. Women Warriors as Commanders The first Chinese woman general, Fu Hao js"ij'- (# 1 in Table 6. 1) lived about 3,200 years ago. As the previous Chapter noted, she lived in the era of transition from matriarchal to patriarchal societies and prior to the formal establishment of the Chinese patriarchal system. Fu Hao lived at least 1,000 years earlier than Sun Zi, who is the author of the earliest military book in human history. Her weaponry included bronze components. The inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells dug out of her tomb record the earliest human military activities, as well as the military strategy and tactics that this ancient general adopted. 120 Figure 3. Geographic Distribution of Women Warriors in Ancient China (sec Table 6.1) 121 In addition to more than 600 pieces of jade ware, 7,000 pieces of sea shell currency, and 440 pieces of bronze ware with her name carved inside, all of which were discovered in her tomb in 1976, there were two bronze hatchets that symbolized her status as a military commander in ancient time. Unfortunately, her legend did not enter the Chinese cultural heritage at an earlier stage. The existence of Fu Hao has only been discovered and proven by modern archeological studies. More scholarly work should be done to draw a detailed portrait of this first Chinese woman general. In sharp contrast to Fu Hao, all other Chinese female commanders described in this study not only have been recorded in official history, but also have inspired many literary and artistic works. The most famous one is Wei Hua Hu 1t ~ ~ ' known as Hua Mulan ~ *- ii (#2 in Table 6. 1 ). This study will co~tinue to use Hua Mulan, the legendary instead of the real name, to avoid further confusion. Hua Mulan was the earliest and most influential legendary woman warrior in Chinese culture, since Fu Hao' s legacy is lost in the long river of history. Until recently, however, the existence of Hua Mulan was disputed among serious scholars (Liu, 1978). It was recently verified that this heroine of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) was recorded in a name book compiled at the end of the Jin Dynasty (around the year 419 AD) (Huang, 1991 ). Her tomb was identified behind the Wei Village in Bozhou ,!t; tN . Hua lived in an era when Confucian philosophy was taught by orthodox Han scholars as the foundation of Chinese feudalism, with its emphasis on loyalty and filial piety, and when the bureaucratic system was further enhanced and structured . Civilian 122 supremacy over the military was also established during this time period. Some scholars of Chinese culture have divided it into three subcultures: Han culture, Song culture, and contemporary culture (Li, 1988). Some scholars believe that most Chinese started to caII themselves Han people from the time of Han dynasty (Gladney, 1991). In short, Hua lived in the starting period of orthodox Confucian feudalism. Hua was born into a sergeant's if it -IE. (bai fu zhang) family in Shandong Province. She acquired military training from her father, who had retired after life-long military service. When the court called for her father's service again, he was too old to go and her brother was too young. Hua disguised as a man, purchased her own horse and saddle and met the calling for her father. She was stationed in Wan county ,'.t .J!. in Hebei Province, where local annals have recorded her deeds and scholars have written many articles to commemorate her. Hua served in the imperial army for about 12 years. She was promoted and rewarded several times after many victories and demonstrations of her military skills. Nobody discovered her real gender during those military years. In the end, the court wanted to reward her by designating her as a "general" rlis ~ (langjiang), but she refused and asked for a camel to go home. The emperor sent a team of guards to escort her back home, only to find out that she was a woman. There are at least two versions for the end of Hua's story. One says that the emperor ordered her back to serve in the court as an imperial concubine after learning that she was a woman. She could only refuse this humiliating order by committing 123 suicide. Her countrymen built a temple in the village, and every year on her birthda Y, there is a ceremony to memorialize her. This author believes that such a tragic end may be closer to historical reality than the other version, which recounts that Hua married a general after her real gender was revealed and led a typical woman's life. This happy end naturally fits the function of any kind of legend: setting up a role model for future generations. Hua's case serves this purpose very well. It says that a Chinese woman should be both loyal to the emperor and filial to her fath.er. She is expected to play a man's role to defend the motherland if she is needed. When her military service ends ' she is expected to return to her typical woman's role and to be a devoted wife and home maker. Most artistic work is based on this version with a happy end . Hua's period of disguise as a man is dramatized by literary and artistic works, which have inspired many imitations among Chinese women. The Chinese even like to name their daughters Mulan. Furthermore, it is worth noting that many literal works try to explain why Hua's real gender was not discovered when she was in the military. The most popular explanation is that when rabbits are observed in peace, one can tell that male and female behave differently; but if both male and female rabbits are running, nobody can differentiate them. Second only to Hua Mulan, the other two most famous women generals in Chinese history are Liang Hongyu -*b:..I. (#7 in Table 6.I), and Qin Liangyu i-. &_..!. (#9). Numerous literary and artistic works have been produced in both ancient and 124 modem times to honor these two women. Similar to Hua Mulan, these two served in the imperial armies for many years. What is different is that both Liang and Qin have been designated officially as generals. This official designation makes them distinguished from other women warriors. Two of the women commanders in ancient China were female members of the royal family. One is Princess Ping Yang ff~*..i. (#5 in Table 6. I), who participated in the military operations that eventually led to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD.), one of the most prosperous in Chinese history. The other is Xiao Chuo ~~ , known as the "Empress Dowager Xiao" ~± ff; (xiao tai hou), (#6) of the Liao Dynasty (916 - 1125). Xiao is also one of the three women commanders who are from minor nationalities. Only a few female royal family members have made their mark in China's long history for their own sake. Some left positive impressions, some negative Princess Ping Yang and Empress Dowager Xiao, were outstanding for their martial glamour, military leadership, and political vision. They are surely equal to other reigning Queens in history (Newark, 1989; Salmonson, 199 I). The other two women generals from minor nationalities were Madame Xi i,tf-.-.._A. (#4 in Table 6.1) from the Li 1£ nationality; and Cen Hua~.«,, also called Madame Wa Shi 'it J;\J-.___ A. (#8 in Table 6.1 ), from the Zhuang nationality Thus, 33~/o of the women commanders in Chinese history were from minor nationalities. This situation is probably due to the fact that those minor nationalities had loose patriarchal 125 systems and were subject to Jess Confucian influence in ancient times. It may be also due to the fact that some of those nationalities had stronger martial arts traditions. The last woman commander presented in this category is Li Xiu -t- t (#3 in Table 6.1) of the Jin* Dynasty (265 - 420 A.D). She is not recorded in the \\'omen Biography in Histol\l of Jin, but is mentioned in another similarly important historical series, Ji Zhi Tong Jian f- ~f; it~, (p 12 in Volume 86), in the annals of Sichuan Province, and in several scholarly works. Almost all of these women commanders were closely related to high-ranking male officials, including men with the highest status, such as emperors. A notable exception was Hua Mulan, the most popular figure, whose father was only a sergeant. Three of the female commanders were royal family members, two--Fu and Xiao-- were married to kings or emperors; seven were from official families, three--Hua, Li and Liang--from military families; and three--Xi, Xiao and Cen-- from ruling families of minor nationalities. Most of them had military training. All were famous for their military leadership in addition to their loyalty and filial piety. These women are so outstanding that no one can deny their legacy. On the other hand, it seems that no lower-class women in ancient China could achieve the positions of official commander in the military, when patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal systems were strictly observed. With the exception of the first woman general, Fu Hao, all women commanders have legendary influence in Chinese history. Though an exhaustive list of ancient 126 Chinese women warriors may never be produced because of China's long history, the ideological obstacles caused by Chinese historians' bias, and relevant data-quality problems, this author has more confidence in the coverage of this sub-group-- if only because the task of searching and identifying legendary role models for the indoctrination of women's virtue for future generations has been tried by many Chinese scholars over the centuries. Few influential women could be left without scholarly scrutiny and coverage. These are the most outstanding women warriors, representing thousands of nameless Chinese women soldiers who fought in battles and were silenced by historical dust forever afterward. Women Leaders of Peasants' Uprisings As the first woman leader of peasants' uprising, Lyu Mu & .ft, which means Lyu's Mother(# I 0), took part in military operations for a personal reason: to seek revenge from the county governor who had wrongly executed her son. Lyu lived in the )ate period of Western Han (206 B.C. - 24 AD.) in Rizhao 8 ,!W-, Shandong Province. Her family was very rich, and her son Yu ~ had been an official in charge oflocal public security. He was executed by the county governor for a minor crime. Lyu had no military training but was detennined to avenge his death. She spent four years selling all her family's property and raising a force of several hundred capable young people. She designated herself as the general. In the year 17 AD., Lyu Mu launched an attack on the county and captured the governor. She killed the governor by herself and held a divination to her son with the 127 governor's head. She treated other officials well and her anny did not loot. More peasants joined and the anny's size increased to 10,000. A year later, a larger peasants' uprising called "red eyebrow"#' kl (chi mei) took place in the area (see Chapter V), and her army played an active role. Lyu died of illness soon afterward. Historians regard her uprising as the prelude to the major peasants' uprising at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, an uprising that destroyed that empire in the year 24. Chen Shuozhen 1* .IJi Ji (#11) was the first and only Chinese woman who designated herself as Emperor not Empress after launching a peasants' uprising. Chen Shuozhen (? - 653) Jived during the early Tang Dynasty in Jiande ,l! .ft of Zhejiang Province. As an ordinary fanner, she lacked military training. She and her brother-in- law, Zhang Shu yin -f k J#L mobilized a peasants' uprising anny by declaring that she had ascended to heaven and had become immortal, with a mission of correcting wrongs in the secular society. She designated herself as the "Wen Jia Emperor" :t._ if X ,t and organized her own court. Her army developed into a force with 40,000 to 50,000 people and occupied many counties in western Zhejiang and southern Anhui provinces. Eventually, she and her brother-in-law were captured and executed after a defeat by Tang's official army. Yang Miaozhen ~ :tJ Ji (# 12) lived during the Southern Song period (1 127 _ 1279) in Yidu county _M. ~ of Shandong Province . Her elder brother Yang Aner :fh 4i; JL' was the leader of a famous peasants' rebel force called the "Red Padded Jacket Anny" b: ~ ~ (hong ao jun). Her skilI in riding and using a spear won admiration 128 among the insurgent peasants. In 1214, her brother was killed in battle, and Yang became the leader of the remaining several hundred fighters. Later, she married another rebel peasant leader, Li Quan 4~, and their two armies merged. In 1218, they surrendered to the Song Dynasty. In 1226, after a major defeat while fighting on the side of Song's imperial troops, Li surrendered to the Mongolian army. In 1230, th.is army launched an attack on Song's official army and was defeated. Li was killed, and Yang returned to Shandong. Several years later, she died of illness. In another scholarly work, Yang was described as someone who behaved very much like the ancient Egyptian Queen who married the chief of her foes in order to increase her ovvn political and military power (Liu, 1978). The only ethnic woman rebel leader was Madame Xu -it fz_ A (#13 in Table 6.1) of the She -t"- nationality Xu lived during the early Yuan Dynasty ( 1271 - 1368) in Fujian Province Seven years after the Mongolians conquered China and established the Yuan Dynasty, in 1278, Madame Xu, together with Huang Hua -jt" 1f of Jianning;!. 'T, launched an uprising against a plan to surrender to Mongolians who had already entered Fujian after Pu Shougeng fifi ~£.. , the governor's surrender. Madame Xu's army of the She nationality fought together with Han people who continued the anti-Mongolian struggle under the leadership of a Song general named Zhang Shijie * W- ,~ . Empress Ma ~ _t /6 (1333 - 1382) (#13) was the only female rebel leader who later became an empress when the rebels won national power. She was from Suzhou 1i t}rj of Anhui Province. Her foster father, Guo Zixing .f~ -f ~ , was the leader of a 129 rebel army that operated at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1352, Ma married Zhu Yuanzhang -*" jc.. J.f. , a subordinate of her foster father. Zhu later became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He is also regarded as one of the few self-made outstanding emperors in China's history. Ma had won her husband's as well as others' respect not only by being a personal assistant in Zhu's daily administrative work within the rebel army, but also by providing leadership in logistics such as organizing women to make uniforms, shoes and other military supplies. The official record does not give a full account of Ma's military activities in the rebel army but emphasizes her contribution, as one of the few female politicians in royal families, in dynasty-building. Literary work has given more detail about her experiences as a rebel leader, a subject for which more systematic study needs to be done in the future Two of the seven female rebel leaders, Tang Saier Jg- f. JL (# 15) and Wang Conger 3:. JUt. JL (# 16), used religious activities and symbols to mobilize people. Both Tang and Wang relied on a Buddhist religion called "White Lotus" 'El l! :fl (bai lian jiao ), which was developed in the Ming and Qing, the last two feudal dynasties. This pattern was followed by women warriors in the Boxer J... ;f:'7 00 (yi he tuan) Movement and the Tai Ping Tian Guo :k. -ff;._ 00 Movement, which will be discussed in Chapter VIII . Tang Saier lived in the period of the Ming Dynasty ( 1403 - 1424) in Pu Tai M 1; county of Shandong Province. Influenced by people living around her, she learned and 130 mastered martial arts from a young age. Her husband died in an armed struggle with local officials over grain, and her father soon died from sadness. As a Buddhist, Tang Saier decided to use the White Lotus religion to mobilize people. She designated herself as a "Buddhist Mother" 1~ -ft (fo mu). In 1420, there was a flood in Shandong. On March 24, Tang launched the uprising, and her rebel army of several hundred quickly grew to 20,000. Her rebel troops won several battles but were defeated by Ming's troops within two months. Many of the rebel leaders died, but she managed to escape with the help of peasants. Wang Conger ( 1777 - 1798) lived during the middle of the Qing Dynasty in Xiangfan .$_ ~' Hubei Province. She was an itinerant entertainer, and her husband, Qi Lin fr#, was a master in the White Lotus religion. In 1794, the couple launched an uprising together with several personal disciples and followers of White Lotus. Within days the rebel army had 40,000 to 50,000 people. In 1797, this army entered Sichuan and merged with peasants' insurgent troops there. The new force had three branches labeled as Black, Yellow and White. Wang was selected to be the Commander in Chief for all three branches. In 1798, the army entered Shaanxi Province but was defeated. The retreating troops were trapped in the Sanchahe...::. 5l ~ area ofHubei Province. Wang fought to the end and committed suicide by jumping over a cliff with other leaders. In sum, like the women commanders, all these female rebel leaders showed strong leadership in organizing and commanding armed forces. Most of them were 131 leaders of peasants rebellions . Some of them relied on religion to mobilize their followers . Two rebels fought to build their own or their husbands' empires, one fought out of loyalty to the previous dynasty. Most of them had military training and knowledge but engaged in military operations only for short time periods. Whereas only Hua Mui an among the women commanders was from a lower-class family, most of these rebel leaders came from poor peasants' families . Men close to these women were not of high social status during the time when they engaged in military activities. In contrast with her view of coverage of the group of female commanders, this author is not satisfied with the coverage of the group of women rebel leaders. Not only are biased Chinese historians reluctant to record "wild women" or bandits, but also the quality of available data is affected by the way in which these data have been kept and passed down. Another problem lies in the Communist bias of composers of biographic dictionaries in modem China, who tend in their research and presentation to glorify revolutionary heroines. In short, this group of people demands the highest attention from future students. Women Warriors as Defenders As defenders of their homeland or home city, more ordinary women have been considered as heroines in history books, individual scholarly work, and literature, though women close to men of status and power have more ready access to the record. The most famous of these women defenders was Xun Guan ij iJ (#17), who lived in the Jin 132 Dynasty (265 - 420) in Linying rJ~ ;fYf ofHenan Province. She was a descendant of a famous general in Wei of the Three Kingdoms period; her father was also a general . Thus, we may say that she came from a. military family with at least three generations in the anned forces . From a very young age, she went through military training. As the Grand Defender of Wan Cheng ,e: ~, Xun's father had to allow her a military mission, since his city was surrounded by a rebellious subordinate's troops, and all his sons were scholars without any military skills. Thus, at the age of 13, Xun broke out of the encirclement around midnight, commanding several dozen warriors. \\1hen a relief troop of several thousand soldiers, headed by a friend's son, rushed in to assist the city' s defense, the rebel troops escaped. As the youngest role model of female defenders, Xun's heroic deed has special legendary power compared with those of other less famous women. Another individual heroine whose deed is unique was Yan Gong Ren ~~A (#32). 1 A widow of a rich landlord, she had an estate near a mountain called Yellow Ox 1f 4 J-, (huang niu shan). When bandits attacked the county, the governor, Huang Lie ~ ~ , asked local landlords for allied self -defense. Most defense efforts were overpowered by the attacking enemy, except Yan's. She spent money in building abatises (the enforced fences with trunks and th0ms) and in organizing her fann laborers. Even her maids were asked to participate. Yan herself led the defense by beating a drum. The enemy was defeated by her detennined defense. More neighboring fanners 1 Gong Ren was one of the official title for ladies in the Song dynasty· 133 came to Ye11ow Ox mountain and asked for protection. Before long, her force was developed into five centers with abatises, and all her militia went through military training. She also shared all official supplies and rewards with her militia allies. When the enemy attacked again, these militia supported each other in collective defense. In this way, tens of thousands of people obtained protection. Yan's abatis was called Wan An, which meant ever-lasting peace, and she was designated as Gong Ren Jt.. A.. Her son was designated an official title because of her deeds. This is the only case so far identified by this author in which an ordinary Chinese woman organized a victorious militia institution for self-defense. Given the frequency of warfare and banditry harassment in ancient China, there should have been more. This author does not know whether the commonness or the uniqueness of this type of self- defense accounts for the fact that only one case has been found. More commonly recorded are female defenders of cities. This study has identified nine: 6 women who got involved because their husbands were either in charge of the defense or absent from duty; two because of their sons; and two who were ordinary citizens. The 6 wives were: Liu Shi-- Gou Jinlong's wife j,J ~ ' ~ ~ k, ¾ (#22); Ren Shi, also known as Madame Huan Hua#:~ ' ~,tit ,{l *- A. , (#25); Yang Shi-- Li Kan's wife #, ~ , 1f:: ,f».. ¾ (#26); and Xi Shi-- Zou Baoying's wife ~ ~ , ~~ 1*. * ¾ (#27); Gao Shi--Gu Yuanying's Wife~~ ' i5' it.Ji¾ (#28); and Madame 134 Xu--Xu Xiangyi's wife $-t._4t-t- (#40). All six heroic wives helped their husbands win battles of city defense. Three won honorable titles for their heroic deeds. The two mother defenders were Han Shi-- Zhu Xu's mother .# f\ , '*- ft -Ht (#18), and Meng Shi--Ren Cheng's mother -1. f\ , #: ~-It (#24). Han lived during the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420). She personally investigated her son's city and found that the northwestern corner needed reinforcement, so she commanded several hundred maids and many women within the city to build an oblique wall within the main wall (see the discussion on walls in Chapter V). The result was the so-called "Madame's City" 1'... A.~ in Chinese legend that was referred to by Qin Liangyu together with Princess Ping Yang's Women's Pass in the previous section. The two ordinary women city defenders were Zhao Shi--Sun Daowen's wife ~ f\ ' .:J,1'.i! ~ .:l- (#23), and Yang Shi--Zhang Guohong's wife ih f\ ' * l!1 % -t- (#38). Zhao lived during the Bei Wei Dynasty (386 - 534). In the year 528, her city, An Ping * f, was attacked by nomadic cavalrymen. She rallied women in the city and said to them: "Sooner or later we would die when the city was conquered by the enemy. Let's try to save ourselves, we might not be dying". They built the city day and night and guarded it together with the men. After many days' encirclement, the enemy retreated. Zhao was designated as "Anping County Superior Man"* f .,l ~ (an ping xian jun). Yang was also from An Ping, but she lived during the last period of the Ming Dynasty ( 1611 - I 628), 1, I 00 years after Zhao. In 1627, her city was attacked by 135 bandits. All the citizens of the city were mobilized for its defense. Yang participated with her husband and led in moving stones for the construction of the city walls. After many days of defense, the city ran out of food and relief troops. When the city was eventually captured by the enemy, Yang was found dead by the side of the city wall, with stones still in her hands. Although she died in defense of the city, no honorable title was assigned to her. Four female defenders came from minor nationalities: Shu Lyuping, also known as Empress Dowager Shulyu ~ #-f- ' Jlp ~ #-*.. /€; (#33) was from the "Hui Gu"@J ~ nationality, later assimilated into Mongolia nationality; Sha Lizhi--A Lin's wife ~J X JJi , Jf,,T ~( -t- (#34) and A Luzhen Jf,,T f Ji.., (#35) were from the "Nu Zhen" * J!.. nationality, later assimilated into the Man nationality; and Zhong Jin, better known as San Niang Zi, +J1 ½ , 5t..,t .E. lit f (#37) came from the Mongolian nationality. Six female defenders fought against rebels. Three were married, three were not. The three wives were Shao Shi--Liu Xia's wife a/JI\ ' j•J if! -t- ( # 19); Lu Shi--Zhang Mao's wife ,&r ]\ , * it .t- (#20); and Mao Shi--Fu Deng's wife-bi:\ , # 1£--t- (#2] ). The three girls are: Hou Siniang ~~lit (#29); Tang Sigu A-~ -it (#30); and Wang Emiang J:...::. lit (#31). The three unmarried women lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). They volunteered to join the official army when An Lushan 4c- ~ J., rebe11ed around the year 742. The imperial army lacked adequate manpower at that time because of long-term peace enjoyed by the dynasty to date. After defeating the rebellion, all three women 136 were designated as "Courageous Generals" '*- 4t ~ ~ (guo yi jiang jun). Two other unmarried women took part in one battle not only to fight against the rebel enemy, but also to obtain the dead bodies of their fathers. These women were Shen Yun Ying ~ti..,~ 3t (#36) and Bi Zhu~~ (#39) In contrast to the three girls of the Tang Dynasty who fought several battles in the campaign against rebel leader, An Lushan, Shen and Bi each took part in only one battle. Nevertheless, these two women are cited by more scholars-- probably because of their higher social and economic status and their filial deed in retrieving their fathers' dead bodies. Future students should be aware of such class and ideological bias when handling secondary data. In sum, all 24 women defenders presented here have engaged in military operations for a short period. Most of them participated in only one battle. Some mastered the martial arts, while others did not. Four came from minor nationalities. Some were ordinary citizens who rose in self-defense when group survival was at stake. Their deeds have been recalled repeatedly by scholars whenever the country was in crisis. This group of women represented greater diversity in their social origins, length and frequency of military service, and reasons for participation. More analysis is provided in the following section. 137 Patterns of Women Warriors' Participation in Ancient Military Operations As Table 6.1 indicates, these women fighters emerged during a time span of more than 3,000 years. Three of them (Fu, Hua and Lyu) emerged before the Christian Era, 21 before the year 1000, and 16 during the period between 1000 and 1840. They lived during almost all the major dynasties of China. It may be generally stated that these figures were spread quite evenly over the time continuum. Geographic distribution of these female combatants is shown in Figure 3. All coastal areas had their representatives. Hebei and Shandong had the highest concentration, followed by Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Zhe Jiang, and Siclman. These places are known for their early development of civilization and relatively high levels of agricultural production. Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang are also known for the military tradition of their populace. This fact probably explains why some areas had several women warrior representatives and some had none. Modern provinces, such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan, used to be parts of the adjacent provinces. Generally speaking, it may be concluded that most of the Chinese areas have had their representative women warriors. Most of these women (80%) were from the Han nationality, eight women came from minor nationalities . Many ethnic groups did not have their representatives among the female warriors. This lack may be due to reasons of different languages and different ways of recording history. More research should be done to overcome this problem 138 The social origins of 12 of the women were not recorded . Among the 28 women who had their fathers' name and/or title recorded, nine (32%) were from lower-class families, including farmers, sergeants and ordinary citizens; and 19 (68%) came from upper-and-middle class families . This last group included 8 from tribal chief or king's families . One woman's father was an emperor, one woman was a premier's daughter, and four women were daughters of governors, generals, or Grand Defenders. Among the five middle-class women, two were from military officers' families, one from the family of a civilian official, and two from the families of rich farmers . As a previous section noted, eight out of nine women commanders (89%) came from upper-and-middle class families, while five out of seven rebel leaders (71 % ) were from lower-class families . This sharp contrast between the two groups of female military leaders clearly illustrates the difference between the social classes. Given how history was recorded in ancient China, it is very likely that the l l women whose social origin were not identified came from the lower-class too. Based on this assumption, it may be temporally concluded that half of these women combatants came from the upper and middle classes, while half came from the lower class. As for marital status, five women warriors were unmarried--or at least unmarried when they engaged in military activities. The remaining 35 were married. Two of them were widows. Since a husband's status was also a very influential factor in Chinese patriarchal society, we need to examine this aspect too. No information exists about the husbands of the four married women. Among the 29 known cases, five women were 139 manied to emperors or kings, eleven were married to Grand Defenders or Defenders, and four were married to county chiefs. In ancient China, these 20 women would have enjoyed high social status simply by virtue of their marriage. As for the ten more lowly manied women, two were rich widows, two were married to military officers, two were manied to rebel leaders, and four were married to ordinary citizens. In short, only four of these women warriors married ordinary people. Most of these renowned female fighters were wives of distinguished men, of whom 23 were officials or officers, including five emperors and kings. Most of these female soldiers (68%) underwent military training and mastered the martial arts. Thirteen of the women had no formal military training, but some of them demonstrated a degree of knowledge about military strategy--or at least urban defense. For these women, the shortest duration of military participation was about three days, while the longest one was a lifetime of experience over several decades. As for their positions in military operations, there were designated Commander in Chiefs, who won many military victories, as well as female laborer/defenders, who participated in one battle of hometown defense. Chinese women fought in segregated units, in militia organizations, in large scale campaigns, and in defense of a single farming estate or village. It is worth noting that l 8 women (45%) were designated generals, ladies, or even superior men's title for their remarkable deeds in military operations In addition, two were made royal family members. The social status of almost half of these women 140 waniors was positively affected by their military involvement. Given the generally low social status of Chinese women and the general tendency in orthodox Confucianism not to glorify military heroes, these women stood out not only by having their deeds recorded in historical books, but also by winning their unusual entitlement through military action. All the ancient women warriors identified by this study have been regarded as heroic combatants. Bravery and loyalty were common characteristics of these outstanding women, and all the women commanders demonstrated high levels of leadership and political skills. The leadership skills of these women commonly involved imposing strict discipline, sharing hardships with the soldiers, and using clever tactics . In addition, several factors characterized the patterns of these ancient heroines' participation in military operations: l) There was always a crisis of group survival : either the country or city was under attack from invaders or the rebel side needed to overpower its enemy. Related to this situational factor was an underlying justification of the warfare in which these women were involved. In most of the cases, it was the overarching need to defend the homeland, home city, and people. Sometimes it was the need to suppress rebellion and maintain social stability. In the cases of peasants' uprisings, the justification might be better social order, loyalty to the former dynasty, or correcting human injustice; in addition, the situation was life-threatening. 141 2) There was most likely a key male family member who had military responsibility for group survival but was either absent, dead, or disabled, or in some cases, a male relative who had been involved in the same uprising in which the woman warrior was involved. Hua Mulan disguised herself as a man and joined the army because her father was sick and could not go to war. At the age of 13, Xun Guan broke out of an enemy encirclement to get relief troops, because her father had to remain in command of the defense and her brothers were scholars who lacked martial skills. Princess Ping Yang had to raise an am1y and join her father's uprising so that she and her family would not be executed by the emperor in power. Shen Yunying and Bi Zhu had to launch counterattacks against enemies, not only for the defense of the city and its citizens, but also to retrieve their fathers' dead bodies. As a governor's concubine, Madame Huan Hua had to lead the defense of her city because her husband was away--a situation that was similar to that of other wives or mothers of Defenders or county chiefs. Almost all the female leaders of peasants' uprisings fought shoulder to shoulder with their male family members. Given the general patriarchal structure and feudal culture of ancient Chinese society, it is understandable that strong family ties to male relatives are so prominent in this pattern. The only exception is the case of the two widows of rich farmers' families . One (Lyu's Mother) rebelled to seek vengeance, and the other rose to defend her home estate. For these two women, there is no information on any male family members. However, it is clear that they had independent economic and political power that enabled them to organize and lead their own troops. 142 3) The loyalty and piety of these women soldiers have been emphasized by both history books and literary works. The women showed strong loyalty to their families, to the emperors of their dynasties, and to the causes of insurgent peasants. Such loyalty drew some women to participate in military operations to suppress an uprising, while others took part in rebellions. The particular situation depended upon group identification and loyalty. The nobility of the women went along with their loyalty to the group. Such behavior patterns at least indicate some Chinese expectations of women in critical situations Summary Based on the above analyses, the following points may be summarized 1) In ancient China, when there arose a threat to group survival at the national, clan, or family levels, women warriors participated in military operations, either to defend their homeland, to protect their families or clans, or to seek justice and a better social order and life . 2) The participation was basically in response to a calling of a higher order. In many cases, the motivation for participating was clearly related to patriotism and/or nationalism. It was also closely related to the fundamental need of self defense. War in ancient China meant death, rape, destruction of whole families and/or clans, and the loss of everything. Warfare could approach the door of any individual's home. It is not a case of whether the "nurturer" should be sent away for killing or being killed. It might 143 happen to anybody. When war came to a peaceful homeland, all peace-lovers become fighters. Warriors have been the best peace-keepers in Chinese history. 3) Chinese women warriors' military service was also closely related to their male family relatives. Most of the women warriors fought together with their families and were recognized as family members. 4) Women's involvement in military operations in ancient times could either be a lifelong activity, or could be limited to only one battle of several days duration. These cases have involved militia soldiers fighting together with citizens, troops stationed in military colonies along a border for many years, and service in the regular imperial anny. All these military institutions had female participants. Their participation occurred in cycles, according to the circumstances of the wartime crisis. It expanded to the extreme when everybody became a soldier in defensive warfare and contracted to the opposite extreme when victorious warriors refused promotion and asked to go home during a comparatively prolonged period of peace. 5) At least two gender-segregated annies headed by women (the women's anny of Princess Ping Yang and Qin Liangyu's 1,000-person women's guard unit) have been presented in this study. It was also common for a woman general's guard units to be composed of women soldiers. Occasionally, women were disguised or dressed as men. 6) Individual woman's social status was raised by designation with the wide social approval and respect that recognition of military achievements bestowed. Women have also been inspired by female warriors before their time to participate in military 144 operations Today, all Chinese women know the names of Hua Mulan or Liang Hongyu . The legend of these women warriors has become part of the China's cultural heritage. The presence of women warriors is frequent in the historical picture scroll of China. Given the frequency of warfare and uprisings during China's 5,000- year written history, the issue of whether the 40 women fighters identified in this study could properly represent ancient Chinese women's military involvement remains unresolved . Chinese women not only participated in military operations in various critical situations, but also emerged as outstanding warriors compared both to their contemporaries and to modem men. They have commanded men in battles, fought alongside male family members, and shown enormous bravery and loyalty. Recognized as family members, their institutional roles have overshadowed their personal uniqueness The existence of such legendary figures in Chinese history is a major factor in determining that participation in military operations during crises of group survival has been part of the behavioral norm of Chinese women. 145 Chapter VII Post Opium War China, 1840-1949 The time between the Opium War of 1840 and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 was the most turbulent and critical period in China's history, which was filled with warfare and revolution. This period witnessed five imperialist invasions, after which China was turned into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, as well as three major revolutions, by which the last dynast.y was overthrown and the first provisional government headed by Dr. Sun Zhongshan (called Sun Yah-sen in the West), a western trained medical doctor, was established. The period was also marked by several nationwide civil wars between revolutionaries and feudalistic warlords and between the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP, called KMT or the Nationalist Party in the West). One of these civil wars lasted more than ten years. In addition, China was one of the major battlefields in Asia during World War II and experienced the eight-year Anti-Japanese Invasion War in the same era. No statistics are available about how many people died in war during this period. According to the Simplified Table of Chinese Population in the Past Two Thousand Years (See Appendix V), this period was one of three in China's history when population growth was not only negative but also declined by at least ten million people. This period also witnessed the first surge of the women's movement in China's history. That movement campaigned against footbinding and in favor of women's equal 146 education and suffrage. In the second half of this 100 year period, the women's movement, guided by the CCP, was integrated with the labor movement, which emphasized women's organization, political and military participation, equal share of property in land reform, and the implementation of the Marriage Law in the liberated areas ruled by the Communists. Women guided by the CNP focused more on education ' vocational training, and legislation for women's suffrage and reseived seats in Parliament ' as well as for better conditions for wives and mothers. A clear class line was visible between the two tracks of women's movement, which was guided by the two antagonistic parties. The CCP focused its work on women in the labor force, first in urban and later in rural areas. On the CNP side, the women's movement was led by wealthy and educated women who focused on urban women's general welfare and political participation (Yao, 1983). The description of China in the Post-Opium War period is guided by these three themes: warfare, revolution, and the women's movement. Imperialist Jnvasions At the vanguard of the imperialist invasion were the Christian missionaries, who spread the gospel and penetrated the interior of China where few white person had ever ventured (Kazuko, l 989). Following the missionaries came the gunboats and the foreign suppression and exploitation by imperialists who sought to penetrate China for resource control, territorial acquisition and business profits. There were five imperialist invasion wars: the Opium War between Britain and China from 1840 to 1842; the second Opium 147 War between China on the one hand and Britain, America, Russia and France on the other from 1856 to 1860; the Sino-French War from 1884 to 1885; the 1894 Sino- Japanese War; and the Eight-Nation International Expedition War in 1900-190 I . Although on rare occasions the Chinese military won victories on the battlefield (the Chinese victory in the Sino-French War almost forced the dismissal of the French cabinet headed by Premier Jules Francois Camille Ferry), all the invasion wars in this period ended with humiliating treaties signed by the government of the Qing Dynasty with foreign invaders. These treaties resulted in extensive territorial dismemberment; loss of China's sovereignty to foreign concessions in major coastal cities and ports; and huge indemnities to the imperialist powers. The economic loss caused by these wars and the unequal treaties contributed to China's long-term poverty and backwardness--an historical burden carried through to recent times. From the early gestation stage of national capitalism, Chinese capitalists had to struggle against heavy pressure from foreign industrial powers in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Politically, a very corrupt Qing Dynasty was further weakened by bungled diplomatic dealings and military contests against the imperialist powers--a situation that led to a half-century of internal turmoil and armed conflicts. After the first Opium War, a Westernization movement i+ -¼,:@. #J (yang wu yun dong) was launched by the elite of the Qing Dynasty, which sought to obtain new weaponry and technology from the West. One positive outgrowth of this reform was the emergence of a group of Chinese 148 intellectuals who obtained education in the West and Japan. Leaders of future reform and revolutionary movements arose from this foreign-educated group. After the Sino-French War, there occurred the Hundred-Day Reform in 1898 ' which lasted for 103 days, and collapsed as the result of a coup d'etat. The reformers in this case were following the models of the Meiji Restoration in Japan and Peter the Great's reform in Russia. Their slogan was "enriching the nation and strengthening the military" 'i; I!} 5* -A (fu guo qiang bing). Modern theories and ideas were advocated in this movement, including the theory of evolution and ideas about women's education. Although the young Emperor personally supported this reform, it was eventually crushed by conservatives within the court headed by the Empress Dowager Ci Xi ,i * ± J€; ( ci xi tai hou). The Empress Dowager's own reform was launched after the failure of the Boxer Movement. This last effort of political reform came too late to rescue the collapsing dynasty. The downfall of the Qing Dynasty inaugurated a half century of armed conflict among political powers that continued until the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Psychologically, imperialist gunboats destroyed the self-proclaimed superiority of the Chinese elite. For the first time in China's history, both the leadership and the intellectuals collectively Jost their self confidence, comparing Chinese physical and mental strength with "barbarian" foreigners. For the first time also, Chinese inteJJectuals as a group were willing to ]earn from other civilizations about how to rebuild and 149 strengthen China. China's vulnerability to imperialist penetration was first viewed principally in tenns of the technological proficiency and organizational readiness of Western anned forces (Marwah & Pollack, 1980) and later explained by backward features of Confucianism, and the lack of science, democracy and individualism. These sentiments were reflected in the New Culture Movement ffi>C-f.t;gjJJJ in 19 J 5 and the May Fourth Movement 1£ [!] jg~ (wu si yun dong) in l 919. Anti-Confucianism ' democracy and science were the key words of these most important political and cultural movements of the time. In short, imperialist invasions spearheaded by Christian missionaries and commercial enterprises and escorted by gunboats forced China to jettison its old traditions and value system, and to enter the long-tenn struggle to catch up with the modern countries. The eight-year Anti-Japanese War from 1937 to I 945 postponed the final contest between the CCP and the CNP, and was regarded as part of the continued struggle against foreign imperialist invasions. On September I 8, 193 I, the Japanese imperialists occupied the vast land of northeastern China and forced the dethroned emperor of the Qing Dynasty to head a puppet government. The Chinese Nationalist government headed by Jiang Jieshi ff. fr fi (known as Chiang Kai-Shek in the West) declined to fight against the Japanese invaders and instead continued its efforts to eliminate the Communists who established their own bases and government in Jiangxi and Fujian ' Provinces. Only on December I 2, I 936, when Jiang was kidnapped by two of his own generals, Zhang Xueliang 5-fE ~ l and Yang Hucheng tm JJe .:9ix , did he agree to put 150 more effort into the Anti-Japanese War and fonn a national united front against Japan among all Chinese political parties, including the CCP. The preparation for war against the Japanese invaders proceeded slowly. On July 7, 1937, convinced that the Chinese Nationalist government had no capacity to resist, the Japanese imperialists launched an invasion of the whole country at the place called Lugou Bridge pfigflf in the southwestern suburb ofBeijing. By August 1938, they occupied many major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou (Canton). Jiang's government moved to Chongqing in Sichuan province, and his troops fought conventional battles against the Japanese. The Communists engaged mainly in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese in the rear areas. They were supported by twelve major anti~Japanese bases organized by the CCP. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan on August 8, 1945, and its Red Army entered China's northeastern territory, while America dropped atom bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These events precipitated the end of the protracted Anti~ Japanese war. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally. More than 100 years of imperialist invasions of China from 1840 to 1945 thus finally ended. This prelude to China's modernity was extraordinarily Jong and bloody. Revolutions and Civil Wars Peaks of Revolutions The three revolutionary peaks in China were the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace Movement :::t( JJl-3c fE (tai ping tian guo, ca!Jed Taiping Rebellion in the West) 151 from 1843 to 1864; the United Righteousness Association movement J( ft, ru (yi he tuan, called the Boxer Movement in the West) in 1899-1900; and the Xin Hai Revolution -f ~ $ .. (xin hai ge ming) from 1894 to 1911. Smaller-scale rebellions occurred during the same period, such as the Nian Jun Peasants' Uprising ,it~ in the north, and the Small Sword Society ,J, J) 1t- (xiao dao hui) in Shanghai. A military force of Women called "Red Lanterns Shining" tr. ;tr.~ (hong deng zhao, known as Red Lanterns in the West) was also very active; it engaged i~ military operation as a part of the Boxer Movement in Tianjin.· The Tai ping Rebellion was started by the Ke Jia ~~people (known as Hakka in the West), a subgroup of the Han nationality (see the section of Chinese ethnic groups in Chapter JV). Hong Xiuquan ~ t ~' the supreme rebel leader, acquired a Protestant missionary tract entitled "Good Words to Admonish the Age" when he visited Guangzhou for civil service examinations (which he repeatedly failed). He established a unique religious system by combining his vision with Christianity. He organized a religious association called the Society of God-Worshippers 1-f ....I:. ,t ¾ (bai shang di hui) in 1843 and launched a fervent crusade to convert the infidels. Besides revering Jehovah as the sole and absolute creator, the Society envisioned the "Great Harmony" * p) ( da tong) of Confucianism as its ideal future society. The men and women who joined the Society were brothers and sisters entrusted with the mission of ushering in a Utopia, the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. Every man and woman was obliged to strengthen his or her faith and participate in the battle against the demons. 152 Underlying this religious egalitarianism was the labor-based gender equality of the Ke Jia people, Han immigrants who had migrated from the north and east to the south of China several centuries ago. Ke Jia women cultivated the land and managed the household, while men found employment outside the villages. To be different from the "cultured woman", Ke Jia women never bound their feet. On January 11 , 1851 , Hong led an uprising in Guangxi Province and established his kingdom. The rebels attacked and occupied Nanjing in March 1853 and changed the capital's name to the Heavenly Capital ~ if- (tian jing). The kingdom instituted a new land system~ .:fJl t11 \if "*'1 Ji.. (tian chao tian mu zhi du), which abolished all private ownership, and declared war against all foreign invasions. In May, it launched expeditions northward and westward. Peasant brotherhood societies and troops of the Nian Jun Uprising responded from various regions and fought together with the Taiping army. The Qing dynasty's major camps in southeastern China fell in June 1856. Major setbacks for the rebels followed, when the revolutionary forces were split and factional struggles spread. The rebels not only lost many cities, but their own Heavenly Capital was encircled. Hong promoted new generals and persisted in revolutionary struggles until the second peak occurred in 1860 and the rebels occupied Changzhou and Suzhou. After the second Opium War, invaders from Britain, France, America and Russia supported the Qing government in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion. The rebels fought against the imperialists in attacks on Shanghai, Ninbo and other cities in 1862. Faced with the allied forces of foreign imperialists and the Qing Dynasty's imperial army, the 153 Taiping rebels lost Suzhou in December 1863, Hangzhou in March 1864, and their own capital in July 1864. Their remaining troops continued the rebellion for another two years. The Taiping Rebellion spread to 18 provinces and lasted 14 years. It was the longest and largest peasant revolution in China's history. It has been regarded as the end of the old-style peasants' movement, and the prelude to the democratic movement in China (Xie & Jian, 1981 ). The Boxers were originally called "Boxers United in Righteousness" JI... ;ftt .¥- (yi he quan). This secret association had an origin similar to that of the White Lotus religion "€1 ~ ~ (bai lian jiao) and the Eight Diagrams religion /\. -j~ (ba gua jiao~ eight diagrams are eight combinations of three whole or broken lines fonnerly used in divination) . These secret fraternities were activated in Shandong and Henan provinces after the Sino-Japanese War. Uprisings broke out and were suppressed by the Qing Dynasty in 1896. In 1899, Boxers changed the name of the organization from the United Righteousness Boxer (yi he quan) to the United Righteousness Association JI... ;ftt 0] (yi he tuan) and raised the anti-imperialist slogan "support the Qing, destroy the Foreign" ~ it j1(_ 'if (fu qing mie yang) . Supported by the Qing court now, the movement spread from Shandong and Henan into Hebei and northeast China. The main participants were peasants, craftsmen, and transport workers who had lost their lands and jobs after the inroads made by foreign imperialists. Boxers were most active in the Beijing and Tianjin areas. 154 In order to suppress the Boxers, Japan, Russia, England, France, Germany, the United States, Austria, and Italy joined in the Eight-Nation International Expedition/"' 00 .ff*~ (ba guo Iian jun) and attacked China in August 1900. The Qing court declared war on the foreign powers, and China entered a state of belligerency against the imperialists. Yi He Tuan fought fierce battles against the invaders at Langfang 1"'Jt and Zizhulin f: .ft# in defense of Beijing and Tianjin. Lacking any real weapons or unified organization, and armed only with traditional martial arts, the Boxers' confrontation against the modern Western guns was doomed. The Qing court signed the Boxer Protocol with 1 1 nations in September 1901 and openly sold out the country. With the customs and salt tax revenues as security, 450 million taels of silver in indemnity were assessed. The Qing Dynasty became the "foreigners' dynasty" , and the Boxers changed their slogan from "supporting the Qing, destroy the foreign" into "sweep away the Qing, destroy the foreign" .:13 ffl" SR."* (sao qing mie yang) . The Boxer Movement stopped the momentum of the foreign imperialists' partition of China and cleared the way for the development of Sun Zhongshan's revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Sun Zhongshan established the "China Allied Association " 'f 00 p) .M. ¾ (zhong guo tong meng hui) in Tokyo, Japan, in August 1905. This Chinese bourgeois revolutionary party was based on three patriotic associations of overseas Chinese: "Reviving China Association"-* 'f ¾ (xin zhong hui), "China Revival Association" if: * ¾ (hua xing hui) and " Glorious Revival Association" Jt t_ ¾ (guang fu hui), all 155 named and aimed at vitalizing China. Tong Meng Hui established a political program of "Sweep away foreign invaders, vitalize China, establish the republic, and equalize the right over land" !¼IR~~-' ' '~ i. 'f ~ ' J!: ..11:. "' 00 ' -f- #J ~ « ( qu chu da Ju ' hui fu zhong hua, jian Ji min guo, ping jun di quan). It published a newspaper, established branches in mainland China, contacted overseas Chinese, and established revolutionary anned forces. From 1906 on, it launched nine uprisings in Guangdong and Yunnan provinces. The most famous of these rebellions was the Guangzhou Uprising r #I~ :X... , which featured a major battle at Huanghuagang 1f ~ ~ in April 1911 . All these uprisings failed, but they cleared the path for the national Xin Hai Revolution ,f- ~ $ ~ (xin hai ge ming) with the eruption of the Wuchang Uprising J... ~~JI... on October 1 O, 1911 . Within two months, 14 provinces declared independence from the Qing court, which was dismantled rapidly. Sun Zhongshan came back to China in December and was elected provisional President by the representatives of I 7 provinces. The Provisional Government of the Republic of China 'f ~ "'00 I]~ at~ jf.J- (zhong hua min guo Jin shi zheng fu) was established on January I, 1912. By February 12, the last Qing emperor was dethroned. 1n August, the Tong Meng Hui was changed into the CNP and moved its headquarters from Tokyo to Shanghai and, subsequently, to Nanjing, the new capital of the provisional government. This provisional government was short-lived, however. Sun Zhongshan was forced to resign in April 1912. Yuan Shikai ;t_ -Ht-~ , a powerful warlord who was appointed by the Qing court as the North Ocean Minister ~t. if*.. ti. (bei yang da chen) 156 in 1901 to establish a new anny called the North Ocean anny in Tianjin, usurped the position of the President. Yuan tried to proclaim himself emperor but failed to restore the imperial ruling system. After Yuan's death in 1916, the North Ocean warlords were divided into three systems: Zhi jf_ , Wan t,t, and Feng .... . These warlords engaged in a 17-year-long anned struggles among themselves until Duan Qirui Jl ~ ~ , the head of the Wan system was overthrown in 1926, the zhi system was destroyed by the CNP and the CCP's North Expedition (NE) anny in 1927, and the government of the feng system collapsed in 1928. In sum, all these revolutions were caused by intensified internal class contradictions and external imperialist invasions. With regard to the driving forces that propelled these revolutionary events, scholars have all kinds of explanations. They may be summarized as the influential ideologies imported from Western countries, disillusion with Chinese value systems, universal dissatisfaction with the existing social structure and the impotent government, and a common desire to change China's inferior and shameful status in the world community. All of these factors stimulated strong patriotic zeal. A fundamental concern of group survival--fear that China might be totally subjugated by imperialist powers--underlay all these driving forces. In short, when the intrusion of war into a society is profound and lasts over the course of several decades, and particularly when the state's survival is at stake, all men and women are mobilized to a certain extent and become engaged in activities such as participation in warfare or anned revolutionary struggles. 157 Civil wars The Communist International sent a representative to China in the spring of 1920 to meet with Li Dazhao 4: -* i•J and Chen Duxiu 1';t- 1* t for discussion about founding the Communist party in China. In the summer of that year, the first Communist group was founded in Shanghai by Chen Duxiu. Many Communist groups were subsequently founded in major Chinese cities, as well as among Chinese students in European countries. Based on these Communist groups· and their activities, the first CCP conference was held from July 23 to 31 , marking the founding of the CCP. There were more than 50 members. The CCP focused on the labor movement and organized several major workers ' strikes during the first two years of its existence. During its third national conference on June 12, 1923, the 420-member party made a decision to cooperate with the CNP. The first united front between the CNP and the CCP was formalized during the CNP's first national conference in Guangzhou on January 20, 1924. Civil wars against feudalistic warlords by this united front from 1924 to 1928 and between CNP and CCP forces from 1927 to 193 7 were revolutionary in nature generally and closely related to the land. The struggle against feudalism and dictatorship was a common feature of all these civil wars. The first Eastward Expedition J - i.k ,f- 1Jl ( di yi ci dong zheng), led by the Nationalist Revolutionary Army 00 ~ .f. ~ .f (NRA, guo min ge ming jun) from the winter of 1924 to March 1925, and the three -year Northern Expeditionary War .:ft~ 158 6~ .;- (bei fa zhan zheng) led by both the CNP and the CCP were successful in destroying the forces of the landed warlords, who functioned collectively as the main feudalistic forces in China after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. From April 12 to July 15, 192 7, the CNP launched several attacks and massacres against the Communists in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changsha and Wuhan. Jiang Jieshi and Wang Jingwei if. ft Jr thus ended the first effort at cooperation between the CCP and the CNP that Sun Zhongshan had forged . These attacks inaugurated the ten-year civil war between the CNP and the CCP. On August 1, 1927, through an abortive armed uprising in Nanchang, the CCP managed to fire the first gunshot back against the CNP. On September 9 of the same year, Mao Zedong -bit,~ (known as Mao tsetong in the West) led the Autumn Harvest peasants' uprising :fk. i!t ~ Jz. (qiu shou qi yi) and formed the first revolutionary army of workers and peasants. Toward the end of the year, there was another armed uprising Jed by the CCP in Guangzhou. The Red Anny was formed on the basis of these three armed uprisings led by the CCP. Mao led this army to the Jinggangshan area of Jiangxi province and established revolutionary bases and a Soviet government there. From December J 930 to October 1934, Jiang Jieshi launched five encirclements against the Jiangxi revolutionary bases. The forces in the first encirclement number~d 100,000; by the time of the fifth encirclement, they numbered one million. The Red Army won four times under Mao's leadership but failed in the last encirclement under the leadership of Wang Ming .I. E!JJ , who tried to replace Mao's strategies and tactics with 159 those of a "regular anny." In the end, the Red Anny was forced to take the Long March iE. ~ (chang zheng) to break away from the encirclement in August 1934. This famous Long March lasted about one year, crossed 11 provinces and covered more than 25,000 li (8,400 miles). It finally ended at Yanan~* in Shaanxi province in October 1935. This strategic diversion has been regarded as vital to the survival and development of the Red Anny, which had Jess than 20,000 troops left when it arrived in Yanan. In August 1937, the Red Army was renamed the Eighth Route Anny ,1\.1$- 4 . This period marked the second instance of cooperation between the CCP and the CNP. It occurred after the kidnapping ofJiang Jieshi in Xian in 1936. Red Anny Guerrilla troops in the eight eastern and southern provinces were organized as the new Fourth Army firm~ (xin si jun) of the NRA under the same coalition between the CCP and the CNP. In the winter of 1945, during the third civil-war period between the CCP and the CNP, these Communist troops were renamed the People's Liberation Anny A. p\ *f.-*. 4 (ren minjie fang jun). From September 1948 to January 1949, the PLA launched three major campaigns, defeated 1.54 million NRA's main troops, and liberated northeastern and central China. On April 20, 1949, the PLA _launched the Cross River campaign; Nanjing, the capital of the CNP's government, was liberated on April 23 . The CNP•s government was forced to escape to Taiwan. This campaign also included the liberation of the three cities in Wuhan area on May 16 and 1 7, afld of Shanghai on May 160 ., 27; the total casualty count on the CNP side from these battles was more than 430,000. On October l , 1949, when the PLA was stilling fighting in the south and southwest areas of China against the CNP's NRA troops, Mao declared the founding of the PRC in Beijing. It was officially recorded that from July 1946, when the CNP launched the attack on all the CCP's territory, until June 1950, a total of 8.07 million CNP troops were defeated (Handbook of Grassroots Political Work, 1981 ). This civil war was the largest in China's contemporary history. Military Technology and Institutions The level of military technology of the various armed forces in China in this historical period is hard to describe. All kinds of weapons were used by soldiers of feudal landlords, revolutionary armies, and regular troops. The weapons ranged from primitive swords and spears to modern cannons and guns. Compared with the weaponry of ancient imperial armies and militiamen, the Chinese armed forces of the post-Opium- War period benefited from some modern weapons with much higher accuracy and killing power. Compared with military establishments in the West, the level of military technology and institutions in China was very low. Descendants of the innovator of gunpowder did not pay enough attention to the development of modern weaponry at a time when Western armies were entering modern times with airplanes, tanks, submarines and self-propelled heavy artillery. For example, by 1918, the French air force had )6) already deployed 260 squadrons with 3,300 airplanes on the western front. The British air force numbered 300,000 men. Battles at Soissons and Amiens in 1918 were already called tank war, with the utilization of hundreds of tanks. All major Western armies relied heavily on mechanized transportation in World War I. Against this standard, the level of Chinese military technology in the same period was primitive. The Chinese had acute shortages of modem infantry weapons, no experience with massed artillery before 1948, and no indigenous production capacity for tanks and other types of mechanized transportation. The PLA possessed no tanks before 1946 and had only 622 obsolete captured tanks by June 1950. The formally organized Air Force of the PLA had only g6 old, serviceable airplanes by January 1950. When the PLA's navy was created in April 1949, there were only 200 to 300 small gunboats and wooden sailing junks and a few cruisers, destroyers, and submarines (Adelman, 1980). In sum, in a sharp contrast with the modem weaponry enjoyed by major Western countries, Chinese warfare in this time period was mainly fought by walking infantrymen anned with rifles. That is why Mao proudly stated that foreigners ' airplanes and tanks were eventuaHy defeated by Chinese people's millet plus rifles. Chinese military institutions in this period displayed greater variety and experienced tremendous changes in this period. As early as the last two decades of the 19th century, the Qing government started to send, officials and students abroad to learn Western military strategy and technology. These people not only brought back knowledge of advanced weaponry, Western strategies and tactics, but also methods of 162 f organizing the army. Military academies and schools following the Western model were set up from the 1920s. The Huangpu Military Academy -l iifl ~ ti (known as Whampoa Military Academy in the West) was established in Guangzhou in May 1924; both its faculty and its student body were composed of veteran members of the CNP and the CCP. This institution has been regarded as the Chinese West Point, although Sun Zhongshan also invited military commissars from the Soviet Union to train Chinese officers in the revolutionary armies. These Soviet advisers helped the CNP and CCP to establish a political officer structure--first within the allied NRA and later, separately. Military commanders of both the CCP's and the CNP's troops were trained in either German or Japanese military traditions. Until the liberation war in the late 1940s, however, neither army possessed an adequate production base or enough skilled commanders to direct the production and use of modern weaponry. The modernization of the military institutions of both sides was a slow process from the very beginning. As for the level of regularization, that of the NRA was much higher. The Communist's troops for the most part of the period were organized more as an army suitable for guerrilla warfare. In short, this time period saw Chinese military institutio~s in various forms, ranging from feudal imperialist armies, insurgent peasant troops, warlords' mercenary units, and revolutionary armies to quasi-modern regular troops. Chinese military women should be observed in this context as foot soldiers with simple modern firearms . 163 -Women's Status and Movement Women's Suffering This period is also regarded as one of the peaks of women's suffering in China's long history. The excessive suppression of Chinese women was symbolized by the increasingly widespread practice of footbinding and prevalent prostitution during the Qing Dynasty. Footbinding began during the Five Dynasties period (907-960), when some female palace dancer-concubines -Jt it (wu ji), whose profession in life was to please and entertain their male owners, were presented with bound feet for esthetic refinement. These had an erotic appeal to men, who developed a sexual fetish for abnormally small feet. This elite court practice gradually spread throughout China , particularly among families that least needed women's labor for agricultural work. In many areas, footbinding was considered a requirement for any proper marriage. Families of poorer classes had to follow suit in order to retain the option of marrying their daughters decently in the future. Only girls destined for the life of a slave or indentured servant might escape the painful, maiming custom. In addition to its erotic or even sadomasochistic function for men, footbinding has been regarded as a means of controlling women by physically restricting their freedom of movement and further solidifying their dependent position vis-a-vis men and the family (Snow, 1967; Johnson, 1983). Footbinding shackled generations of women in central, northern and northeastern China but never became a wide spread practice in the south since southern women had to 164 r ii work in the rice fields. A footbound woman would never allow anybody to see her bare feet unbound; thus, the practice was very impractical for people in the southern or coastal areas. Many ethnic groups also did not follow the custom offootbinding. When the Man first conquered China in 1656, the first Man Emperor abolished footbinding because Man women did not bind their feet. Ironically, this law was enforced only for seven years. In the course of their assimilation into Chinese society, Man women imitated the aristocratic Han women's practice offootbinding. Footbinding became the symbol of a cultured woman with higher status. Eventually, the custom of mass mutilation became so prevalent that 18 styles offootbinding were derived from five basic patterns (Yao, 1983). The imitators became more strict in following Confucius' indoctrination of women's virtue. This fact partially explained why the Man people's last Qing Dynasty ushered in the second peak period of Chinese traditional feudalism. It was enforced by the phenomena of women's chastity and total submission to men, as well as men's indulgence in prostitution. The city of Nanjing was the capital of prostitutes prior to the Taiping Rebellion in 1849. In short, prior to the revolution and reform around the year l 894, Chinese women were extremely suppressed and saw no sign of any possible improvement in their lives. Natural! the women's liberation movement started with a rejection of y, footbinding . There was a short-tenn prohibition against footbinding during the time of 165 the Taiping Movement, when big-footed Ke Jia female fighters of Taiping had to enforce the law by inspecting the feet of Nanjing women one by one every evening. Women who had not removed their bindings were punished, with punishments ranging from the light penalty of flogging to the more severe one of cutting off the feet (Bao, 1979; Yao, 1983). This practic~ was followed by educated Chinese revolutionaries of the early 20th century, when men cut their long hair in braids1 to symbolize their total break from the feudal Qing Dynasty and at the same time encouraged their female relatives to resist the tremendous social pressure to bind their feet. Rejection of men's long hair and women's bound feet were the most symbolic events in the 1911 Revolution. The practice of footbinding finally moved toward an end in the late 1920s. In the early 1930s, Communist women workers had to teach footbound women of poor families in the eastern and southeastern parts of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces how to do fann work. Foreign visitors observed female children's feet still being put into bandages even in the revolutionary base of Yanan in 1937 (Snow, 1967). The author's mother has a pair of "liberated feet" that are disproportionally small and distorted. Born into a fanner's family in the countryside of Hebei in 1922, she cried and protested fiercely whenever her mother and elder sister tried to tighten up the bindings over her feet. Fortunately, the older women of her family were convinced that footbinding was no longer required for determining who was a good woman, and they stopped the binding before it was too late. Still, she had to wear small shoes throughout her childhood in 1 People in ancient China believed that hair was P:3rt of_the_body give~ by parents and should never be cut. Men during the Qing dynasty wore long hair m braids instead of m buns. 166 order to be judged a better commodity for her future arranged marriage. Her toes were all broken and the distorted feet caused extra hardship during her military life, since walking was the only mode of transportation for most Communist fighters. Women's Education Chinese women's desperate need for education was first recognized by Western missionaries, who established outreach programs to them (Yao, 1983). Mary Ann Aldersey Ningho established the first women's school in China in 1844 (Kazuko, I 989). By I 902, more than 4,000 women had studied in missionary schools for women. Female scholars scored highest in examinations, with titles such as "Female Number One Scholar" * 4k. jf_. (nyu zhuan yuan), "Female Number Two Scholar" *#-HR (nyu Bang Yan) and "Female Number Three Scholar" *-if.)t (nyu tan hua), and served in the Taiping Kingdom as women officials. A case in point was Fu Shanxiang ~¼ "iff (Bao, 1979; Hua Xia Dictionary, 1988; Liu, 1989). On one occasion, the rebels needed female accountants to work as officials in "women halls" and decided to hold an examination among women in Nanjing (Chen, 1979). This fact has been recorded by Qing scholars, and it has been used to highlight some of the uniqueness of women policies of that peasant revolution. Among the scholars sent abroad by the reformers of the Qing Dynasty, there were also women students. Some entered the Girls' Practical School in Kojimachi, Tokyo in 1901 (Kazuko, 1989); Kang Tongbi ,t 1G) ¾ went to India, and Jin Yamei ~ ~#went to America (Hua Xia Dictionary, 1988). Women teachers' formal education 167 was integrated into the Division of Educational Affairs in 1906 by the Qing court (Li & Zhang, 1975). Advocacy of women's education was begun on a larger scale by educated revolutionaries of the 1911 revolution. The first statistics released by the Ministry of Education in 1916 reflected the enormous increase in the number of young female students during the first five years of the new Republic. They show that from 1912 to 1916, an average of 135,000 girls enrolled in schools (Chen, 1977). Given the 200 million women population in China at the time, this was a small step forward in women's education. By 1949, girls' school enrollment represented only 20% of the population; 90% of Chinese women were still illiterate (Statistics on Chinese Women, 1991). In sum, on the eve of the 1911 revolution, everybody was supportive of women's education: the Christian missionaries, the Qing court, reformers, and revolutionaries, all for different reasons (Qi, 1975). Some educated women formed the backbone of the women's movement as well as of the revolutions. The general educational level of ' Chinese women remained low until the end of this period, however. Women's Movement To study the origins, theories and patterns of the Chinese women's movement is not the goal of this research. Nevertheless, women's military participation in this time period could not be observed and analyzed properly without a basic understanding of the women's movement as a whole. I outline in this section the Chinese women's movement in the post-Opium-War period and focus on major themes and collective activities. 168 During the five imperialist invasion wars, many women fulfilled traditional expectations by participating in homeland defense against the invaders, as well as providing wide-ranging logistical support to the resistance. Heroic female defenders will be presented in the following chapter. Women in occupied areas suffered rape and massacre. Many women committed suicide before the imperialist attackers' approach in order to avoid humiliation. When the eight-nation expedition army occupied Beijing, the situation became worse. Even the female members of the extensive royal families could not avoid violence. For example, all female members of Chun Qi'*"!½ , the noble family of Qing, were driven to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and raped as a group by the imperialists. The foreign Allied Armies set up a place in the Biaobei Lane ~ 1:f #J Pl of Beijing for "official prostitution. 11 Female bodies were found all over the city, where they sometimes lay for days without recognition by family members (Liu, 1989). Chinese women knew too well how war could affect their lives. This knowledge explained partially why so many Chinese women participated in and risked their lives in the anti-imperialist struggles. Large-scale women's participation in the Taiping Rebellion has been regarded as the first women's movement in China's history. As the previous section noted, for the first time in China's feudal history, the political program of the peasants' revolution reflected gender equality. Men and women were not only brothers and sisters~ they were also colleagues and comrades-in-arms. On the other hand, gender segregation was 169 strictly observed in the revolutionary anny. Even married couples could not sleep .together. Gender segregation in war time had been observed as a positive thing, not only for disciplinary reasons, but also for the protection of women (Liu, 1989). Nevertheless , an attempt to extend this segregation policy to everybody in the occupied cities by imposing a collective life in men's and women's halls was doomed to failure . Even after the execution of Chen Zongyang ~ ~ ih , a high-ranking official, and his wife for their "crime" of sleeping together, and after repeated promises of reunion after the victory of the Heavenly Kingdom, the gender-segregation policy could not be implemented and was stopped in I 854. The gender-segregation policy has been regarded by modern scholars as another characteristic of the Taiping RebeUion. In order to administer women within the revolutio?ary force and occupied areas during the Taiping Rebellion, many women were named as officials in the rebellion. One statistic stated that there were 6,584 female officials in the Heavenly Kingdom--a number similar to that of male officials (Wang, 1975). This was the largest cohort of female officials in Chinese feudal history. These female officials were categorized into three groups: "court internal" .:fJI Pi (chao nei), officials who served in the headquarters of the Heavenly King (rebel leader) and in other kings' mansions; "anny internal"~ tf:1 (jun zhong), officials who were in charge of the female battalions and women's halls; and · "function similar" ~ ~ (zhi tong), officials who were in charge of logistical duties such as the manufacture of uniforms. The Taiping Kingdom also undertook some maniage refonns by allowing people to select their spouses without arrangement by their parents. 170 In short, based on peasants' egalitarianism, women enjoyed a certain degree of freedom and equality in this revolution but also suffered from gender differentiation. All rebel leaders practiced polygamy; they assigned themselves many wives after entering the • . 2 c1t1es. Some of them even asked the women scholars who scored highest during the only sen,ice examination open to them to "serve in bedroom." This practice Jed many parents to prevent their daughters from talcing the examinations. Modem scholars agree that progress was made in women's liberation during this largest peasants' movement, but the issues of women's equality and independence had never been seriously theorized and implemented by the rebel leaders (Liu, 1989; Yao, 1983; Kazuko, 1989; Li & Zhang, 1975). The women's movement during the Xin Hai revolution (1911 revolution) was led by a small but energetic group of educated women. From the very beginning, Sun Zhongshan declared that women, as equal citizens, should participate in governmental and political affairs. He and his fellow revolutionaries advocated women's equality and liberation. There were 59 women members of Sun's Allied Association (Tong Meng Hui), 16 of whom were studying in Japan. In addition to promoting the end of footbinding (discussed in the previous section), these educated women revolutionaries engaged mainly in propaganda, education, fund-raising, management and maintenance of revolutionary secret sites, liaison work, and reconnaissance. They also participated 2. Hong Xiuquan had 36 women in the early stage of the re~llion. Later, he r~it~ a dozen concubines in Wuchang. In rus palace at the Heavenly Capital, there were 68 impenaJ concubines and 300 palace maids, all of whom were strangled to death.when Zeng Gu~fan f l!l .f.entered the palace after defeating the rebellion. "About 2,000 female bodies were found m the channel surrounding the forbidden city" (Yang, .1975). ]71 directly in military operations and in the manufacture and transportation of bombs and weaponry, as the following chapter will discuss (Lin, 1975). The propaganda work was mainly done through the publication of magazines and newspapers. The earliest revolutionary publication put out by women was a monthly called Women's Newspaper *.ffl.. (nu bao), which was started by Chen Xiefen '* ~ ~ in 1902. Feminism, abolition of footbinding, women's education, the development of the women's movement in other countries, and racial liberation were advocated by this publication, which ceased after several issues because the publisher had to escape to Japan to avoid arrest. This was followed by many short-lived women's publications. The earliest women's revolutionary school was the Patriotic Women School ' founded by Cai Yuanpei '- ;{. J.g- and others in Shanghai. Limited at first to the founders' female relatives, it was opened to public enrollment in 1902. In addition to regular courses, the school taught the history of the French revolution, the history of Russian nihilism and the manufacture of bombs. This school later became a regular ' middle school. Qiu Jin ;fk. 'il. taught at various schools when she returned China from Japan in 1905. She founded a women's school called Bright-Path Girl School l1J] .it -k *(ming dao nu xue) at Shaoxing in l906. Its students included Yin Ruizhi-,. ~ ,t and Yin Weijun j1" tfi. ~' the heroic sisters of the 1911 revolution. In the first half of 1907, Qiu became the principal ofDa Tong School ::k. ii !Yf f>(da tong xue tang), which was in realit t . . b fc h volutionary anny. Several women's schools in Y a ra.mmg ase or er re 172 Guangdong and Hong Kong functioned similarly as cradles for women revolutionaries. Some of them served also as the secret sites for uprisings. Women fund-raisers did an excellent job of financing the revolution in 1911. Most of the fund-raisers themselves were female members of wealthy families or rich widows in eastern and southern China, particularly Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. Qiu Jin even visited her estranged husband's family in a man's suit and demanded a large amount of money for the revolution. In order to avoid "losing face in the community", two of her sisters-in-law mediated with the father-in-law and gave her several thousand taels of silver. After the 1911 revolution, associations that specialized in revolutionary fund raising in public replaced the individual fund-raisers. These associations spread to all major cities on the eastern coast of China. The most famous one was the Shanghai Women Circle Support Association J:. ~ * !f.. M· f' ¾ ( shanghai nu jie xie zang hui). Many female members cooperated with newspapers and schools in their fund-raising efforts for soldiers' pay and provisions for the Nationalist Revolutionary Anny. The most common job for female activists in the 1911 revolution period was housekeeping at the secret sites in Japan and China. These women made hundreds of revolutionary banners and arm bands for the revolutionaries. Other housekeeping jobs included book-keeping, secretarial work and cooking. Women were also particularly adept at liaison and secret communications work. Their creativity and courage made discovery of such activities by the Qing government almost an impossible task. Even · 173 some prostitutes in Shanghai organized themselves to seek training on how to conduct reconnaissance for the revolution. Uprisings and assassinations were the two major strategies of the J 91 I revolution. Women's participation in these activities will be discussed in Chapter VIII. Women's participation in the 1911 revolution and the Northern Expedition War (which will be detailed in the following chapter) ushered in the first peak of the Chinese Women's movement in the late I 920s. Like "bamboo shoots after a shower" (Li and Zhang, I 975), thousands of women's organization emerged aU over the country during and after the Northern Expedition War when the revolutionary forces were fighting the feudal warlords in a final contest. This situation was also a direct result of the first coalition between the CNP and the CCP. Female members of both parties jointly organized numerous women's conferences and associations. Together they fought against the warlords, celebrated the International Labor Women's Day on March 8, went to factories and to the countryside to agitate women, and published women's journals (All China Women's Federation, 1989). During the Northern Expedition War period, Hunan and Hubei, where rural Women suffered the most, became the centers of peasants' movements. Not only were the practices of female infanticide and the sale of child-brides prevalent, but also the adult women lacked basic rights and safety. A common practice in the area was ca11ed "being sunk in pond" ,JL if. (chen tan); a woman accused of adultery would be drowned upst · · · h ·11 tone tied to her neck and her hands and feet bound ream m a nver wit a nu s · 174 Rural women did all the work in the field and at home, and a lot of them did not even have a name. 1t is no wonder that these rural women became the most active participants in the anti-feudal revolution. They were organized and acted in groups. They would break the old temples of kinship, destroy the gambling and opium dens enjoyed so much by the wealthy men and put high paper hats on bad clan chiefs and mothers-in-law who had maltreated their child daughters-in-law or other women and force them to parade in the streets. In the spring of 1927, a woman named Shao Zhenwei ®~.;.#ti. was elected to be the county governor of Liuyang county ii']Ffl in Hunan (All China Women's Federation, 1989). These women were also very instrumental in the campaign against footbinding . For example, after the celebration of International Labor Women's Day on March 8, 1927, 100,000 women paraded to the CNP's headquarters in Wuhan and asked for a strict order to all officials to stop the footbinding . A similar resolution was passed on the same day by the provincial women's conference of Hubei, and its political affairs committee passed a regulation on March 23 that forbade footbinding . Similar movement broke out in Jiangxi provi~ce when the National Revolutionary Anny arrived there in early 1927. The sale of women and child-brides and the practice of female infanticide, footbinding, ear piercing, mercenary marriage and betrothal gifts were forbidden by the first provincial peasant conference held in Jiangxi in February of the same year. Re- married women and illegitimate children were to be protected from maltreatment, 115 members of the peasants' association couJd not beat their wives, and women received the right to inherit family property and the right to the land. In November 1931, the new Law of Land of the Chinese Soviet RepubJic's revolutionary base in Jiangxi stipulated that women had equal rights to land distribution. For the first time, women's names appeared on certificates ofJand. In the eastern Fujian revolutionary base, women of the She nationality were given better rice Jand than the Han women (AJI China Women's Federation, l 989). BadJy needed women cadres were trained rapidly in women's literacy classes, night schools, and half-day schooJs. Many women's organizations required their members to learn three words per day and 270 new words in three months. Footbound women were taught how to farm in their newJy alJocated fields . Thus, the rural women's movement in revolutionary bases run by the CCP was cJosely related to the issues ofJand reform and women's education. A naturaJ focal point of this movement was the issue of free maniage. Mao had personally changed the sJogan of "forbidding mercenary maniage and betrothal gifts" into a simpJe sentence of "one does not buy his wife" (AJI China Women's Federation, 1989). A relevant issue was the termination of the practice of chiJd daughters-in-Jaw, in which girls as young as five and six were soJd to future husbands' families to work as cheap laborers in the field and slaves at home. A surge of women seeking divorce c~used fear and dissatisfaction among the peasants, including many Red Army soldiers. The Regulations on Maniage in the Chinese Soviet Republic were issued in November 176 1931, with seven chapters and 23 articles. After two years of practice, the Law of Marriage of the Chinese Soviet Republic was issued on April 8, 1934. Fundamental aspects of these marriage regulations and laws involved the establishment of the principles of free marriage and monogamy, stress on protection of women on the issue of divorce, and a requirement of consensus in divorce cases if the husband was a Red Army soldier. 3 The implementation of the law had to be verified regularly and particularly during the labor women's holiday period. At almost the same time, starting May 5, 1931 , the Marriage Law was implemented in the Republic of China. This Jaw was criticized for never having been made known to labor women, and some of its articles protected men in their practice of polygamy (All China Women's Federation, 1989). There was also a sharp contrast between the areas governed by the CNP and the CC.P with regard to the degree and scale of women's participation in government and political affairs. The Chinese feminist movement started as early as the beginning of the century. At first, women's issues emphasized by the movement included: 1) abolition of wealthy women 's bad habits such as their daily extensive personal grooming, gossiping, and gambling as well as their feudalistic ideas; 2) the encouragement of women's participation in volunteer work outside the sphere of family life; 3) awareness of women's potential, including their physical strength and capabilities; 4) the 3 In order to consider interests of both genders and mai~tain male Red ~y ~ldiers in high morale, the new law regulated that unless no letter from the soldi~r had been received m two years where mail service was available, and in four years where it was lacking, no woman could file divorce by herself. 177 encouragement of women to seek mental independence; 5) women's role in child~rearing; 6) and the encouragement ofwomen to study abroad (Yao, 1983). A few women were radical advocates of the suffrage movement. Tang Qunying Ji- If ~ from Hunan, Lin Zongxue #- ~ 't from Fujian, and Shen Peizhen ,'!r..1¥. j'j from Guangdong were the three earliest and most famous suffragists in China (Yang, 1975). Lin and her associates harassed Song Jiaoren *-.ti.{:::. for suffragettism on the day of Sun Zhongshan's inauguration as the provisional president of the Republic of China. On another occasion, Tang slapped Song during an argument for the suffragist cause during a CNP conference in Beijing. Tang was also reported as running into the Senate during a meeting in 1912, breaking window panels and kicking the guards who tried to stop her. Shen was reported to have slapped a comrade in the CNP, as weJJ as a returned student from America, during an argument about the same issue in a hotel in Tianjin. These violent scenes presented such a sharp contrast to women's image in traditional China that even revolutionaries found them difficult to accept (Qi, ] 975). Yuan Shikai's conspiracy for imperial restoration during 1913 evoked a momentary revival of women's military action and led to the May Fourth Movement on May 4, 1919, when female emancipation was acknowledged by more women. The May Fourth Movement was an intellectual, cultural, social, and political crusade that offered the Chinese women's movement another chance to enhance women's legal status. By that time, the social expectations of women had been swiftly transformed from such traditional thoughts as "a woman's ignorance is a virtue" *-t 1L ;t ~J(_,tt and "three 178 obedience and four virtues" ;. J.).. tm .ft to the modern idea of women as "faithful wife and good mother" 1M" ¾ tl -It . At the first CNP Congress, in 1924, women's equality was interpreted more specifically in the legal, economic, educational, and social arenas. Implementation of the proclamation of equality involved two dimensions: legal and administrative. The policy was outlined at the Second CNP Congress in 1926. Almost at the same time that the proclamation was legalized in the CCP's liberated area, in November 1929, the Central Executive Committee declared that forced or purchased marriages, infanticide ' concubinage, prostitution, footbinding, and ear piercing should be gradually abolished. Once again, the traits and virtues of motherhood and good housekeeping were stressed. This philosophy has guided the CNP's policy on women's issues up to the present day (Yao, 1983). In May I 930, three women's groups in Nanjing held a meeting to determine the number of female representatives to the Congress. After negotiations with the CNP, ten regular and 17 observer seats were designated for women at the Congress; this figure constituted one percent of the total seats in the Congress. The women's movement started to gain momentum in the CCP's liberated areas at the same time. A Resolution on the Women's Movement was adopted by the CCP's sixth national conference in June 1928. " Concrete requirements are re~1ated to protect women'~ interests in rural areas, such as the right to inherit, the nght to land, th~ fight ag~mst polygamy and child daughters-in-law, the fight against forc_ed mamage, the nght to divorce, the fight against sale of women, and the protect10n of female farm hands' labor" (All China Women's Federation, 1989). 179 l '/ On the other hand, "the slogan for women's work should be consistent with the slogan for peasants as a whole, and win their sympathy" (All China Women's Federation 1989). A system of conferences of women representatives was set up in the liberated areas. In model areas, these conference met every ten days fir discussions of all is$ues in the area. Large numbers of women cadres were trained. By September 1933, a campaign to increase the percentage of women representatives to 25% was launched. Sometimes female representatives constituted a majority of the Soviet government. For example, more than 30 women became Soviet chairpersons in Xingguo ~ 00, Jiangxi Province. Forty three out of the 75 representatives (60%) from Shangcaixi village J:. ;!-~ of Shanghang J:At, Fujian Province were women, as were 59 out of the total of91 (66%) from Xiacaixi r;;f~. Thirteen women became members of the Central Committee of the Second National Congress of the Central Soviet Republic in 1934. Women constituted one-fourth of the cadres in Soviet governments in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. Some women became provincial governors or ministers (All China Women's Federation, 1989). Women's participation in government and political affairs occurred on a larger scale and at a deeper level in the CCP's liberated areas. On the other hand, the women's movement faced problems similar to those in the CNP's territory: in both areas, it was unable to shed the deeply-rooted ideas of sexism and feudalistic conservatism. Female cadres were assigned mainly to work with peasant women and to focus on family affairs. ]80 ' Some of the women's sections were called maniage departments and were overwhelmed with marriage and divorce issues (Yao, 1983; All China Women's Federation, 1989). Most peasant women, especially the elderly, suspected and feared strangers who advocated unheard of ideas, and they disapproved of "liberated" women who had short hair and big feet. Maniage, children, and relationships with in-laws meant more to rural Women than to their urban sisters. Thus, the price of emancipation for peasant women was much higher. In sum, the women's movement under the CNP focused more on women's education and suffrage; modernity and legislation were the major themes. The women's movement was deeply demoralized after the split between the CNP and the CCP, and only groups of educated women continued the participation. In the CCP's revolutionary bases, rural women were more mobilized by the new laws and regulations. Their level of participation was of broader scale and deeper, and was spearheaded by those young rural Women who suffered the most. Many learned basic reading and farming skills through women's organizations. Many became cadres as well as Soviet officials. Footbinding was finally terminated nationwide in the 1930s, and new marriage laws were adopted in both the CNP and CCP territories. Nevertheless, the historical inertia was strong, and resistance from feudalism was deep-rooted. Women were rare in high-ranking positions and most of them stilJ suffered from inequality in maniage and the family, unequal income, and inferior political and social status. Emancipation was high-priced, and the revolutionaries stiJJ had a Jong way to go. 181 ' Summary This century-Jong transitional period was characterized by penetration of China by foreign imperialist powers with advanced technology and weaponry; internal turmoil caused by class struggles, and revolutionary agitation inspired by western modern ideologies. A 2,000-year-old Oriental feudal society with its unique norms and value system was finalJy chalJenged and defeated by modern Western science, democracy, imperialism and individualism. The conflict was a deep-rooted life-and-death struggle. The anomie was protracted and nationwide. Women were awakened by imperialist gunboats and by education at the hands of Christian missionaries, reformers, and revolutionaries. Women were active participants in the wars, revolutions, and reforms and movements that occurred during this Jong time span. At the very least, they won back their natural feet and stopped the 1,000-year-old practice of mass mutilation. Their rights to education, to free marriage and divorce, to inherit property, and to land were legitimized by laws and regulations, although a longer time was required to transform these rights into practice. Similar was the situation with regard to their social status. The designated seats in Parliament could not guarantee equal opportunity for women in suffrage. Women have had to fight constantly for their freedom, independence and equality since the ending of matrilineal society. 182 Chapter VIII Women Fighters in Post Opium War Period, 1840-1949 Within the context described in the previous chapter, hundreds and thousands of ordinary Chinese participated in the nationwide wars, regional anned struggles, and local guenilla warfare during the Post Opium War period. Chinese women's military participation in this time span was the largest and the longest, compared to other historical periods. Due to the methodological reasons discussed in Chapter III, the description of women's involvement in Chinese military operations in this period is different from the previous one. It is impossible to focus on individual participants, since there were so many of them. On the other hand, quantitative analysis of veteran women fighters' biographical data is not likely to be productive, due to the problem of quality control and the time limit of this research. Finally, due to personal and family background reasons, this author has been unable to visit Taiwan for data collection. This makes the quantitative study of veteran women fighters' biographical data more unrealistic, since information on women military personnel on the side of the CNP is limited and incomplete. Because of these reasons, for the purpose of this study, the descriptive presentation is mainly based on secondary sources and the author's personal interviews of which a detailed description is provided in Chapter III . ' . Military operations are defined as armed conflicts engaged in by groups of people (see Chapter I). Women's military participation is defined as women's presence and 183 action in military operations either in uniform or without uniform, and either as conscripts or volunteers (see Chapter II). Guided by these definitions, women arsonists and assassins in the 1911 revolution are regarded as military participants, since arson, assassination and armed uprisings were major forms of armed struggle in that revolution, and were performed by groups of people. Armed conflicts in the Anti-Japanese War include many forms of guerrilla warfare, intelligence work and logistical support. Thousands of women took part in these activities. Only women soldiers who served in the regular armies of the CCP and the CNP, leaders of guerrilla teams, and heroines engaged in guerrilla warfare, were selected as subjects of this study. Women cadres engaged in organization, agitation and philanthropic work in the Anti-Japanese war period are not regarded as military participants, though their activities had positive contributions to the victory of the great struggle. Women engaged in underground Anti- Japanese struggles without arms and any military engagement are not included either. As for hundreds of young women enroUed in various Anti-Japanese universities, training schools and classes, only those in military training classes are included. Six hundred and forty seven women combatants have been identified by this study for this time period. These women have been listed in 8 tables according to the time period and nature of their participation. Some of them have been listed twice or even three times due to their continued military involvement. 1 The tables are attached ' to the sections described below. 1 This means the total series number of each table only shows how many women were identified for the military operation in that particular time period. 184 This chapter is organized in four parts: 1) women combatants in wars and revolutions before the split of the CCP and the CNP in 1927; 2) red army women soldiers; 3) women fighters in the Anti-Japanese War and Liberation War period; and 4) a discussion of emergent patterns of Chinese women's rrulitary involvement in this period. This categorization is mainly based on a comprehensive consideration of the scale, nature, frequency, degree and duration of women's rrulitary participation. Table 8.1 is entitled Women Combatants in Anti-imperialist Warfare from 1840 to 1911 . Table 8.2 lists women combatants in the Taiping and other rebellions before 1911. Table 8.3 is for Women Fighters in the 1911 Revolution. And Table 8.4 lists women participants in the Northern Expedition War Period around 1926. These tables are attached to the first section. Table 8.5 is entitled Women Red Anny Soldiers in GuerriIIa Warfare. It is for the period from 1927 to 1937. Table 8.6 lists women Red Army soldiers on the Long March. These two are attached to the second section. Table 8. 7 is entitled Women Combatants in the Anti-Japanese War Period (1937- 1945) and Table 8.8 is for women combatants in the third Civil War period (1946-1950). These two are included in the third section. A summary account of each data set is offered first, followed by the description of women's rrulitary activities as a whole. Presentation of individual representatives' concrete actions will be provided in future pubJication, not in this document. 185 Women Fighters in Wars and Revolutions From 1840 to 1927 As is discussed in Chapter VII, there were five imperialist invasion wars and three revolutionary peaks from 1840 to 1927. Women's participation in military operations during this period differ in scale, mode, frequency, degree and duration. The description of this section is further sub-grouped into three: 1) women combatants in anti-imperialist warfare; 2) women participants in the Taiping and other rebellions; 3) women fighters in the 1911 (Xin Hai) revolution and the Northern Expedition War from 1924 to 1927. Women Combatants in Anti-Imperialist Warfare The five imperialist invasion wars were fought between the Qing imperial anny and the foreign invaders. Women's participation in these aggressive wars was sporadic and of short duration. Three women combatants have been identified by this study (see Table 8.1 on the following page). Although some artistic work has portrayed women fighting alongside the Qing regular troops disguised as men, this author has not found proof of this, except a description of a woman named Chen Suxia ~itii , who vowed to live and die together with her husband named Lin Fuxiang # :ffl ~ , the Commander of the "Ping Hai Battalion" of the Qing anny (Historical Materials on Sanyuanli People's Anti-British 186 Struggles, 1978). Many female combatants were peasant women who rose to defend themselves and their homeland. Unfortunately, their names have not been recorded. Table 8.1 Women Combatants in Anti-Imperialist Warfare (1840-1911) # Name . Orl;gin · ·Eth ···- SES ····· Marital Dates Mil. . CMBT " Note Battle Father ·· Husband Skil Time . 1 Liu Shi 1817- Beijing Han Lei No Once died in jlj J\. 1841 Cheng- battle xing 71"~.J. 2 Lin Shi 1895 Taiwan Han Sun Sun No Once died in #J\. Kaihua Youji battle .:r,}-,r ~ ;J,J,$.J/$ 3 Feng 1841 Beijing Han Feng Yes Two Sanbao Wanzhen )~~Jjj >l.E-1': Key: I. Battle: time of battle the subject participated. 2. Eth: ethnic origin. 3. SES: social and economic status, in this table, only the name of the subject's father is included. 4. Mil. Ski!: whether or not the subject has military skills. 5 · CMBT: combat. During the first Opium War, when the British soldiers invaded Ferry Village ill * in the Fragrant Hill County~ J.,.$. (xiang shan xian) of Guangdong province on March 13, I 841, a dozen peasants rose to fight back. The self-defense was headed by a peasant named Lei Zhaocheng 't it~ · Liu Shi j'rj J\, the wife of another villager named Lei Chenxing ,t ~ .J. participated in the battle. With only hoes, sticks, and axes as weapons, this resistance was defeated. Liu Shi was killed at the age of 24. She has been regarded as the first woman killed in the anti-aggression struggles in contemporary Chinese history (Liu, !989). Another woman named Lin Shi# f\ was a 187 daughter-in-Jaw of Sun Kaihua J,J.. if 1P , a general of the Qing dynasty famous for his repeated defeat of the French anny. Her husband was a pure scholar but recruited strong men to defend their homeland when Taiwan was given to Japan in 1895. He was killed at the Three Martens Mountain.=.. tg "'t (san diao ling). Lin spent her all family property and raised an anny which she herself led. She was also killed in battling the Japanese occupants (Yan, I 939). This case reflects a repeated pattern of women defenders' behavior in Chinese history. The resistance at the place named Sanyuanli .=.. ;t .£ in Guangdong province was of larger scale. It involved several thousand peasants from l 03 villages. young and strong women participated directly in the battle. Women and children cried out loudly to cheer the Chinese resistance. Women's role was vital in logistic support which made it possible for a hundred villages to be involved. A nineteen-year-old peasant woman named Feng Wanzhen 1lb ~ Jl was outstanding in the second Opium War. She learned the martial arts from her father who was a hunter from Shandong. They lived in a hunter's village called Xie Zhuang 181 J1 , in the suburbs of Beijing, which was occupied by the AJlied Anny of Britain and France on October I 3, I 860. This anny burnt down the Empress Dowager's summer palace called Yuan Ming Yuan fID E1JJ ~ in the area, and started to loot and rape. Feng's father Feng Sanbao ,Jb 3:.. ~ was selected to lead the self defense of the village. A militia troop was trained quickly, and some earthen defense works were built. After the first victory over a small unit of the Allied anny, Feng advised her father to avoid ]88 fighting the enemy from a distance since the foreign invaders had longer range weapons. She organized a small anny of young people with martial arts, and ambushed a British led Indian army of five to six hundred soldiers. During the battle, she repeatedly reminded her followers to get closer to the enemy, so that the enemy did not have chance to use their cannons and guns. About a hundred invaders were killed or wounded. This resistance was a victory and Feng's tactics of close combat have been highly praised (Hua Xia Dictionary, 1988; All China Women's Federation, 1989). Women Participants in the Taiping and Other Rebellions .Women Fighters in the Taiping Rebe11ion Women fighters in the Taiping and other rebellions are listed in Table 8.2 on the following page. When the Taiping rebellion started in Jintian Village in 185 I, entire families of the members ofHong Xiuquan's Society of God Worshippers (see Chapter VII)--old and young, men and women--took part in the uprising (Kazuko, 1989). Between 2 000 and 3 000 women combatants participated in the uprising from the ' ' beginning, out of a total of20,000 (Zhang, Chen, Wang, & Wang, 1983). Some of them wore men's clothes, some painted their foreheads with red; some put their hair in high buns or coils, some wrapped their heads with red cloths. These healthy and strong Ke Jia, y ao and Zhuang women ( see Chapter IV) i~ Guangxi and Guangdong areas bared their "large" (unbound) feet and preferred to wear pants. Some could scale steep cliffs faster than men, some were even stronger than men (Chen, 1979; Yang, 1979). At the 189 Table 8.2 Women Combatants in theTaiping and Other RebeJJions # Name Dates Origin Ethni SES Marital Mil. CMBT Note (Battle) (Father) (Husband) Skil Time I Hong (1851-) Guangxi Ke Jia Huang Xiao Chaogui Yes Many Women Army Xuanjiao ~ Quanzheng ~W1~ Marshal m'§.fJ.Jf iti:+Vi&" 2 Su (1851-) Guangdong Han Su San Yes Many Women Army Sanniang & 91'= General -+.½- - t.ti ,ff, - 3 Xiao Shi (1851-) Guangxi Ke Jia H01iXiuquan Yes Many Women Army Jlix. u ',~3t General 4 YangE.;r (1851-) Ke Jia Yang Fuqing's Jiang Desheng Yes Many Women Army 1%=- u sister ttWJff General tP.i~m 5 Bao Zhejiang Han Bao Lishen's Yes Many fought against -\0 0 Fengying (1861) Zhuji & sister Taiping, 'E!.JlJ..* 'E!.if.5! commited suicide 6 Chi Shi (1855) Han Mo Yuanvou's widow No Once died in battle ~ix. & mother:~:::i;rr;~ 7 LiShuzhen Henan Han Li Mengqun's Yes Many fought against c$:~V{ (1854) Guangzhou & sister Taiping (c$:~V{) ~ii::M 8 Lin Heier ?- Tianjin Han Li You Yes Many executed i*~JL 1900 & *~ 9 Lin Puqing Yunan Han LinZexu Shen Baozhen No Once fought against ifi}Pri (1856) ift(9ltl ~ tt~fYl Taiping 10 Shen (1861) Zhejiang Han Yes Once fought against Caixia Jinhua Taiping tt~rif 11 Zhou ?- Jiangsu Han Zhou Lichun Yes Many died in battle Xiu1i ~ 1855 Qingpu Jaj j'z::tf Jaj ~-W- Key: (Battle): time of the battle during which the sub.iect participated. 2. Please see keys of Table 8.1 for others. beginning of the uprising, these women combatants were always deployed at the front. Many Qing soldiers were so puzzled at the sight of these colorful women soldiers that they giggled and stopped fighting (Yang, I 979). A report was rushed to the Qing court, requesting that all these women combatants should be killed when captured, and no mercy should be shown to them since they were dangerous (Zhang, 1953). When the rebellious troops conquered Wuchang A~. the total figure of women participants reached 120,000. New recruits were called "new sisters", to be distinguished from the "old sisters" from Guangdong and Guangxi (Wang, 1979; Yang, 1979; Chen, 1979; Kazuko, 1989). When the Taiping army arrived in the capital of Nanjing, there were 500,000 women in segregated "women's halls" stationed in Xihuamen of Nanjing. The women officer corps totaled 6,584, which is a controversial figure in the existing literature, but this author accepts the figure for this document. 2 Some of these women officers became civilian officials when the Heavenly Capital was established. They served in the palaces and mansions of rebel leaders. By whatever standard, either in history or in modem time, this was a very large women's involvement in military operations. Women combatants were organized in gender-segregated units. There were five women's army groups: front, rear, left, right, and central . Each had its first to eighth armies. Altogether there were forty women's armies. Each women's army was under the 2 It seems to this author that most of the existing literature is based on a book entitled Intelligence Handbook on the Taiping Enemy I&,. +k n: f. composed by Zhang Dejian * ,f:t ~ of the Qing dynasty, whose credibility is highly doubtful to modem scholars (Kazuko, 1989). 191 command of a "general"~ Yrf, (jun shuai), who was assisted by a woman officer called "deputy commander" i•J ~ Yrf, (fun jun shuai). The second level of the chain of command was composed of lieutenants called "zu zhang" 4 *- . The lowest level of wut was a group of25 women soldiers headed by a sergeant~~ ~ (Jiang si ma). Nonnally there were twenty five lieutenants and one hundred sergeants under one commander. The total strength of a Taiping women's army was over twenty six hundred. In the headquarters, there were female commandants,& i•J (zong zhi) and female military superintendents J!;t ~ (iianjun), who were in charge of administration and training. The officers who specialized in strategic planning were called "female ministers"*:&.. ~Q (nu chen xiang). When the rebels occupied Nanjing, 8,000 foot bound Nanjing women w'ere put into the "Embroidery Battalion" ~ ~ ,f- (xiu jing ying), which specialized in the manufacture of uniforms. These logistic units were commanded by J 60 female military superintendents. There was also a labor team of 5,200 women. A systematic hierarchy of female bureaucrats based on seniority existed in the troops. New sisters from Hunan and Hubei occupied the posts of lieutenants and sergeants, and old sisters from Guangxi filled the positions of superintendents and above. In short, the military system in the segregated women units was similar to the men's units. The only difference was that there were no division commanders and brigade commanders in the women's army (Liu, 1989). Women officials have been seen in most feudal courts in China's ancient time. They were mainly engaged in administrative work within the palaces, particularly within the quarters of empresses and 192 princesses. There had never been a case when so many women officers w d . ere es1gnated and served in the armed forces. When the rebels established their Heavenly Capital in Nanjing, almost all women combatants who participated in the battles became ffi · 1 . o c1a s m charge of the "Women's Halls" (see Chapter VII). All women officials who served in the palaces or mansions of rebel leaders were female relatives of veteran rebels. Some of the female accountants or secretaries were recruited through the service examination which was first opened to women. In sum, we learn from the existing literature that Taiping women combatants participated directly in battles, and they were organized in segregated women's units led by a hierarchical chain of command. The rebel leaders did not hesitate to designate Women officers and generals. Their military experiences were direct combat participation at the beginning of the revolution, and more logistic support and city defense after establishing the Heavenly Capital in Nanjing. The gender issue involved in Taiping policies was awkwardly theorized and practiced. Modern scholars tend to praise the disciplinary necessity of gender segregation in war time and criticize the inhuman segregation policy when applied to ordinary life in peace time. Modem feminists are more critical of Tai ping leaders' indulgence in polygamy which was actually practiced by all Chinese feudal rulers. Taiping rebels were more old style revolutionaries in an agran·a · h th the democratic revolutionaries we will see in the following n society rat er an sections. On the other hand, it is worth noting that Taiping leaders were influenced by som E . . b 1 . .c: and had used them as inspiration for the uprising. This e uropean religious e 1ei.s 193 1s new and relevant to the changed world when China was opened up by foreign cannons. Women combatants on the Qing court's side during the Taiping rebe11ion were rarely noticed by modern scholarship. This research has found five representatives ( see section 2 of Table 8.1). These women were defenders when the rebels invaded. There were officials' wives such as Li Shuzhen ~ ~ A- (Yan, 193 9) or Li Suzhen 4: -j- !ii (Wang, 1966); and Lin Puqing # .f Ht, Shen Baozhen'.s ~ ~ ~j wife but more famous as the daughter of Lin Zexu # Jl1J -fi (Yan, 1939; Shi, 1975).3 There were also ordinary female farmers, such as Bao Fengying f1 fit* ; Chi Shi~ t:\ , Mo Yuanyiu's i ~ It mother; and Shen Caixia ift. ifJ f (Yan, 1939). Similar to defenders in ancient China, these women's participation was of shorter duration. Li Suzhen had a very high level of martial arts, while Madame Lin did not have any military training except her knowledge of the arts of war. Both Bao and Shen had martial arts as well as strong physical strength, while Mo's mother had no military training at all . The significance of this brief discussion is that at least during the Taiping Rebellion, women participated in both sides of the battles. Some of the women defenders were from the same family background as those of the women rebels. Two of them died in the combat. 3 Lin Zexu was the most outstanding Qing governor ofYu~n .and Guizhou, who ordered the destruction of thousands of cases of Opium imported from Bntam and has been regarded a national hero since the Opium War. 194 Women Revolutionaries of the Small Sword Association In addition to women combatants and defenders in the Taiping rebellion, two more women rebel leaders were identified for the same period (Table 8.2). One was a heroine who emerged in a similar but much smaller peasants' uprising in Shanghai. In 1852, the year following the Jintian Uprising of the Taiping Rebellion, a grain uprising involving two to three hundreds peasants broke out in the place named Green River county ;!!f i'm" (qing pu) of Jiangsu province, which is called Shanghai in modern time. This armed struggle was headed by Zhou Lichun Jal Jl 7ff. from Tang Wan village ffi y~ of the county, joined by his daughter Zhou Xiuying %fl~~ . She emerged as the heroine during the battles against the Qing court along the White Crane River g ~ ¥I (bai he jiang), and their troops grew to several thousand. In March 1853, Taiping occupied Nanjing. On September 5 the same year, Zhou Xiuying launched the Jia Ding city 3 ~ uprising and occupied the city overnight. This has been regarded as the prelude to the Shanghai Small Sword Association!]\ JJ ~ (xiao dao hui) uprising on September 7, 1853 (All TimesDictionaf)'., 1989; Chen, 1991), which was headed by Liu Lichuan :X,j BF.I} J /. On September I 9, Qing's imperial anny and the troops of the local landlord attacked Jia Ding. The three day battle could not overpower Zhou's army until the powder magazine was burnt down by a small unit of the rich and influential people within the city. Zhou was forced to retreat to S.hanghai and joined the Small Sword Association's troops there. She was designated as a female general. In the following July, the Qing anny headed by a new Governor was trapped and badly defeated by 195 Zhou's battle array of barbed wire. By this time, foreign troops in Shanghai participated in the Qing government's effort to suppress the uprising. The rebels decided to retreat to Zhenjiang and join the Taiping troops there. In the evening of February 17, 1855, at the place called Hong Qiao !f[#f: in a suburb of Shanghai, both Liu and Zhou fought to the end and died in combat. Women Fighters of the Red Lanterns Shining When the Boxers set out to do battle with the invaders of the Eight-Nation International Expedition, there was no reason for the women to stand aside quietly (Kazuko, 1989). Young women in Tianjin 3(14! organized the "Red Lanterns Shining" IT tr fi,ij (hong deng zhao ), middle-aged women formed the Blue Lanterns :il[ tr Jffi (Ian deng zhao ), while elderly women organized the Black Lanterns ~ 'tr Jffi (hei deng zhao) (Hua Xia Dictionary, 1988; All Times Dictionary, 1989; Chen, 1991 ). Logically the most active group was the Red Lanterns. The Red Lanterns were an organization of young women between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Occasionally they even included girls as young as eight or nine (Kazuko, 1989). All dressed in red from top to bottom, no bound feet, sleeves tied up to make it easy to work, each of them earned a red lantern. They rigorously trained themselves with skjlJs of wielding swords and waving fans on a daily basis. Every few days, they would form bands and circle through the streets. This was called "walkjng the city"~~ ( cai cheng), which was similar to the Boxers' "walking the streets"~{!] (caijie). These Red Lanterns joined the Boxers in burning foreign buildings and killing foreigners . The Red Lanterns1 leader was named 196 Lin Heier :#- ,f- JL . She grew up on the Southern Canal of Tianjin and married another boatman named Li You ,t ;tf" (Hua Xia Dictionary, 1988; AU Times Dictionary, 1989). She learned martial arts from childhood. As an itinerant entertainer, she went to Shanghai with her father when she was young. Her husband was put into jail by a foreign priest due to a dispute. He was beaten and died in the prison several months later. In 1900, the Boxers' movement, headed by Zhang Decheng *..ft~ , was spread to Tianjin. Lin responded by setting up an altar on a big sailboat at the place called Behind the Hou's Family~ j 16 (houjia hou) on the Southern Canal of Tianjin. Before long, 2,000 to 3,000 participated her Red Lanterns organization. She designated herself as the Holy Mother of the Yellow Lotus * 1i 1: -It (huang lian sheng mu). Under her leadership, there were "Senior Sister-Disciples" :k 91 iti. (da shi jie) and "Second Sister-Disciples".:::... 91 ,ill. (er shi jie), similar to the structure of the Boxers' organizations. In June and July of J 900, together with Zhang's Boxers, Lin led the Red Lanterns' fight against the foreign invaders in the defense of Tianjin. The first battle was fought at the place called Old Dragon Head Station ~ ~ * $. .:i! (lao long tou che zhan), where 2,000 invaders tried to occupy this transportation center between Tianjin and Beijing. · Lin and her Red Lanterns defeated about five hundred enemies and declared victory. These women soldiers were also famous in the battles at the Purple Bamboo Woods -f ..ft# (zi zhu lin), where over fifty buildings of Japanese business were burnt down. After this, the rebels had heavy casualties from a converging attack by troops under the capitulationist clique within the Qing court. Both Zhang and Lin were 197 Wounded. Lin was captured and executed at the age of twenty after the £.all of T" ·· 1an1m to the foreign invaders. It was said that even after her death, red lanterns continued to be hung from the boats along the Grand Canal. When foreign soldiers saw them, they Would immediately flee (Kazuko, 1989). In sum, women participated in the anti-imperialist invasion wars, as well as various peasants' revolutions in that chaotic time. Female combatants took part in battles, organized in gender segregated units with hierarchical structures. They also participated in other forms of military operations, such as city defense, patroliing, guarding, and logistic support. Their leaders enjoyed legendary heroine status in China's history, similar to their predecessors. On the other hand, women defenders in the same time period obtained Jess praise compared with their predecessors, probably due to the Pro-revolutionary bias of the modern scholars who recorded them. All 14 women combatants in anti-imperialist wars and rebellions of this period had direct combat experiences. Some of the women fighters in the Anti-invasion war had no military training (33%), while most of those in rebeJJions did have military training (82%). Three Were Ke Jia women, a sub-group of the Han nationality. As for geographic representation, they were from ten provinces or cities. Six of them (43%) died in combat or were executed for their military participation. With two exceptions ( one was a widow, there is no information on the relatives of the other), all fought alongside male family relatives. 198 As a group, these women fill in the gap between the ancient China and the modem one. Their behavioral patterns are more similar to those of the ancient military women than that of the modern women soldiers: they responded to a call or a need for self defense, rose to fight as bravely as men, played roles in combat as well as other military operations, organized in segregated units, and many of them fought alongside male relatives. Their leaders became legends whose deeds wiJJ be recalled in times of need. Women Fighters in the 1911 Revolution and the Northern Expedition War Women also participated in the national revolution which overthrew the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 . A group of educated female revolutionaries was active in both the anned uprisings and the assassination, the two major modes of the 1911 (Xin Hai) revolution. Women's military participation in the 191 l revolution was followed by women's involvement in the Northern Expedition War from 1924 to 1927. Out of the 380 women activists of the 1911 revolution (A Co!Jection of Papers On 70th Anniversary of the 191 J revolution, 1983), this study has identified 113 (30%) women who had military activities during the revolution. Table 8.3 on the fo1lowing pages presents these cases. This is one of the most satisfactory data sets this author has obtained . Partially this is due to the fact that most of these women revolutionaries were educated, and thus were more likely to be recorded in history. 199 Iv 0 0 # 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Name -Dates (Battle) Bai Yayu (19 12) El $ if.) Cai Hui •.t CaoDexin -tit~ ChenBijun 1*-it~ Chen Bingqing 1* *-~ Chen Hanxing (1911) 1* ,X-* Chen Shuzi (1909) 1**-r Chen Wanhang (1911) 1*. bt.Jq- Chen Huiquan (1911) 1*.~ ~ Chen Zhenquan (1911) '* .fi~ Chen Zhijian '* .t ~ ChenZhide (1925) '* ,t.-Jk Table 8.3 Women Fighters in 1911 Remlution Origin Ethni SES Mil CMBT Note (PRCT (F:Father) Skil Time olace) (H:Husband) (Tianjin) Han teacher of Tianj in No Many organizer, transport Girl Schoo 14 ammunition, Luanzhou Uorising , arrested & executed Jiangxi Han student in Japan No Yes first-aid on battlefront Jiujiang 4 Jiuiiang Red-Cross (Shanghai) Han student No No organizer of Women's annv Han student in Japan 4 No Yes assassination group in Janan (Macao) Han 4 Yes No Guangdong bombing team (Guangdong) Han Yes No Guangdong bombine. team (Hong Kong) Han 4 No Seve- transport ammunition ral (Nanjing) Han principal, 5 No Once Chief of Women's Anny Naniing campaign (Guangdong) Han Nurse Yes No Guangdong bombing team (Guangdong) Han Nurse Yes Seve- Guangdong ral bombing team (Guangdong) Han No Once Qianshan New Anny Uorising (Guangdong) Han 4 No Once Dongjiang uprising N 0 I 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27 . 1 Cheng Wenhua ;fl.~$ CuiZhaohua {l./Prl~ Cui Zhenhua {I.#-~ De}Mufang ,xfS * Ding Xiangtian T~ll1 Ding Zhiqian T,"til Fan Moying fttl* Fang Junying ~~Jl. Feng Shijun )~ -\!!- 1x. Ge Jingcheng ~a.ii<. Ge Jin!hua ~a-'¥ GuoYusheng $£.~ HanYuzhen #,£.Jjj He Shaoqing ~'.>"~ He Xiangning ~¼~ (1"f-ii.) I (1925) (Guangdong) Han (1912) (Tianjin) Han (1912) (Tianjin) Han (1911) (Guangdhou) Han (1909) (Hong Kong) Han Han Han ?- Fujian Han 1932 Fuzhou (1912) (Tianjin) Han Han Han (1925) (Guangdong) Han (1925) (Guangdong) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han 1878- Guangdong Han 1972 Nanhai 4 No Once Dongjiang uprising 4 No Seve- participant in uprisings ral 4 No Seve- participant in uprisings ral poor, Xu Zonghan's Yes Once participated in Huanghuagang maid 4 camnaii:m 5 No Yes Assassination group in Hong Kong student Yes No Women's Military 5 Brigade student Yes No Women's Military 5 Brigade student in No Once assasination organizer Japan 4 committed suicide student of No Once transport ammunition Tianjin Girl School Luanzhou Uprising 4 student Yes No Deputy team leader 5 Women's Military Brigade student Yes No Women's Military 5 Brigade 4 No Once Dongjiang uprising 4 No Once Dongjiang uprising 4 No sever- arson ral Huanghuagang campaign real estate No Yes first aid in front,organizer of H: Liao Zhongkai Jf-11' ·t! Red-Cross, leader 15, 3 N 0 N I 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 1 Hu Peiwen iJ11',k Huang Beihan -, .u -~ ,~l Huang Furong *~-f Huang Fuyong -,-½lit Huang Mingxun -l4tiJ1\ (:.t.l~) Huang Shoujing ~'t·tt Huang Zhaolan ~iv.Ii{ {ia;Tao ):L Kang Tianqin • ~ !,l Lai Junhua ~~~ Li Junying -t1i~ Li Peishu -t {Jjl-i5 Li Wanyuan 4:lhf it LiXinghan ~3lf,~ I (1911) (Guangzhou) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (1911) (Guangdong) Han (1909) (Hong Kong) Han (Tianjin Han Beijing) (1911) (Tianjin) Han (1911) (Shanghai) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (1911) (Shanghai) Han (1911) (Guangdong) Han (1911) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (1911) (Guangdong) Han 4 No poor No Xu Zonghan's maid 4 No 4 No F:DuGuan No :.t.l JJ:.. 4 student of No Tianjin Girl School 4 student Yes 5 4 No prostitute Yes nurse No on Expedition medical person No LiJinyi's No sister *it-4 4 No nurse No Seve- ral Seve- ral Once Seve- ral Many Seve- ral No Seve- ral No Seve- ral Many Many Many Sev- ral arson Huanghuagang campaign fought in Huanghuagang campaign manufacture bombs Qianshan New Army uprising transport ammunition assasination organizer assasination transport ammunition Luanzhou Uprising Women Military Brigade jailed for assasination organizer of women school for spying participated in Xinqiao, Guzhen camnaign first-aid on battlefront China Red-Cross participated in Huanghuagang campaign manufacture bombs participated in Xinqiao, Guzhen campaign \ , I ~. I I Ii I i ! N 0 w I 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. SO. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. ~~n,ng Li Ziping * ~' -f Liang Dinghui ~;t.'1 Liang Guoti ~~#. LiangMeiyu ~~~ Liang Qichuan -*t\-Jl\ Liang Quanfang ;l_~*" Liang Xuejun * 't:,; Liang Yingyan ;l_*-~ Lin Ju #~ Lin Yanniang #~-i~ LinZongsu #~~ LinZongxue ##.'t LiuHongbo ~lj~tf. Liu Weiming ~'H-ri llJl Lu Guoxiang ffi" [!1 ¼ (1909) I (Guangzhou) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (Macao) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (1909) (Guangzhou) Han (Macao) Han (Macao) Han Han (1911) Han (1911) (Guangzhou) Han Han (19ll) Zhejiang Han (Naniing) (Guangdong) Han (1911) (Guangdong) Han Hubei Han Hanvang I 4 No Many jailed for transport ammunition and assasination 4 No Several transport ammunition 4 No Several transport ammunition 4 No Several transport ammunition 4 No Several transport ammunition rich widow No Several transport ammunition 4 4 No No Guangdong bombing team 4 No Se·veral Dongjiang uprising bombing team Yes No Guangdong bombing team medical person No Many first-aid on battlefront China Red-Cross 4 No Once fought in Huanghuagang camoaim student in Japan 6 No No organizer No Once Zhejiang WomenArmy 5 dare-to-die team No Once Qianshan New Army uorising Expedition team Yes No Guangdong bombing team student No Once organizer Women's Annv I ss. Mei Qongying I I I Han student Yes No Women Military .~J,j ~ 5 Brigade 59. Qiu Jin 1875- Zhejiang Han landed gentry No No leader and organizer a11. 1907 Shanyin intellectual but executed before .I. her enemv 73 c~~~g Han 74 Chen Sue Han POW Yes ~-~ 75 Chen Taoyuan Sichuan Han POW Yes died in ~ titJ& 3 combat 76 Chen Xiuying Han POW Yes comrnited ~~~ suicide 77 Chen Zhenren 1920- Shaaml Jinzhai com. 6 7 (.ffij~.li) director2 229 Zhou Shi!ing Han Jal at,' 230 Zhu Yingming Han "*-~-aJl 231 ZhuZhixiu Han "*-*Ji; ~lank cell in the column of "Dates" means no information available. t.lbat == batt 1 · bt. CMND. a wn c~.rny = battalion commander 1 " 10 = combat com. com. CMND depend. intel. med.bur. med.doc. PRG/propag. = = = = = = = company company commander dependents intellectual. ~:gan/propa. = = medical bureau medical doctor propaganda worker propaganda prison of war regiment commander Soviet Union rgm. CMND = Soviet U = I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8, 9. 10. I I. 12. the first generation of women cadet in Wuhan Central Military and Political Academy (a branch of Huangpu Academy, Chinese West Point). · ~mmanded military operation. Joined the Red Army as a teenager (youngest one was nine years old). On the Long March, these young girls were called "Little Red Devil" tI Jj\ jg (hong xiao gui) together with other young boys. gave birth on the Long March. sold as a child-in-law at the young age, the youngest was sold at age of more than ten days cld . feet were bound. remains in the military service with a rank of m~jor or above. remains in the military service with a rank of general . assigned civilian position as a woman cadre. becomes a national leader. Leader, either leader of guerrilla or militia troops, or woman minister of the local government. Continued military participation in different historical periods. Sh~ed cell means the suqject participated and is listed in military operations during the following penods too. Sha~ed series number means the subject participated and is listed in military operations during the previous periods too. ~ ~aphic Dictionary of Famous Women in Hua Xia ~ JC. 1S '9: 45 A j'ii.j Jt!. , composition committee of Bua Xia Fu Nyu Ming Ren Ci Dian, Beijing: Hua Xia Publisher, I 988. 257 Biograoh · D. · ;; . 1c 1ct1onary of ~amous Women in the World in All Times~ ,t- i:p ;,~ :k 4; A~~ Te~p~I~ by College of Chmese Women Administrative Cadres, Beijing: China Broadcasting d, evision Publisher, l 989. an ~ .onhgraphies of Red Army Heroines tr* 3( ~ it flt , compiled by editory of Outlook T ffi B · ·. 1 ua Publisher, l 986. · · ~' ei.1mg: Chen, Mingfu. Chi~ese Women Warriors Through the Ages q:t 00 JJj ft 3( ~ , Beijing: Chinese Wom Publisher, 199 l . en Qrunese Women, Beijing: Women Publisher, 8th Issue l 982. Dong, Biwu. "Heroines on the Long March"* ii[ q:t t¥J 3(~ 14£, Party History Materials~~ _Wt*'). Propaganda Ministry of the CCP: 3rd Issue, 1954. ' Dong, Hanhe. Fall of the Female Soldiers of the West Wing Red Army gs itf *:k&t±~~iHc, Beijing: the PLA Publisher, 1990. !:fu.rnrv of Chinese Women's Movement, All China Women's Federation, Chunqiu Publisher, 1989. Li, Anbao & Liu Lukai (eds.). Women Red Army on the Long March 3( tr*¥: ii£ le, Beijing: Women Publisher, l 99 l . Li, Kaifen. "Battle at the Nijiayingzi" ~ 4;(£-ffe * i!-f, Study Materials of the History of Women Movement :Js ili 31: iJf 'f{, ~ *4 , Study Section of the Women Movement of All-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. Li, Jianzhen. "Marching on the Long March" ¥: ii[ 83-..t ffe ~ ~ , Study Materials of the History of Women Movement 1Sili~ Wf 'f{,~ f4 , Study Section of the Women Movement of All-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. Li, Xiaolin. Personal Interviews conducted in Beijing during the period from May l 992 to March l 994, which were particularly designed for this dissertation. Liu, lucai. A Contemporary History of Chinese Women's Movement China Women Publisher, 1989. Luo, Huilan. . "An Incomplete List of Heroines on the Long March" ~~U¥: filn>.1¥J$1t:ktr*4; ip., Study Materials of the History of Women Movement ~ Je ~ iJf 1E .Wf f4., Study Section of the Women Movement of All-China Women's Federat10n: 3rd Issue, l 986. -· "History Will Always Memorize Them" JE 31: ' ~ 11<. ~ le fl" Rl8 ff] , Materials of the History of Women Movement .1S ili ~ ,iiJf 'f{, ~ *4 , Study Section of the Women Movement of All- China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. 258 Qian Tang. Revolutionary Women ilt fir 1¥) j(f:E , Shanghai: Guangmin Publisher J 949 ' . Wang, Simei. '.'A Brief Introduction of Some Heroines on the Long March"_!; iJO-/f :fiE 1¥J tffl?t:t(fil:~ ti/ ~ m; fr , Materials of the History of Women Movement Js :ie 51:. iJf 'ff. J1f *4 , Study Section of the Women Movement of All-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. Wang, Simei. "A ,Comprehensive Description of the Heroines on the Long Ma,~h" rfJ #il#f it~iJU-K:. uE 1* U , Study Materials of the History of Women Movement .E JE ~ iJf 'ff.~ .*4 , Study Section of the Women Movement of All-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. · -· -· "Beautiful Youtl1s in the Military" ~ I1; -Jr 1# :ZU t$ ~ , Study Materials of the History of .Women Movement EJE.51:! iJf 'f{.~ ~ . Study Section of the Women Movement of All-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. "An Incomplete List of Heroines on tI1e Long MarcI1" ~~Oif :fil:®$1t1{kr~~ $, Study Materials of the History of Women Movement 18 JE 51:! 1iJf 'ff.~~ , Study Section of the Women Movement of AIi-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. Wu, Lanying. "Searching for Food on the Grassland" 1f. Jtt!. ~ ~ , Materials of the History of Women Movement t:J :3E 51:. iJf ~ ~ ~ , Study Section of the Women Movement of AIi-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. Xiao, Lei. "Wang Dingguo, A Female Soldier on the Long March" i(: fil 3( ~ ± .3: 5E 00 , Materials of the History of Women Movement E ~ 51:! ?iJf 'f{. ~ *4, Study Section of the Women Movement of AIJ-China Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. Xue, Weiwei (eds.) . .Who's Who of Chinese Women, i:f:t 00 Js:t( ~A*, Shaanxi: People's Publisher, 1988. Yuan, Zhigang. Elegy of the West Wing Red Anny mms~tt Dunliuang: Literature and Art Publisher: 1990. Zhang, Rongqing. . . "Memory of the Wartime" :!$ J( ~ M 1¥) @J fl , Matenals of the Histon: of Women Movement JEl ;& 5e 1i)f ~ :fff .*4 , Study Section of the Women Movement of All-Chma Women's Federation: 3rd Issue, 1986. 259 Party cadres totaled 44, 2 were medical doctors, IO were engaged in propaganda, 2 were logistic officers. The total casualties were 16 (7% ): 6 died in combat and 3 died along the march · , 1 died of iJJness; 3 committed suicide either in combat or as POWs; 3 were kiJled as POWs, 2 of whom were group raped first. The total number of POWs was 47 (20%). Seven of them were survivors who had been buried alive. Two were rescued by local peasants, and one of them had married her rescuer. Thirty POW survivors became 0rdinary citizens living under poor conditions in Gansu and Qinghai areas. After a major defeat with heavy casualties in the fifth encirclement launched by Jiang Jieshi from October 1933 to October 1934 ( see Chapter VII), the Red Army was forced to withdraw from its revolutionary base with a vague goal of going north to fight against the Japanese invaders. This strategic shift of forces was actually implemented in four parts: 1) the main force of the Red Army started the Long March in the middle of October 1934, with 86,800 people of the Central Committee of the CCP, the Central Military Committee, the First Front Army and the headquarters of the Logistic Support. This army arrived in Wuqi Town*~ ,M. in October 1935. It took the anny a whole year to across eleven provinces with a total covered distance of 12,500 miles (25,000 Ii). Thirty three of women identified for this study were from this army (all existing Chinese literature cited JO). Three of them were asked to remain in the base the anny passed by, 19 all others successfully survived. 19 They are Gantang ;t;J:, Li Guiying ~it~ and Xie Xiaomei iffiJ,~. 260 2) The fourth Front Anny withdrew from Chuanshan base in March of 193 5 and joined the main force at Maogong ~ ~}J in June. Affected by its leader Zhang Guotao *-. 00 i4- , who wanted to go westward toward the border areas of Sichuan and Tibet, mostly inhabited by minor ethnic groups, this army maneuvered in the Mountain Snow and grass land areas. One hundred sixty nine women listed in Table 8.6 were from this army, representing the 8,000 women participants, the largest group. 3) The Sixth Anny Group started the westward expedition as the vanguard of the main force in August 193 4. Several women took part in this earliest march. 20 After two months march, this troop arrived in Yinjiang county ~J' 'i.1. of Guizhou and joined the Second Army Group. The two armies formed the Xiangechuanqian base. One year later, the Second and Sixth Army Groups withdrew from the Xiangechuanqian base and anived in Xikang ~ J:ft in June, where these troops were reorganized as the Second Front Army and joined the Fourth Front Army at Ganzi -tr Ji. in Sichuan province in July. The two armies marched northward together and in October 1935, joined the First Front army at Huining 4t- 'r of Gansu province. Twenty four of the identified women on Table 8.6 were from this branch. 4) The Twenty Fifth Red Army withdrew from its Eyuwan base in November 1934 and opened the Eyushan guenilla base. This army continued the Long March in July 1935 and arrived in Shaanbei in September. Seven female nurses participated in the Long March within this formation . 20 These 1. . . t fthe Long March are: Li Zhen~~ , Chen Congying 1* 1$ ~ ear 1est women part1c1pan s o . . 11. t ::k, ' Zhou Xuelin ,!j 't #, Chen Luoying $. 1 ~ ' Ma Y1xiang ~ ' l~ ' etc. 261 This moving anny was involved in 500 military engagements with the nationalists' armies and local armed forces (Dong, 1954). Most of the women on the Long March participated in these battles if their units were involved. Comparatively speaking, only · the women soldiers of the Fourth Front engaged in real battles and suffered heavy casualties. The major enemy confronting women fighters of other armies on the Long March was death caused by starvation, freezing cold and hardship. Many veterans recalled that the most important thing in their Jives on the march was to take care of their feet. To a certain degree, feet were more important than stomachs. The thing feared most by the marching soldiers was to fall behind. Li Zhen 4: !Ji , the only woman general, remembered how she cherished a pair of old cloth shoes. She only wore it out of absolute necessity. In the daytime she always walked on bare feet. A whole set of techniques of foot protection had been developed by Red Anny soldiers, including making all kinds of shoes and foot wrapping. Many women soldiers had four treasures: a basin, which could be used for cooking, washing, as a helmet or a stool; a stick; a piece of leather product, which could be taken as a meal when nothing could be found for food; and a needle which was used constantly to mend and to make clothes to withstand , cold. Most of them were young girls from the countryside of Sichuan Province. The Youngest ones were only 9 years old. 21 Almost all these women functioned as morale 21 According to an incomplete survey conducted by this author, the youngest female soldier on the Long ~arch was Shi Qunying k If ~ . who was 11 in 1934. Other youngest fe~ale Red Army soldiers Include: Chen Zhenren 1* .A-~, who joined ~e Red -~y _at th~ ~ge of 9 m 1929;_ Hou Z~engfang ~ JI.*, who joined the Red Anny at age of l Im 1933, Liu J1an :M ~. at age of 13 m 1927, Wang ~hunhong .I. Jffi #t-- , 13 in 1933·; Ma Yixiang ~ •tU~ , 13 in 1935. All these young girls participated In the Long March. One source states that youngest gi~l on the Long March, who was 9 on the Long March, was from Sichuan (All China Women's Federation, 1989). 262 boosters simply by the fact that they withstood similar or even greater hardship than their male comrades. Many developed reproductive diseases due to the harsh conditions. Some lost the capability for reproduction. There were numerous stories on how these Women helped each other, assisted male comrades, and sometimes rescued their comrades-in-annies by risking their own lives. Almost all veterans recaIIed how they Were encouraged by songs sung by women soldiers. Wei Gongzhi lA#.:t. became legendary for running through the whole march--she was always seen running up to the front, sang songs when the unit marched by, and ran to catch up and to the front of the marching troops again. Many women soldiers engaged in this kind of propaganda work. In addition to propaganda work, many women soldiers carried on logistic support. Soldiers of the Women Independence Brigade of the Fourth Front were responsible for building bridges and repairing roads on the Long March. Once many troops and wounded soldiers were stopped by a river due to a sudden attack from the enemy. A female company commander named Wang Xuenong .£ !f .t,.. led a platoon of Women soldiers in fanning a bridge by themselves. Troops crossed the river by stepping on the wooden plates placed on their shoulders, and a fatal clash was avoided by this fast transportation . A 500 member Women Engineering Battalion of the Fourth Front was headed by Lin Yueqin #JI~- These women carried the supplies of the Red Anny. Each person had at least 25 kilograms of materials on her shoulders. Li Guiying ~.H.~ Was the Political Director of th·e company of stretcher-bearers of the Medicine Department of the Central Red Army. Two hundred civilian bearers were under her 263 command. She and her comrades had to make extra efforts on a daily basis to mobilize th ese civilians and keep them in high spirits. Many times these people stopped and refused to continue. At this kind of moment, the only thing that the women Red Anny soldiers could do to make these people continue was to do the jobs themselves. Once th e bearers left an X-ray machine of 400 kilograms at the bottom of a mountain and refused to carry it uphill. Women soldiers carried it up. It was only by personal order from Mao Zedong that women soldiers finally gave it up. Many women medical personnel had to go down on their knees and crawl to move wounded soldiers on stretchers uphiJJ . It was hard for the wounded to remain in the stretchers when they saw these women's bloody knees and muddy look They begged to be left behind, which of course was out of the question for these women medical personnel. Some of them died due to exhaustion (Li & Liu, 1991). Dong Biwu f:,,t, #..., the Vice President of the PRC once wrote: women soldiers in charge of stretcher-bearers and wounded soldiers Were those who suffered the most (Dong, 1954). I believe that the tradition of taking care of the wounded has been a major cause of the Red Anny's constant high morale. Women's experiences in direct combat during the Long March were the most solemn and stirring. Only a summary description can be offered in this document. About one third of the thirty three women of the First Front participated in a battle at the border of Jiangxi and Hunan in the autumn of 1~34. As the Political Director of the Cadre Company which was composed of senior Party officials, wounded Brigade Commanders and above and wives of Red Army leaders, Li Jianzhen 4: ~ Jt- , 264 commanded the blocking. Her bodyguard died in this battle. In the spring of the following year, her troops ran into the enemy again. She organized all thirty bodyguards into a firing line and engaged in a fierce battle against the enemy. Finally the Guard Battalion caught up and reinforced their front line. This is one of the clashes that many Women troops experienced. The women Independence Brigade of the Fourth Front experienced more battles of larger scale. At a place called Jiange ~,J /ij in Sichuan province, it defeated a regiment's attack from the troops of Tian Songyao fil ~Ji, a warlord in Sichuan (Li & Liu, 1991 ; All China Women's Federation, 1989). In May 1935, a battalion of female I •. ogist1c soldiers of an arsenal attached to the General Hospital of the Fourth Front ran into a local regiment of the enemy. About a hundred of the strongest women soldiers Were selected and put into nine battle groups. Each group was armed with three to four rifles and grenades. After a whole night of hand-to-hand combat, the enemy's three to four hundred person regiment was destroyed, with about 60 POWs and several escapees. The total casualties of the women unit were over thirty. Some of the dead female soldiers were seen with their mouths biting the enemies ears, and hands on their necks. After this combat, many local poor women wanted to join the women's units, but the Weak ones and women with babies were asked to stay home (Zhu, 1982). In the summer of 1935, the troop reached an area called Li county JJ!,l in western Sichuan, following the headquarters of the Fourth Front. The area was cohabited by Tibetan and Han People. The local Tibetan Buddhist Temples had formed a coalition with troops of Liu 265 Xiang i 1Jiffl, another Sichuan warlord. Snipers from this force and its suppression of local people led to the decision of the Women's Brigade to destroy it. After careful reconnaissance, earth work, tactical planning, and battles of two days and nights, the combat was ended with another victory of the Women's Brigade, which distributed most of the war trophies to the poor citizens, an action which led to full support from the local people. Battles Fought by Women Soldiers of the West Wing Army 1n October 1936, based on the Women Independence Brigade of the Fourth Front Red Army, a] 300 member Women Anti-Japanese Vanguard Brigade was formed within the West Route Wing. 22 This brigade had three battalions and nine companies. The Brigade Commander was Wang Quanyuan .I..1~"*1. and the Political Commissar Was Wu Fulian J!: ~ l{. The first two battles after this new formation were fought at areas called Yitiaoshan - ~ J., and Tumen J:. 1l in Gansu province, defeating attacks from the cavalry units of Ma Buqing ~ ffe-k , one of the five Muslim brothers. These victories included capture of thirty camels, which were useful for transportation. The W 'a omen Vanguard Brigade won another battle at Yongchang :1~ E1, located in the middle of the Hexi Corridor. A group of thirty women soldiers of the Advance Opera Troupe of the Women Vanguard Brigade had an encounter at Gaojiabao ~ ~ 1i with a cavalry 22 The Fourth Front Red Army had suffered a major defeat in the battles of the !"lexj (at the western side of the Yellow River) Corridor of Gansu province, attacked by 100,000 surrounding troops of five-brother Muslim warlords headed by Ma Bufang ~ -ffe -1. Twe~ty thousand Fourth Front Red Anny managed to cross the Yellow River and formed the WeSl Route Wing. 266 unit of the same warlord near Yongchang. Most the members of this theatrical company were poor teenage girls with an eleven year old as the youngest. They had about a dozen rifles and several grenades. The day long battle was ended with hand-to-hand combat. Liao Chijian "-# Jil, the political director who was commanding, was killed on the battlefield at the age of2 l with her comrades. Only a dozen women soldiers were captured. These POWs were sent to different places, and were forced to perform before th eir enemies. Wang Dingguo .I.;tOO and her comrades, who attracted less attention from their guards, managed to help Zhang Qinqiu *-1,(~k, their captured Commander of th e Women Independence Brigade escape, taking advantage of their young age. She and her colleagues at the troupe were finally rescued and returned to their units in the autumn of 193 7, when the CCP and the CNP reached the second coalition. In January 1937, the Muslim warlords' troops occupied Gaotai ~ f; and killed Dong Zhentang :f .t.J ~ , the Anny Commander of the Fifth Army, and several other high ranking red army officers. Many Red Army soldiers were massacred. After this fatal attack, the headquarters and the main force of the West Route Wing were surrounded by the Muslim troops at Linze I~~. Several hundred women soldiers, directly subordinated to the headquarters, were assigned the task of city defe11se. Commanded by Tao Wanrong Jf/;J7f 5R., these women moved all bricks, stones, pots and sticks they could find to the city walls. After three days and nights of fierce defense, the Red Anny decided to break out of the encirclement. One company of the women units Was assigned to block and cover for the retreat. After the battle of another two days and 267 ----- nights, these women were concentrated at the West Pass of the city. Almost all died When the enemy burned the Pass down. Many other women died simply because they could not cross the big ditch outside the city. Troops that did break out fell into an ambu h · s , m which they had to fight hand-to-hand. About four hundred women soldiers died in the battle ofLinze city (All China Women's Federation, 1989; Dong, 1990; Li & Liu, 1991 ). On January 23, 1937, the remaining ten thousand members West Route Wing Were gathered at the place called Nijiayingzi ,f,?.j if--=f in Zhangyie *-.ff! county. The M r us 1m warlords used seventy thousand troops to surround them. The Women Van guard Brigade had only about six hundred soldiers left. Facing an enemy seven times larger than itself, the West Route Wing engaged in another one-month defense and started to break through eastward on February 21 . This break out was a victory, which led to a comeback to Nijiayingzi five days later. The second break out was heading southward to Qilian Mountain~]fit,J./ . In March 1937, the troops arrived at Shiwo ~ ~ in Qilian Mountain and the women units were assigned the task of blocking at ' Liyuankou ~@ p . Being encouraged by fonner experiences of enjoying female POWs as sexual objects, the two attacking cavalry brigades of Muslim troops were determined to capture these women soldiers alive. The women units badly lacked ammunition: each soldier had fewer than ten bullets. The battle lasted only one hour with high morale on the enemy side and a bad ammunition situation on the women's side. Wang Quanyuan, 268 ' .. __..___,_, __ _ theB · ngade Commander, was captured with her comrades.23 On March 14, 1937, after an emergency meeting among all officers of Division Commanders and above, the remaining troops of the West Route Wing were divided into three branches for guerrilla Warfare. The remaining three hundred women soldiers were re-organized into the Women Independence Brigade again, with Tao Wanrong as the Commander, and Zhao Mingying ~ t1JJ * as the Deputy Commander. Many women soldiers fell over the cliff When the troop tried to break out through a perilous peak where fewer enemies were deployed. The women troops fought against ambushes, starvation, and temperature of minus 40 degrees centigrade along the Qilian Mountain. The final battle was caused by a bonfire, which was started by a group of women soldiers who had witnessed their comrades' death due to the freezing cold. Tao Wanrong and her comrade-in-arms fought to the end and were captured. In sum, the 1,300 women of the West Wing Anny suffered a tota11oss. Female POW s suffered gang rape, Jong term forced labor as concubines or maids in addition to the sufferings of their male counterparts. According to one source, the total number of ----- ------ -23 She was captured I f 24 Her commissar Wu Fulian died at the age of 27 outside her cell in jail. An a age o . . . . h ank . Other brigade rank ffi Zen Guanglan ff~ managed to disguise err , and was released With other sick POW O hicerth CgCP eached the second coalition with the CNP. Being recognized fr s w en e r . . . f: h 0rn the outset, Wang suffered all kinds of torture as well as enJoymg assistance rom ot er ~omen Pows. She mana cd t March l9 1939, only to find out that the CCP had a special policy to g O escape on ' ba k 'th· · Ward POWs of the West Route Anny: retrieve those who come c wi. ma year; examine carefully those who come ba k ·th . tw s· and refuse those who come back m three years. She was refused Pol' c wt m O year • · 'ed · & t f th h b . Jtely With a small amount of five silver yuan. Never havmg en 1~ on o e enemy, s e roke up l ~:s· Wang survived as an ordinary woman peasant, finally mh et ~th h 8 e~ h~band 1 ~~ng s.hhoudao ., 4 in 1981 h h d 1 d beco e a national leader by t at time. e is now 1vmg wit an ado , w o a a rea y m Pted son with a governmental pension of $2 per month· 269 excuted POWs of the West Route Wing was 3,267.24 No infonnation is available on how many of them were women. This study had identified 50 women POWs, among whom seven are survivors of being buried alive. All became ordinary citizens living u nd er poor conditions. One source states that altogether about 367 fonner women POWs are scattered in Gansu and Qinghai provinces (28%) as ordinary citizens (Dong, 1990). Some of them were assimilated into Islam, for which group this study has found th ree representatives. Women POWs suffered the ostracism even deeper than their male counterparts due to their gender. Most of them refused to be interviewed (Dong, 1990; Yuan, 1990). Fewer than 70 women soldiers managed to get back to their units (5%), including women officers with rank of company commander and above. They were returned when the CCP reached the second coalition with the CNP. Zeng Guanglan and Wu Chaoxiang *:.fllift continued to serve in the PLA, and Zeng was designated as a Lieutenant Colonel. Zhang Qinqiu became a national leader, but was forced to commit s . . . Uic1de during the Cultural Revolution. A few women POWs like Hua Quanshuang ~ ¼ ~ and Li Kai fen .;f -ff ;j.. managed to escape and get back to her unit on time. 25 Th A ·1 h . . ey were lucky woman colonels who served in the PL unt1 t elf retlfement. --- 24 --------- , Aceording t . . . du ted by local government m 1958, the total number of3,267 ki o an 10vest1gat1on con c . . 5/ed POWs was further divided into several categories: 2,609 were buned ahve; 575 were shot by gun; 2!:> Were burnt to death; 27 were dismembered alive (Dong, 1990)- . , . . Because sh had led h 1 ·nst forcing women POWs to be theIT captors concubines, L1 }( . e t e strugg e agru , de 1 · . a1fen was al bea d h B t he later managed to talk an enemy s or r y mto supporting h most ten to eat . u s . . . er. Togeth . h POW the three of them escaped. L1 has been a close fiiend ofth1s er wu another woman , ed ber. ·1 h author's i .1 fi ybody that she had been captur 1ore, unu er name am1 Y, but I had never heard roman . . . Was come u · h f h ·tten records of the oral Ju story. Havmg been captured 1s a taboo Pon w en I read some o t e wn even for those lucky survivors. 270 I ·:1 i 11,· 'II ! !!i I ,, j I;:/ I ,I I l,1 '" "I ,1 ,,, ----~ ... -- In sum, from the ~0,000 women Red Anny guerrilla fighters, to the 8,000 Participants of Long March, this generation of women soldiers has experienced the hardest struggles with bravery, loyalty, mutual support, and spirits of sacrifice. Their military part· · · · d h 1· • 1c1pat1on 1s the longest, largest, an t e most comp teated one m China's hist0ry. Heroism is a common characteristic for these women Red Anny soldiers. Women of this group also suffered the most from the war, given the degree and scale of hardship they have gone through. To simply survive all those risks of death, torment, st arvation, and hardship, is the hardest test of human strength. Most of these women soldiers have toiled in anonymity. Many of the dead bodies of women casualties were mutilated with cut breasts and sticks inside the genitals. Many of the women POWs Were humiliated by gang rape, forced labor, repeated sale, and sexual slavery by their captors (Dong, 1990; Yuan, 1990; Li & Liu, 1991). Survivors among these POWs were further silenced by ostracism, their humble social status and poor lives. To provide detailed answer to the question of why they participated in the first place is beyond the scope of this dissertation, though many have given the reasons of escaping from slavery at home as child-brides, escaping from unhappy marriage, being inspired by seeing glamorous women warriors in uniforms, and being stimulated by the communist ideology indoctrinated by Red Army propaganda (All China Women's Federation, 1989; Li & Liu, 1990). Only a few expressed regret that they had joined the Red Anny. Almost all cherish the memory of being a woman Red Army soldier (Dong, l 990). 271 ,, " , ' Military Women in Anti-Japanese War and Liberation War Period Despite the continuation of an internal war, the consolidation of Red Anny and Nationalist forces in the late 1930s to oppose the Japanese invasion presaged the abandonment of an ideologically egalitarian definition of women's military roles, and saw Women relegated to support functions . The Yanan~*' (Yan' An in some Western scholarship) period after the march (193 5-1945) was a time of recuperation and reorganization for the Red Anny, which in August 193 7 became the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolution Anny under an agreement with the Nationalists to fonn a United Anti-Japanese Front. During this period the few remaining women in the Red Anny Were joined by thousands of young anti-Japanese women, but the military roles played by women in the Yanan period were noncombat and auxiliary. Women served in nursing, communications, clerical, propaganda, and logistical fields . Many of them spent time at political, medical, or art schools at Yanan. They participated actively in economic production. In short, Yanan was the main Anti-Japanese base of the CCP, While most of the Anti-Japanese battles were fought in other places. Table 8. 7 on the foJJowing pages lists 165 women combatants in the Chinese Anti-Japanese war from 1931 to 1945. Seven of them joined the military operation in Previous sub-periods, and two participated in combat of the next sub-period. For two there Was no infonnation on their geographic origins, while information existed for 128 anct 3 5 had the places of their participation registered here. There was background inforn.. · • uiation for 99, but not for 66. 272 !' ti :1 ,, II .. I/ :i I/ ., Table 8.7 Women Combatants in Anti-Japanese War Period (1931-1945) # Name _ Date · Origin Ethn.i SES Rank Mil CMB Note (Battle) . (PRCT F:Father Skil T place) H:Hus- Time ' ' band l An Shunfu 1920- Heilongjiang Han orphan squad No Yes one of the eight women *]@l#i 1938 Linkou leader soldiers committed suicide in CMBT 2 BaZengxiu (1941- Inner-Mongolia Mongol guerrilla No Yes Daqingshan guerrilla team e.,Jf 1s- fighter died in child birth 3 Cai Yifei (1937- Zhejiang Han bandit guerrilla Yes Yes killed over 70 and captured 12 •--'t Tai Lake team enemy in the first battle after leader change 4 Chen Guixiang (1937- Shandong Han peasant militia Yes Many engaged in mine etc. Guerrilla ~ti.¼ 1945) Haivang, l warfare 5 Chen Jieping 1913- Inner-Mongolia Mongol city cadre No No worked in battlefront ~~_,_ Huhehaote intel 9 mobilization committee of the Second District 6 Chen Jingwen 1915- Hubei Han rich cadre No No guerrilla warfare in occupied ~ -l- j:_ 1990 Zaoyang H:Liu 9 area of eastern Xiyao Hubei, cultural education :M~~ 7 Chen Lan 1912- Fujian Han 6 leader No No The New Fourth Anny ~~ Longyan H:Deng 9 Jiangbei Headquarters Zihui mobiliz ~-r·~ staff 8 ChenMuhua 1921- Zhejiang Han H: Zhong leader Yes No one of the two women cadets 1* !t~ Qingtian Yi IO in staff training in Yanan +ra 9 ChenRuoke 1919- Guangdong Han child cadre No No Eighth Route Anny 1**k. 1941 Shunde worker Cadre School died in battle I 10 Chen Shanping I 1919- I Jiangsu I Han I political No Yes propaganda work, one of the ~.f-f Tongshan officer two women in mil. operation ( #if.) 9 in the whole annv 11 Chen Shaomin 1902- Shandong Han poor Deputy No Many Central Plain Military Zone ~,- 1977 Shouguang peasant CMSR One of the few who (JJ- . ~f-) H :Ren 4, 10 commanded, organized and ' Guozhen led large scale . :; ... * 00 ;ffl military ooerations 12 Chen Xiaoying 1922- Guangdong Han poor political Yes Yes Dongjiang Guerrilla team '* !{_lj 1942 Xinhui officer arrested in CMBT died in jail 13 ChenYuhua (1941-) Northeast Han radio Yes Yes 3rd Army of the Allied Army ~.l..1¥ operator died in combat 14 ChenYuxia ?- (Anhui) Han soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Army soldier, ~.l..'tt 1942 arrested and killed after the "Wannan Incident" by CNP 15 Chen Zhao 1921- Northeast Han poor political Yes Many trained in CNP's women com ~w.l 1945 child officer 1938, Dongjiang Branch worker 1945, died in combat 16 Chen Zhongbo (1932) (Shanghai Han student dare-to-die Yes Yes one of the three women of ~{'f~f.l Kunshan Front) member Sichuan AJ Volunteers 17 Cui Jishu (1941-) Northeast Korean poor guerrilla No Yes 2nd Army of Allied Army -~~ fighter arrested, two eyes cut out, tortured to death 18 Cui Jinshu (1934) Northeast Korean poor guerrilla No Yes died in combat when tried to J.4'~ fighter rescue a comrade 19 Dai Guvin (1938) (Zhejiang Han intel bt. Yes Yes first aid on front, logistic --~½ Shamcing) CMND sunoort 20 Dai Xiri.gqun . · 1911- Hubei Han rich medical No Yes remained in base when Red ---~ .. 1939 Hongan H: Zhang doctor Army was on Long March, Tixue treated many, dismembered ,. .' *-#-~ alive by enemy 21 Ding Zhihui 1918- Jiangsu Han Medical No Many first aid in Huangqiao T;t*+ 1980 Wuxi Doctor campaign 2, 8 Korean War I 22 DongRuqin I (1937) I (Shanxi) Han student deputy Yes No 8th Route Army Military §:~~ team Training Team, women unit leader 23 Du Wei 1920- Henan Han H: Feng political No No 5th Division of the New .tl,Jj, Xinyang Renen officer 9 Fourth Army blinded ·when )~{.:..~ labeled as rightist 24 FanXiman 1915- Henan Han poor political No Many Henan Biyang Guerrilla Team, ~itJ ~ Zhoukou student officer New Fourth 9 25 Fang Lan 1921- Guangdong Han grewupin political No Seve- Guerrilla warfare -:t .¥. Shunde HongKong officer ral Dongjiang Brigade 9 26 Fu Guihua (1942) Guangdong Li peasant guerrilla No Many logistic, communication, ;fti.tt Hainai Island fighter combat 27 FuZhaonan 1927- Hubei Han political Yes Yes 359 Regiment, cultural work, ,H-~till Zhongxiang officer 9 mobilization, social suooort 28 GaoErhua (1937) (Shanxi) Han student cadet Yes Yes cadet of Shanxi 11th women ~~~ comnanv died in combat 29 Gao Fei 1919- Hubei Han city cadet Yes No Tangchi Military and Political ~~f Wuchang official Training Class (~';fl .. ~) 30 GeBaoyun (1941-) Northeast Han political Yes Yes 5th Army of the Allied Army ~$:-f;;- director Women Brigade 31 GuXiuying (1937) Kuala Lumpur Han overseas guerrilla No No Dongjiang Overseas Chinese *~* Chinese fighter Wensen T earn, front service 32 Guan Lin 1922- Hebei Han artist singer 9 No No Jizhong Military Zone Front of# Xinan Cultural Troops (.lf#--) 33 Guo Gui/in ?- (Wusihun Han soldier No Yes one of the eight women ~ti. "7 1938 River) committed suicide in CMBT 34 Hao Zhiping 1922- Henan Han H:Luo political Yes Many Deputy Director ~}~-t Linzhang Ruiqing officer (m-~) 7 J.t~ 2, 8 35 He Bing 1922- Guangxi Han student political No No propaganda work 5th Division ,t,;fi,f( Lipu 9 of New Fourth Army <*- ,k- t~) - -- - ----- - - - ~----·---- -~ I 36 I He Yulan / (1937) / Kuala Lumpur I Han I overseas I guerrilla I No I No Dongjiang Overseas Chinese 1ri~ Chinese fighter Wensen Team, front service 37 Hong Wenguo Man mother of guerrilJa No Yes sending all children to fight i#x.W guerrilla fighter three of them died, fight along leader side others 38 Hu Peng 1916- Shandong Han student actress No No Jinchaji Military Zone lA,iVJ Laiyang 8 Political Dept. Kangdi (:f71-'1~ ) Cultural Trooos 39 Hu Xiuzhi ?- (Wusihun Han soldier No Yes one of the eight women .t}l ft .t. 1938 River) committed suicide in CMBT 40 Huang Guiqing ?- (Wusihun Han soldier No Yes one of the eight women ~~17t 1938 River) committed suicide in CMBT 41 Ji Yuxiu ?- Jiangsu Han college cadre No No one of the three women ic. a ~ 1939 Suqian student leaders on front died of illness 41 \ Jiang Tao 1915- Jilin Han student guerrilla Yes Yes Shanxi 11th women company, };l.. i\ 1940 Yanji soldier arrested (4-~ 9l) cadet and killed 43 Jiang Zhonghua 1909- Hubei Han poor logistic No No 5th Division of New Fourth }.L ~, ~ Xiangyang H: Jian officer Army (i.1. ~ i:) Wen 9 ~ j:_ 44 Jin Bowen 1918- Jilin Korea H:Li cadre No Yes Northeast Anti-Japanese ½1a:i:. Wangqing Zhaolin 9 Volunteer Anny & Allied 4~t• Annv 45 Jin Gemuzhai (194 1- Northeast Man deputy No Yes 5th Anny of the Allied Anny ½~~f team Women Brigade leader 46 JinRushi (1932) (Shanghai Han student dare-to-die Yes Yes one of the three women of ~ .k Kunshan front) member Sichuan AJ Volunteers 47 Jin Shunji 1910- Jilin Korea l No Yes reconnaissance ½JJ!fi ii 1932 Antu guerrilla bit O\\n tongue when tortured soldier killed 48 Jin Zhenji 1910- Korean Korea I No Yes died in combat ½!i'l w 1933 immigrant · guerrilla I 49 LeQun 1918- Shanghai Han I ,f$f 50 Leng Yun 1915- Heilongjiang Han *i;;- 1938 Huachuan {~;t ~) 51 LlBozbao (1937) (Shanxi) Han ~1#J41l .. 52 Li Fengdi {1937) Kuala Lumpur Han 4-it"*f, 53 Li Fengshan ?- (Wusihun Han 4-R-I- 1938 River) 54 Li Landing 1930- Zhejiang Han 4-liT Haining 55 Li Lin 1916- Fujian Han 4#- 1940 Minhou (4~~) 56 LiMin 1924- Heilongjiang Han 4.t (4 ~.fJl) Luobei 57 LiQing (1941- (Guangdong) Han 4-t 58 Li Shuhuan 1894- Guangdong Han 4~~ 1941 Heshan 59 Li Yuzhen (1944) (Guangdong) Han 4:~Jt 60 Li Yun 1923- Hebei Han 4-:iz (4: ~ t') 1945 Wanping city political Yes rich officer student 1 Yes political director H: Yang team Yes Shangkun leader #Ji~~ overseas guerrilla No Chinese fighter soldier No medical Chief Yes Nurse 2 8 overseas Bt. 1 Yes Chinese political merchant Instructor Korean leader Yes immigrant political officer 10 station No leader intel 1 No H :Guo Furong ~'&~ nurse Yes 5 No guerrilla soldier Yes Many No No Yes Many Many No Yes Yes Yes Yes New Fourth Army, Ninbo 40 I grouo, iruerrilla warfare 9 5th Army of Allied Anny, gave away baby, one of the "Eight Women" who committed suicide in C:MBT 8th Route Anny Military Training Team women section leader Dongjiang Overseas Chinese Wensen Team, front service one of the eight women committed suicide in CMBT model first aid on front CMSR of guerrilla team Eighth Route Anny, 120 Di,hsion, died in combat logistic, medical, parachute training in Soviet camp information, logistic, POW, transoortation work sent all seven children in Anti-Japanese war first aid on front arrested and killed won medal when joined in combat Wanping Anti-Japanese Base died in combat ' I 'I I 61 I Lin Bin 1922- Hebei Han I peasant political No No classified staff, POW work, #-.#J Anping H: Li Jiayi officer medical, personnel (#.&-ft ) 4:*-~ 9 62 Lin Hong ?- (Anhui) Han soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Army soldier, #.tr. 1942 arrested and killed after the "Wannan Incident" bv CNP 63 Lin Wan 1912- Guangdong Han overseas Party No Yes Zhujiang Brigade Command #.lie. 1945 Panyu Chinese secretary died in combat 64 LinXinping 1919- Zhejiang Han student 1, 4, 5 Yes Many guerrilla warfare, New Fourth #-·~-t 1942 Pingyang Army Deputy Command of (#-~~) Cultural Troops, arrested & killed 65 LinZhenyu (1931- Heilongjiang Korean poor guerrilla Yes Yes so-called modem Hua Mulan, #-ffl..J.. fighter Ningan ruerrilla team 66 LiuQiuju (1942- Guangdong Han poor guerrilla Yes Many legendary heroine, Women ~l~~ Hainan Island 1 Secretarv of Oiongya branch 67 Liu Xingya 1929- Henan Han intel 5 Yes Yes influenced by communist ~lit.~ Xihua H:Wang radio father to join young, POW Dinglie operator survivor, 9 ..I.;tl!l. 68 Liu Yaxiong 1901- Shanxi Han student guerrilla No Yes organizer of guerrilla team in ~l~~ Xingcounty leader 10 southeast Shanxi 69 Liu Yiqing ?- Jiangsu Han student guerrilla No No county Party secretary ~l-7k 1941 Nanjing H:Ma soldier arrested and killed, baby (:~IJ ~*") Shitu daughter survived .!!J i?-ii: 70 Liu Zhen 1930- Shandong Han begging 5, 9 No No propaganda, cultural, j1J.A- Xiajing with writer communication work in (~l 7k il.) parents Eighth Route Armv 71 LiuZiyun (1939) (Guangdong Han local leader No No VP of Zhongshan War-time j1J'f-zz Zhongshan) influential Women Association for fight against Japan's Hengshan landin~ I 72 I Lu Jifang I (1 938) I (Zhejiang Han J local leader No J No honorable battalion CMND of PM.* Shaoxing) influential Women's bt 73 Lu Ming ?- (Anhui) Han soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Army soldier, g SJ! 1942 arrested and ki11ed after the "Wannan Incident" bv CNP 74 LuoMingde · 1916- Hubei Han student medical No Yes 5th Division of the New J~tt Huanirn:ang team chief FounhAnnv9 75 LuoQiong 1911- Jiangsu Han Student polit ical No No the New Founh Anny 1 J,f. Jiangvin officer 9 oolitical instructor 9 76 Ma Yi 1918- Henan Han political No Yes baby died when covering for !¼ -st. Gong countv officer 2, 9 wounded 77 MoRuzhen (1937) (Guangxi) Han student political Yes No Guangxi Girl Student Army ~~It officer Party's work 78 Niu Luoxiang 1921- Henan Han student political No Yes guerrilla warfare 4~*1 Jiyuan H :Tan officer gave births to three babies Fuping husband died in combat ~ llf I, ' ' 79 Ou Jinxiong 1923- Malaysia Han overseas political No Many Dongjiang Guerrilla Brigade ~ 1'3 ~ 1980 Chinese officer 2, 9 80 Pei Manna (1938) (Henan Han leader Yes No the Fifth District AJ Youth ~t.#J Huangchuan) Army Group Women Team CMND 81 PengQing 1915- Hebei Han peasant cadre No No county mobilization center, i§-t Boyie student 9 Southern Tianjin (i; it 91) Self-defense armv 82 Pian Lianhe (1941- Northeast Han com. Yes Many 5th Army of the Allied Army >t ~ ~ CMND Women Brigade Team Leader 83 Qian Shurong 1928- Zhejiang Han city actress No Yes New Founh Anny 3rd «.~~ 1983 Hangzhou student 8 Di"ision Cultural Troops died of illness I 84 Qian Ybtg 1903- Hubei Han I poor I leader I No I Yes organizer of Honghu *~ 1973 Xianrung student 4, JO Guerrilla Troops H:Tan guerrilla died in the cultural revolution Shoulin --~# 7 85 Qin Yun 1917- Henan Han political No No 5th Division of New Fourth --~ Tanghe officer 9 Army mobilization work 86 . Qiu Chengchun 1902- Korean Korea logistic No Yes Allied Army 6th Army *->&..'- 1938 immigrant officer Uniform Factory Chief 87 Ren Xiao 1918- Hubei Han logistic Yes No cadet of AJMPU, captured and *'t 1942 Wuchang officer killed when sending supply to the front 88 Rong Guanxiu 1897- Hebei Han poor model No No Eighth Army Wounded \ #.aft Pingshan peasant Army Soldiers Transport Station Support Chief Model 1 89 \ She Lin 1923- Hubei Han 5 political No No Central Hubei military zone %#- Fang county officer 9 headouarters 90 I Shen Jingshu ~½~ (1941- (Northeast) Han intel. Yes Yes arrested, bled to death 91 ShenZijiu 1898- Zhejiang Han H:Hu cadre No No New Fourth Army ~~~ Deqing Yuzhi 9 headerquarter #l~:Z. 92 Shi Qi 1922- Zhejiang Han 6 confiden- Yes Yes New Fourth Army headquarter ~~ 1942 Pinghu child tial staff, buried alive after worker radio op. Wannan Incident 93 Su Xiuzhen 1915- Henan Han medical medical No Yes President of Field Hospital l.1t .Ii:- Qingyang doctor 9 94 Sun Weili 1925- Henan Han 5 guerrilla No Yes 5th Division of New Fourth ,1,J,.~JJ!. Xinyang H:Luo soldier, Army Menggang staff, 2, 9 guerrilla warfare in south 1 -1. ~1J Shaanxi area 95 Sun Yi 1914- Guangdong Han political No No Party organization, military -l•J·~ Zhongshan officer 9 reporter, N 00 - I 96 I Sun Yumin I -1,}.L.t 97 Tian Hua ££11(1. (~J ~)t.) 98 Tian Yu ££1~ 99 Wang Ce £ .Jilt 100 . Wang Chunhong £.:1--!l: 101 WangGuang £)t 102 WangHuimin £~~ 103 WangLan £1;_ 104 Wang Li £jffi 105 WangRuihua £.Jt, 1/l 106 Wang Xi £Ill. (£4*~) 107 Wang Yang j.!.}f 108 Wang Yi £,(x__ 1929- Shandong I Han Haivan_g 1928- Hebei Han Tang county 1917- Hubei Han Wuhan 1918- Hebei Han 1943 Lichang (1937) KualaLumpur Han 1921- Shanxi Han 1943 Yuncheng ?- (Wusihun Han 1938 River) ?- (Anhui) Han 1942 (1942) (Guangdong) Han 1920- Hubei Han 1990 Yingcheng 1919- Hubei Mus- Wuhan lim ?- (Anhui) Han 1942 1917- Shaanxi Han Qingjian poor militia No Many "sparrow warfare",etc peasant 1, 9 poor 5,8 No No Jingchaji Military Zone orphan actress Kangd.i Cultural troops mo\>ie star city dancer No No Yan An Allied Defense Army student 9 Propaganda Team intel 1 No No organizer of front support college arrested & killed grad overseas guerrilla No No Dongjiang Overseas Chinese Chinese fighter Wensen Team, front service student l No No organizer of front support arrested & killed soldier No Yes one of the eight women committed suicide in CMBT soldier Yes Yes · New Fourth Army soldier, arrested and killed after the "Warman Incident" bv CNP overseas nurse Yes Yes arrested and killed Chinese student President No Yes political officer, field died of illness hospital 9 student political No No classified, dependents, H:Zhang officer political work, cultural Zhiyi 9 education * A.It.- soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Anny soldier, arrested and killed after the "Waruian Incident" by CNP student political No No New Fourth Army Mil officer 9 Medical Section I 109 I Wang Yizhi I 1916- I Heilongjiang Han bt . Yes Many Northeast Allied Army ..£.-~ 1987 Yilan CMSR 5th army radio battalion (1fs!ti.ff) 4, 9 110 Wang-Yixia , (1937) Shanxi Han guerrilla Yes Many leader of peasants' militia .f.#~ Lifen leader trooos lll WangYuhuan (1942- (Northeast) Han bt. Yes Yes one of the three women team .l..-1~ CMND leader of 5th Army of the Allied Anny Women Brigade 112 WangYuecun 1910- Shandong Han guerrilla No Yes Eighth Route Army 10th .l. 11 # 1981 Linzi soldier Brigade Cultural Troops 9 Chief 113 WangZhe 1916- Jilin Han officer Yes Yes propa. Team chief 115th .l.~ Fuyu 9 Division Indep. bt . 114 Wang Zhiping 1926- Hubei Han city political Yes Yes 359 Regiment - -¼: -t a,~ Wuhan officer 9 115 WangZhuan (1938) (Zhejiang Han student bt. Yes No Zhejiang Shamong Women ~~~ Shaoxing) CMND Battalion 116 w ei G<>rigt.bi 1907- Henan Han cadet Yes Many supervising militia units in Jt~~ - Xinvang 2, 3,4 south Henan areas 117 WuXique 1924- Inner-Mongol Mongol student guerrilla No Yes support for 120th Division of P.,-4-~ 1948 Zhuezi H:Zhu soldier the Eighth Route Anny, Yushan Pingsui campaign, died in -*--3.. Jl9l- combat 118 Xia Ming 1909- Hunan Han H: Deng logistic No No Taihang Base Arsenal 1 l!Jl Jianghua Zongxia support Party Secretary ~~*- ~'t I. May 1st Anti-smash Oneration 119 Xiang Yunying 1920- Shanxi Han rich guerrilla Yes Yes one of the two women f.;J~* 1968 Wenshui H: Cheng 5, 9 participated in mil. operation ( f.;J ifil * ) Tan died in in Eryu area after Lugou :q _!-e cultural incident revolution 120 Xiao Lin 1919- Hubei Han F :Xiao guerrilla No Yes from guerrilla team to ~* Hanyang Lisan soldier New Fourth Army (~ 1"5) ~ ;f•J,;. propaganda work I 121 I Xiao Yang 1929- I Hubei I Han student cultural No Yes persisted in working ~FEl Wuchang 2, 5 personnel within the military (~ t: "r) units 122 XieBaozhen 1913- Shaanxi Han H: Yang political No No CNP's 10th Route Army, 1't1*.?l 1947 Xian Hucheng officer 17 died in jail with family ;f;,JtJi. 123 Xing Kerning 1918- Hebei Han Chief Yes Yes Jizhong Military Zone ~~B)l 1951 Aniruo Nurse 9 died of illness 124 XuChengshu ?- (Liangning Han peasant machine Yes Yes 1st Army of the Allied Army, *~~ 1939 Yanji) gun Y anji guerrilla team, died in onerator combat 125 Xu Ming ?- (Anhui) Han soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Army soldier, ~~ 1942 arrested and killed after the "Wannan Incident" bv CNP 126 Xu Ren ?- (Anhui) Han soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Anny soldier, ~.,, 1942 arrested and killed after the "Wannan Incident" by CNP 127 XuRumei 1918- Guangdong Han student political No Yes Qiongyia Independent -i+~~ 1943 Wenchang, officer Service Brigade Chief 128 Xu Weili 1918- Jiangsu Han political No Yes Jinchaji 4th Military t,:-~..i'.. Jintan officer Zone political director (~~*) 9 129 Xue Jinguo (1939) Guangdong Han local leader No No President of Zhongshan War- ~~00 Zhongshan influential time Women Asso. Fight against Hengshan landing 130 Yan Rong 1917- Sichuan Han 2,5 medical No Yes red army veteran ?5R 9 militarv medical units 131 Yang Guizhen 1920- Heilongjiang Han orphan squad No Yes one of the eight women ~it~ 1938 Linkou leader soldiers committed suicide in CMBT 132 YangHanxiu 1913- Sichuan Han Big guerrilla No No the Eighth Route Army ~~~ 1949 Guangan Warlord's soldier headquarter (~1l) niece arrested & killed I 133 I YangKebing I 1909- Liaoning Han political No Many guerrilla warfare 4h~* Haicheng officer 129th Dhision 11th regiment 4, IO deputv oolitical director 13..J Yang Ruinian 1916- Jiangsu Han city cadre No Yes cultural teacher, mobilization #)Jj;.ff- 1942 Zhenjiang teacher work, arrested & killed after (#} .fl; it.) "Wannan Incident" by CNP 135 Yang Shaozhen (1942- (Guangdong Han worker transport No Many in charge of railway transrx>rt #]j,'Jj- 1945) Dongiiang) ooerator from Guangzhou to Jiulong 136 Yang Wei 1919- Hubei Han student rx>litical No Yes 5th Zone propaganda work, ~~ 1941 Xiangyang officer 84th army 174th arrested & litical Yes No Guangxi Girl Student Army Ii~* officer Party's work 141 Yi ling 1915- Hubei Han Nurse medical No No delivered many babies Ii * Jingshan 9 in military medical units 142 Yu Sen 1917- Shandong Han peasant front No No logistic supJX)rt -tA. 1942 Wendeng sunoort arrested & killed 143 Yu Jing (1938) (Anhui Han team Yes Yes New Fourth Army -t.ri;t Jing county) leader Headquarter Training Brigade Women Section 144 Yuan Li 1917- Hubei Han poor guerrilla No Yes logistic SUPJX>rt, mobilization ~1...:-~ 1940 Ercheng worker cadre arrested and killed 145 Yun Shubi (1941- Inner-Mongolia Mongol guerrilla No Yes disguised as man, Daqingshan -i;-l!f ~ 19..J3) fighter guerrilla team I 146 I ZengZhi I 1911- I Hunan Han H: Tao leader No Many creator of Erzhong Base nith •. , Yizhang Zhu 2, 4, 10 husband ~if 147 Zhang Gang 1917- Jiangsu Han educator leader No No CNP's 9th Group Army *~~ Yangzhou 9 Women Front Service C*-'1~) Brigade Chief 148 Zhang Hongzhi 1918- Jiangsu Han rich guerrilla No No Eighth Route Longhai *~-t Lianshui landlord soldier 9 Branch 149 Zhang Jieya 1922- Shanghai Han city account No Yes hospital of New Fourth army *-.1! Jlc. 1941 refugee died in combat (*-.:ti~ ) 150 Zhang Kaixiu 1916- Hubei Han student Chief No Yes first aid on front *-7f~ Yichang Nurse 8 151 ZhangL\*ing 1921- Sichuan Han city radio Yes Yes CCP's spy inside CNP's *-'.4- ' . 1945 Chongqing operator military intelligence radio, \ I, arrested and killed secretly 152 Zhang Qian 1922- Hubei Han H : Chen Yi political No No propaganda staff, political *- ~ 1974 Wuhan 1*4t officer 9 director 153 Zhang Xiaomei 1911- Hebei Han H : Xu leader No No organizer of Beijing Women *-Sk#t 1968 Baoding Bing 9 Front First Aid ( *- 'th .ft) ~* and Cheering Grouns 154 Zhang Yizhi (1944) Hong Kong Han medical medical Yes Yes Dongjiang Brigade, died when *~~ Team rescuing wounded soldiers Leader 155 Zhao Luyin 1916- Hunan Han student cadre No No organizer of soldiers' training, ~ ~114-- 1939 Yuevang buried alive when captured 156 , . Zhao Yiman · ?- Sichuan Han cadet Yes Many organizer and leader of AJ ~ - .l .:. ; 1936 Yibin 1, 3, 4 guerrilla in Northeast (½-~ .J.) arrested in combat when wounded, killed by Jaoanese 157 Zheng Liming (1941) Shanghai Han rich soldier No Yes arrested but escaped after the ~ 1aJl student Wanan incident 158 Zheng Suyan Han Yes No Tangchi cadet of Zengzhi, ~it.~ logistic SUPPOrt I 159 Zhou Jing 1917- Shanxi Han student intelJi- No No Tai}11e Military Zone ft]~ 1948 Dingxiang gence Taiyuan Information Station (}!J ~ l{ ) officer CMSR, arrested & killed 160 Zhou Ling ?- (Anhui) Han soldier Yes Yes New Fourth Army soldier, J!J.Jt 1942 arrested and killed after the ~wannan Incident" bv CNP 161 Zhu Jian (1927) (Shanxi) Han student cadet Yes Yes Shanxi 11th Women's cmpy, .,f;.. ~ died in combat 162 Zhu Lian ?- Jiangsu Han medical No No 129th Division Hygiene Dept. ;f;.~ 1978 · Liyang doctor Chief, president of field hospital 9 163 Zhu Shaozhen (1937) Kuala Lumpur Han overseas guerrilla No No Dongjiang Overseas Chinese ~:}' Jt Chinese fighter Wensen Team, front service 164 ZhuXinyu (1941- (Northeast) Han bt. Yes Yes one of the three women _;\;..~.!.. CMND leaders of the 5th Army of the Allied Armv Women Brigade 165 ZuoXiuuan (1938) (Henan Han student political Yes No 5th District AJ Youth Army £._w,j/_ Hengchuan) I I director Group Women Team ,AJ An . AJMp ti-Japanese efforts U Anti-Jan<>ne M 'l · . bt. ba . 1"'4'' se I ltary and Political University. CMN!) ttalion. CMSR co~~ander. com political officer who has the title of commissar. CCp C0~1pany. CNp Ch~nese Communist Party Chinese N 1· nai· · . J la a JO 1st Party (Kuommgtang). Pol D . panese. IT pol '· Pow . Hical director Pnsoner of war. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ?. 8. 9, 10. 1 1. 12. ~ Anti-Japanese Heroine. COntinued military participation in different historical periods. woman cadet who continued military participation. ~~mmanded military operation. Joined the armed forces as a teenager. sold as 1 ·1d · a c 11 -bnde at the young age. feet ~und in early childhood. ;::;:ained in the PLA with a rank of major and above. me a civilian cadre after l 949. ~comes a national leader. e1ther leader of guerrilJa team or woman minister of the local government. member of both CNP and CCP. Shadecf Pcr:iOd t cell means the subject participated and is listed in military operations during the folJowing 00. Shaded series nu be d · 1 · ed · ·1 · · Previo . m r means the subject participated an 1s 1st m m1 1tary operations during the us J)enod too. ~ Biographic o · · . ,£,e -,; 1 ... _L. ¢ ·:1 dlt · COmmitt ictiona_ry of Famous Women in Hua X1~J-r -"t. J1::2 ~ A:1 ~ 1o, ?t ], composition ee of Hua Xia Fu Nyu Ming Ren Ci Dian, Beumg: Hua Xia Publisher, 1988. Biogra hi . . . . COrnpil~ c Dictionary of Famous Women in the World m All Time.s'. [-# 4'-_ if" Jf- * .,i; A If: Jlf J, Telev· . by College of Chinese Women Administrative Cadres, Beumg: Chma Broadcasting and ision Publisher, 1989. Chen JI.A · , lVlJngfu , Chinese Women Warriors Through the Ages, {if" @ Jh ft*-* J, Beijing: Chinese Women Publisher, 1991 . Liu Ju . ' Celi (eds.) ~ntemoorary History of Chinese Women's Movement, China Women Publisher, 1989. 287 "The First Generation of Women Cadet in the Grand Revolutionary Waves: Women Cadet Team of Wuhan Central Military and Poli tical Academy", Chinese Women, 8th Issue, 1981. ~en Soldiers of Central Plain, fi rst volume, compiled by Yuer Base Revolutionary History editorazy and Hubei Provincial Women Federation, China Women Publisher, 1991. Xue, Weiwei (eds.). Who's Who of Chinese Women, [ 'f 00 *3 -k ,.& A 3f.. ], Shaanxi: People's Publisher, 1988. 288 - ~ ... - ~ Among the known ones, 11 were from rich and influential families, 1 was from an official's family, 3 were from medical doctors' families, 1 was from an artist family, 5 were from inteIIectual or educator's family, and 1 herself was registered as a nurse. This shows that 21 % of the Anti-Japanese women fighters were from middle-and -upper class famT 1 ies. Two were college students with one graduate student, 35 students, and one was from poor family. These students accounted for 38% of the women. Ten were overseas Chinese and one was a Korean immigrant. This group accounted for 11 % of the women. As for the group from the lower class, there were 2 from workers' families, 15 from peasants' families, J refugee, 1 beggar, 3 orphans, 2 child-brides, 2 child Workers, and 1 knight errant. They accounted for 27% of the women. Out of this sample, not selected scientificaliy, we may see clearly that people from a wide range of fa ·1 · mi Y backgrounds took part in the Anti-Japanese war. In particular, more people from rich and upper class families seen to have participated in this nation-wide patriotic movement. Thirteen· were from minor nationalities (8%), especiaJly representatives from the I -'" ti!!' Th hree 1 · · 1 di .,, ~ ~ Th de ead 1- Gemuzhai ,:t ,,..,,.~ r . e t women po rt1ca rectors ""J · e putv team J er was m . Were Ge Baoyun ~ 1.: -£:-, Leng Yu**· and Wang Yizh1 .l.-~. 291 Heixiaziyaogou ,f.. 8$-=f $; it) . In August, the women squad of the third army was 0rdered to support the assault launched by its Dagger Platoon. The squad managed to hide in a cornfield, and its sudden attack was successful with many captured materials. Military Training Two women cadets were trained at the Staff Training Team of the Eighth Route Army Anti-Japanese University: Chen Muhua ~ltf (now the highest ranking woman official in China), and Liu Yan M~ , who subsequently directed a program of high technology research for the PLA. About 120 women joined the Eighth Route Anny Military Training Brigade, located in Liu Village Town :M~f~ ofLinfen IJ~~ County in Shanxi province, in October 1937. These women cadets were headed by Li Bozhao, a Red Anny veteran, with Dong Ruqin :f #,~ as the Deputy Team Leader. Their life, stu~y and training were totally militarized. From the formal opening on November 7 to February 1938, these women experienced a thorough military training. All were sent to the Anti-Japanese front after graduation. About 200 women went through military training from October 193 8 to October 193 9 at Zhang Village *-# of Jing county is:. Jk. in Anhui province. This woman cadet team, headed by Yu Jing -fa\ , was subordinated directly to the headquarters of the New Fourth Army. Most of the cadets were students and women workers from Shanghai, Nanjing and other eastern cities. The majority of graduates were assigned to logistic support unit's subordinate to the headquarters. Some Were sent to do political and battlefield service work in the front. 292 _ ...... _=-::::_:-'"----,-~-:.::-_______ ... __ Women military training organizations sponsored by the CNP included the Anti- Japanese Youth Anny Group Women Cadet Team in the Fifth Military Zone, and a Women Cadre Training Institute in the Eighth Mass Anti-Japanese Self Defense Brigade in Guangdong province. The Women Cadet Team was formed at Huangchan ;,)t JI/ of Benan Province in January of 1938 with 300 women cadets. This team was headed by Pei Manna £ f tri with a female communist Zuo Xiuquan £. Jilb At as its political director. This team engaged in active agitation work by perfonning in southeastern Anh. ui areas. In the summer 9f 1939, the team was dismantled and women cadets were Sent to various Anti-Japanese bases. Women in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces went through ·1· · W · Sh mi 1tary training at various classes and Jocat10ns. omen m andong and Bebei provi . . d . . nces Jome armed upnsmgs. Women study teams and training classes were set up in many Anti-Japanese training centers such as the Shandong Military and Political Cadre School, the Shandong Anti~Japanese School of the Third Anny, and the Anti-Japanese military and political schools in Qiongya Brigade ofHainan Island. The highest concentration was of course in Yanan, where the women cadets' brigade totaled 654 persons in the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. Zhang Qinqiu, the heroic Brigade Commander on the Long March, was designated as the brigade leader of this team. Cadets started their study in November 1938. Three hundred young women obtained training at a branch in Shanxi in 1940. China Women's University was established in 1939 at Yanan, proposed by Mao Zedong. By the end of 1940, this university had developed into fourteen classes 293 with a stud t b d en o y of over a thousand. All these cradles created a whole generation of Women cadres for the Anti-Japanese movement, with military training as one of the ma· · · ~or mgred1ents of the education. Women's Armed Forces and Direct Combat Experiences The most influential women's armed forces at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese war Were the Guangxi Girl Student Anny (GGSA) and the Zhejiang Shaoxing Women Battalion (ZSWB). One hundred and thirty girl students joined the GOSA in September 193 7 . In November, they were trained militarily at Li Family Village 4 jft in the suburb of Guilin #.#. This team arrived in Eyuwan ~ftif;t Anti-Japanese front in February 1938, and engaged in battlefield propaganda work. 1n February 1939, GOSA arrived in the rear of the occupied district in Anhui province. Being afraid of sudden attack from the CNP the communists within the team were withdrawn to the New ' Fourth Army base and the team was discharged between April and May in 1940. Fourty five h h h ' ·1· · · Women members of the ZSWB went throug t ree mont s m11tary trammg starting 10 May 193 8. The Honorable Battalion Commander was Lu Ji fang /i ti :t- , but the actual heads were Wang Zhuan .£ff~ and Dai Guyin 'Jl~-t. In November 1938, the ZSWB took part in a night attack on Wangdian .£,4, where a branch of the Japanese invaders was stationed. The military objective was not to destroy the enemy, but to show the Anti-Japanese determination of the Chinese people. The ZSWB returned safely to its base after less than an hour's combat. Three newspaper articles Were published to maximize the psychological effects of the battle (Jiu Wang Daily, 294 . ,. ,, ,, i /. Guilin edition, May 12, 1939). The ZSWB engaged in other actions to harass the enemy. The troop was dismantled in early summer of 1940 (All China Women's ~ , 1989). Women's Military Operation in Anti-Japanese Bases Similar to the women combatants of AJAA in Northeast China, women actively Participated in guerrilla warfare at numerous Anti-Japanese bases all over the country. Many of these Anti-Japanese bases were established when the Anti-Japanese coalition Wa fc . s 0 nned between the CCP and the CNP. Red Army revolutionary bases were turned into Anti-Japanese bases. There were altogether nineteen of them. The most important ones Were Shanxi Anti-Japanese Base in North China; Jingehaji ff~- Base, which Was established by the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army (ERA) as the first Anti- Japanese base in the rear of the enemy occupied territory; Jinjiluyu ffl(.j-ffi Base formed by the 129th Division of the ERA; Shanganning fWftfy Base; the Shandong Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Base and the Dongjiang GuerrilJa Base in Guangdong. The massive anned forces among women were called Women Self Defense Army Js::§: ti JI~ (WSDA), a militia organization. One source states that in 1938, 46,000 Women joined the WSDA in Shanganning Base. In 1940, 1.58 million women Participated in WSDA in Shangangning, Jinchaji, Jinjiluyu and Shandong Bases. The total figure of women militia in Qiongya was 2,000. Another two thousand women militia were active in the Anhui area (History of Chinese Women's Movement, 1989). These wo .1 . . , . 1 · the Anti-Japanese struggle was combat support. men nu 1t1a s ma1or ro e m 295 ,, II This included al] the transportation, guarding, infonnation coUection, manufacture of unifonns d. l . , me 1ca care, laundry, cooking, etc. In 193 8, at the Shanganning Base alone ' th ere Were 1,600 medica] teams with 8,000 members; 825 uniform teams with 5,700 women; and 800 laundry teams with 4,100 members. Eighty thousand pairs of gloves and socks were made by these women in that year alone, plus 20,000 pairs of shoes. Women in Shandong made J 04,900 padded coats in the winter of 1939, and 72,300 pairs of shoes in 1940. AU these were free supplies until some compensation was paid for the labor a year Jater. In addition to shouldering the major task of production and construction in Anti- Japanese bases, women's destruction work incJuded cutting off electricity wires, damaging roads, and execution of traitors. A major part of the work was to hide all the usefuJ materials so that the enemies' supplies would be stopped. AU the struggles in Anti-Japanese bases helped stop Japan's penetration of China after they occupied Wuhan and Guangzhou in October 193g. Since then, the military objectives of Japan ~ere to attack the Anti-Japanese bases and get the CNP to surrender. In 1941 , the Japanese invaders started the "mopping-up" operations against the Anti-Japanese bases with 64% of their main forces and all the traitors' forces. These operations were guided by a famous policy called "three all": bum all, Jd]] all, and rob all. At the same time, the CNP launched the second anti-Communist peak. 21 Hu Zongnan's ;---- 7 Fr 0111 _ 1 ________ . mmunist peaks. The first one was from Dece be 939 to 1943, the CNP launched three anti.co be 1940 to March 1941 . The third was from Ill r 1939 t M h 1940 h d was from Octo r June 19 ° arc ; t e secon of sudden attack and massacre of communists. 43 to October the same ye.ar. All took the form 296 I #}61'} '" troops were added to 400,000 to surround the Shanganning Base. On January 6 , 1941, 80,000 of the CNP troops ambushed the 9,000 communist New Fourth Anny (NF A) at Jing county in Anhui province. After a fierce battle of seven days and nights, th e NFA's units had no ammunition left. Only about a thousand soldiers broke out, the Anny Commander Ye Ting "t ~ was wounded and captured, and the Deputy Commander Xiang Ying ;,:Ji* was killed. This so-called "Wannan Incident" d;ti¾J.f. j( Pushed the anti-Communist movement to the peak. Attacked by both the Japanese troops and the CNP's troops, the Anti-Japanese bases had severe losses. The total Population of all the AJ bases was reduced from 100 million to 50 mi1Jion; ERA was reduced from 400,000 to 300,000; and NFA was reduced from 135,000 to J 10,000. Women suffered the most in Japanese mopping-up operations since most of them Were militia with few and backward weapons, and no transportation facilities . The highest casualty figure came from Qiongya where 1,058 women cadres died. Hebei had a statistics of680 women martyrs, among whom 135 (21%) died between 1941 to 1942. The figure of women martyrs in Shandong was 277. This simple illustration does not include ordinary women in anonymity. About 30 women out of a total of 500 soldiers of the NF A were captured during the Wannan Incident. They were jailed at Shangrao J:. ~ Concentration Camp. Before they were moved away in May 1942, a female NF A COnfidential secretary named Shi Qi ;je, t, who had been gang raped after her capture Was buried alive. Two sick women POWs were shot. 28 A few NFA POWs escaped on ------------- la One was named Zhou Ling )!}.It, the other was called Wang Yang il-if. 297 ,, ,, I/ th e road after an uprising at Chishi iJF ,,& . In order to retaliate and warn against further rebellion ab h d d . . , out a un re POWs were shot on the spot, mdudmg seven women soldiers. 29 As is mentioned at the beginning of this section, many women of minority ethnic groups took part in the Anti-Japanese struggles too. This is another characteristic of Women's military participation in Anti-Japanese war. Wu Lan 1¾ it (1922-1986), Ba Zengxiu EJf t and Yun Shubi -i:ftf 1t were Mongolian women guerriJJa fighters . Wu Was trained both at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and China Women University in Yanan, while Ba and Yun were trained at Shangan Public School. They Were members of the Daqingshan ;k. ~ J., Guerrilla Team. All enjoyed legendary status among their own people. Hong Wenguo ~.i. l!J was from the Man nationality. She sent all her five sons and three daughters to Anti-Japanese guerrilla teams. As the It . mother of the guerrilJa team", she tried to participate as much as she could, even including ridding horses together with young fighters. Another heroic mother named Bai Wenguan t, ~M.. was a Muslim, whose son was a famous Anti-Japanese guerrilla leader of the Chinese Muslims. Knowing the enemy would use her to negotiate with her son When captured, she went on a hunger strike and starved to death. These heroic women exemplified the patriotism among Chinese ethnic minorities. Th 2 2 ·ii · Ant' Japanese militia in Shandong province during the ere were . rru 10n 1- eight ye . ged among many women militia there. One was ar war. Some heroines emer --- 29 'In -------- · ~ _i. t Xu Ren $-+n, Wang Lan..:£. ~, Lin Hong #. i ese seven women soldiers were: Chen YuXIa ' . . ¥;~.if- ~ . Xu Ming -f:t: IJ}J , Lu Ming & 11J} , and Yang Rutman . 298 --- • a a _.._..._. - ----~--- called Sun Yumin .:f,J.,.l...jt who ki11ed 17 enemies. Another woman peasant named Chen Guixiang 1*#. ¼ was famous for her mining ski11. Once eight enemy were killed by her self-made mines. The largest group of Anti-Japanese women soldiers was located in Hainan Island. For example, when the total Anti-Japanese force there was expanded to 4 ,ooo in 1942, women comprised 12%. When the troops grew to 7,000 in 1944, the Women soldiers accounted for 15%. These women were in charge of all logistic support, including cooking and medical care. Fourty one percent of the total casualties of991 in th ese troops were women too. There were over 200 women medical personnel in the Dongjiang Brigade, another Anti-Japanese main force in Guangdong province. In the Winter of 1944, a nurse named Li Yuzhen .t..1.Jt participated in combat. Once she led soldiers across a river to chase the escaping enemy. There was a women transportation team subsidiary to the Dongjiang Brigade. Women soldiers such as Li Qing 4:-fr and Yang Shaozhen ¼ j' ~ had turned the Jocal railways into guerri1la fighters' reliable transportation at nights. Fighting along with all these new participants were of course many veteran Women soldiers such as Chen Shaomin, Qian Ying, Wei Gongzhi, and Zeng Zhi. By the time of the Anti-Japanese war period, they were already we11 known national leaders. In sum, in an eight year time span, about 527,000 Japanese invaders were either killed, wounded, captured or surrendered in 125,000 battles. The CCP developed into a Party with 1.21 mi11ion members, 1.2 million armed forces and 2.2 million militia support in a total area of 130 million population. As had been feared by leaders of the CNP, the 299 CCP grew rapidly in the nation-wide Anti-Japanese efforts. The common feelings of patriotism had mobilized women of different ethnic groups, different parties, from overseas Chinese, and from different family backgrounds to fight together against the invaders during this trying time. Women suffered the heaviest casualties in this war compared with those in previous ones. Heroines from this period have shown greater diver ·t · h · SI Y mt eir representation. They participated in direct combat, and their major roles in war time included all forms oflogistic support. Another major feature of this participation was that guerrilla fighters participated in operations of the regular forces, While regular soldiers also engaged in guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla forces had different formations too. Most of them were militia organizations. There were specialized guerrilla teams all over the Anti-Japanese bases. Women were seen in all these formations, with a heavier concentrations in guerrilla teams and militia. More military training was given to women participants. Key veteran women soldiers played important roles in organizing and commanding the military operations. Generally speaking, women on the CNP side were engaged mainly in philanthropic activities, logistic support and propaganda work in major cities, although more research is needed before any firm conclusion can be drawn. Women Soldiers in the Third Civil War (1947-19SO) The pattern of mobilizing women in auxiliary support roles continued through the third civil war period 0945_1949), which is also called the liberation war. During this 300 war, the Eighth Route Army officially became the People's Lib~ration Army (PLA). In addition to the women cadres within the PLA, women militia and thousands of women in th e Liberated Areas played important roles in combat support. Table 8.8 lists women combatants in this period. Women's Defense of the Liberated Areas The third civil war was started in June 1946 when Jiang Jieshi ordered a full scale attack on th I'b · · A · 'd · ·1 · e I erated areas m the central plam. nation-WI e c1v1 war was qmckly spread. Women of the liberated areas were forced to get armed and engaged in self- defense. The mobilization of women reached an unprecedented scale. For example, in Liandong ~ ,f., county of the liberated area in Anhui, 2,000 women militia were organized in two weeks. One single effort in Jinjilu Base recruited 3,000 women soldiers. There were 226 261 women militia and 1,024,724 women self-defense ' members in Shandong (All China Women's Federation, 1989). As consistent with the Pattern described so far, outstanding women warriors emerged out of this large scale articipation. There was a Yang Kebing ;#h,tiJF. , a company commander of a women's company in the battlefields of Northeast China. Wu Lan, the Mongolian woman commissar discussed in the Anti-Japanese war period, continued her command of the cavalry unit. Liu Hucheng ;,JJt~ was a militia heroine in East China who engaged in numerous smaII scale battles, leading her allied defense team. Another legendary woman Warrior in the region was Li Lanying ~.#.~, who was called "red gun woman general" 301 \;) 0 N Table 8.8 Women Combatants in the Third Civil War Period (1946-1950) # Name Date Origin Ethnic ·- sEs Rank Mil CMBT Note (Battle) (PRCT F:Father Skil Time - -place) - H:Husband 1 Chen Ming 1926- Jiangsu Han dancer political No No the Third Field Anny Group cultural '* SJl Suzhou officer troops 9 2 Chen Yan (1948) (East Han radio Yes Yes First Class People's Hero f$,~ China) operator 3 Deng 1904- Sichuan Han peasant guerrilla Yes Many Huayingshan armed uprising in 1948, Huizhong 1949 Yuechi leader killed in Chongqing Sino-American ~.~'f Cooneration 4 - Ding Zhihui 1 1918- Jiangsu Han city medical Yes Many Jingz.hou, Shenyang, Tianjin campaigns, T;~4 1980 Wuxi doctor 2, 8 five time model 5 Fan Sujing (1945- Han medical Yes Many First Field Hospital, Central China rt-t-lt 1947) doctor Military Zone 6 Gan Wenying (1948) Han medical Yes Many The Third Field Army "*~~ doctor 12th Division 1 7 Gu Bin (1947- Han guerrilla No Yes guerrilla warfare in enemy's occupied ~a.. 1948) fighter area 8 Guo Junqing Inner Han poor political No Many disguised as a man for five years, 1 ~~"' Mongolia peasant officer Lindong 5 9 HuFangyu 1926- Sichuan Han merchant guerrilla No Many Hunan February Uprising ~*~ 1949 Liangping fighter killed in Chongqing Sino-American (~**) cooperation 10 Jian4-::~tng (1946) Han medical Yes Many six battles in one year, first aid on front, personnel wounded, 2 11 Jiang Suyun (1946) Han medical Yes Many The Third Field Army Group i.J.-t~ personnel Lunan, Laiwu campaigns I 12 r LiLanding . I 1930- I Zhejiang I Han I medical Medical Yes Many model nurse, wounded when first aid on .:f:~T Haining Team the front leader 13 LiQun 1930- Jilin Han peasant medical Yes Yes Chief Nurse 8 4tf Huinan 14 Li Yuzhen Han company Yes Many Dongjiang Brigade, independent mil -t~n- command operation for eight months 15 Liang Guihua 1924- Shandong Han poor political Yes Many 5th Division of New Fourth Army, only -*it~ 1947 Wei county peasant officer woman in Jiangnan Guerrilla Brigade, iumned cliff when arrested 16 LiuHucheng 1918- Jiangsu Han peasant militia Yes Many guerrilla warfare, 1 ~'lit~ Tai county heroine 17 Liu Hulan 1932- Shanxi Han poor front No No killed by enemy in front of the whole ~l!f-1~ 1947 Wenshui peasant support village ,,Ji;,i;.. 18 MaXinger 1924- Shaanxi Han poor militia No Yes died in the defense of Yanan ~~Jl.. 1947 Heng,shan peasant fighter 19 Quan 1909- Beijing Man Official guerrilla No Yes Propaganda work ofFengdu Gen,ing 1945 College Guerrilla team, arrested and killed 1:- ~ Stud 20 Shi Chunying 1925- Shandong Han poor guerrilla No Yes Northeast Liberation area ~~* 1946 Xixia neasant ficllter . dismembered alive bv enemv 21 Su Ru (1948) Han cultural No Yes propaganda, first aid on front East China 1i:~ worker Field Anny 22 Sun Weishi 1921- Sichuan Han s political No Yes Taiyuan Liberation campaign .:J,J,$-\lt 1968 Nanxi work famous movie director 9 23 WangHuimin Han political No Many 19th Army Group Propaganda team .:E.."!..t. officer 24 Wang Tieqin (1946) Han medical Yes Many The Third Field Army Group i~Jf oersonnel Lunan, Laiwu camnai1ms 1 25 I Wei Gongzhi I 1908- Henan I Han 1 1st genera- I leader Yes Many Xinyang Brigade CMSR cultural work ;!,~:t: 1973 Xinyang tion 2, 3, 4, 9 (1905) ofwomen cadet 26 WuLan Inner- Mon- college political Yes Many Mongolian Independent Brigade, CMSR 11,Ji Mongolia gl student officer Zhuosuotu 27 Xia Jinghan 1928- Liaoning Han dancer political No No Northeast Democratic Allied Army :Cft~ officer Political Dept. 28 Xie Wenqing 1929- Shandong Han poor leader No No came out of hidden place to rescue if~~ 1947 Laixi oeasant villagers, killed 29 Xu Jingwen 1929- Jiangsu Han F : Xu political No No Regiment Propaganda staff in the Third tt:a3t Yixing Beihong officer Field Army Group ~&~ 30 YaoJian Han medical medical No Many killed when visiting out-patients in .Jet~ doctor village 31 YuYibo (1946) Han medical Yes Many The Third Field Anny Group •-*- personnel Lunan, Laiwu camoaigns 32 Zeng Ke Han military No Many Yangshan, Huihai campaigns 1UL renorter 33 . ; ZengZhi 1911- Hunan Han H:Tao leader No Many Tangchi Training Class Party Secretary 't :t Yizhang Zhu 2, 4, 10 where cadets trained JltJ* 34 Zuo Shaoying 1916- Sichuan Han peasant guerrilla No Yes arrested 3 days after husband's death, ,&.~* 1949 Hechuan H:Wang soldier killed in Chongqing Sino-American Co Pu £4 Dept. CMSR Co com department Political officer who has the title of commissar. cooperation company 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9, IO. I 1. Heroine. continued military participation in more than one war period. woman cadet who continued military participation. ~mmanded military operation. JOined the anned forces as a teenager. sold as a child-bride at the young age. feet bound in early childhood. remained in the PLA with a rank of major and above. became a civilian cadre after I 949. ~me a national leader. eJther leader of guerriJla team or woman cadre with a rank of woman minister or above . .fil!..URCEfu ~ic Dictionary of Famous Women in Hua Xia, [~ }I ja 3( ~ A iifJ ~ ], p ombl~ositzon committee of Hua Xia Fu Nyu Ming Ren Ci Dian, Beijing: Hua Xia u isher, 1988. ~c Dicti?nary of Famous Women in the World i~ ~1 Ti!11es, [i; ,t i:f:t ;9~:t( ~ Chi~~], compiled by College of Chinese Women Admzmstratzve Cadres, Beijing: na Broadcasting and Television Publisher, l 989. Chen, Mingfu. ,Chinese Women Warriors Through the Ages, [q:t 00 IE ft-j( ~],Beijing: Chinese Women Publisher, 1991 . ~Chinese Women's Movement, composed by All China Women's Federation, unqiu Publisher, 1989. ~Soldiers of Central Plain first volume, compiled by Yuer Base Revolutionary h. st?ry Editorial Staff and Hube{ Provincial Women Federation, China Women rubhsher, 1991. )(ue w · W , ezwei ( eds.). 19~~:s Who of Chinese Women, [q:t gm ja ft: i; A~], Shaanxi: People's Publisher, 305 by her people. Dong Lisheng -f- tJ .i., a woman peasant in Shandong, won a first class medal for her deeds of bearing wounded soldiers back to the rear over long distances. Behind these heroines were thousands of women who engaged in all kinds of combat support activities: guarding, communication, transportation, construction of roads and bridges, medical care, POW management, and moving villagers around to avoid casualties. As a part of the tradition started in the Anti-Japanese warfare, destruction work included cutting off the railways and roads, cutting electric wires, etc. In add' . 1t1on to combat support work shared with male counterparts, women as a group Were particularly specialized in manufacturing uniforms, food preparation, and nursing. Women were particularly appreciated for their efforts to send their husbands, sons, and brothers to join the anny. Due to the mobile nature and large troop maneuvers, few regular women soldiers Participated the field armies operations in the front. Liang Guihua -*H. if: (1924-1948) Was one of the three women soldiers who joined the military operations in the central plain area as a regular soldier. Liang joined the fifth division in the summer of 1945, and Was assigned the job of cultural instruction since she was the only woman with a college education in the unit. Before the break out campaign in the central plain was started on June 26, 1946, she was asked to disguise and withdraw with other dependents, which she refused. The campaign lasted for 37 days. Liang not only survived the continuous battles and march, but also won respect for her good job in battlefield propaganda. From August 1946 to August 194 7, she was sometimes the only woman soldier in the 306 ,..._.._ -i.: -~- __ ... .,,,...~- ---- ~ subsequent mobile waifare. She marched over ten thousand miles. At the end of 194 7 ' she was transferred t~ participate in guerrilla warfare in the Dabie Mountain Range *- t,J il-J IR . On April 10, 1948, Liang and her bodyguard were trapped and overpowered by a local landlord's force of thirty strong. On the road to be sent to the nearby CNP's troops, Liang jumped over a cliff A reservoir in the area was named after her since the liberation. Women's RoJes in the FinaJ Decisive Engagement From September 1948 to January 1949, the PLA launched three campaigns as Part of the strategic offense, which was started on June 30, 1947 when Liu Bocheng :*iJ1~* and Deng Xiaoping ~,J,f led the Second Field Army Group .=...:If (er ye) onto the central plain. The Liaoshen fl.3/i.. campaign was fought between the CNP's 480 ,ooo troops in Northeast China, and 700,000 PLA at places in the western parts of Liaoning province near major cities such as Shenyang iii.. Fa, Jinzhou lif; ?~/ , and Changchun *-:i-. Through fifty two days of battle, the campaign was won with the CNP armies losing 470,000. The Huaihai ifti4- campaign was fought between the CNP's 800,000 troops and the PLA's 600,000 people in eastern and central areas. It lasted 65 days with a total loss of the CNP troops of 550,000. The Pingjin -ftf campaign was fought between the CNP's 600,000 troops and the PLA's one miliion in the Beijing and Tianjin areas. From December 5, 1948 to the peaceful liberation of Beijing on January 14, 1949, this campaign destroyed 520,000 CNP troops. Through 307 th ese three final decisive engagement, the main force of the CNP was defeated, and the CCP's victory was guaranteed. Following the tradition of combat support provided by people, women's contributions to these military operations also reached a new height. For example, 2 million winter unifonns were made in four months by 50,000 women volunteers in five major cities of Northeast China. A million women in eastern Liaoning participated in st retcher-bearer teams to ship wounded and military supplies. This mobilization even reached many senior women citizens. For example, an old ~oman peasant named Luo Tianrui 'J .;t~ fainted on the battlefield from the shock of the cannon shells while sending hot water and food to the front. Another old lady named Wei Shulin .E~# did not stop sewing unifonns in her celJar when her house was set on fire by cannon shells. Two million women in Jinjilu Base participated in the manufacture of shoes and food . In the Huaihai area alone, 600,000 women participated in direct combat support in the Huaihai campaign. Many women became models of combat support due to their out t d" · s an mg contribution. The Cross River Campaign ,7.l.i.:r...J~A! was another important one in the liberation war when the PLA soldiers had to cross the Yangzi River to liberate Nanjing, the capital of the CNP's government. What is unique in women's combat support was that many boat women shipped the troops while under heavy cannon fire. The youngest girl Was only 14 years old. 308 Women soldiers in the field armies were mainly concentrated in headquarters, medical, radio operation and propaganda work. For example, 30% of front~line medical personnel in the Eastern Field Army Group were women. Most of time, they had to continue working for days and nights to treat the wounded when a major battle was going on. As a medical doctor, Jiang Nanping .i+iwJJ. participated in six battles in one Year. Once she was wounded but continued working to rescue two wounded soldiers from the burning clinic. In order to move wounded soldiers to safer places in stormy Weather, Li Landing ~ii. T , another female doctor, tried so hard that two of her ribs Were broken. In order to be as close to the front as possible, these women medical personnel once broke the record by covering 50 miles per day on foot to catch up. As the Woman president of a field hospital, Ding Zhihui T ,t~ participated in many battles such as the Jinzhou, Shenyang, and Tianjin campaigns. Five times she became an "Army Model" and her hospital kept the record of best treatment in the whole army. Many women radio operators continued working day and night. Some of them fainted while on the air. There were 398 women soldiers in the forty first army of the Northeast Field Army Group, 140 of whom won battle medals for their outstanding deeds (35%). Guo Junqing -1~1!~ff was another modern "Hua Mulan", who disguised herself as a boy and joined the army at age of 14. From messenger and bodyguard, to squad leader and company political instructor, she fought all the way from Northeast China to the Shanghai area in the east, and won many medals. For five years in the unit, 309 -· ----- ... ~~ -- nobody knew she was a woman. It was not until May 1950, when her dysmenorrhoea badly needed treatment that she decided to reveal her real gender (Chen, 1991 ). Women in propaganda work often functioned in three roles: propaganda work on march, nursing when the unit was in combat, and sometimes direct participation in combat. Outstanding ones among this group were Su Ru$.;:; and Wang Huimin ~.t-it. They were often called "actress, nurse, and combatant in one person". This kind of assignment did not lead to quick promotion, but their comrades-in-arms would never forget to ask medals for their deeds. In sum, unlike the unconventional participation in guerrilla warfare, women were less seen in commanding and direct combat, but more in combat support and conventional roles in regular armies. Most veteran women soldiers were transferred to do mobilization and combat support work in the civilian sector. Only a few medical doctors had continued their participation from Anti-Japanese war to this third civil war Period, such as the cases of Dong Zhihui and Li Landing. The nature, form, and scale of Warfare in this two and half years were different from the previous ones, and so was the Women's military involvement. Patterns of Chinese Women's Military Participation in This Period The one hundred and ten years from 1840 to 1949 saw a variety of women Warriors: from arsonists, assassins, bomb makers, uprising leaders in revolutions, to homeland defenders and guerriUa soldiers in anti-imperialist wars, to guerrilla fighters, 310 -- -------- -- ·--. , _____ _ Women militia, and regular soldiers in civil wars. The age range of these women Warriors was from nine to over sixty. Most of them were of the Han nationality with diversified family backgrounds. Most uprising leaders and guerrilla fighters were from poor families, including child-brides and child workers. This repeats and details the pattern described in Chapter VI. It may be temporarily concluded that all kinds of Chinese women, young or old, with or without military training, rich or poor, educated or not educated, from majority or minority ethnic groups, may turn into warriors if they feel the need to respond to the call. The strongest calling to Chinese women is patriotism, which particularly will have a stronger appeal when the homeland is invaded or threatened. The second popular calling is a revolutionary cause, when injustice is widely felt by the population. These two reasons for military participation have been repeated by numerous memoirs and records of oral histories of the women veterans. Chinese women tend to volunteer for service in armed forces when they respond to the calling. As the role model to follow, previous women warriors' glorious deed will be recalled. Similar to ancient organization, Chinese women warriors have been put in gender segregated units, whether it is a regular formation or not. Their most common military roles are all kinds of combat support. These roles included the gender special tasks of nursing, cooking, and uniform manufacture, in addition to other logistic support. Women's direct combat participation has been a pattern too, although frequently this has not been preferred by military leaders. 311 Male commanders have tried to keep women out of regular combat units Whene · · ver 1t 1s possible. They also tend to subordinate the segregated women units directly to the headquarters. On the other hand, when the troops are facing the risk of a total loss, they will not hesitate to assign women units the job of blocking and covering, so that the main force will be preserved for better chance of group survival. Normally th e units for blocking and covering tasks suffer heavier casualties. Women engaged in guerrilla warfare face higher risk of casualties than those in regular units as is discussed in Previous sections. This shows that in the Chinese case, keeping women out of the regular combat units was not to avoid women's heavier casualties, but was due mainly to consideration of convenience and mobility of the main force. Women were also assigned dirty and heavy logistic support jobs within the armed forces . This kind of arrangement can · ch· certainly be observed as a pattern in the mese case. The degree, scale, frequency and duration of Chinese women's military Participation also differ from group to group, and from individual to individual. Somebody's military involvement could be a two decade commitment, such as the cases Of Wei Gongzhi, Zhao Yiman, and Wang Yixia. Some participated in only one battle, such as those who joined the campaign at Nanjing in 1911 revolution. This diversified military involvement repeated the pattern which reflects Chinese women's military Participation in ancient China over a time span of four thousand years (see Chapter VI). Fl.na11 · h Chi gender should be observed as a factor affecting the y, m t e nese case, enemy's fighting spirits either positively or negatively. In the Taiping rebellion, women 312 units were deployed on the front since the inexperienced Qing soldiers would reduce th eir fighting spirits at the sight of colorful women. In the case of women Red Anny soldiers, the effect was the opposite. Women soldiers tried not to reveal their gender since that would arose their enemies to fight with stronger determination to capture these Women alive and force sexual slavery upon them. Gender has been a positive factor in regard to morale boosting in the revolutionary forces. Women's presence in the Red Anny has been appreciated as a positive morale booster, especially since most women soldiers had engaged in propaganda work. As for the issue of men being commanded by a Woman, it seems to the author that this had never been a problem, particularly if the Woman commander was competent in military ski11s, had education, and had seniority. Different from the pattern of ancient Chinese women warriors, fewer women in this period were recognized because of the status of their husbands, or participated together with their male relatives, although it can not be concluded that women's military participation is not related to their male relatives. As for the question of whether women's military participation has gone through a cycle of expansion and contraction, this author finds out that in the Chinese case, the cycling changes are more related to the size of women's participation as a group, and the situational factors. More women participated in military operations during revolutionary Peak time or when the population were facing more fatal threat. It is Jess relevant to the degree dur t' d fi fthe participation which are affected by social, cultural , a ion, an requency o factors as well. 313 Chapter IX Modern China Overview Today's China is a Communist party-led state with a population of I. I 72 billion 0 992 census), in a total area of 9.6 million square kilometers (slightly larger than that of U.S.). 1 The population tripled in the past 45 years, even with the implementation of a II one-child" family control policy in late 1970s. Its 1993 infant mortality rate was 33 deaths per 1,000 live births. The life expectancy in the same year was 68 years for males, and 72 for females . 2 This fast growing and young population has a literacy rate of 73% (male 84%, female 62%), with 9 years of compulsory education, which has 80% attendance (Statistical Yearbook of China, 1994). The CCP had 50 million members in 1990, with 8 minor parties under its supervision. Considering Taiwan to be the state's 23rd province, the administrative divisions are: 23 provinces, 5 minority autonomous regions (including Tibet), and 3 municipalities directly under the leadership of the State Council. The unicameral National People's Congress and the Supreme People's Court form the legislative and the fodicial branches respectively. However, modem China was ruled by Mao Zedong before l 976, and by Deng Xiaoping since then. ;----_______ _ 1'he real t ta! . """' d bated among scholars. This cited figure has been used offj . o area of China has ~n e 2./hcia.lly by both the Chinese and the U.S. governmenfts. 'd ...,;c disease attained the levels of other e increase · J 'fi d l wered rates o ep1 e ... , Asi . s m 1 e expectanc~ an ° . (B nister 1987; Eberstadt, 1988). an COUntnes that had much lugher average income a ' 314 Econonucally, China had an annual real growth rate of 13% during the past 1 o years, with a $410 billion estimated GNP in 1993 ($325 per capita). 3 Its annual average growth rate was 7% from 1953 to 1990, slower than that of Singapore (8.4%) and South Korea (8.1 %) for the same period, but faster than Japan (6.9%) and Thailand (6.9%). In 1993, the inflation rate was 18% and the unemployment rate 2.6%. Exports reached $99. 5 billion, and imports $99 billion. The industrial growth rate for last year Was 25%, accounting for 60% of GNP. China is one of the world's largest producers of major agricultural products such as rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, nuIIet, barley, and pork, Agriculture production accounts for 26% of GNP. Generally speaking, industrial and agricultural output achieved a I 3 fold increase from I 952 to I 990, with output of coal, cement, cotton, cereal, rapeseed and meat ranking the first in the world. these achievements were mainly obtained because of the CCP's econonuc reforms and open policies since late I 970s (The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, I 993). According to the estimate of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Chinese daily nutritional absorption is 2,634 kilocalories, above the average 2 ,474 kilocalories of developing countries. The daily absorption of protein is 62.8 grams, above the average 59_ 9 grams for developing countries, with the fat absorption of 45 · 5 grams, lower than the 47.6 grams average. In sum, modem China is a fast developing country with one fifth of the Population on the planet. Since I 978, the number of poor in China declined by more than 60%, which means about 170 miIIion people were lifted out of poverty. On the 3 China's pc . . nk 961h ·n the world far below the $4,200 US figure. r capita mcome ra s 1 • 315 ~- --- 0th er hand, 520 counties out of a total of 1,903 (27%) still require state financial backing, 4 and the annual income of 80 million people is still below the Chinese poverty line of$J5.29 (300 Yuan, calculated by a 1994 mid-summer exchange rate of$1=Y8.5). Modern Chinese Society Chinese society has experienced various social transformations and all forms of turbulence in the 46-year history of the PRC. The only thing absent in this period was a national civil war. These social changes have been observed and studied carefully by Chinese and foreign scholars. 5 Major findings are concentrated in the fields of social st ratification, mobility, and community organization (Walder, 1989). I will continue Using the theoretical framework developed for this research to review structural, cultural, aoci institutional factors which are relevant to women's military participation. The first decade of the PRC was marked by the PLA's participation in the Korean War; 6 the confiscation of CNP officials' capital; 7 a nationwide Land Reform movement in :;------------- Aceording to a telep110ne interview with a Chinese diplomat in Washington, D.C., conducted in May fil 994 , by the end of 199 l there were 2 183 counties in China. One third of these counties need state na · • ' s nciaJ backing. 1'he disciplined study of China's social changes has gone through fundamental changes in the mid- I 9 ~0s. More than 10 ·active sociologists specialize in China research now. Publicatio.ns mul.tiplied ,uic~Jy, and Chinese governmental agencies began to collect and release compreh~ns1ve social statistics. 8 Chi~a intervened in the Korean war in October 1950 as ~ troops r~I1ed t~e Smo-Korean border. Y lllid-195 J China had hed the UN forces back to a Jme near the th1rty~1ghth Parallel. The COnflict led the Am . pus ment to deploy the US 7th Fleet in the Taiwan Straits in defense of 1' . encan govern h ·i · ha · dP~~an, effectively committing both countries into postures of mutual ost1 1ty t t would persist for two 7 .._es. 1 Jhis refers to two thirds of the industrial capital and 80% of t~e fixed ~ts before the l.iberation in 49 . After the confiscation, 2 91 enterprises, 90% of the ~teel mdust'}'., 3 31/o of the coal md~stry, 6 7% of the PClwer ind t 11 tr 1 and nonferrous metal industry, which used to be under direct COntroI of the R us ry, a Cope O ~um fthe CNP were turned into socialist state-owned enterprises esources mrn1ttee o , · 316 ~~ :c::a ·-- .--- ... - --- ~-· ---------- the countrys. d s ti 11 d b 9 1 e, o owe y a rural collectivization; a transformation of the industrial and comrnerc·a1 10 d . 1 sectors, an a ma1or success of the government's first Five Year Plan. The country aI . . so expenenced an open public debate caJied the "Hundred Flowers Movement" *~*nt, foIIowed by the "Anti-Rightist Campaign" N.ti'4~ from 1957 to 1958·11 di . ·a1 · · h Gr L , sastrous soc1 experunents mt e eat eap Forward movement :kQ and people's commune system A~*~±, designed and orchestrated by Mao in 1958·12 l · 13 , a revo t m Tibet in 1959, and a top level power struggle between Mao and Peng Dehuai at Lushan Jp llJ in 1959. 14 ::s is: proces~ begun in the years 1945 to 19~9 in liberated areas under the CCP. From 1950 to el. .' 40 ¼ of China's cultivated land was redistnbuted to the peasants. Landlords as a class were 9 llltinated and the holdings of rich peasants were greatly reduced. a~ 1956, more than 90% of all rural families had been organized into about 700,000 higher-level 0~CUlturaJ producer cooperatives (APCs). Retaining only houses a~d small.p~vate pl~ts for vegetables ... kUSbandry, ,Peasants turned over their land and tools to the collecnve, rece1Vlllg pay 10 the form of "or · 10 Points. Privately owned urban factories restaurants and shops were converted first into joint state-private ~entures, then in 1955 into state-o'wned enterprises (in most cases, former owners were compensated). The full citation of the slogan is " Jet a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought :~tend". It is a description of the free climate during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States then~, 770-221 BC. Mao used this phase to name his policy for promoting the progress of the arts and e SC1en J h · · stude · · ffi . ces. The movement quickly went out of contro w en uruvemty nts, Journalists and some ~ Clals directly attacked the Party and its monopoly of political power. Stung, the CCP moved to re- ~Pose limits on debate and conducted a purge of liberal intellectuals. About half a million people were ~°etized during the "Anti-Rightist Campaign," many banished to labor camps in remote areas of 12 ' Mao ~doned the Eighth Party Congress program of a Sovie~-style economic ~lopment, which ~ .Passed 10 September 1956 and de.cided that China could rapidly develop both mdustry and agnCUl ' ll · · · d de · . . ture through more extensive and military-like rural co ecovu:atron an . -centralized economic decision-making. By the end of 1958 almost all of the rural populace had been mcorporated into PeopJ I ' _,.A,h, • • uJtural 1 ~ s communes. The communes were intended to .:HmuJ mcrease ~gnc output, fulfill many abor intensive projects such as dams and irrigation systems, and establish small ''backyard" factories to PrOcfuce steel and other industrial products. The results were disastrous. Normal market mechanisms Were. disrupted, and Chinese people exhausted themselves produc~g what ~ed out to ~ -s.hoddy, ~~le gOOds. Mao never admitted and recovered from.~e ~ailure of.this perso~ ~rub~ted social XJ,enment, which was based on a combination of his "nabVIstIC revolubonary romantietsm (Tu, I 993 ), his experiences of revolutionary war in the wilderness, ~uence ~m Lenin and Stalin, the view ?f quantitative economi wth as a central and dynamic factor m revolutionary change, and his belief tn the Power of subjecti:/:O:ces inspired by a utopian vision (Schram, 1994 ). 317 ..:;,;;c;. b.JOi#_,...,. __ .... __ z----·-- -·· ----·----- When Mao proclaimed the PRC in Beijing on October I, 1949, the 400 million Chinese peo l xh . . . Pe were e austed by a hundred-year history of foreign invasions, two generations of wars and social conflict, and an economy ravaged by high inflation and disrupted transportation links. Generally speaking, the massive economic and social reconst ct· · ru ion m the early 1950s was a success, because the new leaders obtained Popular support by curbing inflation, restoring the economy, and rebuilding many war damaged industrial plants. This support allowed the CCP's authority to reach into almost every phase of Chinese life. Social control was documented as a pattern of community organization characterized by limited mobility, broad dependence on workplaces for distrib t · f . . u ion o goods and servtces, and extensive networks of personal loyalty, Obligat· ion, and mutual assistance (Walder, 1989). Party control was also assured by large, Politically Joyal security and military forces, a government apparatus responsive to th e CCP's direction, and millions of the Party's members in labor, women's and other rnass organizations. In short, compared with other poor developing countries, the new lJ Resi~ce to China's reimposition of its dominance over Tibet (1950-51). headed by the Dalai Lama, :: of Tibet's religious and secular leader, led to reinforced military presence and an open rebellion in l4 p ch l959. After the suppression of the mass demonstration, Dalai Lama escaped to India. eng Dehuai toured his homeland and other rural areas, and witnessed the disastrous situation in the ~untryside early 1959. Even people in Mao's homeland begged him to talk with Mao and correct the tnistake. Peng was deeply disturbed but did not take any action. He was asked by Mao to attend the ~nlarged P<>litburo session at Lushan in the summer of 1959, with the expectation that he would render a 1::uppon to Mao as always happened before. ~~d, Peng spent. the first night on Lus~ by wri~g t g letter to Mao addressing the severe situation m the countryside. Mao responded by threaterung ; 0 ;~ to the co~tryside and lead the peasants in a new. round of ~errill~ warfare if necessary. lling to decisively overturn Mao's leadership, the pohtburo acqwesced in the purge of Peng and 0th er J>rominent critics of Mao as members of an "anti-Party clique". Peng ~as assigned the j~ of ~llUnanding the construction of the strategic rear lines in south:westem China. At the ~e tlm~, .Mao ~ed the major adjustment to the people's communes, and Withdrew fro~ the rol~ of dally dec1S1on- ~g for the national dmi · tr .. The responsibility was passed to Liu Shaoq1 and Deng ~ao . a rus auon. Ping. 318 -- -~-- - government had unusual organizational capacities and a clear p~litical will to implement amb· · ittous development programs at the grass roots. The new political and economic order was · kJ · qmc Y installed, and survived the large scale social transformations and political and military crises listed above. The second decade of the PRC experienced the Sino-Soviet Split in 1960; the II hr t ee hard years" from 1960 to 1962;15 a Sino-India border conflict in late 1962; the "Socialist Education Movement" t±~::EJl~"(f~igj (also called the "Four Clean-ups" movement fl!li'f) from 1962 to 196516; and the first stage of the 10-year Cultural Revolution jc,tt*1jtitf from 1966 to 1969. 17 This decade can be simply summ~ed lS --------- - J> Exte~ive drought in 1960-61 and other natural disasters exacerbated the agricultural disasters. Grain :ction J>Jwnmeted from the 1958 record of 200 miUion tons to only 143.5 million tons. At least 10 three on peopJ~ died in the famine in the peri~ of 1960. to 1962. The whole coun°! wen~ through the Lea Years ~th low JeveJ nutrition. Industrial pr~ctI~n also suffer~ from the dislocation of the Great Jae{' the WithdrawaJ of Soviet experts and technicians ID 1960, a maJor shortage of raw materials, and i 6 of Sufficient food for urban workers. th;° ~e ~Jy 1960s, State President Liu Shaogi and ~ Ge~~ral SecretruJ: Deng Xiaoping took over . . directJon of the CCP and adopted pragmatic economtc policies at odds 'With Mao's revolutionary ::o~. A major part of the new policy was a. cert_ain degree of ~~Uecti~tion .in ~e co~trys~de by his \\'Ing J)easants to obtain profits out of therr ~v~te plots. ~ssattsfied wtth Chinas new. direction and 1 own reduced authority, Mao proposed the sociahst education movement and re-emphasized that the ~ ass stmggJe should be the principle Jine of the Party at the 10th Plenary Session of the Eighth Party ongress in September 1962. The original "four clean-ups" in the countryside was a large scale audit :ement, including checking on work points-a daily measure how m~ch an individual farn_ter works, co un~, finance and storage. This movement was paralleled~ an anti.~eaucra~ an~ anb- frUJ>tion movement in the cities. Mao turned the movement into a political campaign m which many :ss roots cadres in the countryside were personally humiliated and repudiated. The movement ended i 1 ;n the Cultural Revolution began in 1966. Cui rom May 1966 to October 1976, China experienced the I ?-year tragedy of th; "G~~ Prole~ . ~ Revolution" launched by Mao to politicalJy attack Lru and Deng as the capitalist authonty Wi~ the .Party". This was unprecedented in comm~ history. The first stage ended in April 1969, ::mg ':l'hich almost all Party and administrative agencies changed ha~~' thousands of cadres were SUic~n, Jailed, or sent to labor camps. The country's intell~s ~ ~ ~tes. Man~ committed 1de. The second stage ended in August 1973, during which Lm Brao, Mao s first deSignated :CCes5?r, died in an airplane crash in Mongolia on September 13, ~970,.and the Gang of~our headed daiJ Mao s third wife Jiang Qing tr• obtained the national Jeade~ship, 'With the only. exception that the Y administration of the country was still in the hands ofpremter Zhou. In the third stage, the Gang ~ Fo~ attacked premier Zhou Enlai in early I 974. Zhou managed. to fight oock by proposing Deng llOJ>ing assume the daily administration of the country when he himself no longer was able to work 319 """"""------=·--- -- as the prevalence of radicalism, which finally plunged the country into the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. It shows how the advantage of a strong government with a charismatic leader could eventually turn into a disability as misguided policies held sway. A strict system of household registration and food rationing tied peasants to their villages and urban residents to their neighborhoods. This system effectively restricted migration •, to cities and allowed the authorities to relocate millions of people to rural areas. Viewed as a Variant of Stalinist forced-draft heavy industrialization, Maoist development strategy Widened the gap in income and food consumption between city and country, while urban residents also suffered from a characteristic neglect of wage increases, consumption, and housing in favor of industrial investment. The development of China's industry in this Period was also observed as a failure because of over-centralized management, national .tnv b · · All h estment decisions by bureaucrats, and poor Ia or mot1vat1on. t ese were compounded by a UN trade embargo since China participated the Korean War, the Soviet withdrawal of all assistance and technicians in August 1960, and the Chinese government's self-imposed determination of"self-reliance". However, despite major disruptions from political turmoil and poor economic planning, China's economy averaged a growth rate of 6% in this period, and a large science and industry base was due to his Zh fi st but launched another "anti-Deng" movement in the later Part of 1 cancer. Mao supported ou r ' rted to change the country's direction again. Zhou's n.....th . 975, when he found out that Deng had~ Sq""re in April in which Chinese people "'-it 111 Jan 19 ed test at rianaD1l1eD ..... ' e,cpr uary 76 I to a mass pro nl The Gang of Four suppressed the movement by ~ 1:s: support of Deng~ ~o~g Zhou::: ati~r Mao's death on September 9, 1976, Hua Guofeng 11;~ .. g troops of workers m.ilitta. One mo ved to arrest the Gang of Four by enjoying full SUPJ)on er' a second designated successor ofthe.Ma;Li: The CCP officially declared the end of the Cultural ~ om the veteran Party leaders and olution at this point. 320 built for further development, if the country was allowed to follow the modernization Path. Seven years of the third decade were spent in the second and third stages of the Cultural Revolution, during which Lin Biao, Mao's first designated successor, died in September 1971 ; border clashes against the Soviet military alon~ the U suli river in 1969; and rapprochement with the United States between 1971 and 1972. There was a massive anti-radical demonstration in Tienanmen }(~fJ in April 1976, following Zhou Enlai's death, and the palace arrest of the Gang of Four fmA m after Mao's death in September the same year; a major Party policy shift accomplished at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in December 1978; the "Democracy Wall" movement ~.:Eifi in 1978-79; 18 and the Sino-Vietnam border conflict in 1979. This decade was a critical transition period for China, during which the Maoist era ended with his death and the end ofthe Cultural Revolution, all in 1976. Deng's era started with the economic reform program, accompanied by the suppression of the Democracy Wall movement and the border conflict against Vietnam. The last two were launched by the leadership to guarantee a stable environment for vital economic recovery and reforms. ;;--~-------The su,-.,. .... sfuI 976 r · ~-.... men ~ .... ,iire verdict encouraged new and more radical Ill -s reversal of the I 1_...... ""f- ed · · cal · deas · alJ <>vernent for 1. . . . . d democracy. Activists present cnh 1 m w posters at Xidan i&.$. po 1~cal hber.alu.at1on a~ ... and other cities, as welJ as establishing new unofficial lllagazine ; maJor shoJ'?lng center m:e~JI~ciples at a politburo meeting in March 1979 to enforce Ii~ ng ~~hasized the Four as:racy Wall was closed and Wei Jingshen ftJR~. the leacter . ts to pohhcal reform. The De~ · 'ail together with other democratic activists. Of this movement was sentenced with 15 years tnJ • 321 The fourth decade of the PRC was a I 0-year period of opening up to the international community and economic refonns, starting with the de-collectivization pioneered in the countryside of Sichuan and Anhui provinces. The Party's Twelfth Congress in September 1982 fonnally adopted the economic refonn policies. The difficult refonn process was marked with the downfall of Hu Yaobang ;;ijfjW and the campaign against "bourgeois liberalization" ]i:lf ,Z:~ gJ EB -ft in 1987. Finally, the decade ended with massive protests for democratic refonns in Beijing and other major cities in spring 1989, and the Tienanmen Event on June 4 the same year, .when PLA troops were used to suppress the demonstrating mass by force. Deng's model is different from the Maoist one in the return to family farming, the adoption of material incentives, management refonns, and petty capitalism in the cities. the key change was to give the initial right back to Chinese peasants, and let them do the fanning, marketing, and aII the relevant organizational work by themselves. Economic improvement was almost an immediate phenomenon and has been striking in the past decade. The establishment of a market economy in China was a gradual and Painful process, but has changed the whole society tremendously in a decade. Encouraged by the Party's new policy, both the elite and the people have started another round of struggles for political liberation and democracy, an 84 year long crusade started by the 1911 revolution, the 191 ~ New Culture Movement, and the 1919 May Fourth Movement (see Chapter VIJ).19 Capitalism was strangled twice in China, : Like the emperors who had come before, and the new leaders who would ~ollow, all Chin~se rulers, ~e of them being revolutionaries and rebels themselves, have.been and will be obses~ wtth lllaintaining centralized control and stability, no matter what pnce they would pay. This was caused by 322 first by imperialism, then by revolutions. Now the CCP wants to give it a chance to grow but under the condition that the Party remains in full control. Science and technology from abroad are needed and welcomed, but not democracy. It is said that modernization needs a stable environment to develop. Since then, China has experienced a 5-year development without major political disturbance. The CCP has, once again, survived the worldwide condemnation of its despotism and monopoly of power, as well as the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern European Block. Foreign capital has been flowing in on a constant basis With the country recently having further opened up its infrastructure construction and lllner land investment to foreign business. The overheated economy has been kept at a 90/4 &rowth rate since the beginning of I 994, while uncertainty exists concerning China's future when the 90-year old Deng Xiaoping passes away. In sum, politically, the CCP remains in power, surviving a four decade struggle between different lines and among top leaders. Other major political challenges included a half year of highly intensified regional anned conflicts between factions in early I 967; 0 ne failed coup in 1970 (if the Lin Biao Incident was what it is said to be); one palace arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976; 8 peaceful ousting of Hua Guofeng, the second designated successor of Mao in 1978; and two protests of several million people in Tienanmen Square in 1976 and 1989. In between, there were various political ----------------~~-=====:-=--.-:- ti Cbina 's thousands of years of history its social structure a~d culture. Definitely it will take more time or .,. "- . ' . ttJ · China •vu. Science and Mr. Democracy to W1D the ba em · 323 ·-. -... ~--- --.. .... _,. ... ___ ,_ - -- cam · . pa.igns and nat10nal movements launched by the CCP itself Just as Mao once predicted, every seven or eight years, there would be a turmoil period in China. These turbulent events involved millions of Chinese people. Sometimes they Were accompanied by massive migrations, such as millions of workers sent to settle in th e countryside in the late 1950s; 16 million urban middle and high school students relocated to the countryside in the late 1960s; and their return back to cities in the late 1970 s. This urban-rural large group migration was contrasted with a prolonged Jack of residential and job mobility for the majority populace. Nowadays, there has been another constant migrating flow of about 30 million rural youths into major coastal cities for fast cash by selling their cheap labor. MiJiions of them were turned into low-level skiIJed Workers, and many of them found employment at the emerging township enterprises and factories. At the same time, this wandering population, labeled as the "blind flow"~vft, has been regarded as one of the major unstable factors in China's future. This Phenomenon has been Jinked to the increase of urban crime, small scale community feud, and even armed conflicts which have occurred recently in major Chinese cities. China has grown from its status of the "poor man of Asia" into the fastest groWing economy in the world. Real income has increased by more than 65% in cities and has more than doubled in the viJlages. Consumption of basic and even luxury consumer goods have multiplied several-fold. From 1978 to 1986, urban housing construction matched figures for the first 30 years after 1949, and rural housing was built at even higher rates (Walder, 1989). Nevertheless, the substantial needs of more than a 324 --· - ... ·- ~- billion peop] · . . e remain a maJor chaJJenge to the Jeadership. The genera] educationaJ ]eve] has been improved. But the ilJiterate population aged 15 and o]der remains as Jarge as l SO million ( 13%) (StatisticaJ Yearbook of Chin1, 1994). Millions of Chinese peop]e's main concern is still their dai]y survivaJ. Culturally, Chinese society has gone through profound changes too: a constant repudiation of feudaJ and bourgeois ideas and vaJues in the first three decades, foJJowed by a sudden discovery of the outside world, and a crush of Western cuJture and life styJes in the 1980s. The urban cu]ture of Hong Kong and Japan become a constant appeaJ to Chinese young peop]e, particu]arly to those in coastaJ cities. A short-Jived nationwide sociaJist enthusiasm was foJJowed by a comparatively ProJonged nationaJ zeaJ of Maoist revolutionary romanticis~. Then, the society was pJunged into a wide]y shared cynicism, an ideology void, a nationwide anomie, a fast STowing fetishism, and a variety of crazes: 'Join the army craze", "study abroad craze", It entrepreneur craze", and the recent "Mao Zedong craze". Above all, for the first time, there are promising e]ements of individualism spread wide and deep in the country, challenging the Chinese traditions and collectivism. The individuaJ as a worthy, independent human being, starts to recognize him or herse]f, and at the same time, tries to be pubJicly recognized. The culture remains mainly an atheist one, no matter how fast the popuJation of believers in Christianity and Buddhism has grown in the past decade. The onJy God-like figure to the majority of Chinese is currently Mao Zedong, who was deified by a 325 Personal cult before his death, puJJed down from the shrine when the country started the reforms d h . , an t en recreated as a seculanzed God by the populace when the country suffered a total disiJJusion of the CCP after the 1989 Tienanmen Event (Schram, 1994). Historically, China has never seen herself in such an agitated state. Even the senior citizens, the most conservative group in any society, complain about the lack of a fashion industry specialized for them, and organize all kinds of clubs, including open- door Western style ballroom dances. This phenomenon is accompanied by the emergence of thousands of bands and choruses, as weJJ as karaoke saloons. Fang Lizhi jJJiibz , the leading Chinese dissident scientist who became an international hero during the 1989 Tienanmen event, has labeled this phenomenon as the "Chi · · nese amnesia". Fang is probably talking about the ten million deaths from starvation and malnutrition from 1959 to 1960 (Hu Sheng, 1991; this was the official figure, another estimate was 30 million); and another one million people's unnatural deaths in th e 10-year Cultural Revolution period from 1966 to 1976. The waste of human and material resources was on a mammoth scale caused by Mao's utopian vision and llnpJernentation of the Great Leap Forward in l 958, and many other campaigns and mass movements. China's growth is at high cost. However, I believe that a people's strength lays in its capability to always Joo.king forward. Amnesia is a healthy habit for a culture Which has a history of five thousand years. After several decades of pacing up and d0 Wns, China has ~oved rapidly from isolationism towards mercantilism. Although the June 4 Event h . d d h ntum ofpolitical reform, the relationship between as unpe e t e mome 326 a• +•~ - - 8tate and society has been significantly altered. The political refonn, which includes decentralization and liberalization, wilJ continue its twisting and turning but progressive Journey. 8tatus of Women The popuJation of Chinese women increased from 260 million in 1949 to 562 tnillion in 1989 (Statistics of Chinese Women, 1991). 20 ~nerally speaking, the unprovement of Chinese women's social status has been a visibJe but unbalanced deveJopment. Both the positive and the negative aspects will be described briefly in this section. 1n the Chinese case, the improvement of women's social status is nonnally measured against several indicators: 1) scale ofJabor force participation; 2) Jevel of education; 3) degree of suffrage; 4) decision power in marriage and family; 5) welfare and health care; and 6) self and social recognition. China has made progress in women's &eneraJ education and Jabor participation, as well as self determination in marriage, joint fanu1y decision making, better health care, and better self recognition. The remaining ProbJems are: low rate of participation in politics, high percentage of women in poverty, low education level of poor women, discrimination against women who gave birth to girls in the countryside, and the existence of violence against women, including a recent re~emergence of abduction and sale of women. ;;------_______ _ 'I'he .Percentage of women of the population remainS in the 48 percent range for the whole period. 327 ~-- =~--- The first feature of the improvement is the large rate of labor force participation by Chinese women. 21 According to the State Report of the PRC on Implementation of .T.b!tNairobi Forward-Looking Strategies on Advancement of Women, which was submitted to the UN in March 1994, 43 .69% of employed people (including those in rural areas) were women in 1982, while the statistics from the 1990 census increased to 44 · 96%. At the end of 1992, there were altogether 56 million female staff and workers (paid in salaries or wages), J 8% of the total labor force. This meant a 24 .1 % increase from the figure of 45 million in 1985. Most rural women work in China while the employed women in cities have increased. The annual average i!tcrease rate was 4.9% for urban women's employment, 1 · 27% higher than the annual average increase rate for national employment. Forty million of these female employees work in township enterprises, and are mainly engaged in f~od, clothes, toys, electronics, craft industries and services. Another feature is that 0 ne third of the 14 million entrepreneurs in the countryside are women. In some coastal areas, half of the peasant-merchants are women. China has never seen so many business 'Women in its rural population. Another relevant indicator is the increase of women professionals and technicians. Th S R rt ·nts out a 5 44 million increase in women professionals e tate epo poi · from 1.982 to 1990. The increase in male professionals for the same period was 2.5 rnilJion Th fChi women scientists and technicians is 8 million · e total number o nese 21 Acco . Chinese women aged 16 to 54 had a job with an inde rding_to the 1982 census, 82~ of the 1991, women military personnel were not included). '11ie ~ndent income (Statistics on Chinese Wome!ili n 43 6% of the total. 8Ure for these employed women was I9.5l O ' · 328 (35%), among whom there are 152 nationally recognized women scientists. In hard science, 4 7. 3 % of chief scientists in charge of the 112 key research projects in 1990 were women. In social science, the total number of women researchers was 196 in 1992 , 17 · 16¾ of the total . On the negative side, the number of unemployed women is higher than that of men. In 1992, 56. 7% of the unemployed urban youth were young women. Many recruiters of private enterprises prefer hiring men rather than women because of the gender difference (urban women have a 60 days mandatory maternity leave with pay, they spend more time on family chores and ~hild care, etc.). Another important factor is that women's educational level, as a whole, is lower than that of men. When the PRC was established in 1949, 90% of the 260 million women were illiterate. The figure for illiterate women from the 1990 census was 32%. On the other hand, according to the l 0% sampling of the 1990 census, there were still 180 million illiterate Chinese (aged l5 and older). Seventy point one percent of this illiterate Population were female. The same census shows that 4.8 million Chinese women had college education, 34.96 million were of high school level (including vocational education which equals 4 Year secondary schooling in China), 96. 71 million had middle school education, and 135 llliHion had only elementary schooling. Women college students were 33 . 7% of the total 47.7 million college students in 1992. This was a 3.7% increase over that in 1985. Women gr d d 24 So/c of the 91 000 total in the same year. The a uate stu ents were . 0 ' 329 Percentages of female faculty members in the same year were: 29.9% coUege faculty members (2,000 women coUege professors); 40.4% vocational school teachers, 33.3% hi gh school, and 44.5% elementary school teachers. In addition to the constitutions and Jaws, the Chinese government issued a series of regulations and rules in the past decade to protect women and children. The most recent legal measure was the Women's Rights Protection Law of the PRC passed in 1992 . A large scale education campaign was launched nationwide to popularize these laws and regulations. AU these legal and administrative efforts have shown that the Chinese government has committed itself to protecting women's right. On the other hand, prostitution, pornography, abduction and sale of women, violence against women, etc., not only re-emerged after a short absence in the 1950s and 1960s, but also spread to almost all provinces (Zhuang, 1991). In 1991 and 1992, about 70 ,ooo criminals were arrested for selling over 40,000 women and children. Most buyers of these uneducated village women were poor peasants themselves. Chinese women's sufilage is lower than that of many other developing countries. There are only 1 woman state councilor (Vice Premier level), 17 women ministers (6.6%), 17 women governors (12.26%), and 308 women mayors. There are 626 women representatives in the People's Congress (21 .03%), and 19 female members on the Standing Committee (l 2.26%). There is no woman member in the Politburo of the CCP. As for women's status in the family, again, there is progress as well as problems. Closely related to women's labor participation, major family financial decisions are made 330 together by couples because of women's independent income. According to the State &mm:t, the average rate of joint decision making between couples has reached 58.1%; 68 · 2% for urban couples, 55.9% for rural couples. In both cases, more couples are making financial decisions together. More Chinese married men help in family chores, and they no longer feel ashamed of it. But on average, men have higher incomes than Women. The average monthly income for an urban man was 193.15 Yuan, while an Urban woman only made 149.60 Yuan per month (100: 77). The average annual income for lllral man was 1518 Yuan, while a woman made 1235 Yuan in the same year. In sum, compared with their mothers' generations, Chinese women today have made progress in labor force participation, education, equal decision power at home, and improved social status. The latter two improvements are closely related to their education level and independent income. The Party and the government have been comparatively consistent in the indoctrination of women's equal rights and status. China's women organizations such as the All China Women's Federation have strong organizational capacities and grass root networks. · These women's organizations have a 10ud voice and a strong system to support women. Outstanding Chinese women scientists as well as women athletes have projected a self-confident image in the world. On the other hand, 70% of the illiterate population and 60% of the poor Chinese are Women. Most of these women live in remote, poor, and even inhospitable areas Without adequate transportation and resources. Some of those areas even lack water. The focus of women's work has been placed on lifting these women out of poverty. 331 Education, vocational training, as well as various favorable policies (low interest loans to Women entrepreneurs in poverty areas) are said to be the recipes. But there are few national resources for implementing the training and education programs. Now the indoct · nnated slogan for women is the "4-selves": self-respect, self-confidence, self- reliance, and self-improvement. The PLA The PLA has been recognized as an important institution in Chinese politics, economics and social transformations. It has played the key roles of safeguarding national security as well as the CCP's political power. For short periods from 1949 to 1952, and from 1967 to 1973, this military institution was actually administering the country. Indeed, the first generation of China's post-1949 politicians were pre-1949 revolutionaries, from the new premier to thousands of new administrators at all levels of the government. When the governmental apparatus was broken by Mao himself in the Cultural Revolution, again, the military troops were called in as the last resort to keep the country from total anarchy. This is d~rivable from the old tradition that governing in China means coercion and persuasion from above. In addition to utilizing the military troops and the officer corps for political and administrative reasons, the PLA has been used in economic construction and social transformations as well. It has been a school for literacy as well as Mao Zedong's Thought a t . . c. d es as well as skilled workers. It has been a work and , rauung center ior ca r Propagand t . . 1 tan· on stage on the Jinggangshan range in the late a earn since its ear y ges 332 1920s. The PLA's multiple missions in the Chinese economy, politics and society after th e establishment of the PRC have been a natural continuity from its roles in the revolutionary movements, and anti-imperialist and civil wars, described in Chapter VII. Civil-military Relationships David Shambaugh once described the civil-military relationship in modem China as a "symbiosis" of the armed forces with the Party/state (Shambaugh, 1991). Through symbiosis in revolutionary times, this military institution has been politicized by Party control and ideo-political work within the system. The PLA's identity has been intertwined with the Party. The Chinese revolutionary soldier is different from the professional soldier and the praetorian soldier. No existing theories of Party-military relationship in socialist countries could thoroughly explain this phenomenon since few have captured the symbiosis feature and scrutinized the political work within the PLA. Today's PLA is no longer a revolutionary force. As a complex institution aimed at its own modernization and striving to become a major world power in the next century, its relationship with the Party and the state has become more complicated. The PLA will certainly continue its role as the guarantor of national security. Whether it will continue to sustain the CCP's monopoly control is questionable. The PLA may still have an identity problem, but whatever it has now is certainly no longer intertwined with the Party. Both tradition and modernization function as the driving forces to change this institution. It is no longer a Maoist revolutionary army, but it will not be automatically developed into a western style armed force just because it is being occupationalized. 333 ·•s triHHES :z- The development of civil-military relationships within the Chinese context wiU decide the nature and direction of its modernization. Military leaders of the PLA have played monumental roles in Chinese elite politics since the early I 950s. In addition to Marshal Peng Dehuai's showdown with Mao at Lushan in 1959 and Marshal Lin Biao's alleged coup d'etat in 197 I, discussed in the previous section, there were the Gao Gang ~Mand Rao Shushi ~-E affair in 1953;22 and Marshal Yie Jianying rJtfirJ~ and the PLA's guard unit's key roles in the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976. Less noticed were key functions rendered by General Wang Zhen £. and General Yang Shangkun fM tA11% in propelling Deng Xiaoping back to power in I 978. The PLA has played key roles directly or indirectly in almost all critical junctures in China's modern history. Almost all these exercises of personal influence by military leaders were rendered over a national agenda rather than representing the institutional interests of the military. In other words, these military leaders had the seniority and prestige to affect national decision making because of the historical symbiosis of the military with the CCP. Mao and Deng put on their military hats to command the troops whenever it was necessary. Military leaders also put on their civilian hats occasionally if it was deemed necessary. 22 Gao Ga di .ded the o..rtv as the "Party in occupied territory" and the "Party in th ng was alleged to have VI " ~ .. J • f p · th base d th e revoluti base d th ,, As the representative o the arty m e an e army, he fonned .. onary an . e army _. N rtheast China. He was criticized as fanning an "anti-Party . an Independent Kingdom" m O . 1 th hai clique" With . . tranSferred to work m the centra government as e c rrnan of the P!annin C Rao_ S~us1? after bemg mated at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventh C g omnuss1on in 1953. They were repu Ga committed suicide afterward. They were entraJ Committee of the CCP in FebruatY 1954. 0 fonnatly expelled from the CCP in the following year. 334 The revolutionary symbiosis legitimized the shifting between civilian and military roles among top veteran revolutionaries. The current national leadership of China, headed by Jiang Zemin t[~ ~ , does not have the privileges enjoyed by his predecessors. The only things left are the organizational devices within the military that facilitate the Party's penetration ( see chapter VII). The ideo-political work system within the military has been reinforced by the Chinese tradition of civilian supremacy over the military (see Chapter V). However, the tradition of civilian supremacy functions only if the civilians have the legitimacy to rule. If the modem version of "mandate of Heaven" is taken away from the leadership, the only thing left wiU be the organizational control m~chanism and the ideo-po1itical work system within the military. Whoever is in control of this organizational control mechanism and the political system will be the king maker in the future, given the condition that the old generation of king makers is no longer politically influential. Zhang Chunqiao ~~ tried to take over control by heading the General Political Work Department of the PLA during the peak time of the Gang of Four. He failed because the veteran revolutionary generation was still active and powerful. This is why a modem version of warlordism is stiU a possibility in China and will remain the Worst scenario to Chinese leadership. Not only will political work within the military be enforced repeatedly by the CCP, but also the military leaders will be rotated on a regular base, so that the risk of development of warlordism will be reduced to a minimum. These organizational measures, successfully initiated by Mao and Deng in the past, wi11 335 be · continued by China's new generation ofleaders. The new leaders will also try hard to win support from the old king makers if they are still politically alive. Another possibility, which is new to the Chinese case, is the development of the apolitical mentality among professional officers during the modernization process. On the state side, new leaders may be identified as "technocrats" to top Party positions (Li & White, 1993). The new breed of Chinese top brass may adopt the apolitical attitude so Popular among their western counterparts. The overall rationalization process accompanying the modernization may produce a new kind of civil-military relationship between the leading technocrats and the guarding professional soldiers. This author does not believe this will happen for several reasons: I) China's modernization process has too short a history but the primordial relationship between the soldier and the state has a long one; 2) China does not have a democratic political system to keep the legitimacy of the national leadership; 3) it will take the PLA a long time to be modernized, particularly with its much politicized officer corps. In sum, how to maintain the gun under the Party's command is the most important question to China's future sovereignty and stability. Technology and Defense Modernization The modernization process of the 3.2 million-member PLA may be seen as a balance between the needs of modem warfare and the slow quest of military technology. The PLA h al c. h · st superior forces with inferior weapon systems by as ways 1oug t agam reI"'"'g "h 1 " h as fighting spirit cohesion, large scale mobilization of Ju• on uman e ements sue ' 336 . _., .... ,. --· --·-·- - ..... _ --- .. - people's support, flexible fonns of operations and various tactics. During the Korean War Chine mill 1 • ed d · ' se tary eaders first expenenc a mo em war and witnessed the speed and lethality of modem war machines. "Millet plus rifles" won't work in future warfare. Thi · . s ts not a difficult consensus to reach. Yet the PLA cannot update its arsenal overnight since defense modernization is really a function of national strength. That is Why as early as in 1955, Chinese leaders decided to develop a limited and second counterattack nuclear weapon system, and at the same time, regularize the anny. The nuclear weapon was developed for self confidence and counter deterrence. China's first generation of nuclear weapons and delivery systems was deployed in the 1970s and 1980s. Now the focus is on improving the mobility, reliability and overall survivability of the nuclear system and to make the modest deterrent force ~redible into the next century. 23 Regularization was the first step in China's defense modernization. Changes from a 8UeniJla mentality and peasant egalitarism were doomed to meet strong resistance Within the military. Even the system of military ranks faced strong counterattacks and Was abandoned after several years' experiments. Designated generals were ordered to go back to their units and shared hardship with soldiers in 1958. It was not until the late 1980s that the PLA finally adopted the system of military ranks. Th · "bl hi t f the PLA's first attempt at regularization was the e VISI e ac evemen s o estabushm f .1. h ols &'.or education and training, and research & ent o many mt 1tary sc o J.• =---23 By co--· --·---. - . Russia and the United States are each 20 times as large ·as china, mpanson, the nuclear mventones 0~;~ .. , 300 to 400 weapons makes it the third-largest nuclear w s. But the total explosive power of CIIUJ',I 5 eap0ns state by most estimates. 337 .9 - ~ ·.::; development bases for development of military technology by the end of the I 950s. Due to the Maoist radical Jine and the CCP's political agenda, the following two decades witnessed uneven advances in the technology of warfare and a continued commitment to th e traditional principles of people's war by the PLA leadership. By the end of the 1970s, the PLA was still not ready to fight a modern war, not only because of backward weaponry, but also due to out of date concepts of strategy and tactics. In addition, the armed forces were "bloating, laxity, conceit, extravagance and inertia" (Deng, 1984). Technology did play an important role in defining the weaknesses of the PLA, but its resolution was to be integrated into the total refonn of the defense establishment. Thus, issues of military doctrine, strategy and operations were put at the forefront of China's quest for a modern defense capacity (Godwin, 1987). The current defense modernization programs have been an all out effort at balancing technological improvements with organizational, professional and doctrinal changes. AH these modifications and changes were time consuming and expensive. 24 However, comparatively speaking, the restructuring of the anned forces and the improvement of personnel quality were more feasible and more essential, since technological progress had to be keyed to the overaJJ advancement of China's economy, science, and technology. The first achievement in this new round of modernization was to place Mao's military thought as eternally valid principles, to be applied with flexibiJity and creativity 24 For ev .. .- 1 . decade to _,;se the general educational level of the PLA's officer corps ._. .. p e, 1t took almost a .... · ed M cede Be rnak and 1nn1. • · . . Ii tenant generals were assign a er s nz to e &&!Gile It a younger one. All reunng eu SUre their retirement would not be too depressing. 338 ......... -· __. ---- --.. ~..:.-...-- ~:-· ..... - ....:. -~,r.,,. __ _ into the future analytical context. Mao's principles of war have been regarded as uniquely grounded in China's military heritage and will remain a source for military thi nking. This has been a logical, important, but uneasy step in China's defense modernization programs. The second important step was to reach a doctrinal consensus on the nature and probability of future wars. For the first time, it was perceived possible by the Chinese military leaders that a major war against a superior enemy might not be imminent. It might even be absent for at least a decade. China's previous preparations had prevented a major war and had minimized the potential scale of such a war had it broken out. It is also agreed that nuclear war remains a definite possibility for the future. But the advent of Jong-range nuclear weapons made the initiation of large-scale war to achieve political objectives impossible. China should prepare to apply high technology to local (limited) Wars. Closely related to these formulation was that the future battlefields would be Swiftly moving and three-dimensional as an integration of space, air, land, and the oceans. In short, the PLA should prepare for the entire spectrum of war, and the current World situation required greater preparation for limited war and unanticipated low int . ensity conflicts. This unified perception was achieved in I 985, and its development has been ParaJJel to the reduction of troops and the r,estructuring of the 36 army corps of the main force ground units into army groups, as well as the rebuilding of the senior officer corps with youn d £'. • ally competent men; and the training for "unified air-ger an more pro1ess1on 339 ~ -- • . ---~- c,>.:m::,,,- -- • ~ ... -·~-:-• ... _ - _,. -·~~I .I ~~- ground operations" and "massive three-dimensional operations". Lessons learned from th e border clashes against Vietnam were brought into the thinking and training too. Finally, through all these "modernizing" contemplation and mental exercises, technology and training are permanently linked to combat efficiency and victory in war. Through all these internal changes, reforms, combined arms operation and t .. rauung, the importance of technology escalated, but the dilemma caused by the difference between the objective needs of modem warfare and the low level of the PLA's modernization remains unsolved. Chinese military leaders still need to deal with the old problem of how to fight against a superior enemy with inferior equipment and weaponry. This contradiction has led dialectically to the PLA's decade's Jong efforts in slimming and conversion of military industry to civilian production. Co~version of Military Industry to Civilian Production As is discussed in Chapter v, the Chinese military has a tradition of economic self-reliance on various forms of military production and bases within the system. The modern conversion of military industry to civilian production has three purposes: one is to bring military-industrial technologies, faciJities and skiHed labor into the overaJJ · reforms. Second is to streamline military-industrial organization and implement the force reduction strategy. The third purpose is to self.finance defense modernization, which is ranJced Jast on the priority list. The conversion also has an unintended impetus to the 340 PLA's entrepreneuriaJ activities. 25 What needs to be emphasized briefly here is that this conve · · . rsion 1s revers1bJe, and has a dual function. Accompanying the conversion has been Jarge scale skiJJ training for "civil-military dual usage" ~:lmWi}ff of military personnel. From hairdressing, tooling, and car driving to store managing, thousands of enJisted soJdiers as weJJ as officers beJow the Tank of brigade commanders obtained free training before discharged from the military. 26 ldeo-politicaJ Work ldeo-political work and organizational control within the military remained the same for the past 45 years. The Party's policy of setting up Party branches at the company level, adopted first at the "Sanwan Redesignation" at Jinggangshan range in 1927 , has become the decisive policy which guaranteed the legitimacy of the Party's control over the military. Guided by the "Resolution of the Gutian Conference", the Progra.znmatic document of Chinese ideo-political work within the military that was formulated in 1929, the political work system remains intact and has kept the anned forces loyal to the Party and stable through the politically turbulent years. The only thing changed in the past 45 years was that the modernizing PLA has llloved away gradually from its old revolutionary identity in war time which had been intertwined · h h h ds it is hard for the new cohort of military wtt t e Party. In ot er wor , leaders to put on civilian hats to affect national decision making. On one hand, this is 25 One ---- ---- . 1 ed · commercial activities, using military ~Ui source states that 10% of PLA soldiers are mvo v 1D • 26 ilerint and facilities (Inside China ~onthlY. ~ 990). ed enlisted soldiers from the PLA. Most of the111 w rsi CO hon of taxi drivers in Beijing ~as discuJ~~ no opportunity to find a job in the capital. ere from the countryside who otherwtse wo ve 341 .,.. .,-• - •• f 4'"':" :: __ - __ ~~r,.r,-_ • because ne T . . . . w rru 1tary leaders do not have the seruonty and prestige within the Party to render su h . ntl c I uence. On the other hand, as an institution, the PLA has no Jonger a le · · <unized role . 1· . al . . . . m po 1t1c and econonuc decision making. As Jong as the military is Under a unified 1 d hi . 1 d hi . . . ea ers p, and as Jong as this ea ers p is cooperatmg with the national leaders th ' e country wiU be stable and the emergence of a modem version of warlordism Will be avo .d d . . . 1 e . The new cohort of national leaders has been reJymg on 1deo-p0Jitical Work to st rengthen the CCP's relationship with the PLA. It is not difficult for foreign observ . ers to see that political work within the military functions to keep the Party's control Wh . · at tends to be ignored is the fact that the Party branch also functions as the nucleus of organizational cohesion building. All aspects of political work are oriented to stab'J' . 1 ize the troops with high morale. The continuity of these social and psychological fabrics ofth · · · · · k · th ed £'. • e rruhtary mstitution plays a maJor role m eepmg e ann 1orces VJabJe through 1· · · h · 1 1 Po 1t1caJ turmoil social transfonnations and c anges, part1cu ar y counter- , baJancin h al . i1 g t e de-moralizing factor of Jow person mcome. In sum, the PLA is a massive anned force with 68 years of Party control and ideo-poJitical work within the system. The quest for technology and combat efficiency is th e lllajor goal of defense modernization. The PLA's multiple missions include the conversio f d cti'on The professionalization process is n ° military industry to civilian pro u · Ill . . . cllnJy Inanifested by and composed of upgrading the educat10naI level of the officer corps and · · A PLA soldier stiJJ looks very military training in integrated operations. ~, As is kn nJy 4 do11ars a month. A colonel's monthly salary after 2S 0Wn to outsiders, a PLA soldier makes 0 Years service is only $120. 342 · -: :-_·-.-:::.~ : ·· -·- - --~- _.· . .:.~ -· ...-...:: ·-- different from professional soldiers in the West, and from praetorian soldiers in some developing countries. 343 Chapter X Women in the PLA Within the context of~ modernizing China and her military forces described in th e previous chapter, the functions, status, and lives of modern Chinese women in the PLA are dealt with in this chapter. The chapter combines analysis of the 1992 survey data, findings from the focus group interviews and personal observations, and a synthesis of secondary information from the existing literature. The discussion is integrated by the presentation and discussion of the 1992 data. In other words, this chapter is focused on th e 230 women who responded to the questionnaire. A detailed discussion of the survey is provided in Chapter III. The discussion is divided into 5 categories: basic information, Wartime and peacetime operations, military life, career predictions, and evaluations of military life. The age groups are categorized as the following 3 after several tests: 1) young, 20 Years old and younger; 2) middle, 21 to 35 years old; 3) oldest, 36 years old and older. In order to provide a better picture of the trend, occasionally the subjects are grouped into five age categories: 1) up to 20 years old; 2) 21 to 30 years old; 3) 31 to 40 Years old; 4) 41 to 50 years old; 5) 51 and older. The rank groups are defined as 4 after several trials: 1) ~ : this group includes young cadets (m 1) at the Military Art College of the PLA; 2) ~ : this includes Private (m2), Corporal (m3), and Sergeant (m4). 344 _ "":, t_··-~•/JI,...""' :'~-,s:.-·__.-_~4 -~;;:_, _r :'." . 3). . nmior officer: this group includes civilian ranks cl I to cl3 (see the following section for deta"l ) d · . 1 s an active duty officer ranks Second Lieutenant (m5) to Captain (m7) ; 4) ~nior officer: this group includes senior civilian ranks c5 to c7 who served more than 30 years in the PLA; civilian ranks cl Oto c8 1, which are equal to Major (m8) to Colonel (mJO)· a d · , n active duty officer ranks m8 to mlO. The Code-book for the statistical analysis is included in Appendix III. In contrast to the women waniors in the time span of ancient China and the J 00 Year Post-Opium-War periods, military women in modem China serve mainly in peacetime and regular military fonnations . However, occasionally, some of these Women participated in military operations. Some of them have been assigned to combat zones. Ba · sic Information on PLA Women Total Number of PLA Women Since the founding of the PRC in 1949, the pattern of utilization of women in the Chinese military has remained stable. The State Report ( 1994) indicates that there are 240,000 women serving in the PLA, 8% of the total military personnel if the figure of 3.2 lllillion is correct (Shambaugh, 1991). Another source notes that 136,000 women Worked in the PLA at the end of J 987 (Organization Division, 1990). Among these, I04,0oo were officers (76_5% of total military women), and 32,000 were enlisted ;-------- ----In this docum . . 1, ranks are presented as similar to the US rank categories while the civilians el~t, mi_htary per~onne s tz'onal way· the smallest number represents the highest rank are 1sted m the Chinese conven . · 345 Women(23. 5%). 2 From this source, it is clear that there are more women officers than female enlisted personnel in the PLA. This has been supported by my personal observations and focus group interviews. As for the discrepancy between the two cited total numbers, at this moment, this auth0r cannot offer an informed explanation except that it might be caused by the fact th at When staff of the General Political Department of the PLA collected the data at the end of 1987, occupational specialists were not regarded as military personnel due to the civilian system newly adopted in that year (see the following section). This means the 136 ,000 figure might reflect the total strength of military women without civilians in 1987 , while the 240,000 cited by the State Report may have included civilians in 1994. Civil Official System Within the PLA In 1987, the PLA adopted a system called "civil" or "civilian" service JtlfR in Order to evolve gradually into a system similar to the American tradition of hiring civilians to work within the military institution. The main goal of this adaptation is to keep professionals working in the military for longer terms, and, at the same time, to maintain age ceilings for military ranks in order to have a younger officer corps. =--- 2 In propo_ rt_i - ------. . fi male staff and workers (not including female labor in rural areas) at th on to the total of 56 ~UJOn e ter military women account for only 0.4 percent of total female star c et1d of 1992 (see prevrnus ch~ph );otal of 8. 7 million women officials in the state, women Officers ac e employee\ But, com~red ~~8; women officers' figure. From these simple statistics alon . . count for 1.21/o, even usmg the . fficers are a small group of elite among the 562 e, .It . 1s clear that military women. especially women° • ltltlhon Chinese women. 346 The officers-turned-civilians are actually "occupational specialists", who enjoy similar payment and status to their officer counterparts. There is no obvious age ceiling for job assignment to these specialists, but the promotion pace is slower than for active- duty officers. Many medical personnel, scientists, engineers, and logistic staff have been switched from active duty positions to civilian status. To accommodate any complaint caused by this change, new regulations allow them salary and status equal to their active duty counterparts' with the same seruority and rank as before the reform. Furthermore, civilians began to wear special uniforms in May J 992. Since most Chinese military Women serve in admjnistrative, communications, research, medical, and logistic support units Where most of the specialists work, it can be hypothesized that there is a higher Proportion of women among civilians than among active duty personnel. Senior Civilian ranks c07 to c05 have served in the PLA for more than thirty Years. Civilian ranks c Jo to c8 equal the military ranks of major (m08) to colonel (m 10). These are called senior officers in this study. Civilian ranks c 13 to c 11 equal second lieutenant (m05) to captain (m07). These are junior officers. These rank equivalencies are shown in Table 10.1 on the following page. 347 Rank Distribution Among the 230 women who responded to my 1992 survey, 83 (36.1 % ) were senior officers, 66 (28 .7%) were junior officers, and 81 (35 .3%) were enlisted personnel, of whom 23 (10%) were cadets, and 58 (25 .2%) were soldiers, as detailed in Table 10.1. In the following descriptions, senior civilians are grouped with senior officers most of the time due to their small number. Table IO.I Rank Distribution of the PLA Women 1992 Survey (N=230) ,____ ~ - ---- p .... r,.nf!I""' ---- R<>n'IL ~ .. h •. ~. ,.,-w ...--.. Senior Civilian cs 1 0.4 (Occupational C6 2 0.9 ~ecialist) C7 IO 4.3 t-- subtotal 13 .. 5.6 Colonel C8 13 9 5.7 3.9 Senior Officer Lt. Col. C9 13 17 5.7 7.4 ---- Major ClO 2 16 0.9 7.0 - subtotal 28 , 42 12.3 18.3 Captain Cl 1 10 12 4.3 5.2 Junior Officer First Lt. Cl2 16 11 7.0 4.8 Sec. Lt. C13 6 11 2.6 4.8 -- 13.9 1---._SUbtotal 32 34 14.8 Enlisted Sergeant 5 2.2 Personnel Corporal 13 5.7 40 17.4 Private 23 10.0 --- Cadet 8.} ·,, .. cr. L 35.3 . ' ~btotal ~~= . ~,· .,~··· ·r: ..... :z30·-· .··· ·, ... . . - ·. l-00.0 ., ', . '. : '· , .. . ·,:,,·· . •·. · l'otal ... . . . key, l. Lt Col · L' 2 p· · · · 1cutenant Colonel. 3: ~ st Lt. : First Lieutenant. · Lt. : Second Lieutenant. 348 ~ -· . ... . _____ .,,. - . Service Distribution The result of this survey is similar to the findings of focus group interviews and my personal observations that there are higher concentrations of PLA women soldiers in the Anny (34.3%) and the headquarters of the PLA (the three general departments: 43 - 9%), even though the sample was not drawn in a way that would guarantee representativeness. Table 10.2 on the following page presents the service distribution of this sample. Table 10.2 Service Distribution of the PLA Women 1992 Survey (N=230) r--- ,___ Service Freauencv Percent t--- Armv 79 34.3 1--- Air Force 19 8.3 t-- Navv 31 13.5 ..__ General Staff Deruirtment 85 37.0 r---freneraJ Political Denartment 10 4.3 ~neral Loeistics Denartment 6 2.6 · Total ., 230 IOO.O Service Length Women soldiers have the same minimum length of service as their male counterparts: four years for the Navy, three years for the Air Force, and two years for the Army. There are a few career women soldiers who serve longer terms among Chinese enlisted. Female cadets and women officers in this sample served much longer than enlisted personnel. Figure 10.1 shows the distribution of the service length of the PLA women in my 1992 survey. 349 45 40 .. r··,.···i···. 35 C -t..i. :i ' l a, 30 't a percentage <> frequency l 0l s 25 C: ' . a, 20 ;tt14-~ · 29 .· ., a, 15 Q. -'::!}':.: ..... 10 ; · 12 ·5 .11 5 ,, -0 , .. ·.3 0 fl) fl) fl) fl) fl) fl) fl) fl) fl) >. >. >. ~ >. >. >. ~ >. fl) ..- 0 0 1/) 0 >. V 1/) 0 1/) I ... .... N N M M 'V ... I I I I I I I 'V frequency 0 N I tr) .... in 0 in 0 in 0 C7 1' 1' V') N C7 I \0 ..... \0 I \0 ..... ..,,. ..,,. ..... ~ ~ N N Age Groups Figure 10.2 Age Distribution of the PLA Women t992 survey (N===200) ~-~ V') Geographic & Ethnic Origins M · · lly came from city areas (94.4%) (see Table ost women in this sample ongtna 10 4 · on the following page). 354 - .,. _____ ... -- ~~Sr- This is different from most periods of the post Opium-War time· span except the I 91 I revolution: most women participants in wartime and revolutions were from the Table 10.4 Geographic & Ethnic Origin of the PLA Women 1992 Survey (N=230) ,.____ -- Ori~in Frequency Percentaee ...__ From City 217 94.3 -- From Countryside IO 4.3 -- Unknown 3 1.3 . Total · 230 . . 99.9 . ' . . " countryside, except the I 91 I revolution when most of the participants were intellectual Women from cities. Comparison with the 40 ancient women warriors is difficult: 1) only 1 of the 9 women commanders was from the countryside; 2) however, 6 of the 7 women u .. Pnsing leaders were from the countryside; 3) as for the 24 defenders, only l was defending her estate in the countryside, all others were city defenders, but there is no inf ormati b h . hi . . on a out t e1r geograp c ongm. In terms of ethnic background, 98% of the women in the PLA sample were Han. Family Background One hundred and ninety women in my 1992 survey reported their fathers' jobs, among whom 42 (22.1%) were military officers, and 63 (33.2%) were govemmen.tal officials. More than half of these military women were from officers' or officials' fa ·1· · · . H mi ies. This shows a similar pattern to the 40 ancient women wamors. owever, only a small proportion of the 677 women identified for the post Opium-War period had information about their family background--either due to the inherent nature of data 355 collected for the time periods of wars and revolutions, or due to other factors for ' example, the existence of a national emergency that brought women from all kinds of family background into military operations. This makes the comparison between these two periods difficult. If the 100 year post Opium-War period is considered an unusual time span compared with the 3000 year history of China, it may be observed that Chinese officers and officials' daughters are more likely to serve in the military, particularly in regular formations and during peacetime, given the higher percentage of military women from officers and officials' families both in ancient and modern times. Education Like their male counterparts, many military women are educated at military colleges and schools. Prior to J 979, the best soldiers were selected for further training and education before their promotion to officer, although college education was not required for promotion. At the same time, most Chinese military colleges and schools recruit women cadets directly from society, which has been a regular practice since the beginning of the J 980s. High school graduates in both the cities and the country are, officially, given the same opportunity to apply. Cadets in military schools are categorized as "enlisted " while the military colleges train junior officers. Women military ' technical officers are either trained at military colleges or commissioned after graduation from · ·i· civ1 1an colleges. The rationale for recruiting women cadets for medical, foreign language, and rnilitary arts college is obvious: traditionally and conventionally, women are regarded as 356 ~- ---- - .. ,f;..~ suitable for working as medical personnel, interpreters and translators, and cultural workers within the military. For the missile and technical inteJJigence colleges, there is ano th er, un-stated purpose: most graduates of these colleges will be assigned to remote areas for long-time service, and finding marital partners has been a problem for many future officers. 5 Thus military leaders in charge of these educational facilities have a policy of regularly recruiting a certain proportion of women cadets. 6 Most Chinese military doctors are trained by military medical colleges, in which nonnaI training takes four years. This means that a typical Chinese military medical doctor, like medical doctors in the civilian sector, has four years of college or quasi- college training, although some doctors have been promoted from a nurse's position because of their seniority and contributions in the service. In contrast, during the two decades surrounding the period of the cultural revolution, so-caIIed "Bare Foot Doctors" ~J114] ~~ , with little if any formal medical training, practiced in rural areas and local communities. Even today, compared with their civilian counterparts, Chinese military medical doctors generaIIy have more stable patterns of formal training. Postgraduate education has been provided nationwide at key universities since 1977, and the military medical coIIeges have foIIowed suit. Ph.D. and Master's degrees Were obtained by 589 military women at these military institutions from 1978 to 1987. Continuous training in medicine has resulted in 55 percent of Chinese women military ;----------- Given the constant 48% of female gender in the past four decades, and t11e bigger pro~~ion o~ senior female citizens . edi ( ·s that in the coming two decades, about 40 m.tllton Chinese lllen WiU n 11 ' a con~rvative pr (Zchion 1 1991 ) This is certainly another unstable factor in Chinese sac· o iave manta! partners uang. · · 6 1ety. Information obtained through focus group interviews. 357 doctors h · 1 avmg at east a Bachelor's degree, and 6 l 6 women had earned the title of associate p fc . ro essor or associate researcher by the end of l 987 (Organization Division ' 1990). The 1992 data on education level at entrance into service of the 230 women in my sample shows that 17% of them were college graduates, 38% were high school graduates, while 11 % were high school students. This means 66% of these women had obtained education of high school and above when they were recruited. Another 14% graduated from middle school before participating, and 8% were middle school students. Only 7'½ · 1 · d 0 were elementary school graduates, who were mam y recru1te as cadets to be trained in th ·1· e mi 1tary art college. The relationship between age and current education of these PLA women is Positive and statisticalJy significant (Chi -square=94. 74 7, p< 0.001 ): the older the PLA Women, the higher education level they achieved. Table l 0.5 on the following page provides a more detailed picture: the age group of 21 to 30 was the largest subgroup. It also had more graduate students. The other lllid dle aged subgroups had similar percentage of college educated women while the highest percentage was recorded for the oldest age group. Table 10.6 presents the cross-tabulation of these women's service duration by current education. The relationship between the service duration and current education of these PLA women is positive and statistically significant (Chi -square=43 . 888, p< 0.001): the longer the PLA women served, the higher education level they achieved. 358 Table 10.5 The PLA Women's Age By Current Education 1992 Sunrey (N""l98) ~ oy . . . q,·•t;o ~ .Col. Pct ' ' 20 41:~50 ,,: :51. & . . , :; - .. · · 1'otal -··-· cider· · .. _ . 21...-30 . Ji-40 .•, ... , > .... ·,;,,..'.• :v"' .. l · · . 85 Secondary 58 13 19,4 8 ;22. i '' _5 \.i9:~2' :J{{) /1 •' ,;43 e College Graduate 92, 1 3 4.B 2 44 65 , 10 25 7 -69. 4 3 ••/··">r" • ., , · · 18 . ,', 69~2 : 3 ·. u~s>· ' S 95 83, 3 . ,,: ·46 ·o ;o. · . 18 •, :·9 . ' T 3.2 ~tal 63 C J?ct~t-1 ~1+--:~~+--:-~o+-{2}6 ~-rif---:;-;~6~..+--1~9~~ Pct 100.1 8 Row Pet 99. 9 100 . 100 14,;9 {3.3 67 36 99 .9 31.8 13,1 3 . 100 33 ,8 . 18 ;2 10 0 Table 10.6 The PLA Women's Senrice Duration By Current Education 1992 Sunrey (N""226) Service Duration F),equ~ncy Row Pct Current Education Total Secondary College Graduate ·_; ~:.'57 ~ :JS . . JO .82 L..-~-----J.---_::.:.69:..:,.:.5~~~18~.3+-~_;1.::.2:.:.,2~-_j 5 to 10 years t ~->: ,,, e \··:'?(-;l'. ' ' ':t)/~~ . ·,:·ie+:11 /: /;:S,: ,,. 45 .1 49.0 5.9 Up to 4 Years 11 to 20 Years ·-.. :..·_Ji ::.~-.-. .:'. ·c;s ... ::_/_.:-. ..... _ ·J_ .... , , ·tts ;0 - ·.•• ·:.;... • •• ~ 25.7 71.4 2.9 21 to 30 Years ~(~tt_:::·-·::~;:,·· .~~-,;t ;-:·:<::.--.~;AA ::..: ·,. ,;: 3 ~: 40 17.5 75.0 7.5 More than 30 Y. .': ~(:''\)J bf, --~i .J~ ··. ' ;~:~i '( ~-~' > <~ 22.2 66.7 11.1 Total , .. , .. :.-::,' '.,:.-~·-··_._::: .. 100_ .· · _ .·.:: /- ~ .,:-, :,:·.'19 -. -.. : >-226 ~.· ,1 : • 44.2 47.3 8.4 100.0 flowever, an interesting result of this cross tabulation is that IO (12.2%) women who on Y 4 years or less had Master degrees m J 992. In other words, more than half served I . . ofth e 19 women who achieved the graduate study level belonged to the shortest service 359 duration category. It may reflect a recent tendency that the PLA has tried to commission higher educated women during its modernization process. More research is needed to obtain more conclusive results. This cross tabulation shows that women who served between 21 and 30 years having the highest percentage of college education, while Women who served 4 years or Jess were in the lowest education category. Seventy one percent of women who served between 11 and 20 years had college education, while 67¾ of women who had served more than 30 years achieved the same educationaJ 1eve1. Table 10. 7 is a further cross-tabulation of these PLA women's rank by current education. Again, the relationship between rank and current education is positive and statisticaJJy significant (Chi-square=l 18.405, p< 0.001). The data indicate that the higher these women's ranks, the higher the education level they achieved. There was a Positive relationship between these women's rank and their education level. In addition, JUnior officers in this sample had the highest percentage of graduate students, who corresponded with the age group of 21 to 30. This is probably due to the fact that individ 1' 'd · 11 d · ua s age has been an important factor in cons1 enng post co ege e ucat1on. The age limit for application for graduate studies was set at 45 in the late 1970s when the country resumed its post college education programs. The survey data indicate that one woman obtained a Ph.D. degree after joining th e military and 15 obtained Master's Degrees (7% ), while 2 were studying in doctoral Programs and 1 in a Master 's program when the questionnaire was administrated. It is 360 more important to note that the percentage of college graduates increased to 41 % from the 17% entrance data, while 6% were studying in colleges. All these produce a picture n s e ucat1on achievements can e pos1t1ve y re ate to t e1r nu 1tary service, that wome ' d · · b · · I I d h · ·1· and the relationship is significant. Further observations will be offered in the conclusion chapter. Table 10.7 The PLA Women's Rank By Current Education 1992 Sunrey (N==226) - L Rank Current Education Total Frequency L..... Row Pct Secondary College Graduate Senior Officer . ' 16 .. 0 58.0 . g;o . 82.0 .... ~.,..., ~ 19.5 70.7 9.8 100.0 Junior Officer - 1-0.0 . ;_o· -9.0 - ·. 64.0 . I ,•' ~ '---- I 5.6 70.3 14.1 100.0 " . lJ~ ·· .. >·: :.:.: ~-(.irO ... ·220 Cadet •,2l.0 '": .. ~ ·~~~· ·., ' . . .•-., .. ... 95.5 4.5 0.0 100.0 ~ Enlisted 53.0 .. :3 ·0 .. ' : ~-·· :-:·'.·'?~·;c; ·'.°'580 ' . . . ~ . _·: ,' . J;,,:,.;M. .. 91.4 5.2 3.4 100.0 Total ,, - ' 1no~o ~: .. ~n1..o . . ·;,.:: .,~(:,~}9,:0 ,•' 1 -· ::,:~.o . . , ·,· .. ~ - ' , .. . '· .. 47.3 8.4 99.9 44.2 Participation in Wartime and Peacetime Operations Milita o . ry perataons Since 194 9 , military women have not been formally assigned to combat roles, either in th K W . h ~ border military conflicts, 1 although a small e orean ar or in t e 1our Proportion art· . d . h ·i·tary operations as medical doctors, nurses, telephone P 1c1pate m t ese mi 1 1 'rhese bo nf1. in 1962· Sino-Soviet border conflict in 1969; South Cl . rder conflict are: Sino-India border co 1 ~ s· Vi~tnam border conflict in I 979. 11na Sea Sino-Vietnam conflict in 1974; an mo- 361 2 operators, reporters, and cultural workers. Forty years after the Korean War, it is stilJ difficult to locate any historical documents about Chinese women's participation in that war. One of my personal acquaintances broadcast on the radio in English to American soldiers at the front during th e Korean War. As an active duty officer, her service was a part of the psychological Warfare launched by the Chinese Volunteer Army (CV A). Most women served as medical personnel in that war wfole some enlisted actresses as weJJ as civilian artists ' performed at the front for the CV A soldiers. There are some reports of Chinese women POWs who were humiliated and raped by their captors. Most of these women have been 0st racized, as have most returned Chinese POWs This makes investigation more difficult (Feng, l 990; Yie, J 990). On the other hand, military women were among other decorated heroes who crossed the Yalu River and came back in triumph. In the Sino-Vietnam border conflict of 1979, women's participation was on a larger scale. There were "March 8th Rescue Teams," "March 8th Service Teams," and "M arch 8th Propaganda Teams. 11 2 Women's telecommunication units were located inside the fi1 · W d t d J re zones and kept the Jines open at all times. omen oc ors an nurses not on y treated the wounded soldiers at the medical clinic, but also went to the front to carry thern back. Some of them went to the front against orders after their requests were There is a t d . . 's organizations "March 8th ... " {The International L en ency 111 China to name women . . abor Wom , D · da st of the model women workers were publicized. The All- China F'Cde ~ns ay). because on that y m~ g ,..ampaign for "March 8th Red Banners" since the 19 ration of Women has had an ongom "' . . . . . Sos. To be "M " . that the individual 1s offic1ally recognized nat1onw1de for h a arch 8th Red Banner means er outstanding status and achievement 362 denied r dl epeate Y by the commanders. 3 Some military women were assigned to guard Vietname POW se s. Cultural workers were frequently sent to the front to peifonn for th e combatan~s. One of the major functions of military women in the battlefield was cohesion b ·1d· ui mg and morale boosting. The mere presence of these military women was such a · maJor boost to morale for the entire force that they were caIIed "battlefield goddesses " " , entrenchment angels," or "foxhole larks. " Ten (4%) out of the total 230 PLA women in the sample indicated that they had combat experiences (see Table 10.8 on the foIIowing page). Six of the women in the sample Participated in combat directly, while four had been to combat zones. 4 Three (SO¾) of these women combat participants were medical personnel (1 doctor, 1 doctor Intern, and 1 nurse intern); the other 2 were enlisted women (1 squad leader, l soldier). One did not indicate her title and place of combat participation, probably due to reasons of ·1· mi ltary secrecy. It is also worth noting that the times and places of some of these women's combat Participation were unanticipated. One indicated that her combat was on January 3 , 1970 in Laos, a foreign country. 5 The other indicated that she participated in combat on January 3, 1979 in Beijing. 6 3 all~! repcrted that commanders of alI levels had a unified "protective" attitude toward the issue of 4 8. ng women to the front (Zhang et al, eds., 1992). . . . . . 1 nce 3 of the 6 combat rt · . ts answered both the combat part1c1patton question (Quest10n 12, see An-.. . pa icipan · 11 " b · di t · th · ,...,...._ndix II) and th ba ce question (Question 13) yes , ut m ca mg e same time a d e com t zone presen . . 5 n Place for the· ba . 1 decided to record them only once as combat part1c1pants. Th 1r com t expenences, ed h I · · 1 · e lllilitary ope t · . hi h h 1·nvolved was probably rel at to t e og1stic support me to Vie ra 1011 m w c s e was . . . 6 · tnamese communists throu h Laos' territory during the Vietnam War penod. . .. Since this pers ked . gh hn"cal reconnaissance unit in the suburbs of Beumg, and the h · h on wor m t e tee 1 . · PL ig est level of ·i · 1 h be rded as combat status m the peace-time A, I assumed that m1 ltary a crt as en rega 363 The 3 women who had been to combat zones had been to the Yunnan combat zones on la 7 nuary , 1986, May 8, 1989 and January 8, I 990 separately. Only one of these thr ee was known as a nurse. The woman reporter went to the combat zone in T'b 1 et on January 6, I 990. TabJe 10.8 The PLA Women's Combat Experiences (N=230J ~~~ation / ~2one Exnerience 1 1 I<·ey7----T ...... a .... ta...,IL ____ ...1l __ Freo~encv 10 I. N==230 2 · Job as · . . repo srgnments of these ten PLA women: I medical doctor, 1 mtem doctor, I nurse, I intern nurse, I 3 T ner, 1 squad leader, I soldier 3 did not tell their job assignments. I 98t 0 participated in combat at Laoshan along the border between China and Vietnam (I on Jan. 6, IM , vice-president of Luo Yang Military Foreign n n genera s are. Wl::t: . f . . . :$ guage I~itute; Liao Wenhai p;.jc~, president of #3~ 1 ~neral Hospital o ~e Ann:; Li 1 Xikai dau~"ft , v~ce-president of #3 Military MedicaJ Colleg~_; N1e L1 lf.-:!J .' Marsh~! N1e Rongzhen s only I ghter, vice chair of S · d Technology Comrruttee, Cornnussion of Science, Technology & ndust c1ence an 1 ., . v· t.-: f . ry for National D fi . p Gang ~mrr Marshal Peng De 1uai s mece, 1ce-CJJ.;ur o Discipline and I e ense, eng .11;:,r,~. . .M, W k fth p,1 A· Qi p .. Ji: n5Pection Committee of the Department of General Pol_itJ1,4.1 or . o - e . L~ ~o eJJuan Mi~ , vice-president of the Military Arts College; Wu Xiaoheng ~~~' VJce-pre~ident of_#l s htary Medical c 11 Zh ZI . :blllrliff? vice-president of International Relations Institute. OnJ · o ege; ao uwen ~.;RY:: , . . ::r::lt!,.',,t!4,, ~ Y two of the fio e"als are identified by this author: Wang Xiaotang .::C.!!Ju7f<: , a 1ani ur new women gen ' , Xi xrt.&'ffil: De )(· ou.s movie star and the Vice President of the Military Studio, and Deng anqun P.7u-fff, ng taoping's step sister, Minister of Mass Work of tlte GPD. 368 It may be too early to predict whether promotions to women general will keep th is pace in the future. On one hand, the officer/enlisted ratio is very high in favor of the Women officers, most of whom are still young or middle-aged, and most of whom are professionals who have already served in the military for a long period. There should be a large enough pool of women senior officers for promotion to women general. On the 0th er hand, many specialists have been changed to civilians whose chance of being Promoted to the position of general has been reduced to zero. Only commanders at the top of the chain have the opportunity. This will cause problems and complaints in the future When more and more civilians will accumulate equivalent service length to the Younger cohort of women generals. Promotion Expectations Twice the subjects in my I 992 survey were asked to predict their promotion 0 PP0 rtunities. One question asks "what do you think your chances are of being Promoted to the next higher position (class)?" (question 23) The other question asks "what do you think your chances are of being promoted to female general during your career?" Similar to the prediction of combat participation, subjects were asked to select O¾ (no chance) to JOO% (certain) in addition to the choices of "does not apply, I plan to retire" and "Id , k II p· 10 4 on the foJlowing page shows these women's on t now . 1gure . expect t· a 10ns of their promotion. 369 Thirteen women (6%) selected "not applicable", while 58 (25%) selected "I don't know" Am · ong the 159 women who answered this question, 9 (6%) predicted no promotion opportunities, 67 ( 42%) predicted low possibilities (I 0% to 40% ), while 5 J (J 2¾) predicted high possibilities ( 50% to 90%). Thirty two (20%) were I 00% sure th ey Would be promoted. In other words, slightly more than one fourth of these women d'd 1 not know whether they would be promoted or not. More than one third of the remainders predicted Jow possibilities, while about one third predicted high possibilities. One fifth w · · · ere certam about thelf promot10n. 25 r-----------,--------- -- --,-..----, Q,/ 20 • percentage o frequency r 15 fl ~ 10 ( 5 - 0 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Figure 10.4 Promotion Prediction of the PLA Women (1992 Survey N=l59) Internal · 'd more infonnation. Table I 0.10 provides cross companson proVJ es tabulation between age and the promotion prediction. The relationship is statistically signifi ) cant ( Cru-square=41 . 025, p~.: .. ,~;l?.~9 ·_.;:_:,i::;..-}~q_.;;:·;"~-~;J~~(f :1. '·(_;:~C:/36.0 13 .9 41. 7 13 .9 30.6 . 100.1 Middle LO : . .-,~2P;~ ·i4.tl ·•, --~ii l~:.O . ·. :.;_-!60.0 1.7 33.3 40.0 25 .0 100.0 . Oldest 2.2 46.7 44.4 6.7 100.0 · ,~o · •~o : _. <::~'-~o. <·2,.01 :· .. _)~1.0 1.... _____ _j__ _ .:::..:.5,~0L-_.;.3::..::9:..:..:, 7:.l-_..:;.3...:..:4·;:.8L-_2:.:0:::..: 6:i__~l 0~0~.1 Total ng to the new system starting J 987 that enhsted have fewer chances to be ~OO~i · promoted to officers. However, 31 % of the youngest women selected the I 00% Possibility, which reflects the fact that most cadets expected promotion (see the ng cross tabulation). As for the oldest age group, these women almost split followi betwee h. · ·1· I This n 1gh possibility predictors and low poss1b1 tty se ectors. Table 10.11 provides cross tabulation between rank and the promotion Prediction. It shows that senior officers were split almost equally over their low or high Predict· rt d b Thi fi ions, which reflects the pattern of oldest group repo e a ove. rty ve Perce t f f h · · hi! n o the junior officers predicted 100% chance o t eir promotion, w e another 303/i . d 0 predicted high possibilities. SixtY three percent of women ca ets were 100% sure of their promotion, while another zs% predicted high possibilities. As for the enlisted 371 women, 66% predicted low possibilities, while 24% of them predicted no possibility at all. Th e relationship between these women's rank and promotion prediction is Y s1gmficant (Chi- square=86.843, p< 0.001). statistical! · · Table 10.11 The PLA Women's Rank By Promotion Expectation 1992 Survey (N== 159) - ~ Rank Promotion Expectation Total f requency '---- Row Pct 0% Low High 100% Senior Officer .. . 3tHl :.'-3r-O .·.::;. :::_fO . , ..... ' ·68.0 .. z.o .. . - . ' ... --· ~ . - - . ~ -- .. ~ 2,9 44.1 45 .6 7.4 100.0 Junior Officer 0:0 '1() .0 . ·:·._1.4;0 · _ ;;i;~l6.0 .46.0 - . .. 0.0 34.8 30.4 34.8 100.0 Cadet 0.0 ·2.0 :4.0 . l(tO ' 16.0 . •· , t 0.0 12.5 25.0 62.5 100.0 Enlisted . 7 .. 0 : . .t9.0. . . " ·Z.0 .... ,-: 1.0 29.0 . ·- .. ~ 24.1 65 .5 6.9 3.4 99.9 Total .... ,. .. ,··l,~O : 51 O _· ... ,·~~~ 159.0 · 9.0 .. " , .,) •. ' .. " ' ...... -- 5.7 42.1 32.1 20.1 100.0 '- The subjects were also asked to express their expectations of becoming a woman general in the future. Fifty two (22.6%) selected "I don't know", while 17 (7.4%) decided th' h · · 161 d IS was not applicable to them. Among t e remaimng respon ents, I 07 (665%) believed there was no chance for them to become a woman general in the future. 43 (26. 7%) predicted low pcssibilities, while only 11 (6.8%) predicted high Possibilities. Nobody selected the 90% or J 00% choices. In other words, nobody was Certa· in she may become a general in the future. Figure I o. 5 illustrates these women's prediction of becoming a woman general in the future. 372 70 60 !:1•, [~percentage I 50 <> frequency ~- -· .. .. ... ,. . !''.'" ,. . 40 - - p '7 .... ~::... ::=-· r. 30 ·:. 20 - . 26 .. 10 ,, 9 ··1 · -·· ,1 .. '" 0 . o. 0 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Figure 10. 5 The PLA Women's Prediction of Being A Woman General in the Future, 1992 Survey N==l61 Table l O .12 provides cross tabulation between age and prediction of becoming a female general in the future. The relationship is statistically significant (Chi- square=28.456, p<0.001). Table 10.12 The PLA Women's Age By Expectation of Becoming a General 1992 survey (N== 144) Age Frequency . Row Pct Youngest Middle .._ Oldest Total Expectation of Becoming A General Total 0% Low High 100% ,, · .. ,-0.11 .. , .:;,.,i.,11 ·,,,.;,;:"il'° +,V~ ·. ;,: ~.-0 . ,. ·· s1.o · · 10.9 .• 2.2 _o;o 100.1 373 Most women predicted no possibilities of becoming a woman general in the future Th ere is an inverse linear relationship between age and expectation However, th ' is cross tabulation presents an interesting difference: most women in the oldest age group expected no possibility of becoming a woman general, while some women of the 0th er two age groups predicted low possibilities, and 5 of the youngest women and 5 of the ·d mi die aged expected high possibilities. Table IO 13 provides cross tabulation between rank and the expectations of becom· ing a woman general. The relationship is positive and statisticaJJy significant (Chi- square::::54 3 55, p,·,r:~ ,.::31,. Officer Enlisted 0.4 Total ·:~·, .. . :1,· ~r _; 62.6 379 Total 100.0 .. 230.0 100.0 9 It shows that no enlisted personnel in this sample had children. 9 More than half of the civilians had only one child . More than half of the officers had no children. Furthermore, when asked who was taking care of the children during the female member's absence, 11 (13% of those who had children) subjects said their spouses would take care of them; in 21 (24%) cases it was the grandparents; 1 relative took the job; and 5 ( 6¾) had dry-nurses. Fourteen (J 6%) of the children had to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, the survey did not ask question about the age of PLA women's children. As for the question of family monthly expenses, 116 (50. 7%) did not tell their monthly family expenses. This is probably due to the reason that 96 of them were not married, and 23 did not tell about their marital status at all (see previous Table 10.16). Among the 113 who did provide their monthly family expenses, they were scattered over a range of 1 50 RMB to 900 RMB. The largest group was the 23 women whose family spent 400 RMB per month. Second to it was the 12 person 300 RMB expense group. Gender Relationships Within the Military There is one question in the 1992 survey which deals directly with the issue of gender relationships within the military. Subjects were asked to select one out of the five Possible answers JO to the statement that "I am happy working together with male Colleagues" ( question 54_F). Table 10.18 presents the results of a cross tabulation 'I'his ref! marriage for enlisted personnel and cadets. 1 o Th ects the PLA policy which discourages , k disagree strongly disagree. e five choices are_: strongly agree, agree, I don t now, ' · 380 between subjects' ranks and their evaluations of the gender relationship. The relationship is positive and statistically significant (Chi-square=36. 684, p: · ...... '. ·· ··. ·· '':·:, . ! ;. • ·• is 1 ·· 31~3 oo 100.0 1-----;--:-----L-.J1~-2~~5~1~·8r~;;i· -r~rui· ·t· =-~· :t·7r ·,~~ Junior Ofli1cer ' . ·1 n ' ... to..O ......... J1l.,O, ::,'-'.~·fr.,i~P. :7·,,.,.,,.,,., A:0 66.0 '. .. .:.::,,, •. ,. ~ "7 -:::.-~s.2 - · · 1.1.3 · · so.o 6.1 100.1 , }: c0 : JG · ~·- tt)':@',ll: . ~!~).I.D : .·· · p.o Cadet ' 1 ~ •• ·.:.;" ~ .,, 0 , , .. • 43 5 8.7 4J 100.0 0.0 43 .5 . . . :~ . ,:,. ~'.~·e . fO< .. . 38 384 wit t e1r evaluations of current assignments. Fifty women chose "I don't consistent . h h . ' 0 whom more than half were cadets or enlisted personnel. know" f Table 10.20 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Job Stability 1992 Survey (N==230) r---_-i;;:-::-----r------------------ ~ Rank Stable Job ~uency Strongly Strongly I Total Sen:;~;::-;~;:-:;.=-:c-e_r_-1,.·'. ... ~-~A~::!.:~:!:'2:.....-0..l.-,:;A~_ ~r~l-;Q..J..c- . ..,;~~:;:,;~~:;, '.- ~-q"-. ~D-!;,;:~~.::i:~~~;;:_~~-" f..:'D:;:.:- :.:::~:::.i:!:~,;~~~:..j-· - .· -,~: .... ~.~-~B-J-.. OJ ---Y-?--:::-=---J.-----.::.2::::..4J-_,:_;73::.:;.5::.i.-__..,.:.1.:.;3 ·:.:..3 +--..-:9~. 6,....._,_..:.;1.~2 f-.-~1 O~O~. 0 unior Officer 1.0 }LO .J.3:_0' -J5;0 - ·,_: Jf._.;() .66.0 ---;::;--:-----L---~4.::_51---_:4:.'.7~.o:.+--_.;..19:.:.·.:...J7 ,--:~2:-=:2'.":'. 7+-__ 6::.:... :.+1 _ __:_::1 o:..::.o~. Cadet '0.0 ' .:J3~0 l:(.l:'. ,, ..• nen.cy Agree Agree DK Disagree Disagree Row Pct Senior Officer Junior Officer Cadet Enlisted Total ':r;.~.:~:·:·,~:-~ '\:i~:~,~f :· ?t:t~r t~~~~ ~H:f{t __ ::-: : :;rfJ : · 39.p ~: ·: ·7~:'.!ro · · _.··':~:79.~ '> . . _'-:: :LD ./ · .. 58.o 15.5 51.7 15.5 15.5 1.7 99.9 1,.0 .. ., u~~o . . . :··. :44,0 · : : ·· uJif .. o , .. , <~: .,, . ... _A'U\ 0 .... . . . . ,. , .. . ,. ., . ,...... •'-'·' ,,.,,, .. -.. ~ --· .......... ,,.,..,.;' . ~. 8.3 50.4 19. J J 9.1 3.0 ........ 99.9 Prom f ---=- 0 ion Opportunity Subjects were also asked to express themselves on the issue of promotion. The relevant st atement is "I am satisfied with my promotion opportunity" (question 54-E), and the r esults are presented in Table J 0.24. The relationship is statistically significant (Chi-square- 5 8. 565, p ;:!0.-0 :>?_:::~o . : .. ::_f'.D' Y( i-t:o 130.o 0.4 21.7 37.0 36.5 4.3 99.9 t!ili!r_e W elfare After Retirement As for their perception of overall welfare state after retirement, the subjects' answers to th . e statement of "my general welfare will not be bad after my retirement" (question 5 4-J) are presented in Table I 0. 25. Again, the relationship between these Worn , ens ranks and their evaluations is statistically significant ((Chi-square=28.427, P"O.oo I) eve th d "Id 't kn " M · ffi ' n ough I 03 women selecte on ow . ore semor o ,cers agreed · With the statement while 28% of them selected "I don't know" for this question. The group of junior officers had diversified opinions to this question again. Less than half of the enlisted personnel answered this question while more cadets selected "I don't know•, G I t d "I d 't k " · enerally speaking, almost half of these women se ec e on now . 389 Table 10 25 Th p · e LA Women's Evaluations of Welfare After Retirement 1992 Survey (N==230) r--- i,,-_ Rank Welfare After Retirement - - Frequency - . . Strongly Strongly Total Row Pct S Agree Agree DK Disagree Disagree enior Officer . . In sum, these women's evaluations of their military career diversified across d' an mg groups. The only consensus was that most of these PLA women ifferent r k' 100.0 thought th . . e1r Jobs were stable. Most of them also thought that they had few Opport · · umttes to travel. Other than that, these women bad diversified evaluations of their careers· . . . . . most seruor officers were happy with their current assignments, while most JUnior offi . teers were not; and both cadets and enlisted tended to either agree or select "I don't kno II d · b · h'J n1· w · Most officers in this ,ample felt they ha JO secunty, w I e most e tSted d' Id not k . . .. . now. Most officers were not satisfied with promotion opporturuttes, whtle some senio ed d d d'd r officers were satisfied. And again, most enlist an ca ets I not know " a similar pattern in their evaluations of future welfare. There· 390 Evaluatio f ns O Income and Living Standard Answers to two questions show that these women were not happy with their income and 1· . ivmg standard. One statement is that "I am satisfied with my income" - . Table I 0.26 presents the cross tabulation between subJect's rank and (question 54 D). . . her resp onse to this question. The relationship is statistically significant (Chi- square==29.388, p<0.001). More than half of the cadets selected "I don't know" . This was the group who Were not. m the military long enough to know. More than half of the junior officers ee (56.1 %), while the percentage of disagree for senior officers was high too disagr d (46¾) In dd. · f . . ffi 1 d' · a 1t1on, I 0% of the senior and I 2% o the 1umoro ,cersstrong y isagreed e statement. Less than half of the enlisted disagreed with the statement ( 43%). with th Table 10.26 The PLA women's Evaluations of Their Income J 992 Survey (N==230) Rank Satisfactory Income Cadet Enlisted Total 391 Strongly Total Furthennore, not a single woman selected "strongly agree" . This leads to the observation that many women in this sample were not satisfied with their income. Living Standard Another statement is "my living standard in the military is higher than in the civilian sector" . Table 10. 27 presents a cross tabulation between rank and the answers to this statement. The relationship is statistically significant (Chi-square=3 8.11 o, p<0.001). Table 10.27 The PLA Women's Evaluations of Living Standard 1992 Survey (N==230) Rank ~Frequency Row Pct Higher Living Standard Than Civilians Strongly Strongly I Total Agree Agree DK Disagree Disagree ... 1-0 · ::;. 24:0 >1.,s,· ... :0.: .··.):-".'<3.:.·9: .. • , . .:_, .4·0 . s·Jo . . ... ' •., ' ' . ., ' .' ' . ,: . .__-::-____ J __ .!.:.1.:.J2 h,,,--.,._;;.2:,.::8~. 9~~1'."'r8~.1-r.--;-"'.'.':~47~.0~~~4.~8~~10 ~O~.O Junior Officer }' :" 'l),0 ._,.·:J~Jl';(i .': i '.;1:t:ll,,." ' .~ ;q · .:· JI.-0· · ~.O ..... ______ __j_ _ _;..O:.:.; O:.i,. _ . """'!. ,:...15~.2~~"71:';;'6.~7r:-:-::'.':'.":"'""5~1-:.5r_~16:.;.. 7-+-_1~ 0~0:.!..11 Senior Officer OJ) :· .: ~~:.,Al~ : .... 7:. ::J~A .. ,\:)}~Jh- ;:~·\-~:~ .. ,;_; :ll.O ··o.o . .. 26.l 65.2 8.7 0,0 100.0 Cadet Enlisted -::- . ··'at ,,:-:! ·-<·-6-<1 · :_\\::1,1~ .... r~<» -i "·: ·,'i?ti'O .. ·. ,. ~.58~u 0 / '' 103 'Ji'.o , 569 .. L1 99.9 Total , -. . : /l.O. · ... i-)~ · · ·. ~(J'lt, . Jys.o · . :': ':J:~.tl 230.o ' 0.4 ... 20.0 25.7 47.0 7.0 100.1 ...._ Many senior ( 4 7%) and junior officers ( 5 2%) disagreed, as well as many enlisted ( 5 7%). More than half of cadets ( 65%) selected "I don't know" . One difference is that more junior officers selected "strongly disagreen than senior officers. About 30% of senior officers thought they had higher Jiving standard than civilians while only 15% of 392 the junior offi cers agreed. In general, more than half of all women in this sample did not th ink their living standard in the military was higher than women in the civilian sector. Evaluations of Military Life Four statements in question 54 are related to these women's evaluations of their military life. The result of the questioning about whether they are happy working with male colleagues within the military is reported in the section on gender relationships. The second statement is "I have many friends in the military" ( question 54-C). The findings to this statement are presented in Table 10.28. The relationship is not statistically significant (Chi-square=J 1.082, p<0.086). More than half of women in all four ranking groups agreed or strongly agreed With this statement. No cadets selected "disagree". On the other hand, about one fourth of the junior officers in this sample did not think they had many friends within the military. Another 21 % of the junior officers selected "I don't know". More than one fourth of the enlisted did not know either. The third statement is about subjects' evaluations of the quality of their children's education. The statement is "I am satisfied with the quality of my children's education" (question 54_0 ). The cross tabulation is presented in Table 10.29. The relationship is statistically significant (Chi-square=89. 034, p11.0 Enlisted .. . -14~ · · ,i6.0~ l.0 0.0 . .. - . - 1.7 ., .. 27.6 46.6 --- 0.0 24.1 ,,o.o . 7.0 Total .. 3.0 _,J •• Q. ·56~0 .. ~ . . ... ~ . .,,. 3.0 - - . 24.3 39.1 1.3 32.2 --- Total 83.0 1000 66.0 ~ 100.1 ZJ.O - 99.9 .58.{) 100.0 ··-230.0 99.9 . ffi (SI%) selected "agree" or "strongly agree", More than half of the senior o 1cers hi 6 %) did not think their military lives met w le more than half of the junior officers ( 5 0 th · t between the senior and junior groups eJr expectations. This is another sharp contras of 5 lit between "agree" and "I don't know" Women officers. The cadets were equally P " ·sa ree" or "strongly disagree" . Nearly selectors (39%), while 22% of them selected d1 g 395 half of the enlisted ( 48%) did not think their military lives met their expectations. And more than one fourth of them (28%) selected "I don't know" . Career Goals Among 14 statements of question number 54, one is: "I am serving my Motherland" (question 54-M). The results are presented in Table 10. 31 . Table 10.31 The PLA Women's Career Goal 1992 Survey (N==230) -- Rank Service Motherland Strongly Total L - Frequency .,. Strongly Row Pct Agree Agree DK Disagree Disagree Senior Officer 10:0 . , 63:0: .·,;..._ ~ :{) ., .--:to: LO ,83~0 ; .. L. 12.0 75.9 7.2 3.6 1.2 99.9 Junior Officer .. i .f2:.0 · .. , ~-, __ ··6.0. . ·:0.0 .. · ... to,o ,38,0 ...... , 66.0 .. - 15.2 57.6 18.2 9.1 0.0 100. l :to.o - . : ; 2:!}. -. _,:. ~? <5:6 ... .. - 0.0 Cadet 6.0 . - ... . ·•· - 23.0 - - J0.4 0.0 0.0 - 26.l 43 .5 100.0 -: 11-;o , ,;, LO .. ' .. : ,0.0 Enlisted 16:0 -10,0 . ., .. -- S8.0 27.6 51.7 19.0 1.7 0.0 100.0 -- ,: .Mi.O . . _ : . J0.0 . :. , ::,, J;.0 - Total 4Z.0 .,._.;J,4,..,.0 230.0 :'• -·· 15.7 4.3 0.4 100.0 ] 8.3 I 61.3 - Th · . . 11 • 'ficant relationship between subjects' ranks and their ere 1s no stat1st1ca y s1gm 1 serv· . 857 <0 031 ). Most of the women in this sample ice purposes (Chi-square== ] 3. , P · agr d . en!" gs% for the senior, and 73% for the junior ee or strongly agreed with the statern · offi O fi the enlisted. It worth noting that 304% of the cers~ 70% for the cadets, and 79 Yo or cadets selected "I don't know" . 396 Summary This chapter provides basic descriptive information on the 230 women' s rank and service distributions, their service length, and occupational categories. This is followed by discussions of their age distribution, geographic and ethnic origins, and family backgrounds. Their current education levels were significantly related to their age, service duration, and rank. This means older women who served longer terms with higher rank tended to have higher education The percentage of college graduates among these women increased to 4 l % from the 17% entrance data. All these produce a picture that v,,omen' s education achievements can be positively related to their service in the Chinese military. In the second section, these PLA women's participation in wartime and peacetime operations is discussed This is followed by discussions of their expectations of combat participation. An internal comparison shows that the subject's rank was significantly related to her expectation of combat participation although most of them expected low possibilities. About J 0% of junior officers predicted high possibilities. The third section is focused on these women' s promotion and career predictions. Generally speaking, most women predicted promotion, more than half of them predicted high poss·b·i· . I-I ost women predicted no possibilities of becoming a 1 1 Hies. owever, m Woman general in the future. Internal comparisons show that these women' s predictions of promot· d. .fi d s·igni·ficantly by different age and rank groups Middle ion were 1vers1 1e aged a d Id d d t have higher promotion expectations, while one forth of n o er women ten e o ':,97 the middle aged predicted J ooo/ 'b'J · · S · / O poss1 1 It1es. ernor officers almost split between Jow and high d' · h' pre ictions, w Ile more than half of the cadets predicted 100% promotion possibilities. This \Vas in sharp contrast to the enlisted women of whom more than half predicted low promotion possibilities. As for finding a better civilian job after retirement, younger and middle aged women almost split between low and high predictions, while more than half of the older women expected 10\v possibilities, and there are no statistically significant relationship between their rank or age and their predictions. Further discussions are devoted to these \vomen's income, marriage and family status, and gender relationship within the military. The subject's rank is significantly related to her evaluation of gender relationship. In the last section evaluations of career and military lives of the 230 women in , my 1992 survey are presented in l 2 tables. The statistical analysis is focused on relationships between subjects' ranks and their various evaluations With only two except1'on 10 b 1 . b t een the variables demonstrate that there are s, cross ta u at1ons e w statistical! . . 'fi 1 . h' b tween these women's ranks and their evaluations. ) s1gn1 1cant re at1ons 1ps e In oth ·a-. d ·'th each other about their evaluations and er word, these PLA women dwere WI satisfacti·on levels. . the group of junior officers was the most Generally speaking, diversified one in the evaluations over aJmoSt all issues. ·omen did not make differences were The two cases where rank of these w c h . were serving the motherland and oncerned with their evaluations of whether t ey 398 Whether the had . . y many friends m the military. Most women in this sample agreed with each other th tth military. a ey were serving the motherland, and they had many friends within the Other than this, these women's evaluations were diversified among d"ffc 1 erent ranking groups. Generally speaking, the group of senior officers tended to agree with most st atements except the issues of income and promotion. Still, about 30% of senior officers thought they had higher living standard than their counterparts in civilian sectors Which was different from evaluations of most other women. The group of junior officers differred with each other over almost all issues with a tendency of giving negative evaluations to many issues. The group of cadets was the lest opinionated People who tended to select "I don't know" to most of the evaluation questions. About 48¾ of the enlisted women thought their military lives were not what they had expected and they were not happy with the mobility and promotion issues. Other than these, this group tended to provide positive evaluation or select "I don't know". Most women tended to be satisfactory with their current job assignment and job stabilities. The group of enlisted women and senior officers were the most satisfactory in this regard while the group of junior officers disagreed with the senior officers in regard to job stability. They agreed with the enlisted women in their negative evaluations of job security h .1 h f . fficers was the most dis-satisfied with business travel , w I e t e group o seruor o opp011 · . d" eed wi"th the issues of education and training un1t1es. More officers 1sagr opp . . . d "th the enlisted group. Women of all ranks OI1umt1es and promot10n compare Wl 399 tended to h · · h · · d 1· · ave s1milarly negative e aluations about t eir mcome an 1vmg standards. More th . . . . . . . . an half of the senior officers thought their military lives were similar to the!f expect a( . . ions, while 56% of the junior officers disagreed. Almost half of the enlisted Women had . . . similarly negative evaluations over the same issue. 400 Chapter XI Women Soldiers in the Chinese Nationalist Army In the process of data collection, while focusing on the PLA women, I also tried to record . fc . In °nnat1on on Chinese women in the Nationalist Revolutionary Army (NRA in this docu . ment, known as the Nationalist Anny or KMT Anny m the West) under the leadership of the CNP. This is because of the need to cover women on both sides and to overcom b" . . . . . e ias caused by political or ideological differences m academic studies. This effort has resulted in obtaining some information on 30 women on the CNP's side. Since ~~· . or is not allowed to visit Taiwan, let alone conduct surveys there for this study due to . . reasons described in Chapter III, this chapter was neither planned nor included in the re search proposal. The following discussion is offered for descriptive and illustrative Purpose. I don't assume any representativiness of the data, although these women account fc ( h or 2¾ of women in the NRA, if the population of 1,500 see c apter I) Obt . a.med through a focused interview in 1992 is accurate or close to the real number. The infc · £: 11 • 0 nnation on NRA women is shown in Table 1 I. I on the 10 owmg pages. Demo graphic Information on the NRA Women Nineteen (63%) of these 30 NRA women have their geographic origins recorded by this study. It is worth noting that only three (16%) of these cases were known as ~w . . . an natives. Sixteen (84%) women have their family origins registered as m 401 Table 11.1 Military Women In Chinese Nationalist Army # Name Date Origin Eth- SES Rank Mil CMBT Note (Banle) (PRCT nic F:Father Skil Time place) H:Hus- band 1 CatJ;?tng 1903- Shaanxi Han student principal No No when her husband was the Commander in Chief 1984 Mizhi H:Du school for of the Fifth Army of NRA, she served as the Luming children of principal of the school specialized in educating ttt1!a] mil. children of the army's personnel personnel 2 Chen Kuixian 1912- Guangxi Han college team No No Guangxi University Team leader for Girls' ~~ill Sining student leader military training , political staff of the National staff Defense Supreme Committee 3 Chen Xinmei (1958) Taiwan Han Captain Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, !*mite Gaoxiong osvchological warfare 4 Deng Bunu 1903- Guangdong Han student instructor Yes No Guangdong Nationalist Military, Political and x~~~ Sanshui Party Training Brigade, 5 Gao Libing (1958) Fujian Han Captain Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, ~rm{lj( Tongan nsvchological warfare 6 Hu Ruizhen Han Major Yes Yes first generation graduate of Political Cadre m~ School, Deputy Commander of the Female Youth Work Team 7 HuRongdi (1958) (Jinmen) Han Major Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, ti11~5(} nsvchological warfare 8 Hua Wendi Yes No first generation of graduate of the Political $tl Cadre School, sent to study in America, reporter 9 Li Kundao (1965) Lt. Yes No Team Leader of Female Youth Work Team $Jttl:it Colonel 10 Li;Ji;ng 1902- Guangdong Han student Design No No CNP's Military Committee General Political Pamu Com. Mero Department, legislative of the first Parliament I 11 I Luo Dex.in I 1920- j Guangdong / Han I student J political I No ' No Guangdong Military Zone Political Department !J?{!/1§ Nanhai officer pa!itical director 12 Miao Sufang 1928- Shandong Han student cadet Yes No CNP's Youth Army 207th Division Independent ttrttt= Yie county Brigade Women Cadet company 13 RenPeidao 1895- Hunan Han student Military Yes No Monitor of Military First Aid Training Class, ffttf:it Xiangyin First Aid assist Song Meiling in Organizing Women Cheerleading Committee for Anti-Japanese fighters 14 Shen Lihua ( 1958) (Jinmen) Han First Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, ttru1$ Lieutenant psvchological warfare 15 Song Meiling 1897- Guangdong Han college General No No Together ,,ith her two famous sisters, sponsored *~~ Wenchang student Secretary many organizations for front support in Anti- H: Jiang A,iation Japanese war period and schools for children of \ Jieshi Committee CNP's armies I W-fr:f:i 16 \ TangLuhu \ (1962- Zhejiang Han Taibei psycholo- Yes Yes psychological warfare, broadcaster $.J~ student gical staff 17 \ WangLiwen I (1962-) (Jinmen) Han Xinzhu civilian No Yes psychological warfare, broadcaster £~)( student l& I Wang Ren 1912- Jiangsu Han student President No No President of College for Veterans' Children Yifang Wu county General General Staff of Women Federation Branch in B:.f.f:ft'Jj Staff Army Denartment 19 WenBaolan Hebei Han nurse First Yes No 816th Army Hospital Nurse m3!'..u. Lieutenant 20 Xiao Meijin (1955- Taiwan Han student telephone Yes Yes Sl\itchboard of the Defense Department ffi~t$ ooerator 21 YangQiuyue (1958) (Jinmen) Han Second Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, tmfk~ Lieutenant osvchological warfare 22 Yang Ying,xue (1956) Major Yes No Sponsor and Team Leader of Female Youth tfa~~ Work Team 23 Yu Junzhu 1903- Jiangsu Han student propagand No No the General Political Department of CNP's #1~1* staff Nationalist Army I 24 I Zhang I (1958) I (]imnen) I ffitn / I Second Haxng Lieutenant ;JI,, ·.rt ·~,..,,. I 25 Zhang (1958) (Jinmen) Han Captain Qiuxiang siEfxW 26 Zhang 1912- Liaoning Han student cadet Weizhen Beifeng ~iHlm 27 Zhao Guorong (1962- (Jinmen) Han sister of psycholo- ~OOfi Zhao gical staff Guoain 28 Zhao Guoqin 1941- Hebei Han Captain ~®~ Ning,countv 29 \ ZhengYuli \ 1921- Taiwan Han student Team ~ ~ ml I Xinzhu Leader \ 30 \ Zhou Mei,'U \ 1910- \ Zhejiang Han nurse Major ~~}f Cixi I I I General Key: (Battle): battle place where the subject participated military operations. CMBT: combat. Com: company. H: husband . Mil Skil: military skills. Mem: member. propagand: propaganda. SES: social and economic status. SOURCES: 1 Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, psychological warfare Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, psychological warfare Yes No CNP's Party, Political and Military Allied Military Operation Training Class Yes Yes psychological warfare, broadcaster Yes Yes member of Female Youth Work Team, osvcholog,ical warfare No No Sponsor and organizer of Women Sen ice Team Yes No China Red Cross First Aid General Association, I I \ Professor of Defense Medical College Taiwan Women In the Past Twenty Years, Taiwan Women Writers' Association Published, 1965. Xue, Weiwei (eds.). Who's Who of Chinese Women. (q:t ~ E3C 15 .A)~], Shaanxi : People's Publisher, 1988. mainland Ch· ma. All these women were from the Han nationality, with three exceptions for Whom we had · c · b h · · 1· · Thi · ·1 no m1ormat1on a out t elf nat10na 1t1es. s was s1m1 ar to women in the PLA. Only two women were Jinked with their husbands. One is Song Meiling *~~. whose husband is Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek in the West), the supreme leader of the CNP. The other is Cao Xiuqing fr¥§$ , whose husband is Du Luming :f±~f!J1, one of the fam ous generals of the NRA. Song is a powerful leader of the women's movement on the CNP's side. The main reaso c- • • ·1 · · h h n 1or mcluding her in this study of Chinese rru 1tary women 1st at as t e General S h . 1· 1· h .. ecretary of the Aviation Committee after er mamage to 1ang 1es Im 1927, she was· d In charge of the NRA's Air force. Secondly, she sponsore many organizations for front · h · h h c-. • support in the Anti-Japanese War penod, toget er wit er two 1amous sisters, Song QingJing and Song Ailing *.m~ . Thirdl~, sh·e sponsored schools for children of officers of the NRA, as well as orphanages for war victims in mainland China and in Taiwan. Last but not least she was instrumental in all kinds of welfare arrangements ' within the NRA, including housing, social support groups, propaganda work, and cultural entert . a1nment. Cao Xt'uq · · 1 d · -i/i"tary activities when her husband served as the mg was mvo ve m "" Commander in Chief of the Fifth Army of the NRA during the early stage of the Anti- Japanese Wa r. Sh h · · l fthe school specialized in educating and training e was t e pnnc1pa o 405 children of the army's personnel. The school was quasi-military, so was her status within the system. In sum, most of the NRA women are Han people from mainland China. Only a few have been recorded together with their famous husbands. Participation During the Post-Opium-War Period Thirteen (43%) of the women in this sample were involved in military operations during the post-Opium-War period as well as during modem times. In addition, they had either military or quasi-military positions within the NRA. This is the main reason that they are included into this chapter, representing the opposite side of the PLA, instead of in Chapter VIII . There is no information about whether or not these 13 NRA women participated (together with the 113 women fighters) in the 1911 revolution or (together with the 59 women participants) in the Northern Expedition War period . Compared with early women revolutionaries on the CNP's side, these were more career makers and started their military service during the Anti-Japanese War period . The following section describes some of these women's participation during the Anti-Japanese War period. Participation in the Anti-Japanese War Chen Kuixian ~~{ 11J (#2 in Table 11 .1) was a team leader for Girls' Military Training at Guangxi University during the Anti-Japanese War. She also served on the 406 ,. political staff f h . . · o t e National Defense Supreme Committee of the CNP. Deng Bunu X~~trx: (#4 in Table 11 . 1) served as an instructor at the Political and Party Training Brigade · h mt e Guangdong Branch of the NRA. Liu Hengjing xtJ~ (#10 in Table 1 1 · 1) Was more famous as one of the women legislators in the First Parliament of the Republic of China. She also served as a Design Committee Member in the General Political D . . · L D · ~1mi~ epartment under the CNP's military committee. uo exm -5' 1,i5tW was the Political Director, heading the Political Department of the Guangdong Military Zone of th e NRA. Ren Peidao {f :t:g:.11t (# 13 in Table 11 . 1) helped Song Meiling in organizing the Worn 1 • J F. ht 11 en s cheerleading committee for the Anti- apanese ig ers, as we as organizing first aid efforts on the front. She was one of the Monitors of the Military FirSt Aid Training Class. Yu Junzhu lftr"~1* (#23 in Table l 1. 1) served on the propaganda staff in the General Political Department of the NRA. All these women were weJI educated and had military designations. Most of them served in the political department of the NRA They were also involved in women's political suffrage as a part of the women's movement. Their participation in the Anti-Japanese War was supportive. None of them participated in direct combat. This is similar to mo t . . the CCP's side during the Anti-Japanese War s women participants on period--mai I h . Jes and were mostly involved in political, n Y t ey assumed supportive ro , propagand There are differences between military women a Work, and logistic support. on the CCP' . d . the eight year Anti-Japanese War: s and on the CNP's sides unng 1) some women on the CCP's side participated in direct combats; 407 2) CCP women guerrilla fighters participated in operations of the regular forces, while regular soldiers also engaged in guerrilla warfare; 3) CCP women guerrilla fighters in the Japanese occupied areas suffered the heaviest casualties compared with those in previous ones; 4) key CCP veteran women soldiers played important roles in developing anti-Japanese bases, as well as organizing and commanding the military operations. All these features were missing for the CNP military women, either due to lack of comprehensive information for this research, or due to the more regularized nature of the NRA and its limit on women's roles within the military other than supportive and political roles. Distribution and Functions of the NRA Women Twenty four (80%) of these women were known as active-duty personnel with military ranks, five ( 17%) were quasi-military whose military designations were unknown . This includes the two famous women discussed above. Three were cadets whose assignments after military training were unknown too. One was known as a civilian working in the military. In short, most of these women were active-duty military personnel serving in the regular formation of the NRA. Zhou Meiyu Jaj~Jt (# 30 in Table 11 . I) was the only Major General among these women. She came from a nurse's family and served in the NRA most of her life. She was a professor at the Defense Medical College of the NRA (Xue et al eds. , 1988). Given her age, I assume that she has already retired. 408 Thirteen (43%) served in the Female Youth Work Team of the NRA. They had combat experiences. Eight of them (27%) participated in combat at Jinmen ~fl Island during the 1958 to I 962 period, when Mao decided to bomb the island. All the NRA combat participants engaged in psychological warfare. Three were known as broadcasters. This is similar to the fact that one of my personal acquaintance was a broadcaster on the PLA side across the Taiwan strait. She was popular among her audience across the strait because she spoke both Mandarin and Minoan dialects. From this information, we know now for sure that women engaged in psychological warfare on both sides of the Taiwan strait during the on-going civil war between the CCP and the CNP. All the women in this sample served in the Army of the NRA. In addition to the woman general discussed above, there were one lieutenant colonel, three majors, four captains, five staff, one instructor, one political officer, two first lieutenants, two second lieutenants, and one telephone operator. Although it is hard to compare these 30 with the 230 PLA women due to the differences in data sources and quality issue, at least it can be observed that there is no sharp contrast between the two groups in regard to women's distribution and functions within the military. There is no information about any casualty among the NRA women. None of them commanded military operations. Most of their roles in the NRA were supportive. Another feature is that most of these women had military training (70%). This is consistent with the observation that generally speaking, the NRA is a more regularized 409 force mainl d . . . . . Y engage m conventional m1litazy operat10ns, compared with the Chinese communist troops which were engaged in guerrilla warrare before 1949. Summary I present military women in modern period on CNP side in this chapter. Some of them p . . artic1pated in Anti-Japanese War. Most of them served in the military when mainland China and Taiwan went through political turbulence as well as rapid economic growth. Almost all these modern military women went through military training and had Professional skills. They played supportive roles in the armed forces. A small Propo · · d · · rt1on did participate in combat, while most of them serve m peacetime. Comparison with the PLA women is limited, yet some similarities and differences have been ob . . served m this chapter. 410 Chapter XII Conclusion This research has scrutinized 71 ,1 Chinese military women on the basis of seconda ry sources and 230 modern women in the PLA through a survey conducted in Beijing Ch· . ' ma, m late spring of I 992. Despite limitations caused by political and technical rea · f · · ·1· h b d sons, a portrait o women m Chinese m1 1tary as een rawn with certain degrees of historical depth as well as use of modern research techniques. Generally speaking, the description is more informative rather than conclusive. Research findings are summ . . anzed m this chapter. Patterns of Women's Participation in Chinese Military Operations Women Participated in Chinese Military Operations Across Time Before this reported research, no systematic study has been done to demonstrate the sc 1 · • · 1· · d a e and nature of Chinese women's military part1c1pat10n except some 1m1te info,-. · 1 · · h b h • " 1at1on on their presence in warfare. The genera 1mpress10n as een t at women's 01.ilitary Participation in China is sporadic and of small scale. This study demonstrates a contrary result--it shows that over a time span of 3200 Years, Women participated in China's conventional as well as unconventional warfare. Their presence has been observed in both regular and irregular military formations. The 1 · Forty ar 1. . . · d . the IOO year post-Opium War period, and 30 on the CNp, . e isted for ancient penod, 647 unng S Side. 411 40 ancient women warriors identified by this study lived during almost all the major dynasties of ancient China. They were recorded quite evenly over the time continuum from the year 3200 ago until the year 1840. These female warriors participated together with other women some of them commanded segregated troops of women both in wartime and peacetime, some of them had women units as guards. This means behind these exemplary women warriors recorded by history books, there were other nameless women participants. The 647 women during the 100 year post-Opium War period also represented thousands of women participants in military operations. Some of them were defenders in anti-imperialist wars and the anti-Japanese invasion war. Some were militant revolutionaries in the 19 l I revolution and the following Northern Expedition War. Some were rebels in the Taiping Revolution and other peasants' uprisings. Some participated in the civil wars bet\veen the CCP and the CNP. Then, 230 modem PLA women, as well as 30 women who participated military operations on the CNP side were studied and reported in this document The first finding of the study indicates that women's presence in Chinese warfare is frequent across time . It is not sporadical. Women participate in all fom1s of warfare in China as volunteers, commanders, rebels, revolutionaries, as well as regular soldiers. It means that the military institution in China has not been exclusively male. On the other hand, women's frequent presence in Chinese military operations does not automatically oppose the statement that warfare is also prototypically male for 41 2 the Chinese case, since the scale and nature of women's involvement in the military have not been compared with men's in this particular study due to lack of available data. As a matter of fact , an initial impression is obtained that in general the proportion of women's participation is small compared with the proportion of men's. More research needs to be done before the question of whether warfare is prototypically male in China can be answered fully. Women's Increased Representation in Chinese Regular Military Formations Table 12. I shows these women's representation in China's regular military format ions over different time periods. Table 12.1 Chinese Women's Representation in Regular Military Formations Time Period Total Number for the Period Frequency in Regular Military Formation Percentage of Participants in Regular Army Women have served in various military formations in China's history. Their representation in regular military formations has been observed frequently in this study. In this particular data set,. the percentage of women in regular military formations has 41 3 mcreased over different time periods, even if the I 00% representations of women in the Red Army on the Long March2 and the PLA (shaded area in the table) are not considered in the comparison. This pattern has a cross-cultural similarity to military women in other countries. Women's increased representation in regular armed forces has been observed in most developed countries (Stanley and Segal, 1992). However, more longitudinal study on a regular and shorter time span is desired before we can conclude more convincingly that there is increased women representation in China's regular anned forces . Chine w T' se omen Participated in Combat Across ime Table 12.2 demonstrates Chinese Women's participation in combat across time Table 12.2 Women Combat Participants in China Time Period Total Number for the Period Frequency of Combat Percentage ---- ' . For se - on JV!arch as participants or_regular military fonnauo vc_ral reasons I have regarded women on the \agwarfare at various ,evolu!lonarJ bases, Red Anny ns. I) compared with women fighters in guem ded as regular soldiers by themselves as well as by women soldiers on the long ,narch 1iave 1,een ,egar I h ve 1,een regarded as •regular units" of the revoiu~th" Communists; 2) Red Armies on the 1,0ng JV!a~ in a fonnat following the typical regular ltlilita;onary forces as a whole; 3) These units were org · fonnation 414 This indicates a high percentage of combat participants among the identified military women in this study, with the only exceptions of the 2.6% of the PLA women and the 43 .3% of women on the CNP side. It shows: 1) Chinese women participated in direct combat across time~ 2) women combatants tend to have an easy entry in Chinese history--455 (66%) of the 687 historical women identified by this study were combat participants. \\'omen Combatant Casualties Differ in Different Military Operations Table 12. 3 presents the casualties of Chinese women in direct combat in different military operations during different time periods. Table 12. 3 Casualties of Chinese Women in Direct Combat Time Period Total Number for the Period Frequency of Combat Casualt Percentage This indicates that women have suffered casualties in combat in the Chinese case. It also shows that casualties among women combatants differ from time to time, and in different military operations. The highest casualties occurred among women guerrilla 415 fighters at the Red Anny revolutionary bases. Second to these were the anti-invasion defenders both in the five anti-imperialist wars and the anti-Japanese war. No casualty is reported by this study for the modern PLA women soldiers and the 30 women on the CNP's side. No relevant information can be retrieved from the existing literature either. More research is needed to get a better picture. Women Command Battles in Different Military Operations The percentage of women who commanded in battle among these women warriors is also different during various time periods and in different military operations. Table 12.4 presents the results. Table 12. 4 Women Combat Commanders in China Time Period Total Number for the Period Frequency of Women Commanders Percentage This indicates that Chinese women not only participated in combat, some of them also commanded in battle. More than half of the women recorded for the ancient period, in anti-imperialist warfare, in the Taiping and other rebellions, and in guerrilla warfare 416 commanded in battle. The percentage of women battle commanders in other periods ranged from 8.9% to 17%. Again, no woman in the 1992 survey and none on the CNP's side has commanded in battle. Women Served as Officers at the Rank of Major and Above Table 12. 5 presents the description of women officers at the rank of major and above in the data set of this study. Table 12. 5 Women Officers Rank Major and Above Time Period Total Number for the Period Frequency of Women Major and Above Percentage With the only exception of the 1911 revolution in which no woman participant was promoted to officer ranked major and above, this study finds that some Chinese women warriors get promoted to the rank of major and above across time. The 1992 survey demonstrates the highest percentage (36%) of ranking women officers among the 230 PLA women. The percentage of high ranking women officers is also high for ancient warriors (30%) and for Taiping and other rebels (28.6%). The low percentage 417 of k" ran mg officers amon . g anti-Japanese war fighters can be partiall . fact that y explamed by the many of them w c: ere trans1erred to civilian sectors as worn d en ca res duri regularization · . ng the penod of the PLA m the middle 1950s. Some Worn W . en arnors Became National Leaders Table 12 6 . presents the frequency and percentage of women . wamors who became n t· a IOnal leaders later. Table 12. 6 National Leaders Among the Military Wo men Time Period Total Number for the Period Frequency of National Leaders Percentage With the exceptions of the modem PLA women and warriors in anti-imperialist wars and the Tai ping and other rebellions, each group of women fighters in different time periods and different warfare produced female national leaders. Existing literature on the T .. . aiping Revolution described the 4 Taiping women generals as natwnal leaders when the Bea venly Kingdom was ruling the 12 provinces tor almost a decade And one of the 12 modem women generals of the PLA was transferred to the civilian sector and became a 418 national leader in China recently. These add to the observation that a small proportion of women warriors in China have achieved higher positions either during or after their military participation. Military service can be regarded as one of the social mobility vehicles which may facilitate women moving to national leadership Ethnic and Social Origins of Chinese Military Women Table 12.7 presents the ethnic and social origins of these Chinese military women focusing on women who came from officers' and officials' families. Table 12. 7 Ethnic and Social Origins of Chinese Military Women Time Period Total Frequency of Percent Frequency Percent of Official Fathers h . women warriors studied by this research are This indicates that most of C inese of h · ent women warriors and more than one fifth t e Han nationality. One fifth of the anci of h . . . a1· t wars and the Tai ping and other rebellions 1 e women participants in anu- 1mpen is fi m minority ethnic groups participated in Were from minor nationalities. No woman ro 419 I I I I I the 19 J J 1 · revo ut1on, the following Northern Expedition War, and modem military operations on the CNP side. The percentage of women warriors from official families differs over time · comparativ J h · h e Y 1g percentages were observed for women participants from 3200 years ago to the 191 J revolution. Another comparatively high percentage is observed for the modem PLA women. In other words, women from officers and officials' families are more likely to participate in military operations. This is true both in China's history as We]J · m modern time. In sum, most of these Chinese military women were of the Han nationality: about one fifth of the ancient women warriors before 1911 were from minor nationalities. Nearly half of the ancient as weII as modem PLA women were from official and officers' families . Their presence in Chinese military operations has been observed as a frequent Phenomenon, and their representation in the regular military fonnations have been seen increased over time. All historical women recorded before 1911 participated in combat, many of th d . h O · m War period were combat participants too. Six of ose unng t e post- piu the 230 PLA . . ed. combat 4 has been assigned to combat zones. women part1c1pat m , GuernJJ d h heaviest casualty in the Chinese case, more than a women fighters suffere t e one thi d . . . fl hters died in combat too. No casualty has r of those women ant1-invas10n ig bee Some of these women were promoted to n recorded for modem military women. rank f ortion of them became national leaders. 0 major and above, while a smaller prop 420 Modern Military Women Are Career Makers Through a sample of 230 PLA women that was not scientifically collected, some basic information on these PLA women has been presented in Chapter X of this document. Compared with the historical women identified through secondary sources, these women should be observed more accurately as "career makers" rather than combatants. Although IO (4%) of them participated in combat or were assigned to combat zones, most of them predicted low possibilities of combat participation in their career. There is no information on the 3 0 NRA women about their combat prediction. However, the observed behavior pattern described in chapter X1 produces a similar picture. In other words, most historical women participants during earlier periods were called into military operations, while most of the modem military women on both sides of the Taiwan strait selected the military service as their career. They served in the typical six categories of traditional female roles within the military. This is another cross-cultural similarity in the Chinese case. What affects Chinese Women's Military Participation In order to address this sociological question, this study analyzed contextual, situational, cultural and structural factors in the three defined time periods starting from 4,000 years ago. The descriptions in Chapters IV, V, VII, and IX illustrate the relationships between women's military participation and various independent variables 421 defined for this study. Some of the relationships are more obvious than others. The clearer relations will be discussed first, then some murky ones will be dealt with later. Frequent Cultural and Ideological Support for Women's Military Participation The findings indicate that cultural as well as ideological support for Chinese women's military participation has been frequent over the time span of 3200 years. Over a period of 1200 years, eight of the 10 volumes of Biography ofWomen included women warriors as role models for Chinese women. Whenever there is a need or perceived necessity of women's involvement in military operations, historical as well as fictional heroines will be recalled, and Chinese women will volunteer to participate in military operations. Legends of some of the ancient women warriors identified in this study have been cited repeatedly as an integral part of the overall indoctrination of pat~otism and nationalism. The Chinese feudal value system of loyalty and filial piety was intertwined with patriotism and nationalism. Women were encouraged to sacrifice for the higher order of homeland defense, loyalty to the court, as well as for virginity and chastity. Ancient warriors demonstrated their loyalty to the courts as well as patriotism in their deeds during anti-invasion wars. Some of the ancient heroines fulfilled their filial piety by military participation, such as the cases of Shen Yunying and Bi Zhu. The role model of Hua Mulan is so deeply rooted in the culture that women are frequently named after her by their parents, or constantly imitate her in military actions. The combination of this 422 glorification of heroines and the indoctrination of commitment to the higher order supports women's military participation, particularly in defensive wars. There was no obvious breakdown of this component of the value system when feudalism was severely attacked and criticized by modern revolutionaries. This is because almost all modern Chinese revolutionaries had to rely on patriotism to deal with foreign invasions. Even in peacetime, patriotism and nationalism have continued to be the most widely agreed values in Chinese society, not only because the Party has been constantly indoctrinating the value system, but also because Chinese people have cherished national identity for so long, and foreign invaders were cleared out only a half century ago . In a modernizing country with strong historical traditions, patriotism and nationalism will continue their functions as a national binding force for China. Furthermore, as is discussed earlier in this document, Chinese philosophers and military thinkers do not exclude women from combat. The culture does not have the duality di lemma found in Western cultures . Women are not ideologically excluded from military participation. A relevant phenomenon is that the glorification of heroines is focused more on their leadership, mastery of arts of war, bravery, strategic skills and education, rather than their equal capability of handling heavy weapons. 3 Another interesting phenomenon is that the cruel aspect of warfare has been carefully avoided in the cultural construction of war fighting in general, and heroines in particular. Similar to 3 . Occasionally there are descriptions of Chinese women warriors' outstanding physical strength in ancient records. In folklore and literary works, there are more stories on "female tigcrs" --Chinese counterparts of Amazons. But in general, the Chinese cultural construction of heroines tends not to emphasize on their physical fitness or upper body strength. Modern readers might be misled by this kind of description and fail to recognize that most ancient hand weapons were heavy. 423 their male counterparts, heroines are glorified as loyal servants to the court more than valorous warriors by themselves. These features make the image of women warriors more acceptable and inspiring. Some women's social status has been improved thanks to their military participation . In this study, eighteen ( 45%) of the 40 ancient warriors have enjoyed some entitlement because of their military activity. One hundred and sixty one (17%) of the total 94 7 women studied in this research have achieved the rank of major and above, 33 (3 .5%) of them became national leaders. This indicates that military service is one of the social mobility channels which allows women to achieve, or, at least to hope for social recognition or higher status. In short, cultural and ideological support for women's military participation has been frequent in the Chinese case. The cultural endorsement of heroines, colored by traditional patriotism, continues. Chinese women have no difficulty in envisioning themselves of being heroic warriors as well as nurturing mothers . To be a heroine is symbolically rewarding enough for any young woman to join combat, particularly if this woman has never been encouraged to value her own worthiness as a unique individual. Within this cultural context, military service becomes one of the social mobility channels for women to seek recognition, achievement, and higher social status. 424 Group Security Situation and Shortage of Manpower Affect Women's Military Participation in Unconventional Warfare and In Irregular Formations Threat to group survival and shortage of manpower are defined as the situational factors in this research. The relationships between these situational factors and women's military participation vary in different operations and formations. The effects are more visible and predictable in the scale of women's participation in unconventional military operations and their positions in irregular formations, but vague in conventional warfare and regular formations . In other word, national emergency situation and shortage or perceived shortage of manpower bring more women in revolutions, defense, and anti- invasion wars. But the increase of women's representation in regular military formations has not been clearly related to any of the defined situational factors. Generally speaking, the proposition in the theory chapter has been supported: whenever there is a threat to group survival, or a shortage of manpower, women will participate in military operations, including combat. Whenever war is brought to one's homeland, women will arise for defense. The more severe the threat to national survival is perceived, the larger scale of women's military participation is observed. It is particularly worth noting that in the Chinese case, the percentage of minor ethnic women's participation in ancient warfare (20%) and anti-invasion wars (8%) are higher than those during revolutions, civil wars and peacetime military service, when the minority representation remained as 2%. Therefore, it is suggested by this author that the percentage of minority women's military participation might be used as one of the indicators in future research to see how deeply the population is mobilized for the war. 425 Findings indicate that the situational factors are positively related to women's positions in irregular military fonnations, but have no obvious effect on women's positions in regular fonnations . More women serve regularly in the PLA today, which is neither related to the group security situation, nor to a shortage of manpower. This is probably due to two reasons. One is China's large population, which makes manpower shortage a non- issue to regular armies which have national access . Secondly, it may be related to the technological reasons that regular anny requires well trained warriors to serve. In sum, more women were mobilized during the anti-invasion wars, revolutions and civil wars when there was an emergency situation and a shortage of manpower for insurgent armies as well as contesting forces in civil wars. · A More Important in Ancient and Male Family Head's :Military Experiences re Modern Times · structural factor, have different Male family head's military expenences, as a · · · · d ring the three different time periods relat10nships with women's military part1c1pat10n u defined in this study. h as the absence or disability of male In ancient China structural factors sue ' military operations, or male family family heads who were responsible for defense or . . . h d strong relationships with women's relatives' direct participation in the rebelhons, a warriors were more likely to be ·1· . . t Chinese women mt 1tary involvement. At ]east anc1en . es with the universal nee ( shi in . since their nam recorded with their male family relatives, 426 Chinese) could not function for identification purpose anyway. Among the 40 ancient warriors, seventeen (42.5 %) women's fathers had military experiences either as tribe kings, emperors, Grand Defenders, or as military officers and uprising leaders. Twenty two (55%) women's husbands had military experiences. The relationship between the structural factor of male family head's military involvement and a woman's participation was changed during the 100 year Post-Opium- War period. Few women were recorded with information regarding their male family relatives. Even fewer were recorded as fighting together with their husbands in revolutionary armies. Thus there was no obvious relationship between the male family head's military experiences with either woman's participation, nor her position within the military formations during this period. However, in modern China, many PLA women came from military officers' or officials' families (55 .8% of 190 who provided information on social origins), or were married to military officers (63% of married personnel). The structural factor of male family heads' military experiences resumes its effect during the modern time. This finding was not anticipated. A possible explanation that may be offered is that usually children from military families are more likely to seek careers in the military. Some existing literature presents such a pattern in America (Biderman & Haley, 1979; Martin, 1981 ; Thomas, 1984; Faris, 1987). In ancient China, these women benefited from military family background by being able to learn martial arts from a younger age. In modem times, they have more access to the military compared with girls from other 427 families (see Chapter X). The inter-marriage tendency among military officers leads to many women serving with their husbands. A new ideology and the women's movement in the post-Opium-War period led to the practice that women no longer changed their names after marriage. This was probably related to the phenomenon that few women were recorded with their husbands during the I 00 year turbulent period. The new ideology has been indoctrinated continuously into the modern period with an emphasis on women's active participation in labor forces and seeking their own careers. Within the context of this continued women's movement, future studies may be focused on testing the "Occupational Linkage Hypothesis" (Lueptow, McClendon, And McKean, 1979; Mortimer, 1982), which reflects an approach in sociological studies on the effects of paternal work experience on child socialization (Gecas, 1979). In short, if the 100 year post-Opium War period is considered an unusual time for China, when national emergency brought more women into military operations, we may say in the Chinese case, women of military family background tend to seek careers in the military. This proposition in the theory chapter has been supported by the cases in the ancient and modern time periods. Different Contextual Factors' Effects on Women's Military Participation The relationship between the contextuai'factors and women's participation in conventional and unconventional military operations is very interesting. It is clear that the scale of women's military participation has been increased if patterns of women's 428 participation are compared between the ancient and the modern time. From Fu Hao's 15,000 troops 3200 years ago, to the 120,000 Taiping women combatants, then to millions of women in logistic support of the PLA's decisive engagement against the NRA during the third civil war period, this increase is clear. Modern technology not only makes large scale campaigns possible, but it also make the logistic support larger scale. Furthermore, if we compare the cases in more detail, it is worth noting that most ancient and modern women warriors had military training. Twenty six (65%) out of the 40 ancient warriors mastered martial arts, and 97% of modern female soldiers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait had military training. This means both low and high levels of technology are related with women's military training. The lower percentage of women participants with military training in anti-invasion wars, civil wars and other revolutions may be caused by the overarching effects of the situational factor. Still, there were exceptions in this period: 82% of the Taiping and other rebelling women had military skills, and 71% of the women participants in the Northern Expedition War as well as many in the anti-Japanese war went through military training. In ancient times, war fighting demanded warriors to have stronger physical strength and the mastery of martial arts, which were obtained through long training. During the 100 years post-Opium-War period, technology made it easier for ordinary people to use bombs and guns through short time practice, but did not make warfare too technically dependent, if we just focused on the weaponry alone. Modern warfare 429 demands high levels of orchestration of different units in addition to highly sophisticated weaponry, which make the military training ofwaniors not only necessary, but also diversified and specialized. It is already inconceivable for anybody to serve in a modern army without any military training. Thirdly, there is a positive relationship between the contextual factors and women's positions in regular military formations . Technology increases the need for administrative work and specification of logistic support in the military, which are suitable for women even in civilian sector. The combined development of technology and economy in modem times help women enter many professions. In the Chinese case, women have became important participants in medical, translation, map making, and many scientific and technical fields after long work experience. This means technology indirectly affects women's position in regular armed forces through its effects on more general women's labor force participation and the increase of women professionals in the host society. Technology and the combination of development of technology and economy are positively related to women's military participation and positions in the formations . The contextual factors ' effect is more visible in women's participation in modem conventional warfare and positions in regular armies. Theoretically, these macro-level factors should be observed over a long time span rather than in short time periods. Technology demands modern warfare being fought with large scale logistic support, which makes women's participation almost indispensable. The effect of contextual factors is less 430 obvious d . . . . . . . unng the modem revolut10n and c1vll war penod when situational factors send many ·1· • nu itanly unski11ed women into battles. 1n sum, affected by the ideological support for women's military participation as a frequent ingredient in Chinese culture, different combinations of contextual, situational and structural "" h d'ffi , ·1· . . . 1actors ave 1 erent effects on womens m11tary part1c1pat10n and Position · . . . . . . s m vanous fonnat10ns. S1tuat10nal factors are more obvious m the sense that both Women's · · · d · · _er. ted b th ' · · · part1c1pat1on an pos1t10ns are aJlec y e group s secunty s1tuat10n and shorta ges or perceived shortages of manpower. Contextual factors have different effects t d. cs:-a tuerent time periods. These did affect the scale of women's participation in ancient t · · · h 'al 1mes, since low technology required wamors to master t e mart1 arts through long t .. raining. The structural factor of male family head's military experiences had affected · · · · d d · Women's military participation and pos1t10ns m ancient an mo em times, but not du · · · f h J 00 nng the 100 years' turbulent revolut10nary time. I we treat t e year post- Opium-War period as a special time span and take it away from the pattern analysis, the effect , · · · · · ·11 b s of the independent variables over womens military part1c1pat1on w1 e more consistent. Situational factors functioned more powerfully during this period, which brought more unskilled women into battles, and blurred the general pattern. Do Chinese Women's Military Roles Go in Cycles? To a h estion of whether women's military roles goes nswer the relevant researc qu Jn cycles of expansion and contraction, this research finds that the scope of women's 431 military part· . . 1c1pat10n does go in cycles of expansion and contraction, particularly affected b th . . Y e s1tuat10nal factors. But the degree and nature of their participation and their · · . positions Within the military do not go in cycles. In other words, it is predictable that the total b f ·1 · . 1 . . num er o m1 1tary women at a part1cu ar time measurement will change responding to different situational factors . Women's functions and distribution within the militan, . . • J are more affected by the 1de0Jog1cal support, as well as the contextual factor of technology development. An individual woman's decision to foJJow a military career is more related to the male family head's military experiences both in ancient and modern time In the Chinese case, when invasion, revolution or civil wars occur, women's military participation tends to be expanded to the extent that both their representation in regular d · · ·11 b · ' an irregular formations increased. The increase Wl e more m womens Participation in unconventional warfare and their positions in irregular formations. When th ere is comparatively prolonged peace, the quantity of women's military participation Will b . f I rt ' . . e reduced and stabilized due to the reduction or cessatmn o womens pa 1c1pat10n in Uncon · · In other words, if we only focus on vent1onal warfare and irregular fonnatwns. the relationsh· b . . d th si·ze of women's military participation, history 1p etween s1tuatwn an e does show . . d . the revolutionary peak times and nationwide more women part1c1pants unng civil Wars. 432 Cross-Cultural Comparison Through the descriptions of these 947 women warriors, a portrait of Chinese military . women 1s drawn against the backdrop of a 3000 year history. As mentioned b . . nefly in the literature review in Chapter 1, there is a rich literature on military women in 0th er cultures, including American military women. To conduct a thorough comparison Will be the t · f · · 1· · h h · ffi op1c o another d1ssertat10n. Some pre munary t oug t 1s o ered here since th e knowledge on the Crunese military women is still fr~sh . My general impression is that there ar · ·1 · · 11 d'ffi M t · ·1 e many s1m1 ant1es as we as I erences. any aspec s seem s1m1 ar at first glance b h · J h b · · · d , ut t e different sides will reveal themse ves w en emg scrut1mze . For example, in the Crunese case, women's military roles in ancient China were m · ainJy combat and logistic support in wars between tribal states, homeland defense, and Various , · . d ·t· · f peasants upnsmgs. Chinese culture has create a very pos1 1ve picture o these ancient female warriors. They are portrayed as heroic and clever commanders, brave fighters, and Joyal home defenders. The cultural construction of these rustorical women Produces virtuous role models women should follow if needs arise. In contrast to this image, most of the ancient women warriors are portrayed in the West without the Purpose of indoctrination. The cultural construction of ancient women warriors in the West produc . m'or goddesses rather than role models. For es warnor queens or wa example th B 'bl ded an army of 10 000 but refused to go into , e I e says Barak comman ' battle unle th . D b ah went along to cast victory spells for him. ss e pnestess-queen e or ' Many of . . . h W t are described together with matriarchy. ancient women warnors m t e es 433 Around the shores of the Black Sea and along the African coasts of the Mediterranean, Amazons were reputed to be women raised in a matriarchy. An Amazon Queen named Artemisia joined Xeroxes to fight the Greeks at the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C., because she hated Greeks (Goodrich, l 994~ Dever & Dever, 1995). In the time of Iliad, it was told that there was a heroic tradition of armies made up entirely of warrior women trained for combat from early girlhood. Another example of Western cultural construction is the Celtic Morrigu as a young death queen called Valkyrie in Scandinavia and Germany, as well as an aged crone among the Celts oflreland. "The Greeks had called her Athene or Pallas Athene. The Romans worshipped her as Minerva. To the Celts she descended from an even more ancient source their totem animal , the crow or raven" (Goodrich, 1994: 196). ' In short, the image of ancient women warriors in the West is similarly powerful , but not always positive. The social construction is more intertwined with mythology and religion rather than serving the purpose of orthodoxy indoctrination. Nonna Lorre Goodrich believes that there are two major movements in the West which dethroned women. One was certainly democracy, the other was Christianity. "The weapon used was pregnancy and motherhood taught as obligation and sacrificial way of life ... Christianity wiped out the ancient heroic mode for women and demoted them to service, subservience, and impurity" (Goodrich, 1994: 194). In the Chinese case, women were demoted to service, obedience, and lowest social status even below her eldest son by Confucianism, but were not derived their rights to become glorious heroines. This probably leads many capable Chinese women to seek military careers in order to have their names marked by history. 434 In all these social constructions of ancient women warriors, another prominent similarity is that some of the heroines are portrayed as virginal: for example, the case of Joan of Arc as a certifiable virgin. It is believed that her power of prophecy came from her virginity. What is different is that in the Chinese case, women's virginity is closely related to loyalty to the court and filial piety to one's parents. If you can not meet both codes at the same time, loyalty comes first. The whole practice of social reconstruction in China is straightforward indoctrination for social control. Another similarity as well as difference is that most ancient women warriors in China as well as in the West are portrayed as physically strong or with magical power. There is story about a giantess 192 feet long in Ancient Ireland. There are also many stories about powerful Amazons clad in red leather and always on horses. Some of the Chinese heroines are physically strong too. On the other hand, the Chinese construction of women warriors emphasizes more the mastery of martial arts with clever tactics and strong leadership. Some were portrayed as typical women. Xun Guan and Li Xiu are portrayed more as energetic teenage girls who have mastered the martial arts at their early ages. Another similarity is the anonymity involved in low class women's military participation. After much research, some representatives of the two thousand Red Army soldiers on the Long March are listed in this document. One continued to follow the army after several rejections simply because she did not want to go back home to be a child-bride slave again . Many felt they were starting to be treated as persons in the 435 egalitarian anny. That kind of human respect was rewarding enough to keep many Red Army soldiers going through all the hardship and threat of death. The most significant similarity is that women's functions within the military are historically supportive, although many of them participated in direct combat and commanded battles. The six traditional categories of women's roles in the military are almost universal compared across culturally. In sum, women's presence in the regular armed forces of China, as well as in other quasi-military organizations such as the militia and the anned police, remains frequent, due both to the Party's ideology of equal status between the genders and to the dual commitment of women to labor and family. It also derives from a tradition of using women in unconventional warfare and irregular military fonnations . Whenever there is a shortage or perceived shortage of manpower, women will be mobilized to participate in military operations. To be a Chinese woman soldier in peacetime is a privilege offering job security, opportunities for education and training, and better social status. The functions of Chinese women in military operations are supportive in nature and are limited to non-combat positions, although some of them have participated in combat and been inside fire zones during conflicts. In peacetime, Chinese female soldiers serve in traditional women's roles. They have benefited but also been limited by their relative concentration in certain work places- benefited by job security and stable status, but limited by promotion opportunities. 436 APPENDIX I A List of the Topics Covered in the Questionnaire for the 1992 Survey of the PLA Women Conducted from April 17 to May 18 in Beijing By Xiaolin Li MILITARY INFOR!\1A TION distribution ranks years in the military transfer possibility promotion (why, when and where), spouse where to join combat experience record of award CAREER INTENT AND EXPECTATION service expectation prediction of participation in combat prediction of future promotion prediction of being promoted to be a general prediction of finding a good job in civilian section INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS age birth place nationality educational level parent's educational level parent's positions marital status spouse's educational level spouse's support of her serving in the military marital life 437 family income whether satisfied with family income EVALUATION OF MILITARY LIFE general satisfaction comparison with work and life in civilian section level of satisfaction on promotion opportunity level of satisfaction on children's education level of satisfaction on working with male colleagues feeling about job security prediction oflife after retirement sense of serving motherland opportunity of education and training 438 APPENDIX II English Translation of the 1992 Survey Questionnaire I. MILITARY INFORMATION 1. When did you enter the military? 19 2. Service: Anny Navy Air Force General Logistics General Political General Staff 3. Your rank: Civilian Class: ------ Artistic Class: ------ Technical Class: 4. How long have you been in the military? __years_ months 5. Your current title: I don't know ( ) 6. Have you been transferred? No () Yes () =>From what service/position to what service/position? 7. If you are an officer, when, where and why you were promoted? Why: Degree:____ When: __ _ Performance:___ Where: __ _ Seniority: __ _ 8. Is your spouse also in the military? not married ( ) No () Yes ( )=> What service? What position/title? 9. Where did you join the military? City: Province___ City __ _ Country: Province ___ County __ 10. As of today, how many months have you been assigned to your present post? months ----- 439 11 . How much lon er d position? g o you expect to be at your present -:---_ _ months I don't know () 12 Have yo · · · u Participated in combat? No () yes ( )=> when.· ---~ar monili where: -- 13 H Your position at that time: · ave you been to the combat zone? - No () Yes ( )=> when.· _ __ year __ month where: ---- 14 R Your positio_n at that time:_ · ecord of your announced commendations and awards: when: ___ ___.) ear month why: -----~--- -- - - - l S: FOR MEDICAL PERSONNEL ONLY: Are you a medical doctor? No () Yes ( )=> reasons to be promoted: Nurse () Schooling () Other reasons ___ _ l 6. FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL PERSONNEL ONLY: Highest education you have obtained: College Graduate () Graduate Study () Civilian College: __ _ Military College: __ _ Your position: 17. FOR CULTURAL_P_E_RS_O_NNE-=~L-:::0:-:::NL Y: Have you been trained at specialty school? No () Yes ()=>where .. · ____ _ For how Jong: months How long have you been working at current position? H h 1 d You expect to be at your present ow muc onger o position? 440 Have you been to the Front? No () Yes ( )=>when: --- where: For how long: __ How many times: _ _ 18. During your military service, have you been changed to another military location? No () Yes ( )=> How many times? 19. If your spouse is in the military, does he serve in the same district with you? No () Yes () II . CAREER INTENT AND EXPECTATION 20. When you finally leave the military, how many total years of service do you expect to have? -~years I don't know () 21 . When you finally leave the military, what position do you think you will be in? I don't know ( ) 22. What are the chances that you will participate in combat in future? ( ) Does not apply, I plan to retire ( ) (0 in 10) No chance ( ) ( I in 1 O) Very slight possibility ( ) (2 in 10) Slight possibility ( ) (3 in 10) Some possibility ( ) ( 4 in 10) Fair possibility ( ) ( 5 in 10) Fairly good possibility ( ) (6 in 10) Good possibility ( ) (7 in 10) Probable ( ) (8 in 10) Very probable ( ) (9 in 10) Almost sure () (10 in 10) Certain ( ) Don't know 23 . What do you think your chances are of being promoted to the next higher position (class)? () Does not apply, I plan to retire () (0 in IO) No chance · 441 ( ) ( 1 in 10) Very slight possibility ( ) (2 in 10) Slight possibility ( ) (3 in 10) Some possibility ( ) ( 4 in 10) Fair possibility () (5 in 10) Fairly good possibility ( ) ( 6 in 10) Good possibility ( ) (7 in 1 O) Probable () (8 in 10) Very probable ( ) (9 in 10) Almost sure () (IO in lO)Certain ( ) Don't know 24. What do you think your chances are of being promoted to female general during your career? ( ) Does not apply, I plan to retire () (0 in 10) No chance ( ) (1 in 10) Very slight possibility ( ) (2 in I 0) Slight possibility ( ) (3 in 10) Some possibility ( ) ( 4 in I 0) Fair possibility ( ) (5 in 1 O) Fairly good possibility ( ) (6 in 10) Good possibility ( ) (7 in 10) Probable () (8 in 10) Very probable ( ) (9 in 10) Almost sure () ( IO in 10) Certain ( ) Don't know III. INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY caARACTERlSTICS 25 . How old were you on your last birthday? 26. Where were you born? ___ Province--=-City_ County 27. Are you a minor nationality? No () Yes ( )=>what nationality:_ _ 28. When you first entered the military, what was the highest grade or year of regular school or college you had completed? Middle school Grade -High school_ Grade High school graduate ( ) College_ Grade 442 College graduate ( ) Other --- 29. Your current educational level: Middle school Grade High school~ Grade Middle school graduate ( ) High school graduate ( ) College_Grade College graduate ( ) Master's degree __year Ph. D. __year Other --- 30. If you have college education, what college you have been to? _______ university ______ _ college Have you graduated? No () Yes ( )=> which year? __ _ 3 I . Your parents' educational level: Mother ---- Father ---- 32. Your parents' work unit: Mother ---- Father - --- 33 . When you first entered the military, what was your marital status? Married () Single, never married ( ) 34. As of today, your marital status? Married () Never married ( ) Divorced () Other: Remarried Widowed () () Separated ( ) 35. How old were you when you first married? --- years old · 36. Have you ever been divorced since entering the military? No () 443 Yes ( )=>How many years were you in the military prior to your first divorce? ____ years =>How many years were you married prior to this divorce? -------- years =>Has your former spouse of this marriage remarried? No () Yes () Don't know =>To what extent do you feel that your serving in the military contributed to your divorce? To some extent ( ) Not at all ( ) Don't know ( ) 3 7. Your spouse's educational level: Middle school Grade High school_ Grade Middle school graduate ( ) High school graduate ( ) College_ Grade College graduate ( ) Other - - - 38. Where was your spouse born? ____ Province __ City __ County 39. Is your spouse a minor nationality? No () Yes () 40. What kind of married life do you have? Live together No () Yes () Live at two geographic locations No () Yes () 41 . Does your spouse support your service in the military? No () Yes () 42. Do you have children? No () Yes ( )=>How many? 43 . In the past year, how many months were you completely 444 separated from your spouse or dependents because of your military assignment? months --- 44. When you were separated from your dependents, who took care of them? 45 . During last month, if you were separated from your dependents, who took care of them while your spouse worked? 46. Were/are you satisfied with the quality of education your child(ren) received? No ( )=>Why? Yes ( )=> Why? 4 7. As of last month's salary/wages, how much was your total income? y ----- 48. Does your income include any allowance for military activities? No () Yes () 49. Suppose you were in the process ofretiring from the military, what do you think are the chances that you may find a good job in civilian sector? ( ) (0 in I 0) No chance ( ) ( I in I 0) Very slight possibility ( ) (2 in I 0) Slight possibility ( ) (3 in I 0) Some possibility ( ) ( 4 in I 0) Fair possibility ( ) ( 5 in IO) Fairly good possibility () (6 in I 0) Good possibility ( ) (7 in I 0) Probable () (8 in I 0) Very probable ( ) (9 in I 0) Almost sure ( ) (IO in I 0) Certain ( ) Don't know 50. Last year your spouse's monthly income: y ---- 5 I. As of today, do you think you are in debt? 445 No () Yes ( )=>How much? y ---- 52. How much is your family's monthly expenses? y ---- 53 . Are you satisfied with your family income? No ( )=>Why? Yes ( )=>Why? IV. MILITARY LIFE 54. How much do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about military life? A. Life in the military is about what I expected it to be. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) B . My living standard in the military is higher than in the civilian section. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) C. I have many friends in the military. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don' t know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) D. I am satisfied with my income. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () 446 Strongly Disagree ( ) E. I am satisfied with my promotion opportunity. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) F. I am happy working together with male colleagues. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree . ( ) G. I am satisfied with the quality of my children's education. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) H . I have well-defined and stable work assignment. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) I. I have many opportunities to take business trip. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don ' t know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) J. My general welfare will not be bad after my retirement. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) K. I am satisfied with my recent assignment. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know ( ) 447 Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) L. I have job security. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree () M. I am serving my Motherland. Strongly Agree () Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) N . My job has provided me training and educational opportunities. Strongly Agree ( ) Agree () I don't know () Disagree () Strongly Disagree ( ) 448 APPENDIX Ill THE CHINESE 1992 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 449 -tLtL-=-Jf ~ IIJ-k~A 1.;i~if!j~jfij~ 1. ~*-JJL,fi: ft »t 2 I Jl.,fi. ffi il1 3. +A.+t~ 4. ~~!t.m 450 1. .l.-*-8.. .fl Jt vt o > .fir tt A.1!.? u_ (2) #:~: ""' --~ (3) •rt: X.~fl.: ---- X.~ll.: ---- -it~•: __ _ (4) ll.,fttt fil: _-4,_}1 (6) .JI.~#: --- -.~ .. il 0 (8) ,l~1"i-i,b? :f- ,l ... 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Ji._ Ii .ll l- N . .. 6'J5.~~ ... --1~-~~~.- 455 APPENDIX IV A Brief Chinese Chronology Xia 21th-16th BC Northern Qi 550 - 577 Shang 16th-11th BC We!11ern Wei 535 - 556 Western Zhou llth-771 BC Northern Zhou 557 - 581 Zhou Eastern Zhou 770- 256 BC Sui 581 - 618 Spring and Autumn 770-476 BC Tang 618 - 907 Warring States 475 - 221BC Later Liani? 907 - 923 Qing 221 - 207BC Later Tang 923 - 936 Han Western Han 206 BC- 24 AD Five Later Jin 936 - 946 Eastern Han 25 - 220 Later Han 947 - 950 Three Wei 220 - 265 Later Zhou 951 - 960 Kingdoms Shu Han 221 - 263 Song Northern Sone: 906 - 1127 Wu 222 - 280 Soutnern Song 1127 - 1279 Western Jin 265 - 316 Liao 916 - 1125 Eeastcrn Jin 317-420 Jin 1115 - 1234 Song 420 - 479 Yuan 1271 - 1368 Northern Southern Qi 479 - 502 Ming 1368 - 1644 and Liang 502 - 557 Qing 1644 - 1911 Southern Chen 557 - 589 Republic of China 1912 - 1949 Northern N.Wei 386 - 534 People's Republic of China 1949- E.Wci 534 - 550 456 APPENDIX V A Simplified Table of Chinese Population in the Past Two Thousand Years Dynasty Year Population (million) Han& 2 59.59 156 56.49 Jin ff 280 16.16 Suinf 609 46.02 Tangm, 740 48.14 755 53.00 Song7K 1080 33.30 1110 46.73 Yuan 7G 1290 58.84 Ming~ 1393 60.55 1578 60.69 Qing1'f 1764 205.59 1795 297.00 1819 301.26 1849 412.99 The Republic of 1912 405.81 China~[@ 1928 474.79 457 APPENDIX VI PICTURES OF QIU JIN AND SOME PLA WOMEN 458 Qiu Jin - picture taken around 1905 459 General Li Zhen -- born in 1908. This picture was taken at her designation in 1955. General Nie Li -- born in September 1930. She studied in Soviet Union from 1955 to 1960. The last position she held was the Deputy Director and General Secretary of the Technology Committee of the Defense Science and Industry Commission. General Liao Wenhai -- born in June 1934. She joined the army in December 1950. Now she is the president of the General Hospital of the Army. 460 General Wu Xiaoheng -- born in March 1932. She joined the army in January 1951. Now she is the Vice President of the First Military Medical University. General Li Xikai -- born in March 1932. She joined the army in September 1950. Now she is the Vice President of the Third Military Medical University. General Hu Feipei-- born in December 1930. She joined the army in August 1949. 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Zhu Yingming ' "A Big Defeat of the Local Regiment by the Women's Army", in A Spark Can Burn the Grassland , 4th Issue, 1982. 487 Zhuang_ Ping 1991 . "Analysis on the Social Phenomenon of Sale of Women in Our Country" Sociology Study_ No . 3 5, 5th Issue. 488 2253 D Stone Wheel Dr. Reston, VA 22091-3139 EDUCATION XIAOLIN LI (703) 620-3493 (0, H) (703) 620-4090 (Fax) Ph.D., Sociology 8/95 Dissertation defended on November 16, 1994 Mi':itary_ Sociology, Social Psychology, and Mental Health Umvers1ty of Maryland, College Park M.A. , Sociology University of Maryland, College Park B. A. , Western Languages and Literature Beijing University EXPERIENCE Business Vice President Songbin System International Corporation 5/90 1/74 10/92-present As an exclusive representative of the China Technology Park Investment Project for Charles Percy and Associates (CPA) since March 1993 ~ and an exclusive China projects representative for Westmoreland Energy, Inc. since July, 1993 . Research Consultant 6/92-3/93 The Arlinhrton Institute, Arlington, VA For a research project conducted on behalf of the US Coast Guard, assist the President in reviewing and analyzing a wide range of materials in identification of driving forces which cause dramatic technological and sociological changes in the world. Two final products of this project are published: The Road to 2012: Looking Towards the Next Two Decades published in March 1993 , and The Road to 20 15: Profiles of the Future published by Waite Groups Press, 1994. Research Assistant 8/91-6/92 The Center for International Security Study at Maryland (CISSM) Assisted the Executive Director in conducting a CISSM faculty profile survey, conducted research and focus interviews for a research project on US-Vietnam normalization process, drafted a preliminary report for the research proposal, coordinated the organization of a Vietnam Roundtable, a group of public and private sector experts, administrators, and other citizens working to develop collaborative projects in Vietnam. Visiting Fellow 9/85-6/86 The Center of International Studies, Princeton University Conducted face-to-face interviews of 56 Princeton students, )4 Chinese graduate students and various young American adults in the New Jersey and New York areas for a comparative study of young adults in America and China. Council Member I 0/84-8/87 The China Association for International Friendly Contact As the initiator and one of the founders of this national organization, drafted the proposal, managed the fundraising, structured the system, coordinated the opening ceremony, and made connections with its American counterparts at various academic institutions. Research Fellow 8/81-9/84 The Chinese Association for International Understanding Led Chinese governmental delegations in visits to Japan, the U.S.A, Britain, Germany and France, and conducted research on US-China relations, Soviet military affairs and national security, Soviet youth movement, and Soviet manpower policy. Teaching Experience Teaching Assistant 9/87-6/93 Department of Sociology, University of Maryland Military Sociology (SOCY464), Statistics (SOCY201), Family Demography (SOCY343), Demographic Techniques (SOCY411) Assistant Lecturer Beijing University 2 2/74-6/79 Military Experience and Intelligence Research Research Staff 6/79-8/87 General Political Department (GPD) of the People's Liberation Anny of China (PLA) Co?ducted research on Soviet defense policy and security issues, American defense policy and security issues, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, American military man~ower policy, psychological warfare, utilization of civilians in military system, relations between officers and enlisted personnel, studies on combat fatigue, and strategic balance in Pacific region. Interpreter & Translator Air Force of the PLA I0/74-5/79 Interpreted for top JeveJ negotiations between the British Trident Team and the Civil Aviation Administration of China, assisted in flight crew instructions and training, translated and edited the Chinese "Flight Manual of Trident", "Crew Manual of Trident" and other documents for the Chinese Trident fleet. ~eches and Invited Lectures "Once a Hundred Years' Opportunity" Meridian International Center I 0/20/93 "A Chinese Perspective of American Roles in New World Order: Pactfi.c Rim 11 CISSM Annual Graduate Student Conference 3/27/92 "Chinese Culture" Dept. of Sociology, U. of Maryland "The People's Liberation Anny of China" Dept. of Sociology, U. of Maryland "Chinese Family Demography" Dept. of Sociology, U. of Maryland Spring/91 "Military Social Psychology in China" . Walter Reed Army Institute ofResearch/Washington, DC 3 FaIJ/9 I Fall/91 Spring/86 "Chinese College Students" Fudan U/New York City "Higher Education in China" St. Anselm C./Manchester,NH "Chinese Red Guard and Cultural Revolution" Princeton U. ACHIEVEMENTS AND A WARDS Pacific Cultural Foundation Research Grant Taipei, Taiwan CISSM MacArthur Scholarship School of Public Affairs UMCP ' Departmental Scholarship Department of Sociology, UMCP CISSM Junior MacArthur Scholarship School of Public Affairs, UMCP CISSM Summer Internship School of Public Affairs, lJMCP Departmental Summer Research Grant Department of Sociology, UMCP Senior MacArthur Fellowship School of Public Affairs, UMCP Visiting Fellowship The Center of International Studies, Princeton University OTHER AFFILIATIONS · · tU!lIS) Spring/86 Fall/85 Fall/85 Summer, 1993 Academic Year 1992-1 993 Academic Year 1987-1993 Academic Year 1991-1992 Summer, 1989 Summer, 1988 Academic Year 1987-1988 Academic Year 1985-1986 Member, Women in International Secunty ._ .. Fell th I U . ·ty Se.,..,inar on Armed Forces and Society (IVS) ow, e nter- ruverst 11 • 4 Member the China Association for Social Psychology ' Vice President, Songbin Systems International Corporation PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCE PAPERS English "Chinese Women Soldiers: A History of 5,000 Years", Social Education, Vol.58, No.2, February, I 994, pp.67-70. Reprinted in Global Studies: Japan and Pacific Rim, Guilford, CT: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., I 995. "Chinese Women in the People's Liberation Army: Professionals or Quasi- Professionals?", Armed Forces and Society, Vol.20, No: 1, Fall, 1993, pp. 69-83 ''Patterns of Chinese Women's Participation in Military Operations in Ancient Times", presented at the Section on the Sociology of Peace and War, American Sociology Association Convention, Pittsburgh, PA, August, 1992 "The Role of Women in the Chinese People's Liberation Army", co-authored with Mady W. Segal and David R. Segal, in Eberhard Sandschneider and Jurgen Kuhlmann (eds.) Armed Forces in the USSR and the People's Republic of China, Forum International, Munich 1992. This article was reprinted in MJNERV A: Quarterly Report on Women and the Military, Vol. X, No. I, Spring, 1992 pp. 48-55. And, this article was also published in Johanna Hurm. Ruth Meyer Schweizer.I.Peter Fluekiger.Jurg Stussi- Lauterburg (eds.) Women in Armed Forces, Proceedings of the International Symposium held 15th to 17th October 1990 at "Wolfsberg", training center of the Union Bank of Switzerland, CH-8272 Ermatingen, organized by the Swiss Department Defense in commemoration of 50 years of Swiss Women's Service in the Army, Verlag Effingerhof AG, 1992 "Chinese Women in the People's Liberation Army", presented at the IUS Biennial Conference at Baltimore, Maryland, October, 1991 "Establishing Unit Cohesion in the US Army: A Half-century of Applied Research", co- authored with David . R. Segal and J. Daniel Schubert, Sociological Practice Review, Jan. 1991 , pp. 9-14 "Different Types of Primary Group Bonds: Comparative Study of American and Chinese Armies in Korean War", presented at the Conference on "The Korean War and Its Legacy: Prospects for Peace in the 1990s", at the Center for East Asian Studies, Pennsylvania State University, July, 1990 5 "M·1· I itary Coh . . Am . . p es10n m enca and Chma", presented at the Section on the Sociology of 1 ;;~e and War, American Sociology Association Convention, Washington, DC, August, ~it_Cohesion of the People's Liberation Army of China", presented at the 96th encan Psychological Association Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, August, 1988 ~ ,':~ Comparative Study ofMilit~ry Cohesion in ~~ric 1 ~ an~ China'\ ~re.sented at the rst Annual Conference of Chinese Young Scientists , China Assoc1at10n for Science ; nd Technology, Beijing, China, April, 1992. This article is published on SOCIAL -S.YCHOLOGY STUDY winter 1992 ' "D S ~velopment of Military Sociology in the United States", SOCIOLOGY ABROAD Pnng, 1988 "T oday's American Soldiers", People's Liberation Army's Daily, published in series from May. 1 to May. 18, 1987 "Soviet Efforts in Military Training of Draftees", (Report circulated internally within the PLA, 1985) "Political Attitudes of Soviet University Students", YOUTH'S REFERENCE 1984 "~he Military and Patriotic Education of Soviet Youth", (Report circulated internally WI thin the PLA, 1983) "American Research Institutions of Soviet Affairs", STUDY OF SOVIET AND .fiAs...TERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 1982 REFERENCES Professor M d W S I D rtment of Sociology, University of Maryland, College p a y . ega , epa ark, MD 20742 Professor David R. Segal, Department of Socio.logy, University of Maryland, College Park, Mo 20742 Profl G D rt ent of Government and Politics, University of essor eorge H. Quester, epa m Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 6