Resisting Manchukuo
Resisting Manchukuo
Chinese Women Writers and the Japanese Occupation
Norman Smith reveals the literary world of Japanese-occupied Manchuria (Manchukuo, 1932-45) and examines the lives, careers, and literary legacies of seven prolific Chinese women writers during the period. Smith shows how a complex blend of fear and freedom produced an environment in which Chinese women writers could articulate dissatisfaction with the overtly patriarchal and imperialist nature of the Japanese cultural agenda while working in close association with colonial institutions.
The first book in English on women’s history in twentieth-century Manchuria, Resisting Manchukuo adds to a growing literature that challenges traditional understandings of Japanese colonialism.
It will be of interest to those who study the history of East Asia, imperialism, and women.
Awards
- 2009, Winner - Canadian Women's Studies Association Book Prize
This is a pathbreaking book. Norman Smith paints a complex and highly nuanced picture of a colonial society, which, for decades, has only been examined in starkly nationalist categories. One of the very first social histories of the Japanese occupation in the cities, Resisting Manchukuo is an artful blend of literary analysis and fascinating social history.
Dealing with previously unexplored topics, Norman Smith illuminates new worlds for us. He casts light on what life was like for the Chinese living under Japanese rule and, surprisingly, the degree to which literary figures were able to thwart Japanese censorship. This book will be welcomed by all those interested in modern Chinese and Japanese history in the 1930s and 1940s and will probably spark debates about Chinese ‘collaboration’ with the Japanese during the Second World War.
Introduction
1 Chinese Women and Cultural Production in a Japanese Colonial Context
2 Foundations of Colonial Rule in Manchukuo and the “Woman Question”
3 Manchukuo’s Chinese-Language Literary World
4 Forging Careers in Manchukuo
5 Disrupting the Patriarchal Foundations of Manchukuo
6 Contesting Colonial Society
7 The Collapse of Empire and Careers
8 Resisting Manchukuo
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Translating the Occupation
The Japanese Invasion of China, 1931–45
Edited by Jonathan Henshaw, Craig A. Smith, and Norman Smith
Not Just a Man’s War
Chinese Women’s Memories of the War of Resistance against Japan, 1931–45
By Yihong Pan
