Women, War, and Memory (Second Edition)

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, while all Chinese people suffered greatly, women endured many unique hardships. These included the doubled pain of childbirth, the pain of losing a child, the heavy burden of supporting their families, and frequent sexual assault and violence. Yet, women were not simply passive victims; they were active participants in the resistance, organizers of wartime production, planners of survival strategies, and supporters of daily life.
This female-centered oral history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression reveals this historically voiceless group, revealing that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was also a history of gendered societies. Women's contributions are often intricately interwoven into everyday life, appearing unnoticed. Yet, in reality, it was their determination, wisdom, and resilience that preserved their families and their country during wartime. Women's perspectives bring to light a daily dimension rarely seen in war narratives—warfare was not merely about military maneuvers and high-level struggles, but also about the daily grind of daily life, the battlefields not only on the front lines but also at home, in the fields, in air-raid shelters, in factories...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is a crucial part of modern Chinese history, a shared experience and memory for an entire generation of Chinese people. However, research on the subject is severely imbalanced: it not only focuses on military and diplomatic matters but also neglects the experiences of women. This book recreates the daily lives of women during the war, telling a different story of the war. Many of the subjects interviewed by the author are silent workers, maids, housewives, and other groups who rarely leave personal records. Even educated women, such as female students and teachers, may not have had the opportunity to leave their own testimonies for the war. From the perspective of historical diversity, the publication of this book is truly necessary.
—Lian Lingling, Deputy Director of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. The author's meticulous analysis and the life stories of the women interviewed paint a picture of China's wartime history. This book, rich in narrative layers and with a particular focus on female sexuality, offers readers a fresh perspective, helping them understand the suffering, survival, and resistance of Chinese women during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the nation faced a crisis of national survival.
—The Historian, a core journal of American history

2024-06-01

香港中文大學出版社

332

9789882373402