Full Description
In 1931, Japan began a brutal occupation of Manchuria, and in 1937, China and Japan entered a full-scale war that ended with Japan's defeat in 1945. The War of Resistance became the Chinese experience of the Second World War. Yet women scarcely get a mention in most accounts of the fourteen-year conflict. Through interviews, published reminiscences, and oral histories, Not Just a Man's War uncovers the extraordinary stories of ordinary Chinese women during the war. Communist women speak of fighting as soldiers for "a good war" and contributing to the party's rise to power. Nationalist women attribute their survival to the strength of the human spirit while acknowledging tremendous suffering. Women from the working poor and the middle classes describe the hardships of Japanese aggression and in their narratives refuse to be ignored as passive beings. In speaking up, the victims of sexual violence become survivor activists demanding justice. These women demonstrate a striking autonomy regardless of political association, socioeconomic status, or education. By attending to their insights, Not Just a Man's War produces a multi-faceted, inclusive narrative of China's War of Resistance.
Contents
Introduction
1 Representations of Wartime Women in the People's Republic of China
2 Self-Writing by the Women Soldiers of the Communist New Fourth Army
3 My Journey of the Revolution: Oral Narratives of Five Communist Women
4 Those Turbulent Years: Memories of Women Associated with the Nationalist Party
5 Surviving under the Enemy: Oral Narratives of Middle-Class Women in Japanese-Occupied China
6 I Want to Speak Up before I Die: The Testimonies of China's "Comfort Women" and the Oral Narratives of Working-Class Women
Epilogue
Appendix: Interviews; Glossary; Notes; Bibliography; Index
