| The New Women | |
|---|---|
 Chinese promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Cai Chusheng |
| Written by | Sun Shiyi |
| Produced by | Luo Mingyou |
| Starring | Ruan Lingyu Wang Naidong Zheng Junli |
| Cinematography | Zhou Daming |
| Music by | Nie Er Zhou Can |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 106 min |
| Country | China |
| Languages | Silent film Written Chinese intertitles |
New Women (Chinese: 新女性; pinyin: Xīn nǚxìng) is a 1935 Chinese silent drama film produced by the United Photoplay Service.[1] It is sometimes translated as New Woman. The film starred Ruan Lingyu (in her penultimate film) and was directed by Cai Chusheng. This film became one of Ruan Lingyu’s better known works. Her suicide on International Women’s day (8 March 1935) drew attention to the controversial status of new women and made this film a sensation in modern China.
The product of "New Women" has been the result of a social economic trend and reform social movement that has been going on for decades. It offered criticism to China's traditional ideology and offered a change in China’s “old women” to “new women” as an alternative social convention. New Women was considered to be a “problem film” in inciting “the woman question”. This question is actually a set of questions which pertain to how the ‘new women’ of China would be considered within society. Questions such as what is the current reality of women’s status in China, who are China’s new women, and what their lives should be like were part of “the woman question”.[2]
New Women was based upon the life of Chinese actress and writer, Ai Xia, who had committed suicide in 1934.[3] Ai Xia's death following her role in A Modern Woman (1933) inspired Cai Chusheng to emulate the tragedy in this film.[4]
A print of New Women is currently maintained by the China Film Archive.[3]
- ^ Christopher Rea, Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949 (Columbia University Press, 2021), p. 117.
- ^ Rhea, Christopher (2021). Chinese Film Classics 1922-1949. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 118.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
APTCwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cui, Shuqin. "Stanley Kwans Center Stage: The (Im)Possible Engagement between Feminism and Postmodernism." Cinema Journal, vol. 39, no. 4, 2000, pp. 60–80., doi:10.1353/cj.2000.0012.