RECONSIDERING CHINA MARRIAGE LAW CAMPAIGN - TOWARD A DE-ORIENTALIZED FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

The present article attempts to discuss issues raised in the debate ar ound socialism and patriarchy in China, by drawing upon women's oral h istories as narrated by rural women themselves during the late 1980s, when Western fieldwork in Chinese society again became possible. The l ife-story narratives called earlier accounts of the Marriage Law campa ign into question. They do not necessarily negate the findings of thos e studies, but they do identify points of silence in them that lead to a reconsidered perspective. The focus here is on the central politica l initiative in modern China that specifically addressed women's oppre ssion in familial structures of patriarchy and which has also been imp ortant in China, especially in incorporating women into the public lab or force. The questions thus posed relate to whether the Chinese women 's movement is progressing in the reform era, as China embraces market forces and engages in dialogue with Western feminism! Or did the Chin ese women's liberation movement of earlier years have accomplishments that are significant for the future? It is, thereafter argued that pra ctices and voices of Chinese women, as of Third World women elsewhere, deserve the dose attention of Western feminists who are in the proces s of confronting the same non-local forces in an era of dose historica l and intercultural relations.