In hidden alley bars and in salons and bookstores across Shanghai, women’s place in a country where men make the laws is being debated.
Some wore their wedding dresses and said their vows in public. Some gathered to watch films made by women and about women. Bookworms flocked to women’s bookstores to read books such as “The Destroyed Woman” and “The Feminist Way of Life.”
Women in Shanghai and other large Chinese cities are negotiating fragile terms of public expression at a time of political instability. China’s ruling Communist Party views feminism as a threat to China’s authority. A women’s rights activist was jailed. Concerns about harassment and violence against women are ignored or silenced entirely.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is reducing the role of women in the workplace and public office. There are no women in Xi’s inner circle or in the Politburo, the administrative policy-making body. He cited women’s more traditional roles as caretakers and mothers in planning a new “childbearing culture” to cope with population decline.
But women’s groups across China are quietly reclaiming their identities. Many of them grew up with more freedom than their mothers. Shaken by the two-month coronavirus lockdown in 2022, women in Shanghai are feeling the need to build community.
“Everyone in this city seems to have reached a stage where they want to explore more about the power of women,” said Du Wen, founder of Her bar, which hosts discussions at the salon.
Frustrated by the increasingly biased public understanding of women, film and theater student Nong He organized a screening of three documentaries about women by Chinese female directors.
“I think we should have more space for women to create,” Ha said. “We want to hold events like this so people can see what our lives are like and what other women’s lives are like. By understanding that, we can connect and help each other.”
In a quietly publicized event, women question misogynistic tropes in Chinese culture. “Why are lonely ghosts always women?” one woman asked recently, referring to Chinese literature’s depictions of homeless women after death. They share tips for beginners in feminism. Tan Xuan, owner of Paper Moon, which sells books by women authors, said she would start with history. “This place is like the basement of a building.”
Researchers and social workers say there are few reliable statistics on gender violence and sexual harassment in China, but incidents of violence against women are occurring more frequently. Stories of women being maimed or brutally murdered for trying to leave their husbands, or severely assaulted for resisting unwanted attention from men, are widely circulated online. The discovery of a chained woman inside a doorless hut in eastern Jiangsu province has become one of the most controversial topics online in recent years.
Reactions to each incident varied widely. Many condemned the attackers and blamed society’s sexism. Many others blamed the victim.
Tan, an entrepreneur and former deputy publisher of Vogue China, was disturbed by the way these debates polarized society. Events that happened in her own life also made her anxious. As her female friends shared their feelings of shame and worthlessness over not getting married, Tan looked for a framework to put her feelings into words.
“Then I realized that even myself didn’t have very clear ideas about these things,” she said. “People want to talk, but they don’t know what they’re talking about.” Ms. Tan has opened Paper Moon, a store for intellectually curious readers like herself. I decided to do it.
The bookstore is divided into academic sections featuring literature and poetry, as well as feminist history and social research. There is a biography area. “We need some real stories to encourage women,” Ms Tan said.
There’s always the fear of attracting the wrong kind of attention.
When Tan opened her store, she posted a sign on the door explaining that it was a feminist bookstore that welcomed all genders, not just pets. She said, “But a friend advised me to stop using the word feminism because it could cause problems.”
Wang Xia, owner of Xinqiao Bookstore, has chosen not to use the “F” word at all. Instead, she described her bookstore as “female-themed.” When she opened the store in 2020, it included corners to encourage personal conversations and six study rooms named after famous female writers like Simone de Beauvoir. It was a vast space.
According to Wang, Shincho Bookstore has served more than 50,000 people through events, workshops and online lectures. It contained over 20,000 of his books on art, literature, and self-help, including books about and for women. The store became so famous that state media covered it and the Shanghai government posted an article about it on its website.
Still, Wang was careful to avoid making political statements. “My ambition is not to advance feminism,” she said.
For Her founder Du, female empowerment is at the heart of her motivation. She began her act shocked by the isolation of the pandemic. As the city of Shanghai ordered its residents to stay in their apartments for two months under lockdown, her world narrowed within the walls of her apartment.
For years she had dreamed of opening a place where women’s voices could be elevated, and now it felt more urgent than ever. After her lockdown, she opened Her, a place where women can foster friendships and discuss the social expectations society places on them.
On International Women’s Day in March, Herr held an event called “Marry Me,” where women made vows to themselves. The bar also hosts a salon where women play the roles of mother and daughter. Do said many young women don’t feel comfortable being treated like their mothers and don’t know how to talk about it.
Officials met with Ms. Du and suggested she had a venue in Shanghai as long as the event didn’t become too popular, she said.
But in China, there is always the possibility that the authorities will crack down. “They don’t tell us clearly what is prohibited,” says Paper Moon’s Tan.
Mr. Wang recently moved his Xincho Bookstore, a famous store with a large atrium and long rows of bookshelves, to Shanghai Book City. His four-volume collection of Xi’s writings is prominently displayed in multiple languages.
Book City is huge. Wang said that’s not the case with Shincho Bookstore’s space, which has several shelves inside and around a small room that could ultimately hold only about 3,000 books.
“This is a small cell of the city, a cultural cell,” Wang said.
Still, it stands out in China.
“Not every city has a bookstore for women,” she says. “There are many cities that don’t have that kind of cultural foundation.”
Li Yu Contributed to research.
