The Shrew Is Back

This chapter analyzes early twentieth-century public discourses surrounding the early Chinese suffragettes, who emerged shortly after the establishment of the new Republic. This group of women updates the definition of the public woman on temporal, spatial, social, and political dimensions. Mostly educated and trained in Japan, these women had shed blood on the battlefield against the Qing regime. After the accomplishment of the revolution, they transferred their energies from the military to the political realm, asking for equal rights to vote. By likening the suffragettes to the violent hanfu, the licentious yinfu, and the unconstrained, refuse-spreading pofu, the public directed criticisms at the loss of female gentleness, sexual morality, and the ordering of space. The chapter then looks at the three main types of depictions from the male-dominated media: the violent shrew, the obscene shrew, and the unconstrained shrew.