Echoes of Chongqing : Women in Wartime China

This Collection Of Annotated Oral Histories Records The Personal Stories Of Twenty Chinese Women Who Lived In The Wartime Capital Of Chongqing During China's War Of Resistance Against Japan During World War Ii. By Presenting Women's Remembrances Of The War, This Study Examines The Interplay Between Oral History And Traditional Historical Narrative, Public Discourse, And Private Memories. The Women Interviewed Came From Differing Social, Economic, And Educational Backgrounds And Experienced The War In A Variety Of Ways, Some Of Them Active In The Communist Resistance And Others Trying To Support Families Or Pursue Educations In The Face Of Wartime Upheaval. Their Stories Demonstrate That The War Of Resistance Had Two Faces: One Presented By Official Propaganda And Characterized By An Upbeat Unified Front Against Japan, The Other A Record Of Invisible Private Stories And A Sobering National Experience Of Death And Suffering. The Accounts Of How Women Coped, Worked, And Lived During The War Years In The Chongqing Region Recast Historical Understanding Of The Roles Played By Ordinary People In Wartime And Give Women A Public Voice And Face That, Until Now, Have Been Missing From Scholarship On The War. -- Back Cover. Introduction: History, Women, And China's War Of Resistance Against Japan -- Pt. 1. The War And Gender's Social Roles -- Prologue -- Students -- A Xiajiang Woman -- A Doctor's Wife -- A Girl Of The Zzeb -- A Teacher Of The Zzeb -- A Woman From A Rich And Powerful Family -- Women From Poor Peasant Families -- Pt. 2. The War And Gender's Economic Impact -- Prologue -- Daughters -- A Tailor's Wife -- An Abandoned Housewife -- A Minsheng Employee -- A Yuhua Textile Factory Worker -- A Woman Of The Songji Experimental Zone -- Pt. 3. The War And Gender's Political Impact -- Prologue -- A Communist Woman Working For The Xyczfzw -- A Student Revolutionary -- A Jiuguohui Woman -- An Underground Ccp Member -- Pt. 4. Women, Memory, And China's War Of Resistance Against Japan -- Epilogue. Danke Li. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This collection of annotated oral histories records the personal stories of twenty Chinese women who lived in the wartime capital of Chongqing during China's War of Resistance against Japan during World War II. By presenting women's remembrances of the war, this study examines the interplay between oral history and traditional historical narrative, public discourse, and private memories. The women interviewed came from differing social, economic, and educational backgrounds and experienced the war in a variety of ways, some of them active in the communist resistance and others trying to support families or pursue educations in the face of wartime upheaval. Their stories demonstrate that the War of Resistance had two faces: one presented by official propaganda and characterized by an upbeat unified front against Japan, the other a record of invisible private stories and a sobering national experience of death and suffering. The accounts of how women coped, worked, and lived during the war years in the Chongqing region recast historical understanding of the roles played by ordinary people in wartime and give women a public voice and face that, until now, have been missing from scholarship on the war. -- Pege [4] of cover