MCLC: all the shengnu ladies (1)

Denton, Kirk denton.2 at osu.edu
Fri Mar 16 10:58:53 EDT 2012


MCLC LIST
From: bert scruggs (bscruggs at uci.edu)
Subject: all the shengnu ladies (1)
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My question and comment follows this quote from Ms. Lake's essay.

"That¹s not been the case. In 2007, the Chinese Ministry of Education
listed <http://thingsyoudontknowaboutchina.com/tag/shengnu/> ³shengnu² as
one of the 171 new words of the year. The Communist Party sponsored All
China Women¹s Federation, China¹s most influential women¹s organization,
published the results of a survey that breaks women down into different
categories of ³leftover.² Beginning at 25, it details how women must
³fight² and ³hunt² for a partner, so as not to wind up alone. By 28, it
implies the heat is really on, telling women ³they must triumph.² Between
31 and 35, these women are called ³advanced leftovers,² and by 35, a
single woman is the ³ultimate² leftover. This woman has met great
professional success, but like the Monkey King ‹ to whom she is compared ‹
she is flawed in thinking that she is higher than the mandate of heaven,
which we can only assume is marriage."

Does anyone happen to know of the publication or URL which lists the new
words of the year? Or the publication or URL which includes the
categorization of "shengnü." Both would be invaluable teaching tools. In
particular Lake's article and the All China Women's Federation publication
would, I think, make for lively discussion of gender politics in most any
course on contemporary China.

Thanks,

Bert




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