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Sporting Gender
Women Athletes and Celebrity-Making during China’s National Crisis, 1931-45
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2013
About this book
Sporting Gender is the first book to explore the rise to fame of female athletes in China during its national crisis of 1931-45 brought on by the Japanese invasion. By re-mapping lives and careers of these athletes, administrators, and film actors within a wartime context, Gao shows how they coped with the conflicting demands of nationalist causes, unwanted male attention, and modern fame. Addressing themes of state control, media influence, fashion, and changing gender roles, she argues that the athletic female form helped to create a new ideal of modern womanhood in China at a time when women’s emancipation and national needs went hand in hand. This book brings vividly to life the histories of these athletes and demonstrates how intertwined they were with the aims of the state and the needs of society.
Author / Editor information
Yunxiang Gao is an associate professor of East Asian history at Ryerson University.
Reviews
Andrew D. Morris, author of Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan:
Gao’s attention to the life stories of influential Chinese sporting women like Zhang Huilan, Lu Lihua, Yang Xiuqiong, and Li Lili adds much depth and texture to our understanding of Republican-era tiyu. Her explication of the tensions of growing mass media production and the war with Japan help us to appreciate how notions of sport and gender were redefined during China’s national crisis.
Gao’s attention to the life stories of influential Chinese sporting women like Zhang Huilan, Lu Lihua, Yang Xiuqiong, and Li Lili adds much depth and texture to our understanding of Republican-era tiyu. Her explication of the tensions of growing mass media production and the war with Japan help us to appreciate how notions of sport and gender were redefined during China’s national crisis.
Poshek Fu, author of Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas:
Sporting Gender is a fascinating account of the intersection of gender, sports, and popular culture in wartime China. Combining individual biography, national politics, and gender identity, Gao’s book reveals the rise of women athletes as a new cultural force.
Dorothy Ko, co-editor of The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential texts in Transnational Theory:
Yunxiang Gao has written a sensational book! The story of women and sports in modern China has enough flesh and glitz, even a scandal or two, to hook a tabloid reader. But the meticulous research and first-rate historical thinking pack a different punch, making it a book that serious scholars would want to savour, debate, and assign to their students.
Topics
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Front Matter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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List of Figures
ix -
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Acknowledgments
xi -
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Introduction
1 -
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Zhang Huilan (1898–1996): The “Mother of Women’s Modern Physical Education”
17 -
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Nationalist and Feminist Discourses on Jianmei (Robust Healthy Beauty)
58 -
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The Basketball Team of the Private Liangjiang Women’s Tiyu Normal School
81 -
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The Evanescent Glory of the Track Queens
127 -
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“Miss China” Yang Xiuqiong (1918–82): A Female Olympic Swimmer
166 -
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Sportswomen on Screen: The “Athletic Movie Star,” Li Lili (1915–2005)
208 -
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Conclusion
240 -
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Notes
244 -
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Glossary of Chinese Terms, Titles, and Names
288 -
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Bibliography
299 -
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Index
310 -
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Contemporary Chinese Studies
329
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 9, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9780774824835
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
348
eBook ISBN:
9780774824835
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
