Engendering Labor Models: Imagery of Labor Models during the Civil War in Northeast China, 1945-1949

• In Event: Hoping for Some Better Days: Twentieth-Century Chinese Women under Clouds of War, Marriage Strains, Social change and Behind Bars

Abstract

The control of Northeast China was of tremendous significance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Civil War (1945-1949). Although war-torn, the area was endowed with rich natural resources. The Japanese had also turned this area into China’s most advanced industrial district before they surrendered. Eventually, the Northeast became an important base for the CCP during the Civil War. With reference to its experiences in its Border Areas during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), the CCP conducted labor emulations in factories, an effective way to increase productivity and enforce work discipline. Labor models were elected among workers in factories. As the CCP mobilized all its labor resources, including female workers, female labor models were indispensable. With the advocacy of women’s liberation by the CCP, the exaltation of female labor models heavily bore gendered meanings. This article examines the images of labor models in CCP propaganda from a gender perspective. To what extent were the images of male and female labor models different? With the large number of workers, and hence the majority of labor models, being men, how was masculinity represented? The article investigates how gender norms were challenged and reproduced in the political culture of the CCP.

Author

• Bianca Yin-ki Cheung, HKCC, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University