Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T21:03:51.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Women Sex-spies: Chastity, National Dignity, Legitimate Government and Ding Ling's “When I was in Xia Village”*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2013

Louise Edwards
Louise Edwards*
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong. Email: ledwards@hku.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines 70 years of debate about Ding Ling's 1941 influential short story about a woman spy, “When I was in Xia Village.” In the article I show that the re-absorption of “our” female spies into post-conflict solidarity narratives is a fraught process. For national governments, the difficulty lies in asserting the moral legitimacy of their rule in the face of evidence about their deployment of women as sex spies. For national populations, the difficulty lies in the desire to construct reassuring victory stories within which peacetime normalcy can be restored. The diverse exegeses around Ding Ling's “Xia Village” reveal that even decades after the hostilities cease, “our” women sex spies still require an explanation to communities seeking to consolidate or “remember” their national virtue. The evolution of this process of “explaining” reveals the on-going importance of sexual morality to governance in current-day China. Specifically, through the analysis of the critiques of “Xia Village” the article demonstrates that female chastity has been and continues to be an important commodity in establishing and sustaining popular perceptions of the moral virtue of the PRC as a nation, and the CCP as its legitimate government.

Keywords

spiessexgovernancewargenderChinese intellectual history
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 212 , December 2012 , pp. 1059 - 1078
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge the financial assistance of the Australian Research Council's Discovery Grant program.

References

Alber, Charles. 2002. Enduring the Revolution: Ding Ling and the Politics of Literature in Guomindang China. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Barlow, Tani E. 1989. “Forewords to ‘When I was in Xia Village’.” In Tani Barlow with Gary, Bjorge (eds), I Myself am a Woman. Boston, MA: Beacon, 298–99.Google Scholar
Barlow, Tani. 2004. The Question of Women in Chinese Feminism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Bjorge, Gary John. 1977. “Ting Ling's Early Years: Her Life and Literature through 1942.” PhD diss., The University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Dai, Qing. 1994. Wang Shiwei and “Wild Lilies.” Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1941a. “Wo zai Xiacun de shihou” (“When I was in Xia Village”), Zhongguo wenhua, 20 June, 24–31.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1941b. “Zai yiyuan zhong shi.” Gu yu 1 (November).Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1942a. “Bianzhe de hua” (Words from the Editor), Jiefang ribao, 12 March, 4.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1942b. “Sanbajie yougan” (Thoughts on March Eighth), Jiefang ribao, 9 March, 4.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1942c. “Wenyijie dui Wang Shiwei yingyou de taidu ji fanxing” (“The attitude and introspection that the literary and art world should adopt towards Wang Shiwei”), Jiefang ribao, 16 June, 4.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1944. Wo zai Xiacun de shihou (When I was in Xia Village). Guilin: Yuanfang shudian.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1954a. Ding Ling ji (Collected works of Ding Ling). Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1954b. Yan'an ji (The Yan'an Collection). Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling trans. by Jenner, W.J.F.. 1985. Miss Sophie's Diary and Other Stories. Beijing: Chinese Literature, Panda Books.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1989a. “Thoughts on March 8,” trans. by Benton, Gregor. In Tani Barlow with Bjorge, Gary (eds), I Myself am a Woman. Boston, MA: Beacon, 317–21.Google Scholar
Ding, Ling. 1989b. “When I was in Xia Village,” trans. by Gary, Bjorge. In Tani Barlow with Gary, Bjorge (eds), I Myself am a Woman. Boston, MA: Beacon, 299–315.Google Scholar
Duchen, Claire. 2000. “Crime and punishment in liberated France.” In Duchen, Claire and Bandhauer-Schöffmann, Irene (eds.), When the War was Over. London: Leicester University Press, 236–37.Google Scholar
Edwards, Louise. 2008. Gender, Politics and Democracy: Women's Suffrage in China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Louise. 2010. “Transformations of the woman warrior Hua Mulan: from defender of the family to servant of the state.” Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 12, 175–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feng, Jin. 2004. New Women in Early Twentieth-Century Fiction. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.Google Scholar
Feuerwerker, Yi-tsi. 1976. “Ting Ling's when I was in Sha chuan (Cloud Village).” Signs 2 (1), 255–279.Google Scholar
Guo, Moruo. 1957. “Nuli ba ziji gaizao chengwei wuchan jieji de wenhua gongren” (Strive to turn yourself into a proletarian literary worker), Renmin ribao, 28 September, 3.Google Scholar
Hua, Fu. 1958. “Ding Ling de ‘Fuchou de nüshen’ – ping ‘Wo zai Xiacun de shihou’” (“Ding Ling's ‘Avenging Goddess’ – critiquing ‘When I was in Xia Village’”), Wenyi bao 3, 22–25.Google Scholar
Jing, Tsu. 2006. Failure, Nationalism, and Literature. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Judd, Ellen. 1985. “Prelude to the ‘Yan'an Talks’.” Modern China 11 (2), 377–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, Wendy. 1998. Women and Writing in Modern China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Chi. 1963. “Communist war stories.” The China Quarterly 13, 139–57.Google Scholar
Liao, Ying [Wang Liaoying]. 1942. “‘Ren . . . zai jianku zhong shengchang’ – ping Ding Ling tongzhi de ‘Zai yiyuan zhong shi’” (“‘People…develop in times of hardship’ – critiquing Comrade Ding Ling's ‘In the Hospital’”), Jiefang ribao, 10 June, 4.Google Scholar
Liu, Chuanxia. 2004. “Ding Ling de ‘Wo zai Xiacun de shihou’ jieshou yu chanshi” (“The reception and interpretation of Ding Ling's ‘When I was in Xia Village’”). Yantai shifan xueyuan xuebao 21 (3), 51–54.Google Scholar
Liu, Jie. 1981. “Chongping ‘Wo zai Xiacun de shihou’ zhong Zhenzhen de xingxiang” (“Another critique of Zhenzhen from ‘When I was in Xia Village’”). Gansu shida xuebao 1, 52–55.Google Scholar
Louie, Kam. 2002. Theorising Chinese Masculinity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lu, Yaodong. 1957. “Ping ‘Wo zai Xiacun de shihou’” (“Critiquing ‘When I was in Xia Village’”). Wenyi bao 38, 4–5.Google Scholar
Luo, Binji. 1944. “Da fengbao zhong de renwu – ping Ding Ling de ‘Wo zai Xiacun de shihou’” (“Characters from amidst a tempest – A critique of Ding ling's ‘When I was in Xia Village’”). Kangzhan wenyi 9 (5–6), 17–20.Google Scholar
Nakajima, Midori. 1982. “Ding Ling lun” (On Ding Ling), trans by Yuan, Yunhua and Pei, Zheng. Rpt, in Yuan, Liangjun (ed.), Ding Ling yanjiu ziliao. Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe, 526–554.Google Scholar
Proctor, Tammy M. 2003. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Sommer, Matthew. 2000. Sex, Law and Society in Late Imperial China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Wakeman, Fredric E. 2003. Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Liaoying. 1957. “Kangzhan shiqi Ding Ling xiaoshuo de sixiang qingxiang” (“The ideological trends in Ding Ling's wartime stories”). Wenxue yanjiu 4, 93–110.Google Scholar
Wu, Qun. 1940. “Fandui ba funü tuo dao tewu xianshang” (“Opposing putting women in the frontlines of spying”). Zhongguo funü 2 (2), 18.Google Scholar
Xue, Feng [Feng Xuefeng]. 1948. “Cong ‘Meng Ke’ dao ‘Ye’” (“From ‘Meng Ke’ to ‘Night’”). Zhongguo zuojia 1 (2), 1–4.Google Scholar
Xue, Wei. 1941. “‘Zai yiyuan zhong shi’ ‘maque’ ji qita” (“‘In the Hospital,’ ‘Sparrow’ and other matters”), Jiefang ribao, 5 December, 4.Google Scholar
Yang, Guixin. 1982. “Chongdu Ding Ling de san ge duanpian” (“Rereading three of Ding Ling's short pieces”). Qiqihaer shifan xueyuan xuebao 4, 59–75.Google Scholar
Yang, Guixin. 2006. Ding Ling yu Zhou Yang de enyuan (Gratitude and Enmity between Ding Ling and Zhou Yang). Wuhan: Hubei Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Yeh, Wen-hsin. 1989. “Da Li and the Liu Geqing Affair.” Journal of Asian Studies 48 (3), 545–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Mu. 1993. “Ding Ling xiaoshuo zhong de san ge nüxing” (“Three women from Ding Ling's short stories”). Wenyi zhengming 5, 39–43.Google Scholar
Zhenzhen. 2003. Dir. Qiao Liang, 90 mins, Beijing jizuhou tongying dianying gongsi.Google Scholar
Zhou, Yang (ed). 1947. Jiefangqu duanpian xiaoshuo xuan (Collected Short Fiction from the Liberated Areas). Andong: Dongbei shudian.Google Scholar
Zhou, Yang. 1958. “Wenyi zhanxian shang de yi chang dabianlun” (“A great debate at the front lines of literature and art”). Renmin ribao, 28 February 1958, 2.Google Scholar