Romance and Rebellion in Republican China

Although now largely disappeared from history, “pictorials” were a common source of information during China’s Republican period, from 1912 to 1949. These were widely circulated picture-based newspapers, typically featuring large numbers of photos and cartoons paired with close-set characters about the size of ants. They were essentially the WeChat public accounts of their time.To get more news about empress wanrong, you can visit shine news official website.

In 2000, Zhou Licheng, a researcher at the Tianjin Municipal Archives, found 10 old pictorials at a secondhand book store. They opened for him a new window into the entertainment and public life of the Republican period.

Today, Mr. Zhou walks us through his new book, Marriage Stories from Old Pictorials, using the stories of three Republic-era women to uncover a past world of love, freedom, and rebellion.China’s first pictorial was a religious publication out of Shanghai, Children’s Monthly. These early pictorials were printed in large type on thin, translucent paper. Their illustrations have a strong hand-drawn character.

The well-known journalist Ge Gongzhen (戈公振) founded the Pictorial Times, the first publication to primarily feature photos. It was printed on coated paper, which has held its color well and feels just like modern magazine paper.

The first issue of the Good Friends Pictorial featured China’s first screen star, Hu Die (胡蝶), on the cover. Holding fresh flowers and smiling sweetly, her image left a deep impression, making Good Friends a major publication almost overnight.

There was another distinct phenomenon in the pictorials of that era: the appearance of large numbers of matrimonial ads from young men and women.

The Republican period was marked by ideological shifts. This was particularly striking when it came to the issue of marriage.

For example, Peking University president Cai Yuanpei (蔡元培) posted a matrimonial ad in 1900. He listed five criteria for his ideal marriage: The woman must not have bound feet; she must be literate; the man must not take a concubine; the woman may remarry after the man’s death; and a couple may divorce if they do not make a good match.

These conditions appear to have been ahead of their time. In contrast, most of the marriage ads posted by men upheld the expectations set out in Confucian ethics.On the other hand, marriage ads posted by women were less common—perhaps just one for every ad posted by men. Women of the time had similar criteria for men as they do today, emphasizing occupation, wealth, appearance, and interests.

For example, in a 1928 issue of Shen Bao, a young lady from an official family had this request as to a man’s origins: “Aside from Shanghai, any province or county is acceptable. Willing to travel to provinces as distant as Yunnan or Guizhou.”

It appeared that this woman’s father had warned her against the fickleness of Shanghai men before he died, and advised her to find men from other regions.

The courtship process was rather complicated for women. After the initial recruitment, they would spend a month interviewing and deliberating, finally exchanging photos with a suitable match by mail. If the pairing didn’t work out, each side would remain discreet about the experience for the sake of her virtue.