Zhou, Jinghao

Dr. Jinghao Zhou is Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He earned his Ph.D. from Baylor University. Dr. Zhou has published more than 40 articles in Chinese journals and a dozen articles in the United States. He is the author of Remaking China's Public Philosophy for the Twenty-First Century (Praeger, 2003).

Remaking China's Public Philosophy and Chinese Women's Liberation

2006 0-7734-5809-3
Considering both significance and limitation of the existing gender perspective, this study views women’s liberation as a comprehensive project and part of the process of China’s democratization by using the prism of “public philosophy” to examine Chinese women’s liberation in a global context. Drawing the lessons from the past four revolutions in modern China, the author asserts that China needs the fifth revolution – remaking China’s public philosophy in order for Chinese women to achieve their full liberation in communist China. The author challenges the conventional Western and Eastern European opinions and refutes the official Chinese gender ideology, arguing that Confucianism is not the source of women’s oppression, Western feminism is not a panacea to women’s liberation, and Marxism cannot be the guiding principle of the Chinese women’s movement. To achieve the ultimate goal of women’s liberation, it is urgent for Chinese women to increase self-consciousness of women’s liberation and promote an independent women’s movement to fight for women’s rights in every aspect of Chinese society by focusing on five keys of women’s liberation. This study will contribute not only to China’s peaceful transition from the communist regime to a democratic one, but also to Chinese women’s liberation in a global context.