Technology and Gender: Power Weaves in Late Imperial China

Author: (USA) Fu-lan Bai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: This is a unique work of material cultural history and a perspective-defining study of women's history. The book opposes evaluating the technological achievements of traditional Chinese society with Western "scientific" standards and then concluding with answers to "why China failed to modernize." It advocates viewing technology as a powerful material form that expresses and shapes Chinese culture and social structures. Adopting this perspective, it examines "women's technology" in traditional Chinese society from the Song to the Qing dynasties, analyzing from three aspects—family space and daily life, women's textile production, and women's reproduction and health care—how technology powerfully disseminated and shaped gender norms and women's roles in traditional Chinese culture. However, unlike traditional perceptions of women in the past, the author argues that women were not passive victims of patriarchy and male authority but active and powerful participants in the formation of traditional Chinese cultural norms and social order.