Shanghai Modern Women

Author: Wu Hongjing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: The author had a close encounter with women of Shanghai in the bustling metropolis, witnessing a bygone era of nostalgia. Faced with faded calendar pages and blurry black-and-white old photographs, she felt an invisible connection to them. In the old photos, they came from all over the country to Shanghai, hoping to find a way forward with their youth, wisdom, and skills. Some became female shop assistants and clerks, others stepped onto the silver screen and stages, and some forged a difficult path in entrepreneurship. The old photographs also recorded another group that rose amidst abnormal prosperity—the prostitutes and chorus girls. Amidst the glitz and glamour, they left smiling faces, but also expressions of indifference, even helplessness. The book introduces Zhang Ailing, whose talent shone through even in her eccentric attire, Dong Zhujun, always elegant and graceful, smiling gently at "Jinjiang," Hu Die, whose sweet dimples became her trademark, as well as the on Nanjing Road, the female telegraph operators in foreign companies, and the ladies in beauty salons gazing at their reflections. Countless women came to Shanghai with dreams, their vibrant figures lively and active in every corner of the city. As 1930s Shanghai gradually transformed into an international metropolis, its unique urban culture also nurtured a generation of modern women.