New Women

The film starred Ruan Lingyu (in her penultimate film) and was directed by Cai Chusheng. This film became one of Ruan Lingyu’s better known works. Her suicide on International Women’s day (8 March 1935) drew attention to the controversial status of new women and made this film a sensation in modern China.

The product of “New Women” has been the result of a social economic trend and reform social movement that has been going on for decades. It offered criticism to China’s traditional ideology and offered a change in China’s “old women” to “new women” as an alternative social convention. New Women was considered to be a “problem film” in inciting “the woman question”. This question is actually a set of questions which pertain to how the ‘new women’ of China would be considered within society. Questions such as what is the current reality of women’s status in China, who are China’s new women, and what their lives should be like were part of “the woman question”.

New Women was based upon the life of Chinese actress and writer, Ai Xia, who had committed suicide in 1934. Ai Xia’s death following her role in A Modern Woman (1933) inspired Cai Chusheng to emulate the tragedy in this film.

A print of New Women is currently maintained by the China Film Archive.

As the film begins, Wei Ming is working as a music teacher for a girls’ school, harbouring dreams of becoming a writer. She befriends her neighbour Aying, who is a factory worker and teaches patriotic work songs to her coworkers.

Dr. Wang, the school board minister, who is also Wei Ming’s old classmate Zhang Xiuzhen’s husband, likes Wei Ming and wants her to become his concubine. Wei Ming ignores his advances as she falls in love with the editor of a publishing company Yu Haichou. Yu Haichou, however, refuses Wei Ming’s advances. Dr. Wang, angered by Wei Ming’s rejection, retaliates against Wei Ming and convinces the principal of the school to fire her.

At the same time Wei Ming’s past catches up to her. Before coming to Shanghai, she had a love affair with a man who left her after she became pregnant. Her older sister who was taking care of her daughter all this time was coming to Shanghai to see her as they were in need of money. Wei Ming’s daughter, Xiao Hong, is shown to be suffering from pneumonia and after arriving in Shanghai her condition begins to deteriorate. The two sisters took Xiao Hong to the hospital, but they were refused service because they could not pay the fee upfront. Now that Wei Ming has lost her income as a teacher, she hopes to receive payment from the novel she has written called “The Tomb of Love” instead. She attempted to request an advanced payment from the publisher but was immediately rejected.

Under such harsh circumstances, Wei Ming decides to become a “slave for one night” and prostitute herself. Unexpectedly, her first client is Dr. Wang. Under his mockery, Wei Ming angrily hits Dr. Wang and runs away. She helplessly watches her daughter die, then commits suicide afterwards by overdosing on sleeping pills. Yu Haichou takes Wei Ming to the hospital where Aying attempts to inspire her to continue living. Wei Ming cries out “I want to live, I want revenge”. However, the doctor can no longer rescue Wei Ming and she dies. The publisher and the journalist cynically joins to sponsor Wei Ming’s funeral for publicity benefits. Aying continues to lead her factory women workers in choral singing classes, the film ends with a scene of Aying and her factory co-workers walking out of the factory.