Long Live the Motherland: Chen Man’s Visual Language and New Imaginings of Chinese Womanhood

Given the rising prominence and profitability of the fashion industry in China, this thesis offers a close analysis of images that illuminate shifting visions of women’s representation. The rise of the fashion industry is not simply due to economic changes in the post-Maoist era. It is instead a reflection of broader social and cultural shifts in how the nation and women’s place in it are defined. In taking these contexts seriously within the realm of women’s fashion, this thesis contributes to post-structuralist critique on the role of women in China.

This project answers the question: how do fashion images in popular Chinese media perpetuate narratives around women’s roles in China’s shifting socio-political climate? This question is examined through close analysis of images by Chinese fashion photographer Chen Man within the framework of existing critical theory, specifically post-structuralist feminist discourse on China.

While the focus of this study is centered around fashion and aesthetics since China’s Opening and Reform (1979), it also places Chen Man’s work in conversation with historical images of women in China. The purpose of this comparison is two-fold: (1) in order to demonstrate the direct mapping of fashion cultures onto theoretical framework, Chen Man’s work must be considered within the historical context of 20th century China’s shifting cultural landscape; (2) although fashion is an inherently global industry, the Communist Revolution in China transformed Chinese fashion into a state-mediated performance of nationalism. China’s fashion today cannot only be considered within the global fashion market framework but must also exist in relation to the specifically Chinese context.