Periodicals
The Women's Voice (Nüsheng), first issued in Shanghai in October 1932, was a bimonthly magazine published by the Women's Voice Society. It was co-founded by then journalist Wang Yiwei and Liu-Wang Liming, then president of the China Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, with part of the funding coming from the Union, and part being raised by Wang through advertisements and sales.
In the first issue of the journal, the magazine’s mission was described as “to seek liberation for the nation and happiness for all women.” The publication included short commentaries on political affairs, essays, literary works, and readers’ letters. Its content was wide-ranging, including many theoretical articles on the women's movement, discussions on women's participation in politics, marriage freedom, and professional development, reports on the situation of female workers, as well as women's lives in other parts of the world. Although <i>The Women's Voice</i> did not have any political affiliations, it identified with socialism and supported the Chinese Communist Party, believing that national liberation was a prerequisite for women's liberation.
Due to differences of opinion between editor-in-chief Wang Yiwei and president Liu-Wang Liming, the magazine declared its independence and was no longer funded by the China Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in 1934. Due to its left-leaning stance and its sharp criticism of Kuomintang policies, the magazine was subjected to severe censorship and suppression by the KMT authorities and was forced to cease publication in 1935.
After the victory over Japan in August 1945, <i>The Women's Voice</i> resumed publication in November and turned into a monthly magazine. In addition to issuing magazines, the editorial board also held several symposiums, such as “Women's Participation in Politics”, “Women's Education”, and “The Way Forward for Female Intellectuals” The magazine started to collaborate with Liu-Wang Liming again and changed its editorial policy to publish only works by women authors. According to Wang Yiwei, in order to maintain the magazine’s independence, they did not receive any political funding, and that most of its funding came from fundraising events and charity sales. Due to continued harassment by the Kuomintang, Liu-Wang Liming was forced to flee to Hong Kong. Eventually, under both political and financial pressure, <i>The Women's Voice</i> ceased publication in 1947.
<i>The Women's Voice</i> magazine is hosted by the <b><a href="https://mhdb.mh.sinica.edu.tw/magazine/web/index.php"> Modern Women Journal Database</a></b>, operated by the Institute of Modern History of Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and is free for users to register and access. The site contains all of the 1932-1935 issues, but most issues after 1945 were lost, thus only three issues are included. Thanks to the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, for authorizing the CUA to repost.
For more information about the magazine, please see: <a href="http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/wangzheng/wp-content/uploads/sites/948/2024/11/%E7%8E%8B%E4%BC%8A%E8%94%9A-%E6%88%91%E4%B8%8E%E3%80%8A%E5%A5%B3%E5%A3%B0%E3%80%8B-1987.pdf"> Wang Yiwei, “Me and the ‘Women's Voice’: A Tribute to March 8 Women's Day”</a> on the website of Wang Zheng, Professor Emeritus of Women's and Gender Studies and History at the University of Michigan.
Note: In 1942, during the war against Japan, with the financial support of the Japanese and the Wang Jingwei regime , another magazine with the name of <i>The Women's Voice</i> was published in Shanghai, imitating the style and design of the original magazine. The magazine, edited by Japanese left-wing writer and feminist Toshiko Sato (also known as Toshiko Tamura, or Zuo Junzhi in Chinese), was the only women's magazine published in the fallen area of Shanghai under Japanese control. The magazine ceased publication in 1948.
According to research by Tu Xiaohua, an associate professor at the School of Journalism at the Communication University of China, although the magazine had long been regarded as a “traitorous” magazine and a tool of Japanese political propaganda, it also served as a platform for the dissemination of left-wing ideology to a certain extent, due to Toshiko's internationalist stance and the involvement of members of underground CCP members. The magazine is also included in the Modern Women Journals Database.