Int'l Seminar and Book Launch on Women's Oral History Held in Beijing

An international seminar on the theme of women's oral history research against the backdrop of today was held at the China Women & Gender Library of the China Women's University (CWU) in Beijing on May 19. The event coincided with the launch of a book titled "Women's Oral History Series" the same day.

Organized by the CWU, the seminar along with the book launch, aimed to explore the progress on women's oral history research in the academic field and its corresponding working model. Therefore, more and more people could be activated to focus on the value of women and empower them to further their development.

Almost 90 scholars and experts from various social institutions located in the UK and different regions of China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, were invited to participate. Professor Zhang Lixi, former president of the CWU and Professor Liu Meng, Vice-president of the CWU were present at the function.

Zhang spoke about the launch of the publication. Meanwhile, as a chief editor of the book, she also introduced the audience to the outstanding contribution made by women's groups from different social fields as documented in its pages. In addition, Zhang pointed out how significant the project of women's oral history research was for the China Women & Gender Library in terms of the precious historical materials that have been preserved there and are being kept well.

At the opening ceremony, Liu delivered a speech on the voices of women's oral history research and the efforts they have made in recent years. Liu said that there were not enough voices of support for women's oral history even though it has gathered momentum at home and aboard.

A batch of interviewers and scientific researchers were brought up under the tutelage of the CWU, who conducted their research on the rich resources of materials of oral history. Besides, the CWU holds an international seminar centered on the women's oral history research annually and hopes to build itself as a research base for global women's oral history. As far as the CWU was concerned, they want to serve as a potential research base and a platform for academic exchange and cooperation oriented towards international scholars and experts who can go forward hand-in-hand to promote the subject.

A discussion session followed the opening ceremony.

Questions were put forward as regards an outline of the development of women's oral history, the relationship between the women's oral history and women's movement, case studies on women's oral history, and oral history of women from ethnic minority groups.

Dr Margaretta Jolly from the University of Sussex in Britain talked about how to embrace and capture the many voices of women's oral history.

Yang Xiangyin from the Institute of Oral History at Wenzhou University classified and summarized the trend of the five main approaches about the development of contemporary American women's oral history.

Professor Du Fangqin from the Tianjin Normal University gave a full overview about the empowerment and progress ranging from paying attention to women's research, to promoting the separate paths taken by female individuals, who from group activities to action have exerted a great influence on social communities.

Furthermore, Wang Ying from the CWU and Li Wenfen from the Chinese University of Hong Kong gave their understanding of the construction of social gender reflected though the recorded word, the practice of feminists and the actions taken from the women's oral history while making a full use of oral materials recorded by female activists.

Later on, discussion was held to give a special interpretation on the material of oral history about housewives, female directors and female homosexual community and female teachers by Song Shaopeng from Renmin University of China, Zhou Xia from the China Film Art Research Center, Xu Bin from Beijing Tongyu (a non-governmental organization supporting female homosexuals), as well as teachers Shi Tong, Wang Ying and Li Huibo from the CWU.

Besides, Bao Guimin from the Minzu Publishing House based in Beijing gave a clear explanation about the development and transition of the ethnic Mongolian nationality while taking full advantage of the materials on Mongolian women's oral history.

Liu Wenju from the Hanshan Normal University in south China's Guangdong Province publicized her ideas on the Shantou-Chaozhou folk songs called Ziniang (a local dialect word meaning "women").

Finally, a summary and reflection on the relationship between oral history and feminism, from the perspective of cross disciplines and different view points, was addressed by a group of scholars and experts, including Researcher Yu Chien-ming from Central Research Institute in southeast China's Taiwan, Researcher Ding Yizhuang from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Professor Li Hongtao from the CWU and Professor Han Henan, a specially invited critic for the seminar. Moreover, all of them placed much emphasis on "listening," "exploration," "construction," and "empowerment" of women, and women's role as the main facilitators of their own history, accordingly. Besides, they underlined the women's oral history for its links to feminism and feminist activity, whilst expecting further development in the future.

(Source: cwu.edu.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)