The New Woman and the Modern Girl dominate our historical imaginations, but few have traced the preconditions that gave rise to their emergence in the early twentieth century.1 The prior generation, as their figurative mothers, has often been maligned by historical revolutionaries in China and, as a result, has been overlooked in historical narratives of twentieth-century China. Traditionally educated, older women enjoyed the leisure and means for charity. Often dismissed as “social irritants” (p. 5) or as overly superstitious and “bourgeois tai tai,” older women engaged in seemingly outmoded crafts or adhered to conservative ideologies. But in At Home in the World, Xia Shi shows that these ladies could effectively nag and shame men to donate funds; they had connections to the old Qing dynasty establishment that helped to bring resources and attention to welfare relief and modern literacy training. Through her appreciation of overlooked older women's...

You do not currently have access to this content.