Changes

===The High Modern age===

===The High Modern age===

China in the 1920s and early 1930s was more than squalid tales of greed, corruption, and betrayal among militarists. This was also the “high modern” period when all things modern and “scientific” were revered. Writers such as Lu Xun abandon the classical style of Confucius in favor of idioms and constructions closer to contemporary spoken Chinese.<ref>Lu Xun's vernacular novel ''The True Story of Ah Q'' was published in 1921.</ref> The shift from Classical Chinese to Mandarin can be compared to the shift from Latin to vernacular that occurred earlier in Europe. There were campaigns against footbinding, concubinage, and other abusive practices toward women. The introduction of Madison Avenue advertising techniques, mass circulation women's magazines, and the influence of America's flapper culture led to a revolution in relations between the sexes. The Modern Girl, as she was called, had unbound feet, wore her hair bobbed or permed, and sported a ''qípáo'' or other fashionable attire. Was she looking for romantic love, or an opportunity to work her feminine wiles and con a sap out of his life savings? Opinion was divided among writers of the time. The international city of Shanghai was the epicenter of High Modern culture.<ref name=Dong>Dong, Madeline Y., "Who is afraid of the Chinese Modern Girl?", ''The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption, Modernity, and Globalization'' (2008).</ref> But the early 1930s, the Modern Girl outfit was a uniform. She could be from any class, rich or poor. Even young women in destitute Shanghai districts were somehow able to come up with money for cosmetics and clothing, although their families could barely afford to eat.<ref name="Dong" /> Yet Chinese society as a whole still idealized the arranged marriage where the focus could be placed on producing children who would worship the ancestors.

China in the 1920s and early 1930s was more than squalid tales of greed, corruption, and betrayal among militarists. This was also the “high modern” period when all things modern and “scientific” were revered. Writers such as Lu Xun abandon the classical style of Confucius in favor of idioms and constructions closer to contemporary spoken Chinese.<ref>Lu Xun's vernacular novel ''The True Story of Ah Q'' was published in 1921.</ref> The shift from Classical Chinese to Mandarin can be compared to the shift from Latin to vernacular that occurred earlier in Europe. There were campaigns against footbinding, concubinage, and other abusive practices toward women. The introduction of Madison Avenue advertising techniques, mass circulation women's magazines, and the influence of America's flapper culture led to a revolution in relations between the sexes. The Modern Girl, as she was called, had unbound feet, wore her hair bobbed or permed, and sported a ''qípáo'' or other fashionable attire. Was she looking for romantic love, or an opportunity to work her feminine wiles and con a sap out of his life savings? Opinion was divided among writers of the time. The international city of Shanghai was the epicenter of High Modern culture.<ref name=Dong>Dong, Madeline Y., "Who is afraid of the Chinese Modern Girl?", ''The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption, Modernity, and Globalization'' (2008).</ref> But the early 1930s, the Modern Girl outfit was a uniform. She could be from any class, rich or poor. Even young women in destitute Shanghai districts were somehow able to come up with money for cosmetics and clothing, although their families could barely afford to eat.<ref name="Dong" /> In rural China, meanwhile, the arranged marriage was still cherished and the focus of family remained the production of children who would worship the ancestors.

===Nationalist China: 1925-1971===

===Nationalist China: 1925-1971===