womenhood in china // 女大十八变

here’s how the women of china lived and made a space for themselves in their own patriarchal society.

— “the eighteen changes of a girl between childhood and adulthood.”

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created by ruiconteur

last updated May, 2026

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Empress

Empress

Shan Sa

Comments

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Edited
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i'm feeling real spiteful after reading @dorouu's review of lady tan's circle of women lmao

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I'm here for it. Thank you sm for compiling this.

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Does Wild swans count in this list?? Haven't read it but heard it's about three daughters of China.

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yeah i was gonna add it!

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Oh didn't realise you were just adding books to the list!! 🙃 More than 50!!! That's impressive

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Edited

ty haha i'm done for now though! lmk if you have any more recs

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Saved it already!!! Thanks for making this list 😍😍

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Not sure how contemporary your choices go, but wondering about Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie Chang?

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ty for the rec!! i'd definitely like to add more contemporary stuff, but my interests so far in books have leaned more towards the classical/older eras, so i don't have a lot of them here yet lol

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