About the Talk
After the 1949 revolution, Chairman Mao famously proclaimed that "women hold up half the sky". During the early years of the PRC, the Communist Party worked to transform gender relations. However, some of women's past gains are being eroded in China's post-socialist era. Using the example of the recently popular trope in the media of "Leftover Women" ( 剩女) Dr. Hong Fincher shows how there has been a roll-back in women's rights relative to men; and at the same time, how this relates to how many women have not been able to benefit from the recent economic gains (especially in real estate) resulting from "reform and opening".
The book has been featured in the New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, Financial Times, Publishers Weekly, LA Review of Books, Wall
Street Journal, and more media outlets.
It is available in the Library (HQ 1237.5 .C5 H66 2014)
About the Author
Dr. Hong Fincher received her B.A. from Harvard with high honors in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. After receiving her M.A. from Stanford, she worked as a journalist on Chinese and Asian affairs (receiving many awards for her broadcast and video reporting). She is the first American to receive a Ph.D. from Tsinghua University’s Department of Sociology (July 2014). She works here at HKUST, in the Division of Social Science.
For enquiries, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756.
