Over the last thirty years, a number of women writers in Taiwan have shown an increasing affinity with the aspirations of the Western feminist movement to break out of the confines tradition has placed on women. They have begun to fashion for themselves and their readers a vision of the modern Chinese woman as independently able to ponder ques tions about herself, society, and the human race. These writers fall into three general categories: those who write popular literature, those who question love and marriage, and those who are in search of new roles for women.
The best representatives of the first group are Chen Che, better known as Chiung Yao (瓊瑤), from the 1960s; San Mao (三毛), also known as Echo Chen, from the 1970s; and Chang Man-chuan (張曼娟) from the 1980s. In the second category are Tseng Hsin-i (曾心儀) from the 1970s; Chiang Hsiao-yun (蔣曉雲) from the late 1970s and early 1980s; and Li Ang (李昂) from the 1980s. The third group emerged in the 1980s searching for new female roles in their works. They include Yuan Chiung-chiung (袁瓊瓊), Chu Hsiu-chuan (朱秀娟), Lu Hsiu lien (呂秀蓮), and Liao Hui-ying (廖輝英).
As writers of popular literature, the first group of novelists attract a large following of young female readers. The central theme of their books is love and marriage, whether it is Chiung Yao's Outside the Window, San Mao's The Story of the Sahara, or Chang Man-chuan's Azure Waters of the Sea. Love is eternal and marriages strive for perfection in these works. Even in the short story, "Azure Waters of the Sea," from the book of the same title, divorce does not shake this idealistic outlook on love and matrimony.
According to statistician Tsai Sung: lin of National Chiao Tung University, two out of every thirteen married couples in Taiwan get divorced, while in Taipei, it is two out of every nine. "Azure Waters of the Sea" keeps pace with the times in its treatment of divorce as an alternative that is not necessarily wrong. But the author wrote the story, narrated by a little boy's aunt, to illustrate that children suffer the most from divorce, and urges readers to reconsider this trend. The child dies in a suicide drowning, forcing his parents into self examination and an attempt to mend the rift between them. The couple is eventually reconciled, and thus Chang Man chuan succeeds in holding up the ideal of marriage and denounces divorce through the child victim.
Popular literature appeals to a large audience because it mirrors the values and ethics of society. The characters win the sympathy of the readers. Thus, how ever romantic or tragic Chiung Yao's novels are, lovers will always be happily united in the end. Outside the Window is an exception. Yet even here the naive and pure relationship between the young girl in senior high school and her teacher manages to win the understanding and acceptance of readers because society's rules triumph in the end. The relation ship ends because of social pressure. She goes out to marry a young man and re turns several years later and finds her teacher a broken man, decrepit, sick, and a drunkard.
The Story of the Sahara by San Mao is a vivid autobiographical portrayal of two people adapting to life in the African desert and to life together. The experience eventually leads to a happy marriage. The romantic account of love between two people of alien cultures presents its readers with an ideal picture of love and marriage that is strong enough to overcome geographic distance and cultural differences.
From a feminist perspective, these popular novels uphold the archetypal role of the traditional woman. Their themes are consistent with the prevalent concerns of women in Taiwan, who still seek love and the ideal marriage, even though they have had their full share of pain and misery brought by divorce or infidelity. To some degree, popular writers have tied themselves to traditional perceptions of women because they are inclined to paint perfect and flawless pictures of love and marriage.
In contrast, the second group of writers revolve their stories around unhappy experiences with love and marriage. Compared to San Mao's romantic stories, Tseng Hsin-i's I Love a Ph.D. takes a different track and a harsher look at love. During the 1970s, the time frame within which both women were writing, many female university students were attracted to men returning to Taiwan with Ph.D. degrees from abroad. But in I Love a Ph.D., Tseng depicts the returning academics as irresponsible in their attitudes toward relationships with women, and portrays the bitter experiences of the young women who fall in love with them.
In 1979, Chiang Hsiao-yun's Road to Marriage won first prize in the novella category of a literary contest sponsored by the United Daily News. The novella up holds virginity and marriage, describing the heroine Lin Yueh-chuan's earnest search for a husband and her determination to preserve her chastity for this life time companion. The writer makes caustic comments about Taiwan's "new female," who challenges the idea that women should attend to men's needs. But the story is realistic. Yueh-chuan firmly and obstinately guards her virginity through three frustrating relationships with men. Road to Marriage is true to the more sexually free male-female relation ship of the 1970s and 1980s. It makes no criticism of love or marriage, but directs sarcasm at Yueh-chuan's foolish ignorance and rigid stand toward love and sex.
Road to Marriage was followed by the publication in the 1980s of a series of books by different women writers that recount the predicaments of women in love, but with a loss of faith in marriage. Examples are Su Wei-chen's (蘇偉貞) Ephemeral Beauty and Women of the World, and Liao Hui-ying's Rapeseed and Path of No Return.
In her novels The Butcher's Wife and Dark Night, Li Ang exposes in a straight forward manner the violence and abuse women suffer in love and marriage, and the games of deception that men and women play in an industrialized society. In their narration of the painful experiences that women endure, the novels depict women who take abuse from love and marriage in order to survive.
Through the 19708 and 1980s, the goals of the women's movement in the West began to gain some following among women in Taiwan. Also, a growing consciousness in the world of women's issues and women's rights as well as greater exposure to information encouraged many women's organizations to intensify their interest in feminist issues. Taiwan society was itself undergoing transformation, and male-female relationships were being re structured at the same time. Both sexes were caught in a whirlwind of changes in love, marriage, and the office, stimulating women to look for new roles within family, the work place, and life. This searching led to the emergence of the third category of women writers, who chronicled this search and held up new roles for women to play.
The heroine of Chu Hsiu-chuan's novel, Strong Woman, serves as a role model for young female readers searching for new alternatives. A best seller, Strong Woman is more a mythical romance depicting a woman's success in her career and love life.
Yuan Chiung-chiung's short story, "My Own Horizon," describes the psychological calm of women at the time of divorce, and makes no attempt to conceal the divorced woman's sensitivity to male sexual desire. The story departs from the usual depiction of women who break down in a display of emotion when faced with estrangement. But like many divorced women, the heroine hangs around a married man for financial and emotional support. The ending seems far too perfect. She comes across her husband and his new wife, and looks at their marriage condescendingly, certain that the new wife will suffer the same fate as she did. She walks away satisfied that her marriage had ended. But for the writer to interpret her destiny as women's "own horizon" limits the scope of women's struggles to find a path of their own.
In These Three Women, Lu Hsiu-lien presents three new types of female: a housewife emerging from the kitchen for a new career, an unmarried woman pursuing her ideals, and a kind woman whose accommodating heart makes it possible for her to accept her husband's mistress and illegitimate children after his death. The author re-examines women's roles, but does little to uncover the psychological conflicts of the three heroines as they make their decisions and live by them. The story touches on modern female personalities, but leaves a vague and uncertain sense of the new roles for women.
Urban Migratory Birds by Liao Hui ying presents an unmarried career woman in the advertising business. The novel gives a detailed account of the heroine Wang Man-shu's life at the office and makes an effort to describe her cautious attitude toward love. But the book deals hastily with the rapid development of a relationship between Wang, when she suffers a setback at work, and her superior in the company, of whom she has always been fond but suspicious. The novel appears to be monotonous and careless in its treatment of Wang's personality and her attitude toward her career.
From the above discussions on the three types of female writers, it is obvious that even as we usher in the last decade of the century, feminist concerns and aspirations for both writers and readers do not extend beyond traditional concepts, women's sufferings in love and marriage, and their search for either new roles or more harmonious coexistence with non-traditional women.
The majority of female writers are still interested in weaving stories about women. But some have published political novels, including Chen Jo-hsi (陳若曦), who won acclaim for her touching accounts of the Cultural Revolution in Mainland China. While Chen gives no hint of a feminist consciousness, Tsai Hsiu-nu (蔡秀女) , of the younger generation of writers, is more successful in integrating feminist issues in her political novel, The Sound of the Flute in the Dark Night. Nevertheless, she fails to maintain a firm grasp on the role of women in the political system and to provide an insightful narration of women's opposition to male chauvinism.
Generally speaking, feminist consciousness has been able to mature only in novels that have love and marriage for their themes. The development of the women's movement and a wider acceptance of its goals will certainly lead to a more vigorous feminist consciousness in Taiwan. More criticism of political and historical novels from a feminist viewpoint would help in extending the sphere of feminist concerns beyond love and marriage. Lee Yuan-chen (李元貞) is publisher of Awakening, Taiwan's only feminist magazine, and author of three books on women's issues. She also is a professor of Chinese literature and drama at Tamkang University in Taipei. Her first novel will be published this year