Abstract:While a large number of women who had received modern education entered in various fields of vocations in the 1930s, "flower vase" as a form of female clerks' representation emerged. This phenomenon contains not only an element of conservatism from the view of Modernization Theory but also an element of the "gender-based oppression" from a gender perspective. This paper considers, however, that the meaning of "flower vase" is far from being revealed by the former explanation. It places "flower vase" in its context of the 1930s' media discourses, and find that it was named after female clerks' frivolous behaviour attributing much to the modern education system and ethos, in which women were trained to be consuming agents of commoditized economy. The intellectual female as the product of modern education and ethos could not be embedded in China's social structure. They merely became the ornament of modern China. Therefore, "flower vase" implicitly expresses concerns for and criticism of the modern society and its institutions.
桂涛. “花瓶”:20世纪30年代职业女性的形象及其语境[J]. 妇女研究论丛, 2011, 0(6): 54-61.
GUI Tao. Flower Vase: Image and Discourse of Female Clerks in China in the 1930s. , 2011, 0(6): 54-61.