More than a century ago, the world of Chinese women was a private one. Bound by a rigid patriarchal order and Confucian codes of propriety, hierarchy and submission, they were confined to the inner chambers of the home to be virtuous wives, self-sacrificing mothers and dutiful daughters, while men ruled the outer world.
That began to change in the May Fourth era early in the 20th century, which marked a period of unprecedented intellectual and cultural awakening in modern China.
Reformers sought…