A review of the treatment of female characters in Chinese fiction

Question

(The following passage was adapted from a work published in 1976.)

A review of the treatment of female characters in Chinese fiction reveals that Chinese social attitudes have undergone dramatic changes. Prior to the twentieth century, women in novels were stereotypes lacking any features that made them unique individuals and were also subject to numerous restrictions imposed by the male-dominated culture. While authors of these novels often sympathetically portrayed heroines who experienced social oppression, they never questioned the position of women in Chinese culture. Not until the early twentieth century did Chinese fiction focus on women's emancipation, and then the subject became the backdrop of most novels that addressed the issue. After the Communist party established the People's Republic in the late 1940's, attitudes changed again: the gaining of women's rights was treated as one of many ongoing social revolutions, although from the beginning Communist party policy subordinated the women's struggle to the class struggle.

In spite of the fact that the authors who dealt with women's issues prior to 1949 agreed in principle that reforms had to be instituted, the outlook they depicted for reform was bleak. In their novels, a pattern recurs: after an initial break with social conventions, women falter in their goals or tragically end their lives, defeated by the overwhelming pressures of those conventions. If some writers viewed the emancipation of women as an achievable end, most tended to regard it as related to other seemingly unattainable social changes. Individualism alone would not lead to emancipation. Taking his cue from Ibsen's play A Doll's House, in which the heroine, Nora, leaves home because she resents her husband's treating her like a child, the writer Lu Hsün warned that Nora would need money to support herself; she must have economic rights in order to survive.

In contrast to this view of women in fiction in the early part of the century, fiction after the late 1940's is not so pessimistic. The deeper problems of socially prescribed roles for wife and daughter, for example, are not explored, but greater freedom for women is presented as the product of collective action. Novels of this period focus primarily on two specific issues: voluntary marriage and equal participation in work. After Mao Tse-tung's announcement of guidelines for a literature of socialist realism, this emphasis on women's rights became more pronounced. Most women in fiction after 1949 conform to the goals set for them by Communist party policy but still experience conflicts within family and group relationships as a result of the double burden placed on them by their domestic and job roles. Fiction of this period also depicts the problems of compensating women adequately for their work and of giving them access to jobs previously performed by men. Although these novels forcefully suggest that such reforms face much resistance, all clearly conclude that eventually this resistance can be overcome. And, in fact, the past two decades have seen the beginnings of some of these reforms in the lives of women in the People's Republic of China.   1 
 1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing which of the following subjects?

(A) The impact on the Chinese novel of Mao Tsetung's guidelines for a literature of socialist realism
(8) The impact of Ibsen's plays on themes in twentieth-century Chinese literature
(C) Stylistic differences between pre-1900 and post-1900 Chinese fiction
(D) Changes in the role of women in Chinese society brought about by Communist party policy
(E) The characterization of women in twentieth-century Chinese literature

2 
 2. According to the passage, post-1949 Chinese fiction differs from earlier twentieth-century Chinese fiction in that it

(A) lacks a coherent philosophical point of view 
(B) views the possibility of social change with greater optimism
(C) is concerned primarily with entertaining rather than educating its readers
(D) ignores the problems facing groups other than women within Chinese society
(E) ignores the traditions and social conventions of Chinese culture

3 
 3. The author mentions Lu Hsiin's comments on A Doll's House in order to make the point that

(A) individualism, as presented in the play, benefits only the individual, not the community in which he or she lives
(8) Chinese writers looked to Western literature for evidence of pressures of social conventions similar to those pressures in their own culture
(C) Chinese writers felt the need to focus on the practical problems presented by a particular social environment as well as on personal needs
(D) the preoccupation in Western literature with women's emancipation blinded writers and thinkers to the broader social issues involved
(E) the treatment of women's emancipation in Western literature has little relevance to Chinese literature

4 
 4. The passage provides information for answering which of the following questions?

(A) How did the government of the People's Republic of China deal with resistance to their policy of adequately compensating women for their work?
(8) What are some of the problems encountered by female characters in novels describing life in the People's Republic of China after 1949 ?
(C) What were the goals set for Chinese women by Communist party policy?
(D) Do the stereotypes prevalent in Chinese fiction before the twentieth century still appear in Chinese literature?
(E) What initiated the first changes in the depiction of women in Chinese literature?

5 
 5. According to the passage, the struggle of Chinese women for liberation is portrayed in post-1949 Chinese literature as

(A) a struggle with roots in pre-twentieth century events
(B) a product of pre-1949 social reforms
(C) subordinate to the maintenance of traditional social patterns
(D) part of a much larger struggle for liberation 
(E) hampered by unrealistic Communist party policy

6 
 6. Which of the following plots exemplifies what the author describes as the pessimism of the Chinese literature written between 1900 and 1949?

(A) A woman trained as an economist takes a posi- tion in her field, only to relinquish it because she realizes she cannot overcome her male colleagues' antagonism toward professional women.
(B) A 60-year-old widow, who manages her village's nursery, refuses to quit her job to help her daughter, who has just given birth to a child.
(C) A man in charge of a tea-curing plant selects a woman to fill his position when .he retires, but she must spend a long time battling the resentment of the male workers.
(D) A woman whose illness forces her temporarily to resign her full-time job in a food coopera- tive elects to work part-time in a bookstore.
(E) A daughter-in-law chooses not to stay home to care for her in-laws as is the custom, but takes a job in a factory and plans to advance to a management position.

7 
 7. Which of the following statements would be most likely to begin the paragraph immediately following the passage?

(A) The subject of women's emancipation, which had germinated years before, surfaced in public debate in the period after 1919.
(B) The pessimistic view of the emancipation of women in the 1920's was dispelled when it was seen that emancipation could be achieved by working with a series of limited and specific goals.
(C) A vivid reflection of the changes that occurred in Chinese fiction is found in Lo Pin-chi's novel, Mother Wang (1953).
(D) In an interesting reversal of the problems produced by the generation gap, Ju Chihchiian's novel, Wish Fulfilled (1959), depicts a son's difficulty in adjusting to his mother's newly acquired job and independence.
(E) Recently written Chinese fiction, unlike earlier works, is didactic and not philosophical.

8 
 8. The passage suggests that the author would most probably agree with which of the following statements about the relationship between Chinese novels written after 1949 and life in China during that period?

(A) The novels were slow to reflect changes in culture.
(B) The novels reminded citizens of their heritage and traditions, as well as pointed the way toward future possibilities.
(C) The novels provided government-sanctioned role models for citizens.
(D) The authors presented a variety of experiences far wider than normally common to their audience.
(E) The authors seemed to be indifferent to the problems created by women's familial and job responsibilities.

T1101 · Accepted Answer

1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing which of the following subjects? 
(A) The impact on the Chinese novel of Mao Tsetung's guidelines for a literature of socialist realism Classic trap: this part is the point of the last paragraph not the passsage as a whole. 
(B) The impact of Ibsen's plays on themes in twentieth-century Chinese literature Again this is mentioned in the passage, but is not the main point. 
(C) Stylistic differences between pre-1900 and post-1900 Chinese fiction The passage does not talk about stylistic difference, it rather talks about how women were potrayed post 1900 Chinese literature, pre-1900 is only mentioned in the first paragraph. 
(D) Changes in the role of women in Chinese society brought about by Communist party policy Similar to A. 
(E) The characterization of women in twentieth-century Chinese literature Correct.

2. According to the passage, post-1949 Chinese fiction differs from earlier twentieth-century Chinese fiction in that it 
(A) lacks a coherent philosophical point of view
(B) views the possibility of social change with greater optimism  Correct --> First sentence of the second paragraph: " In contrast to this view of women in fiction in the early part of the century, fiction after the late 1940's is not so pessimistic. " 
(C) is concerned primarily with entertaining rather than educating its readers
(D) ignores the problems facing groups other than women within Chinese society
(E) ignores the traditions and social conventions of Chinese culture

3. The author mentions Lu Hsiin's comments on A Doll's House in order to make the point that 
(A) individualism, as presented in the play, benefits only the individual, not the community in which he or she lives  Paragraph 2 does not talk about benefits at all. 
(B) Chinese writers looked to Western literature for evidence of pressures of social conventions similar to those pressures in their own culture  Paragraph 2 does not talk about Western literature at all. 
(C) Chinese writers felt the need to focus on the practical problems presented by a particular social environment as well as on personal needs  Correct. Look at the sentence right before Lu hsiin's comment is mentioned... 
(D) the preoccupation in Western literature with women's emancipation blinded writers and thinkers to the broader social issues involved  Paragraph 2 does not talk about Western literature at all. 
(E) the treatment of women's emancipation in Western literature has little relevance to Chinese literature  Paragraph 2 does not talk about Western literature at all.

4. The passage provides information for answering which of the following questions? 
(A) How did the government of the People's Republic of China deal with resistance to their policy of adequately compensating women for their work?  Passage never talks about "resistance" 
(B) What are some of the problems encountered by female characters in novels describing life in the People's Republic of China after 1949 ?  Correct. This question is answered in paragraph 2 of the passage. 
(C) What were the goals set for Chinese women by Communist party policy? Goals set is mentioned in the 3 paragraph, but the goals are never explicitly stated. 
(D) Do the stereotypes prevalent in Chinese fiction before the twentieth century still appear in Chinese literature?  We know nothing about current Chinese literature... So this question is not answered in the passage. 
(E) What initiated the first changes in the depiction of women in Chinese literature? The first paragraph talk about the first change " While authors of these novels often sympathetically portrayed heroines who experienced social oppression, they never questioned the position of women in Chinese culture. Not until the early twentieth century did Chinese fiction focus on women's emancipation, and then the subject became the backdrop of most novels that addressed the issue.  ", but does not talk about what initiated it...

5. According to the passage, the struggle of Chinese women for liberation is portrayed in post-1949 Chinese literature as 
(A) a struggle with roots in pre-twentieth century events
(B) a product of pre-1949 social reforms
(C) subordinate to the maintenance of traditional social patterns
(D) part of a much larger struggle for liberation  Correct. Last sentence first paragraph: " After the Communist party established the People's Republic in the late 1940's, attitudes changed again: the gaining of women's rights was treated as one of many ongoing social revolutions, although from the beginning Communist party policy subordinated the women's struggle to the class struggle.  " 
(E) hampered by unrealistic Communist party policy

6. Which of the following plots exemplifies what the author describes as the pessimism of the Chinese literature written between 1900 and 1949? 
--> Important part of the passage: "  In their novels, a pattern recurs: after an initial break with social conventions, women falter in their goals or tragically end their lives, defeated by the overwhelming pressures of those conventions.  "

(A) A woman trained as an economist takes a posi- tion in her field, only to relinquish it because she realizes she cannot overcome her male colleagues' antagonism toward professional women. Correct. Shows the failing in reaching their goals and the defeat by the overwhelming pressure... 
(B) A 60-year-old widow, who manages her village's nursery, refuses to quit her job to help her daughter, who has just given birth to a child. Irrelevant 
(C) A man in charge of a tea-curing plant selects a woman to fill his position when .he retires, but she must spend a long time battling the resentment of the male workers. she doesn't fail... just takes long 
(D) A woman whose illness forces her temporarily to resign her full-time job in a food coopera- tive elects to work part-time in a bookstore. Failing becasue of illness not pressure... 
(E) A daughter-in-law chooses not to stay home to care for her in-laws as is the custom, but takes a job in a factory and plans to advance to a management position. This fits more with the 3 paragraph than with the 2.

7. Which of the following statements would be most likely to begin the paragraph immediately following the passage? 
(A) The subject of women's emancipation, which had germinated years before, surfaced in public debate in the period after 1919. Should be something after 1949, since last sentence moves discussion into to the post-1949 
(B) The pessimistic view of the emancipation of women in the 1920's was dispelled when it was seen that emancipation could be achieved by working with a series of limited and specific goals. Should be something after 1949... 
(C) A vivid reflection of the changes that occurred in Chinese fiction is found in Lo Pin-chi's novel, Mother Wang (1953). Correct, talks about changes in fiction and the book is called "Mother Wang", furthermore it talks about chinese fiction, like the last sentences of the passage. 
(D) In an interesting reversal of the problems produced by the generation gap, Ju Chihchiian's novel, Wish Fulfilled (1959), depicts a son's difficulty in adjusting to his mother's newly acquired job and independence. Geneartion Gap?? Not relevant + talks about the son rather than mother... 
(E) Recently written Chinese fiction, unlike earlier works, is didactic and not philosophical. Irrelevant...

8. The passage suggests that the author would most probably agree with which of the following statements about the relationship between Chinese novels written after 1949 and life in China during that period?

(A) The novels were slow to reflect changes in culture. Not true, it is not mentioned in the passage it rather shows that changes were made according to Mao Tse-tung 
(B) The novels reminded citizens of their heritage and traditions, as well as pointed the way toward future possibilities. While I would agree with the second half of this choice, it is not mentioned that the novels reminded citziens of thei heritage and traditions... 
(C) The novels provided government-sanctioned role models for citizens.  Correct. " After Mao Tse-tung's announcement of guidelines for a literature of socialist realism, this emphasis on women's rights became more pronounced. Most women in fiction after 1949 conform to the goals set for them by Communist party policy " 
(D) The authors presented a variety of experiences far wider than normally common to their audience.  Not mentioned that experiences are far wider in any way.... 
(E) The authors seemed to be indifferent to the problems created by women's familial and job responsibilities. Not true, the authors explicitly mention the problems by these two factors

Explanation for Q8 may not be sufficient, but I gave it a shot... Got it wrong when trying the question.

Ranasaymon · Answer

VeritasKarishma   AndrewN   ChiranjeevSingh   Sajjad1994

How to answer such type of question? After using POE, I am stuck between C and D. D confuses me, as the last line of the last paragraph talks about reforms and resistance. I though that the new paragraph will start with showing reforms and resistance. Is my guess incorrect?

Which of the following statements would be most likely to begin the paragraph immediately following the passage?
 -> Q: What is the first line of new paragraph after the end of the passage.

(A) The subject of women's emancipation, which had germinated years before, surfaced in public debate in the period after 1919.
(B) The pessimistic view of the emancipation of women in the 1920's was dispelled when it was seen that emancipation could be achieved by working with a series of limited and specific goals.
(C) A vivid reflection of the changes that occurred in Chinese fiction is found in Lo Pin-chi's novel, Mother Wang (1953).
(D) In an interesting reversal of the problems produced by the generation gap, Ju Chihchiian's novel, Wish Fulfilled (1959), depicts a son's difficulty in adjusting to his mother's newly acquired job and independence.
(E) Recently written Chinese fiction, unlike earlier works, is didactic and not philosophical.

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes, method of elimination is the way to go. The next paragraph will present a subsequent thought. If could be a small step ahead from the last line or a leap. So you need to eliminate options that do not fit.

The passage is about female characters in Chinese fiction. We start with before early 20th century, then early 20th century, then late 1940s, then after 1949 (which has led to changes in women's life int he last 2 centuries).
So (C) and (D) are subsequent thoughts:

(C) A vivid reflection of the changes that occurred in Chinese fiction is found in Lo Pin-chi's novel, Mother Wang (1953).
This gives us an example of changes in fiction after 1949 i.e. in 1953. This could be the next logical discussion.

(D) In an interesting reversal of the problems produced by the generation gap, Ju Chihchiian's novel, Wish Fulfilled (1959), depicts a son's difficulty in adjusting to his mother's newly acquired job and independence. 
The issue here - generation gap. No where has generation gap been discussed. So what is "the generation gap" mentioned here? We don't know. Hence the link is broken.

Answer (C)

mSKR · Answer

Hi  VeritasKarishma

Can you give your reasoning for rejecting option E?
In what scenarios E could be correct?

My query :
 Should we always pay attention to subsequent thought ( like C and D) or can also consider some some summary or concluding sentences for such questions(Q7)?

Please suggest.

Thanks!

KarishmaB · Answer

Option (E) is not linked to the passage at all. The passage is about female characters in Chinese fiction over the decades. Whether that fiction is didactic or philosophical is not discussed at all. So this will not be a part of this passage. 
The start of a new paragraph will not be a summary. It will be the start of a subsequent thought. The last line of the passage could be the summary. Also, the last paragraph could summarise the passage. But when we talk about first line of the next paragraph, the intent is to look for the subsequent thought.

Hoozan · Answer

EducationAisle  please could you highlight what part of the para justifies Q2. (B) as well as Q5. as a whole

EducationAisle · Answer

The very first line of the third para  Hoozan :

fiction after the late 1940's is not so pessimistic .

This clearly implies that fiction after the late 1940's views the possibility of social change with greater optimism (option B).

Notice that the first para mentions:

After the Communist party established the People's Republic in the late 1940's, attitudes changed again: the gaining of women's rights was treated as one of many ongoing social revolutions, although from the beginning Communist party policy  subordinated the women's struggle to the class struggle  .

This is pretty much what option D paraphrases: the struggle of Chinese women for liberation was not something that could be looked at, in isolation, but was part of a larger struggle for liberation.

Kavicogsci · Answer

AjiteshArun   MartyMurray

I have two questions
1. I took 11 min 30 sec for this Q - how does one navigate passages like to avoid rapid to and fro
2. Pls explain why Q5 answer choice C is not relevant?
According to the passage, the struggle of Chinese women for liberation is portrayed in post-1949 Chinese literature as
(A) a struggle with roots in pre-twentieth century events
(B) a product of pre-1949 social reforms
(C) subordinate to the maintenance of traditional social patterns
(D) part of a much larger struggle for liberation
(E) hampered by unrealistic Communist party policy
Here are my two arguments for same

Lines - "Most women in fiction after 1949 conform to the goals set for them by Communist party policy but still experience conflicts within family and group relationships as a result of the double burden placed on them by their domestic and job roles." depicts they were caught in traditional patterns

Lines - "although from the beginning Communist party policy subordinated the women's struggle to the class struggle.
why cant class struggle be synonymous for traditional social patterns

Lines - "The deeper problems of socially prescribed roles for wife and daughter, for example, are not explored, but greater freedom for women is presented as the product of collective action." what is this supposed to mean?

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Kavicogsci,
 
Yes, this portion does point to traditional social patterns, but keep in mind that option C tells us "the struggle of Chinese women for liberation is portrayed in post-1949 Chinese literature as   subordinate  to the  maintenance  of traditional social patterns ".

Subordinate  means that the struggle is  less important , and the maintenance of traditional social patterns is  more important . Nothing in the passage suggests a ranking like this.

Maintenance  is a little harder. It implies that traditional social patterns are being actively upheld in some way. In other words, does post-1949 Chinese literature portray Chinese women's struggle as being less important than the perpetuation of traditional social standards? In my opinion, the passage tells us only that the traditional social patterns still existed, not that continuing them is some kind of goal or objective.

Class struggle is about competition for {money, power, access to resources...} across social classes {rich|owners vs. poor|workers}. Traditional social patterns refers to how people behave in social units. Basically, class struggle is about fighting for change, whereas maintenance of traditional social patterns means working to preserve existing norms.

This part of the passage tells us that fiction after the late 1940s is more optimistic, and ~doesn't look at women's rights as unattainable. Although it doesn't get into the harder stuff (like socially prescribed roles), it does present greater freedom for women as the result of collective action (people working together).

Kavicogsci · Answer

Thanks  AjiteshArun  for your explanation.
Can you also explain the strategy to answer such long passages, with lot of details? I took 11 min and got 1 answer wrong so wanted to do better.

AjiteshArun · Answer

I think it's a good idea to practice making (short) notes, especially for long passages packed with detail. You could do the same thing on exam day, or you could adopt a more flexible approach and take a call on whether to make notes on a case-by-case basis on exam day.

More importantly, your accuracy on this set of questions was really good. However, if you find yourself in danger of taking a lot of time on a single question during your actual GMAT, you should probably guess and move on. Circle back during review or just let that question go if you don't have enough time at the end.

VerbalBot · Answer

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A review of the treatment of female characters in Chinese fiction

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