A Study on the Changes of Gender Morality in China: Centered on the Male Experience in the "Love Letter" Incident (1900-1930)

Abstract

In the 20th century, China was an era of significant social changes, experiencing the impact of abolishing old and establishing new in politics, economy, culture, and other aspects. In terms of sexual morality, traditional sexual morality was criticized by Chinese youth and intellectuals, while new sexual morality was disseminated among young people. The love letter incident that occurred in such a social context is a representative event of young men and women actively breaking traditional sexual morality and constructing new sexual morality. This article takes two love letter events that occurred in China in the early 20th century and the 1920s as research objects, focusing on the experiences of young men in the love letter events. Using the method of seeking differences, it first clarifies the thoughts and expressions of young men on the issue of love in the love letter text. Secondly, it analyzes the views and debates of public power and social elites on the events in the love letter events, thereby revealing the end of the old sexual morality and the development of new sexual morality in modern China. In the two love letter events, the content of the young man's love letters both demonstrated his longing for new sexual morality. Qu Jiang faced criticism, while Qiu Gongyi received sympathy. The different experiences of the male protagonist in the two love letter events reflect the progress of China's modernization process in terms of neutral moral concepts.