“Be Soft like Water, Little Woman”: Cultivating Postfeminism in Postsocialist China

Abstract

The following study examines the practices of female “softening” among followers of holistic spirituality in urban China. Such practices are conceptualized as postfeminist navigational strategies offered to women who juggle the demands of career and family life. While a growing number of academic works conceptualize postfeminism as a transnational sensibility, attempts to examine the intersections of postfeminism and postsocialism are still uncommon. This study addresses this gap by examining how in the mainland Chinese body-mind-spirit milieu, postfeminist discourses and the postsocialist gender order jointly shape visions of female self-transformation as a process of softening career women, tomboys, and other types of women labeled as too tough. While these practices do not foster female power (a plausible sociopolitical influence), they cultivate feminine strength, defined as women’s ability to successfully navigate in the society within the pathways delineated by patriarchy, showcasing how postfeminist sensibility suffuses China’s postsocialist landscape.