Indigenous Feminist Frameworks: Cultural and Historical Trajectories of Chinese Women’s Cinema

Huiqiang Dong

doi:10.54254/2753-7064/2025.BO24330

Communications in Humanities ResearchOpen access

Indigenous Feminist Frameworks: Cultural and Historical Trajectories of Chinese Women’s Cinema

Research Article

Open Access

Indigenous Feminist Frameworks: Cultural and Historical Trajectories of Chinese Women’s Cinema

Huiqiang Dong ^1*

¹ Shandong University of Arts

^*Corresponding author: hdong6@binghamton.edu

Published on 27 June 2025

CHR Vol.71

ISSN (Print): 2753-7072

ISSN (Online): 2753-7064

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-203-4

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-204-1

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Abstract

This paper takes the notion of “indigenousness” (or “endogenousness” ) as a point of departure to examine the cultural and historical trajectory and theoretical construction of Chinese women’s cinema within its distinct cultural context. Unlike Western feminist cinema, which is often framed around well-defined theoretical concepts such as the “male gaze” and “gender oppression,” Chinese women’s cinema bears the deep imprint of China’s unique historical and cultural conditions, familial structures, processes of social transformation, identity formation, and, crucially, the emergence of female self-awareness shaped by these intersecting forces. By tracing the development of Chinese women’s cinema, this study outlines the construction of a uniquely primordial form of female subjectivity—one that is deeply rooted in the indigenous cultural and historical conditions—and explores the distinctive cinematic strategies through which this subjectivity is expressed. The analysis highlights how Chinese women’s cinema articulates a culturally embedded female consciousness through its original and context-specific narrative forms.

Keywords:

Chinese women’s cinema, indigenousness, high culture embeddedness, gender narrative, female subjectivity

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References

[1]. Mulvey, L.(1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6–18.

[2]. Kaplan, E. A. (1983). Women and film: Both sides of the camera. Routledge.

[3]. Arnold, M. (1896). Culture and anarchy: An essay in political and social criticism. Smith, Elder & Co.

[4]. Williams, R. (1958). Culture and society, 1780–1950. Columbia University Press.

[5]. Bruno, G. (2002). Atlas of emotion: Journeys in art, architecture, and film. Verso.

[6]. Spender, D. (1980). Man made language. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

[7]. Laub, D., & Felman, S. (1992). Testimony: Crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis, and history. Routledge.

References

[1]. Mulvey, L.(1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6–18.

[2]. Kaplan, E. A. (1983). Women and film: Both sides of the camera. Routledge.

[3]. Arnold, M. (1896). Culture and anarchy: An essay in political and social criticism. Smith, Elder & Co.

[4]. Williams, R. (1958). Culture and society, 1780–1950. Columbia University Press.

[5]. Bruno, G. (2002). Atlas of emotion: Journeys in art, architecture, and film. Verso.

[6]. Spender, D. (1980). Man made language. Routledge & Kegan Paul.

[7]. Laub, D., & Felman, S. (1992). Testimony: Crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis, and history. Routledge.

Cite this article

Dong,H. (2025). Indigenous Feminist Frameworks: Cultural and Historical Trajectories of Chinese Women’s Cinema. Communications in Humanities Research,71,36-43.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICLLCD 2025 Symposium: Enhancing Organizational Efficiency and Efficacy through Psychology and AI

ISBN: 978-1-80590-203-4(Print) / 978-1-80590-204-1(Online)

Editor: Rick Arrowood

Conference website: https://2025.icllcd.org/Boston.html

Conference date: 12 May 2025

Series: Communications in Humanities Research

Volume number: Vol.71

ISSN: 2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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