On this episode of China Uncensored,
how the Chinese Communist Party
“liberates” women.
Hello and welcome to China Uncensored,
I'm your host, Chris Chappell.
March 8 was International Women's Day.
According to the UN,
it's a time "to reflect on progress made,
to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage
and determination by ordinary women."
Which explains why last year in China,
they celebrated the holiday last year
by seeing how fast people could undo the bras
of complete strangers.
Hey, standing in your underwear in front of a crowd
is definitely an act of courage and determination.
I should know.
Quick historical note here,
before the UN adopted it in the 1970s,
International Women's Day
actually started as a socialist holiday,
and then a communist holiday.
So in China,
it was first celebrated after the communists founded
the People's Republic.
Back when the well-known feminist,
Chairman Mao Zedong, famously proclaimed,
"women hold up half the sky."
Anyway, I've been looking forward to seeing
what crazy ways China celebrated women's day
this year.
For more on this,
we go to China Uncensored female person,
Shelley Zhang.
Thanks, Chris.
One thing I've always wondered.
Why do women in China only get a half day off of work
for women's day?
I'm not sure, Chris.
Maybe if women held up the entire sky,
we'd actually get an entire day off.
That's a good point.
Women do need to work harder.
But back to the important part.
How did Chinese state-run media embarrass themselves
this year?
Well, sorry to disappoint you,
but there wasn't anything really crazy.
I guess after the foreign media last year
made fun of things like husbands dressing up like punching bags
or guys walking up a mountain in heels,
Chinese media didn't want to do the same thing
this year.
Are you saying that relentless mocking
can change things for the better?
You tell me, Chris.
You're the one who started China Uncensored.
Anyway, I can't say for sure that no comically sexist events
were held to celebrate women's day,
I can only say that state-run media
didn't report extensively on any.
The People's Daily even refrained from posting slideshows
of beautiful, scantily clad women,
which is a big step up for them.
I am impressed.
So state-run media learned their lesson
about sexism?
Well...almost.
There was this tweet from your favorite,
the Global Times.
They thoughtfully used International Women's Day
to remind everyone not to forget about men.
Then after the backlash,
they thoughtfully apologized by throwing a male editor
under the proverbial bus.
That's interesting.
I did not know there was an International Men's Day.
Gotta put that in my calendar.
Let's be real, Chris.
Every day is International Men's Day.
Hey, we can always use another
reason to celebrate.
Speaking of,
how did women in China celebrate women's day this year?
Mostly by shopping.
Pretty much the exact opposite of the Day Without a Woman
protests elsewhere in the world,
which asked women to not work,
and to refrain from buying things,
to show their economic impact.
So in capitalist Western countries,
women marched and went on strike,
while in communist China,
women went shopping.It's the "ever-changing world in which we live in," Chris.
Retailers renamed women's day to Queen's Day
or Princess Day to attract customers.
Burger King even went the empowerment marketing route,
which was previously mostly done by
beauty products and tampons.
Empowerment marketing?
You know, when a brand digs into the
deep-seated insecurities of women,
but in a touching, relatable way.
Until they reveal to women
that they were the Burger Queen all along.
In fact, all women are Burger Queens.
That's...so beautiful.
Everyone is a Burger Queen.
Okay.
Oh, also Victoria's Secret celebrated
by opening a flagship store in Shanghai.
That's very important for our episode thumbnail.
You know, I support this massive push toward consumerism
because when people shop,
capitalism wins.
But what does the Communist Party think?
Well, the Party supports this consumerism as well.
It's because of what state-run press agency
Xinhua so hilariously calls the sheconomy.
Sheconomy, that's a good one.
Mmm.
The point is,
the Chinese government needs women to shop.
Women's spending is expected to
almost double in the few years,
which is hugely important as the Communist Party
tries to move China from an export-driven economy
to a consumption-driven economy like the US.
Okay, I understand that.
But doesn't the Communist Party want to use
Women's Day to get back to their
men-and-women-are-equal, feminist roots?
Those roots are a lie, Chris.
I thought Mao wanted equal rights for women.
You know, the whole, “women hold up half the sky” thing.
Mao didn't say that.
It was a mistranslation.
Like how Machiavelli said,
"The ends justify the means."
Except he didn’t.
What Machiavelli actually said was,
“One must consider the final result.”
That’s kinda different.
Right.
And what Mao actually said was that
women can hold up half the sky.
What?
That doesn't sound so "girl power" anymore.
It's true that the Communists abolished foot binding,
and gave women the opportunity to get an education
and work outside the home.
But it wasn't because the Communists altruistically
believed in the equal rights and freedoms of women.
Mao "liberated" women because he felt that they were
an untapped source of labor.
When the Party took over China,
they needed to ramp up production fast,
and you can do that much easier
when half the population isn't forbidden from working.
So what you're saying is that…
The Communist Party wanted women to be equal
with men so they could be equally exploited
and controlled by the Party-state.
And the labor force is just the beginning.
When Mao believed that China needed more workers,
he convinced women to have more babies.
When that backfired and the Party believed they
were facing a demographic crisis,
they started the one-child policy.
Leading to forced abortions and sterilizations.
Yes, and Party officials monitoring your periods.
Wait, really?
Yup.
All ways in which the Party
tries to control women's bodies.
And you know the thing they started 10 years ago
about leftover women?
Yes, educated unmarried women
over the age of 27.
Well, now it's 25.
And there aren't leftover women in China.
There are about 30 million more men than women.
The whole thing is a propaganda campaign.
The Party is trying to manipulate women
into getting married younger so that
they can avoid the social instability that comes from
having too many unmarried young men.
Wow, you're talking about a lot of issues here.
Yeah, sorry,
it's just that Women's Day only comes once a year
so I have to cram them all in.
What?
You can totally talk about women's issues
even when it's not Women's Day.
Well, thanks Chris.
That's very generous of you.
In fact,
in honor of International Women's Day,
I'd like to present the first annual
Most Outstanding Woman of China Uncensored award
to you, Chris.
I get an award?!
Well, after all, by starting China Uncensored,
you gave me a platform
to talk about women's rights in China.
I'm going to hang this up in my trophy room.
Right next to my China Uncensored
Host of the Month award.
And this gives me a great idea.
I'm going to create a Most Outstanding Man
of China Uncensored award
for International Men's Day.
And do you know who I'm going to give it to?
Wow.
I have to say that's very open-
Me!
What?
You're going to give yourself
the Most Outstanding Man award?
Yeah.
I mean,
you're out of the running
since you're a woman.
And like Matt is ever going to win
most outstanding man.
I'm the obvious choice.
I'm speechless.
Don't worry, Shelley.
You'll always be a Burger Queen.
What?
I thought that was supposed to be empowering!
Well, what do you think about Women's Day
in China?
Leave your comments below.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.