A Cultural History of the Chinese Character “Ta (她, She)”

Huang Xingtao is Executive Director of the Institute of Qing History of Renmin University and Dean of the Department of History at Renmin University, China. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard-Yenching Institute and Kobe University in Japan. His research interests include the history of the Qing Dynasty and the history of China in modern and contemporary times. His research focuses on the history of Chinese social culture, ideology, and the relations between China and western countries. Professor Huang was awarded the Excellent Achievements Prize for Human and Social Sciences Research in National Normal High Education Institutions.

1. The Conundrum of the English Term “She”– A New Problem Arising from Contact with Western Languages 2. The Emergence of the Character Ta 她, plus Ta’nü 他女 and Ta/To □□– The New Youth 《新青年》 Editorial Group’s Early Discussions and the Experimentation Which It Engendered 3. An Account of the Early Written Use of the Character Ta 她 before April 1920– A Survey of the Literary World 4. The Debate over Preserving or Rejecting the Character ta 她 and the Rivalry between ta 她 and yi 伊–Adopters and Adoptees in the Linguistic Competition 5. Gender Confusion: Sensitivity over “Female”-related Terms–Concepts of gender equality and the fortunes of the character ta 她 6. Ta (她, she) and Ta (他, he), Ta (牠, it), Ta (它, it)–The Formation and Establishment of a New Pronoun Regime 7. The Course of the Socialisation of the Character Ta 她 after April 1920–An Examination of Its Deepening Acceptance and Popularisation 8. The Quest for Modernity and the Interaction between Foreign Language Factors and Chinese Language Traditions–The Roots of Ta 她’s Victory and Its Historical and Cultural Impact