Tiger Girls: Women and Enterprise in the People's Republic of China

267 Pages·2011·1.807 MB·English

by  Minglu Chen

Tiger Girls
The existing scholarship on women in China suggests that gender inequality still
exists against the background of the country’s reform and opening in recent years.
However, the situation of women in enterprise ownership and leadership seems to
indicate that despite such notions of disadvantage amongst women, some of them
are playing a more active and signifi cant role in China’s economic development.
Based on a series of interviews with female enterprise owners, wives of enterprise
owners and women managers conducted in diverse locations in three different
provinces of China, T iger Girls examines the deeper realities of women entrepre-
neurs in China, and by extension the role of leading women in the workforce.
By analysing information on these women’s personal experiences, careers and
families, this book investigates their status at work and at home, as well as their
connections with local politics. The research results suggest that although traces
of gender inequality can still be found in these women’s lives, they appear to be
actively engaged in the business establishment and operation and are gradually
casting off the leash of domestic responsibilities.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of China studies, Chinese
business, Chinese economics and Women’s studies.
Minglu Chen is ARC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Government
and International Relations and a member of the China Studies Centre at the
University of Sydney, Australia.
Routledge studies on China in transition
Series Editor: David S. G. Goodman
1. The Democratisation of China 10. Grassroots Charisma
Baogang He Four local leaders in China
Stephan Feuchtwang and Wang
2. Beyond Beijing
Mingming
Dali Yang
11. The Chinese Legal System
3. China’s Enterprise Reform Globalization and local legal culture
Changing state/society relations Pitman B. Potter
after Mao
12. Transforming Rural China
You Ji
How local institutions shape property
4. Industrial Change in China rights in China
Economic restructuring Chi-Jou Jay Chen
and confl icting interests
13. Negotiating Ethnicity in China
Kate Hannan
Citizenship as a response to the state
5. The Entrepreneurial State in China Chih-yu Shih
Real estate and commerce departments
14. Manager Empowerment in China
in reform era Tianjin
Political implications of rural
Jane Duckett
industrialisation in the reform era
6. Tourism and Modernity in China Ray Yep
Tim Oakes
15. Cultural Nationalism
7. Cities in Post Mao China in Contemporary China
Recipes for economic development The search for national identity
in the reform era under reform
Jae Ho Chung Yingjie Guo
16. Elite Dualism and Leadership
8. China’s Spatial Economic
Selection in China
Development
Xiaowei Zang
Regional transformation
in the Lower Yangzi Delta 17. Chinese Intellectuals between
Andrew M. Marton State and Market
Edward Gu and Merle Goldman
9. Regional Development in China
States, globalization and inequality 18. China, Sex and Prostitution
Yehua Dennis Wei Elaine Jeffreys
19. The Development of China’s 30. China’s Embedded Activism
Stockmarket, 1984− 2002 Opportunities and constraints of a
Equity politics and market institutions social movement
Stephen Green Edited by Richard Louis Edmonds and
Peter Ho
20. China’s Rational Entrepreneurs
The development of the new private 31. Marketization and Democracy
business sector in China
Barbara Krug Jianjun Zhang
21. China’s Scientifi c Elite 32. The Chinese State
Cong Cao in Transition
Processes and contests in
22. Locating China
local China
Jing Wang
Edited by Linda Chelan Li
23. State and Laid-Off Workers
33. China’s Governmentalities
in Reform China
Governing change, changing
The silence and collective action
government
of the retrenched
Edited by Elaine Jeffreys
Yongshun Cai
34. China’s Cotton Industry
24. Translocal China
Economic transformation
Linkages, identities and the
and state capacity
reimagining of space
Björn Alpermann
Tim Oakes and Louisa Schein
35. Serious Crime in China
25. International Aid and China’s
Policing and politics
Environment
Susan Trevaskes
Taming the yellow dragon
Katherine Morton 36. The Chinese State’s Retreat
from Health
26. Sex and Sexuality in China
Policy and the politics
Edited by Elaine Jeffreys
of retrenchment
27. China’s Reforms and International Jane Duckett
Political Economy
37. China’s Changing
Edited by David Zweig
Welfare Mix
and Chen Zhimin
Local perspectives
Edited by Beatriz Carrillo
28. Ethnicity and Urban Life in China
and Jane Duckett
A comparative study of Hui Muslims
and Han Chinese 38. Small Town China
Xiaowei Zang Rural labour and social inclusion
Beatriz Carrillo
29. China’s Urban Space
Development under market socialism 39. Tiger Girls
T. G. McGee, George C. S. Lin, Women and Enterprises in the
Mark Y. Wang, Andrew M. Marton People’s Republic of China
and Jiaping Wu Minglu Chen
Tiger Girls
Women and Enterprises in the People’s
Republic of China
Minglu Chen
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2011 Minglu Chen
The right of Minglu Chen to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Chen, Minglu.
Tiger girls: women and enterprises in the People’s Republic of China/
Minglu Chen.
p. cm. — (Routledge studies on China in transition; 39)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-415-60013-2 (hardback)
1. Businesswomen—China. 2. Women—China. 3. Social change—China.
I. Title.
HD6200.C44 2011
338'.040820951—dc22 2010051165
ISBN 978-0-415-60013-2 (hbk)
ISBN 978-0-203-81369-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Glyph International Ltd
Contents
List of tables ix
Abbreviations xiii
Map of People’s Republic of China xiv
Introduction: Tiger girls and private enterprises 1
PART I
Jiaocheng County, Shanxi Province 29
1 Industrial heartland and women entrepreneurs 31
2 Women and economic leadership 48
3 Political connections and the importance of family 61
PART II
Qiongshan District, Hainan Province 75
4 The paradoxes of paradise 77
5 Hainan men and ‘old father tea’ 98
6 The limited infl uence of the Party-state 111
PART III
Mianyang City, Sichuan Province 123
7 Industry and wealth 125
viii Contents
8 The challenges of work and family 150
9 Women in politics 165
Conclusion: Enterprise leadership, politics and the local 180
List of Interviews 189
Notes 221
Bibliography 238
Index 256
List of tables
I.1 Research localities: Population 2003 13
I.2 Research localities: GDP 2003 13
I.3 Research localities: Categories of interviewees 14
I.4 Interviewees: Year of birth 15
I.5 Research localities: Interviewees by year of birth 15
I.6 Interviewees: Place of birth 16
I.7 Interviewees: Industry sector 17
I.8 Interviewees: Enterprise assets 17
I.9 Interviewees: Highest educational level 18
I.10 Interviewees: Previous profession 19
I.11 Interviewees: Family and CCP membership 24
I.12 Interviewees: Family and leadership 24
I.13 Research localities: Interviewees’ place of birth 25
I.14 Research localities: Interviewees’ industry sector 26
I.15 Research localities: Enterprise assets 26
I.16 Research localities: Interviewees’ highest education level 27
I.17 Research localities: Interviewees’ previous profession 27
1.1 Jiaocheng interviewees: Industry sector 39
1.2 Jiaocheng interviewees: Enterprise assets 40
1.3 Jiaocheng interviewees: Year of birth 41
1.4 Jiaocheng interviewees: Place of birth 42
1.5 Jiaocheng interviewees: Highest education level 43
1.6 Jiaocheng interviewees: Highest education level by
year of birth 44
1.7 Jiaocheng interviewees: Previous profession 45
2.1 Jiaocheng interviewees: Who developed the original
idea for the business? 49
2.2 Jiaocheng interviewees: Division of enterprise responsibilities 50
2.3 Jiaocheng interviewees: Person responsible for strategic
planning in the enterprise 53
2.4 Jiaocheng interviewees: Main advisor to the interviewee 54
2.5 Jiaocheng interviewees: Final arbiter in enterprise 54
2.6 Jiaocheng interviewees: Who does the housework? 58
x List of tables
3.1 Jiaocheng interviewees: Family members and
CCP membership 64
3.2 Jiaocheng interviewees: Family members and
Party-state leadership 68
3.3 Jiaocheng interviewees: Family members and
Party-state connections 72
4.1 Qiongshan interviewees: Industry sector 87
4.2 Qiongshan interviewees: Enterprise assets 88
4.3 Qiongshan interviewees: Year of birth 89
4.4 Qiongshan interviewees: Place of birth 89
4.5 Qiongshan interviewees: Highest education level 92
4.6 Qiongshan interviewees: Highest education level by
year of birth 93
4.7 Qiongshan interviewees: Previous profession 94
5.1 Qiongshan interviewees: Who developed the original
idea for the business? 99
5.2 Qiongshan interviewees: Division of enterprise
responsibilities 102
5.3 Qiongshan interviewees: Person responsible for
strategic planning in the enterprise 104
5.4 Qiongshan interviewees: Main advisor to the interviewee 105
5.5 Qiongshan interviewees: Final arbiter in enterprise 106
5.6 Qiongshan interviewees: Who does the house work? 109
6.1 Qiongshan interviewees: Family members and
CCP membership 112
6.2 Qiongshan interviewees: Family members and
Party-state leadership 118
6.3 Qiongshan interviewees: Family members and
Party-state connections 120
7.1 Mianyang interviewees: Industry sector 135
7.2 Mianyang interviewees: Enterprise assets 136
7.3 Mianyang interviewees: Year of birth 137
7.4 Mianyang interviewees: Place of birth 138
7.5 Mianyang interviewees: Highest education level 139
7.6 Mianyang interviewees: Highest education level by
year of birth 140
7.7 Mianyang interviewees: Previous profession 146
8.1 Mianyang interviewees: Who developed the original
idea for the business? 151
8.2 Mianyang interviewees: Division of enterprise responsibilities 154
8.3 Mianyang interviewees: Person responsible for strategic
planning in the enterprise 156
8.4 Mianyang interviewees: Main advisor to the interviewee 158
8.5 Mianyang interviewees: Final arbiter in enterprise 159
8.6 Mianyang interviewees: Who does the house work? 162