Wang Zheng says many women in China may have redefined their roles but, as with much social progress, there have been setbacks.

More than a century ago, the world of Chinese women was a private one. Bound by a rigid patriarchal order and Confucian codes of propriety, hierarchy and submission, they were confined to the inner chambers of the home to be virtuous wives, self-sacrificing mothers and dutiful daughters, while men ruled the outer world. That began to change in the May Fourth era early in the 20th century, which marked a period of unprecedented intellectual and cultural awakening in modern China. Reformers sought…

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