“[A] highly valuable and inspiring work for anyone who is interested in understanding the proliferation of gender binarism and essentialist notions of gender in post-Mao China.” - Tze-Lan D. Sang, The Journal of Asian Studies
“By pulling together a comprehensive discussion of these writers and their critics, Zhong has provided a useful overview of this period in Chinese literature. She also summarizes and applies several major theoretical influences, such as Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and feminists such as Silverman and Butler.” - Susan Brownell, The China Journal
"A thoughtful study. . . . Even those not necessarily committed to a feminist or psychoanalytic approach to this material will welcome the attention [Zhong] brings to bear on some notable works of contemporary Chinese fiction." - Allan H. Barr, China Review International
“Bold, far-reaching in its implications, brilliant in its interpretation of specific texts. Zhong has contributed to the growing literature of the meanings of Chinese modernity in a most illuminating way.”-Marilyn Young, New York University
“I cannot think of a single other work on China that goes into the cultural politics of masculinity in contemporary Chinese literature in such depth. This book will generate a great deal of discussion.”-Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz
“This is an outstanding book. Rarely does one come across a work in the China field that considers gender and related theoretical issues with as deep a sense of history as does this one. Zhong’s scholarship provides us with extraordinary new insights into the cultural politics of post-Mao China in the 1980s.”-Lydia Liu, University of California, Berkeley
“[A] highly valuable and inspiring work for anyone who is interested in understanding the proliferation of gender binarism and essentialist notions of gender in post-Mao China.”
- Tze-Lan D. Sang (Journal of Asian Studies) “By pulling together a comprehensive discussion of these writers and their critics, Zhong has provided a useful overview of this period in Chinese literature. She also summarizes and applies several major theoretical influences, such as Hegel, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, and feminists such as Silverman and Butler.”
- Susan Brownell (The China Journal) "A thoughtful study. . . . Even those not necessarily committed to a feminist or psychoanalytic approach to this material will welcome the attention [Zhong] brings to bear on some notable works of contemporary Chinese fiction."
- Allan H. Barr (China Review International)