Wang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA incident.There was no demonstration against the Chinese government; instead,there were demonstrations against American imperialists!China was obviously not the target of attack,much to the relief of Chinese lead- ers.They realized that most women from abroad were not coming to dis- cuss China's problems at all.On the side of Chinese participants,there were no troublemakers.Everyone in the forty-seven panels read their lines according to the scripts they had rehearsed.With their skillful perfor- mance,Chinese participants showed the state that women were not an oppositional force against the government.The end of the NGO Forum brought tremendous relief to the government leaders.They were further elated by the gratitude and praise of foreign government officials at the UN conference.It seemed to government leaders that hosting the confer- ence had gained them honor after all.Their nervousness was thus sud- denly replaced by a smugness when the FWCW adjourned.Quickly,offi- cials at different government branches staged celebrations.All of them,in their different capacities of working for the conference,had contributed a lot to winning honor for China.The Chinese preparatory committee also had a grand celebration,issuing award certificates to each participant in the NGO Forum(there were five thousand of them nationwide)to ac- knowledge their great contribution to the nation. This national farce amused many women participants.They under- stood that the celebrations signified a reversal in the official view of the conference.The official return to a positive assessment of the conference meant that Chinese women could move toward merging with the global women's movement.After the Platform for Action was solemnly signed by government officials all over the world,the National Women's Federa- tion was quick to use the pledge of the Chinese government to launch a nationwide campaign to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,the document that "voices the aspirations of women all over the world,"as the Chinese media hailed it.This campaign is creating legit- imacy for expanding Chinese women's activism under the guidance of the official international document.In other words,the document will serve as the measure of Chinese women's achievements from now on.The shift to global feminism in the discourse of Chinese women's liberation has been sanctioned by the Chinese government through its official boast of China's contribution to the birth of this document. In the congenial climate of post-FWCW China,the impact of the con- ference on women is openly discussed by Chinese women themselves.The official publication of the National Women's Federation,Zhongguo funii- bao(Chinese women's newspaper),has become the chief vehicle to pro- mulgate the spirit of the conference.Many participants contribute to the paper,talking about their own experiences or discussing their plans to fulfill the Platform for Action.In order to "let everyone share the treasure 198 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat,14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsWang THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN CHINA incident. There was no demonstration against the Chinese government; instead, there were demonstrations against American imperialists! China was obviously not the target of attack, much to the relief of Chinese lead￾ers. They realized that most women from abroad were not coming to dis￾cuss China's problems at all. On the side of Chinese participants, there were no troublemakers. Everyone in the forty-seven panels read their lines according to the scripts they had rehearsed. With their skillful perfor￾mance, Chinese participants showed the state that women were not an oppositional force against the government. The end of the NGO Forum brought tremendous relief to the government leaders. They were further elated by the gratitude and praise of foreign government officials at the UN conference. It seemed to government leaders that hosting the confer￾ence had gained them honor after all. Their nervousness was thus sud￾denly replaced by a smugness when the FWCW adjourned. Quickly, offi￾cials at different government branches staged celebrations. All of them, in their different capacities of working for the conference, had contributed a lot to winning honor for China. The Chinese preparatory committee also had a grand celebration, issuing award certificates to each participant in the NGO Forum (there were five thousand of them nationwide) to ac￾knowledge their great contribution to the nation. This national farce amused many women participants. They under￾stood that the celebrations signified a reversal in the official view of the conference. The official return to a positive assessment of the conference meant that Chinese women could move toward merging with the global women's movement. After the Platform for Action was solemnly signed by government officials all over the world, the National Women's Federa￾tion was quick to use the pledge of the Chinese government to launch a nationwide campaign to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the document that "voices the aspirations of women all over the world," as the Chinese media hailed it. This campaign is creating legit￾imacy for expanding Chinese women's activism under the guidance of the official international document. In other words, the document will serve as the measure of Chinese women's achievements from now on. The shift to global feminism in the discourse of Chinese women's liberation has been sanctioned by the Chinese government through its official boast of China's contribution to the birth of this document. In the congenial climate of post-FWCW China, the impact of the con￾ference on women is openly discussed by Chinese women themselves. The official publication of the National Women's Federation, Zhongguo funii￾bao (Chinese women's newspaper), has become the chief vehicle to pro￾mulgate the spirit of the conference. Many participants contribute to the paper, talking about their own experiences or discussing their plans to fulfill the Platform for Action. In order to "let everyone share the treasure 198 SIGNS Autumn 1996 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.96 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 12:14:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions