This is Athena Cruz-Albrecht’s response to and analysis of “Spring Peach” by Xu Dishan.
Gender Role Reversal, Disability, and Progressiveness: A Summary and Analysis of “Spring Peach” by Xu Dishan
Author Biography and Plot Summary:
In the short story “Spring Peach” from Chinese Short Stories of the Twentieth Century: An Anthology in English, Xu Dishan addresses the complexities and counteractions of social norms towards women and people with disabilities. Xu Dishan was an author and professor who wrote about the social and political structures in China in the beginning of the twentieth century. Xu was born in Taiwan but in 1895 had to escape with his family to Shantou in Guangdong, China due to the Japanese invasion of Taiwan. Xu worked in administration after the Chinese Revolution in 1911; from 1917 to 1926, Xu obtained degrees in theology, comparative religion, and history of religion, and even went on to teach as a professor of Chinese literature and philosophy. During the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, Xu maintained a nationalistic view of China and supported the war against Japan (these views dIscreetly appear in “Spring Peach,” as the bandits which separate a newly married couple, and the invaders of Shenyang who shot the male protagonist’s legs, were all Japanese). Throughout his life, Xu was very active in and founded several literature societies. He also had a crucial role in the May Fourth Movement, a nationalistic political movement in which people protested the Chinese government’s decision to agree to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which gave territories in Shandong to Japan. In his well-known work, “Spring Peach,” Xu Dishan reimagines the role of women and the portrayal of disability in pre-modern China during the early twentieth century.
The female protagonist of the story, Liu Chuntao, lives and sleeps with her business partner, Liu Xianggao. Chuntao works hard to collect scrap paper all day and is the breadwinner of the house; in fact, she has nearly complete control over the finances and activities of her family. It is explicitly stated in the story that Chuntao has complete power over Xianggao, although he is not quite content with this: Xianggao did not and could not think for himself, but rather “did whatever Chuntao wanted him to do,” like an emperor listening to his mother’s orders (78). This in itself is a reversal of traditional gender roles, in which women are powerless, emotional, and utterly dependent on men and their husbands. In this narrative, however, Chuntao is an authoritative partner and a rational, motivated entrepreneur. Despite her strong character and the fact that she is not technically married to Xianggao, Xianggao cannot help but persistently call her his “wife”; in response, Chuntao rebukes him each time, saying that she is not his wife, and does not wish to be addressed as such. Even when Li Mao, her technical husband, asks if she is still his wife, she responds: “No, I’m not anybody’s wife,” rejecting the societal expectation for women to marry and have their entire identity be simply a ‘wife’ to someone else (70). This is particularly powerful considering that Chuntao’s father is the one who arranged for her to marry Li Mao, meaning there is also a familial obligation to honor her father’s wishes in addition to the societal pressure to be a wife. Though she persists in rejecting this identity, Chuntao is continually treated as an object–a commodity to be bought and sold–several times throughout the story. In the uncomfortable situation when both Xianggao and Li Mao are living together with Chuntao, the men agree that Li Mao should sell her to Xianggao. After all, Xianggao was already living with Chuntao and even forged a marriage certificate to adapt to the strict martial law in the area (though Chuntao refused even the authority of the policeman in regards to her ‘marriage’). The men disregard Chuntao’s identity as a person and the breadwinner of the family, and instead focus on the societal role of a woman to be sold into marriage like an object.
In addition to the reimagining of gender roles, this narrative examines and reevaluates the role of disability in the life of Li Mao, who was married to Chuntao for one night before they were separated by bandits. Li Mao was a strong man with excellent shooting skills, which is why Chuntao’s father arriaged their marriage as one of convenience. However, during the war Li Mao’s unbelievable shooting abilities led the colonel to accuse him of being a bandit and fire him; and more significantly, Li Mao’s legs were shot by Japanese invaders in Haicheng and eventually had to be amputated. Li Mao sees his disability as a burden which takes away his masculinity and manhood. Although he is in love with Chuntao, he does not think he is worthy of her, and even considers hanging himself in order to improve Chuntao’s life. It is important to note that the existence of the disability itself disrupts the gender roles of the time: Li Mao will not be able to support Chuntao due to his disability, and instead stays home like Xianggao, a role traditionally forced upon women. The short story also challenges the notion of disability by itself, however. For example, when Li Mao and Xianggao first meet and there is a possibility of a fight to the death, the narrator explains that Li Mao’s disability does not mean that he could not fight; in fact, Li Mao could “easily” kill the inexperienced and feeble Xianggao (73). Although Li Mao’s masculinity is challenged in this narrative, he defies the social expectations of what he can do, a parallel to Chuntao’s defiance of gender roles and normative hierarchical relationships.
Interpretation and Criticism:
Regarding the presence of gender in this short story, it seems quite clear that both Chuntao’s rejection of becoming a wife and her non-traditional relationship with two men in the same household completely opposes the social, cultural, and familial norms of her community. This is further enhanced by the reversal of gender roles to a powerful independent working woman and two dependent men at home. It is also interesting to note the idea of love in this narrative; whilst Li Mao and Xianggao are both in love with Chuntao and want to be married to her, Chuntao takes a practical approach to love and wants to work to support her family even though it is stated that she is not in love with them. The narrator goes as far as to say that “she did not understand love,” referring to the Chinese woman in general rather than Chuntao (81). For much of history, women got married out of duty, not love, such as in arranged marriages. The narrator seems to say that Chinese women care more about life than about love, as marriage or responsibility as a result of love is not historically or socially a part of their culture. One could criticise this idea that since it is in Chuntao’s nature to work hard, and since her first marriage was arranged, Chuntao somehow does not understand the feeling of love, and love has not part in her life.
With regards to the representation of Li Mao’s disability, it is significant that Xu Dishan portrayed Li Mao as a beggar in the beginning of the story. There is a dichotomy here between Li Mao as a strong, able-bodied man who excels in shooting to a helpless beggar in the streets. When Li Mao first calls out Chuntao’s name, “she naturally turned and saw a beggar sitting by the roadside […] unable to stand because he had no legs” (67). Chinese nationalism condemns people who do not benefit and support the nation, and therefore there is little government sponsored assistance for soldiers. Even the hospital at which Li Mao’s legs are amputated denies him housing or work, with the doctor saying that “the hospital cures people but doesn’t keep them” or find them work (70). Society does not accommodate his needs, but Chuntao decides to support him instead. However, she does so out of a sense of duty and because of the fact that he is helpless and disabled, not out of love of her duty as a former wife. Chuntao houses and cares for Li Mao because she feels she has to, disregarding the fact that they are married. Although Chuntao is rejecting her legal relationship to Li Mao here, she is also rejecting the identity and ability of Li Mao as a person. On the other hand, while society regards Li Mao as useless and unbeneficial, Chuntao realizes that he could actually be a very helpful person for their business; she says that he “is just right to manage the house and sort through the paper” (75). Furthermore, Li Mao was a hypermasculine shooter before his injury, and his amputation seems to be a metaphorical castration, in which now he is stripped of his masculinity. In addition to his loss of identity and low self-esteem, Li Mao is very concerned with the economic impact of his disability, as he cannot farm any land without legs–this suggests that it is not Li Mao himself who is disabled, but the society around him. Clearly, Xu Dishan’s representation of Li Mao and his disability seems to go back and forth between progressive and ableist.
Overall, however, “Spring Peach” aggressively and almost ironically reverses the traditional gender roles of men and women, and the fact that Li Mao has a disability feeds into that reversal. But at the end of the story when they all reconvene, the men decide that Chuntao will be their shared wife. All the characters were content with their triangular relationship earlier despite the fact that it did not fit the social norms. But now, even though Chuntao is still rejecting the title of ‘wife’ in the very last sentence, she still accepts the role of a wife as constructed by the two male protagonists. Furthermore, it seems that this short story attributes Li Mao’s disability to the stripping of his masculinity whilst simultaneously using Chuntao’s authoritative and creative character to show how useful and productive Li Mao could be. There are some obvious contradictions throughout the short story, and the end it could easily be interpreted as either a narrative of an eventual return to gender roles and ableism or a powerful feminist and disability rights narrative.
