Qin Hui | The Leviathan that Devours “Nora”: Feminism and the Path of Chinese Women

About this episode

Qin Hui discusses the reception of her book on Chinese feminism and the criticisms it has faced.

The Leviathan that Devours “Nora”: Feminism and the Path of Chinese Women ——Preface to the Japanese Expanded and Revised Edition of “After Nora Left Home: A Century of Reflection on Chinese Feminism” A Book Forbidden from Criticism My book “ After Nora Left Home: A Century of Reflection on Chinese Feminism” （Dudao publisher読道社,Japan ）was published overseas in February 2025 as the first simplified Chinese edition. The reason for publishing it overseas is self-evident. However, in today’s internet era, it quickly spread inside the wall and sparked heated discussions on China’s most famous book review website “Douban(豆瓣）” and the political-cultural forum “Zhihu（知乎）.” Interestingly, unlike my other works, this book received “a flood of negative reviews” on these two platforms, as a friend described it.Apart from a few formal book reviews that were basically positive, the comments were mostly a barrage of verbal attacks from many friends in the Chinese “mainstream feminism” and Western postmodern feminism camps (which differ in many aspects). These friends, in fact, the vast majority have not actually read the book at all. It is not easy to obtain this book inside China. Some have…

People in this episode

Guest: Qin Hui

Topics covered

• Feminism
• Chinese Women
• Cultural Criticism
• Book Reviews
• Political Discourse

Keywords

• Chinese feminism
• book criticism
• Douban
• Zhihu
• Nora

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dudao publisher, Douban, Zhihu

Books & works: After Nora Left Home: A Century of Reflection on Chinese Feminism

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