The Ghostland of the Female Realm

"The Ghost World of Women" is a social allegory novel written by the late Qing Dynasty writer Wu Chizi. The work is set in the first year of Xuantong. Through the perspective of the narrator who travels from Tianjin to Shanghai, it reveals various chaos and contradictions within Shanghai's "Changzhong Women's Art School". The novel takes female student Yu Yingniang's enrollment as a clue and gradually unfolds a profound description of the school's chaotic management, the corrupt relationship between teachers and students, and the students' frivolous atmosphere. The principal, Sister Jin Yan, was originally a prostitute, and she only ran the school to gain social reputation; some students indulged in a life of indulgence and were keen on playing cards, watching theaters, eating flowers and wine, and even organized "free wedding parties" and other frivolous activities. At the same time, the novel also creates positive images of Wang Yijuan, Shen Sanfeng and others who are diligent in learning and observing etiquette, forming a sharp contrast between the "Southern Party" and the "Northern Party". Through delicate narrative and satirical writing techniques, the work criticizes the formalization and vulgarity tendencies existing in the so-called "new women's studies" at that time, and uses the characters' mouths to express complex thoughts on the development of women's rights, educational reform and social trends. At the end, the author states that his creative intention is to "contain rules and irony", in the hope that female academic circles can reflect on and improve, which has a clear warning significance for the times.