Women's battalion
Guangxi Women's Battalion Active 1938 (1938 ) Country People's Republic of Chine
Military unit
The Guangxi Women's Battalion was a women's unit formed in 1938 in Guangxi , China.[ 1] It was one of several corps that were founded following an appeal by Soong Mei-ling for women to support the Sino-Japanese War effort in 1937.[ 2] [ 3] Similar units included: the Yunnan Women's Battlefield Service Unit ,[ 4] Zhejiang Women's Guerrilla Band ,[ 5] [ 6] Hunan War Service Corps ,[ 7] and others.
In Guangxi, an initial appeal aimed to recruit 1200 students (both men and women), but over 18,000 initially signed up.[ 1] Of these 4,269 were selected for service, and of the women chosen, most trained as combat medics with the Fifth Route Army.[ 1] Reports on the size of the battalion vary from 130 students,[ 8] to 500,[ 9] to 800.[ 2] The battalion fought in southern China.[ 8]
According to anthropologist Elisabeth Croll , the Guangxi Women's Battalion was "the most famous of the girls' military units" in China.[ 7]
References
^ a b c Zhu, Pingchao (2015-10-30). Wartime Culture in Guilin, 1938–1944: A City at War . Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-9684-7 .
^ a b Chung, Mary Keng Mun (2005). Chinese Women in Christian Ministry: An Intercultural Study . Peter Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-5198-5 .
^ Women of China . Foreign Language Press. 2001.
^ Honig, Emily (1992-03-01). Sisters and Strangers: Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills, 1919-1949 . Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2012-0 .
^ Siu, Bobby (1982). Women of China: Imperialism and Women's Resistance, 1900-1949 . Zed Press. ISBN 978-0-905762-58-6 .
^ The Chalice and the Blade in Chinese Culture: Gender Relations and Social Models . China Social Sciences Publishing House. 1995. ISBN 978-7-5004-1741-5 .
^ a b Croll, Elisabeth (2011). Feminism and socialism in China . Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-33732-1 . OCLC 828737579 .
^ a b Yihong, Pan (1997). "Feminism and Nationalism in China's War of Resistance against Japan" . The International History Review . 19 (1): 115– 130. doi :10.1080/07075332.1997.9640778 . ISSN 0707-5332 . JSTOR 40108087 .
^ Morgan, Robin (2016-03-08). Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology . Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1-5040-3324-4 .