ife, several months of marriage to learn of them ...” (Greenlee 13).The character May is Kyo’s wife and a German doctor. She’s independent and sexually liberated, strong, compassionate, and intelligent. “She was a doctor in one of the Chinese hospitals [...] German, but born in Shanghai” (44). May tells Kyo about a sexual encounter she had, “I finally yielded to Langlen and went to bed with him.”(46) Although Malraux portrays May as sexually liberated, he doesn’t attribute the same sexual liberation to his female Chinese characters. “[...] while sexual liberation is inherent in Western feminism, most Chinese feminists in the 1920s still valued virginity and chastity.” (Li)Malraux’s confidence in Communism gives him a more liberalized perspective of women. One of the tenets of Communism is feminism. “[...] gender issues played an important role in the political culture of the early phase of the Chinese Communist Party [...] during the early 1920s.” (Levine).As a matter of fact, Malraux’s admiration for a strong and intelligent woman is evidenced by his courtship with his wife Clara. “Malraux courted her successfully by, among other little sweet things, telling her that she was the most brilliant person – after Max Jacob – he had ever met.” (Lebovics). Although Malraux understands the value of feminism, he also recognizes that Chinese women were treated no better than chattel. Arranged marriages were a common practice. “[...] the parents intervened directly in their children’s marriage; they could betroth them at a very early age to someone they would see for the first time on the day of their wedding” (Langlois 105). After May returns from work at the Chinese hospital, she tells Kyo “Always the same story you know. I’ve just left a kid of eighteen who tried to commit suicide with a razor bla...
