'Shanghai girls' were city's first socialites

Tang Ying (far left) was one of the most glamorous women in old Shanghai. Photo provided by Xu Jingcan to Shanghai Star

They were the first generation of Chinese women to embrace the modern world, becoming icons of style and feminist trail-blazers. Li Xueqing looks at the lives of Shanghai's first socialites.

Shanghai socialites of the 1920s and 1930s were a special group. Elegant, smart and modern, these ladies from families of wealth and power were among the first women in China who were allowed to freely leave the confines of the home for study, work and pleasure. When their families were busying meddling in the politics and markets of Shanghai, they were living their own lives with style and personality.

Yan Youyun, the granddaughter of Yan Xiaofang, the first president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, was once nicknamed "Miss 84", because "84" was the number on her car's license plate. Yan was one of the first female graduates of Fudan University. She was famous for driving her own car to campus every day when there were no more than 200 cars in Shanghai.

Like Yan, the well-to-do ladies of her time were rich, well-educated and very modern. Many of them studied at church schools such as the McTyeire School. They were exposed to both Chinese traditions and Western values.

Modern pioneers

It is no coincidence that the first feminist lawsuit in China was filed by one of them. Sheng Aiyi was the seventh daughter of Sheng Xuanhuai, a leading figure in the Westernization movement. She sued her brothers and nephews for depriving her of her share of the family fortune in 1928.

The case became a sensation. It was not only about a lady fighting for her right to inheritance, it was also about women's equal rights to men. Daughters were traditionally excluded from their parents' legacy. This, however, was against the law in the 1920s. Sheng won the case, winning back the lawful shares of money for herself and her younger sister.