Half the Sky: The Women of the Jiang Family

"In my time, only ghosts had long hair," says one of the elder Jiang women to one of the younger--a modern disaffected girl who sleeps with a married man. The times they are, indeed, a-changing, as this beautifully shot impressionistic overview of several generations of women in the Jiang family shows. Women "make up half the sky" declared Mao Tse-Tung and the women profiled in this entry in the 4-volume A Woman's Place series offer viewers an interesting glimpse into changing ideas concerning marriage, work, love and children over the past 50 years. From footbinding to modern cosmetics, from forced eating in the community canteen to today's take-out restaurants, from being informed of your marriage the day before the ceremony to dating more than one man at the same time, Half the Sky ranges far and wide over the social upheavals which women have faced and weathered in recent Chinese history. Recommended. The other titles in the series are: A Woman's Place: Short Stories, Rising Above: Women of Vietnam, and Science for Survival (the series price for all four programs is $395). Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)