The Beijing Olympics often seems to be seen as solely a propaganda victory for the Chinese Communist Party. It certainly is that, but it can also be seen as a realization of the goals of liberal nationalist movements that preceded it, such as the May the Fourth Movement. In Wang Zheng's Women in the Chinese Enlightenment she interviews women who seized the new opportunities suddenly available in the early twentieth century to build independent lives. One such as Lu Lihua, a physical education teacher and school principal. (more)
