This book is a collection of nine intense and dramatic stories that sheds new light on the experiences of Chinese women during the Second World War.

In the period between the 1920s and 1940s, a genre emerged in Chinese literature that would reveal crucial contradictions in Chinese culture that still exist today. At a time of intense political conflict, Chinese women began to write autobiography, a genre that focused on personal identity and self-exploration rather than the national, collective identity that the country was championing."When "I" Was Born: Women's Autobiography in Modern China" reclaims the voices of these particular writers, voices that have been misinterpreted and overlooked for decades. Tracing women writers as they move...