how the Chinese Communist Party

“liberates” women.

Hello and welcome to China Uncensored,

I'm your host, Chris Chappell.

March 8 was International Women's Day.

According to the UN,

it's a time "to reflect on progress made,

to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage

and determination by ordinary women."

Which explains why last year in China,

they celebrated the holiday last year

by seeing how fast people could undo the bras

of complete strangers.

Hey, standing in your underwear in front of a crowd

is definitely an act of courage and determination.

I should know.

Quick historical note here,

before the UN adopted it in the 1970s,

International Women's Day

actually started as a socialist holiday,

and then a communist holiday.

So in China,

it was first celebrated after the communists founded

the People's Republic.

Back when the well-known feminist,

Chairman Mao Zedong, famously proclaimed,

"women hold up half the sky."

Anyway, I've been looking forward to seeing

what crazy ways China celebrated women's day

this year.

For more on this,

we go to China Uncensored female person,

Shelley Zhang.

Thanks, Chris.

One thing I've always wondered.

Why do women in China only get a half day off of work

for women's day?

I'm not sure, Chris.

Maybe if women held up the entire sky,

we'd actually get an entire day off.

That's a good point.

Women do need to work harder.

But back to the important part.

How did Chinese state-run media embarrass themselves

this year?

Well, sorry to disappoint you,

but there wasn't anything really crazy.

I guess after the foreign media last year

made fun of things like husbands dressing up like punching bags

or guys walking up a mountain in heels,

Chinese media didn't want to do the same thing

this year.

Are you saying that relentless mocking

can change things for the better?

You tell me, Chris.

You're the one who started China Uncensored.

Anyway, I can't say for sure that no comically sexist events

were held to celebrate women's day,

I can only say that state-run media

didn't report extensively on any.

The People's Daily even refrained from posting slideshows

of beautiful, scantily clad women,

which is a big step up for them.

I am impressed.

So state-run media learned their lesson

about sexism?

Well...almost.

There was this tweet from your favorite,

the Global Times.

They thoughtfully used International Women's Day

to remind everyone not to forget about men.

Then after the backlash,

they thoughtfully apologized by throwing a male editor

under the proverbial bus.

That's interesting.

I did not know there was an International Men's Day.

Gotta put that in my calendar.

Let's be real, Chris.

Every day is International Men's Day.

Hey, we can always use another

reason to celebrate.

Speaking of,

how did women in China celebrate women's day this year?

Mostly by shopping.

Pretty much the exact opposite of the Day Without a Woman

protests elsewhere in the world,

which asked women to not work,

and to refrain from buying things,

to show their economic impact.

So in capitalist Western countries,

women marched and went on strike,

while in communist China,

women went shopping.It's the "ever-changing world in which we live in," Chris.

Retailers renamed women's day to Queen's Day

or Princess Day to attract customers.

Burger King even went the empowerment marketing route,

which was previously mostly done by

beauty products and tampons.

Empowerment marketing?

You know, when a brand digs into the

deep-seated insecurities of women,

but in a touching, relatable way.

Until they reveal to women

that they were the Burger Queen all along.

In fact, all women are  Burger Queens.

That's...so beautiful.

Everyone is a Burger Queen.

Okay.

Oh, also Victoria's Secret celebrated

by opening a flagship store in Shanghai.

That's very important for our episode thumbnail.

You know, I support this massive push toward consumerism

because when people shop,

capitalism wins.

But what does the Communist Party think?

Well, the Party supports this consumerism as well.

It's because of what state-run press agency

Xinhua so hilariously calls the sheconomy.

Sheconomy, that's a good one.

Mmm.

The point is,

the Chinese government needs women to shop.

Women's spending is expected to

almost double in the few years,

which is hugely important as the Communist Party

tries to move China from an export-driven economy

to a consumption-driven economy like the US.

Okay, I understand that.

But doesn't the Communist Party want to use

Women's Day to get back to their

men-and-women-are-equal, feminist roots?

Those roots are a lie, Chris.

I thought Mao wanted equal rights for women.

You know, the whole, “women hold up half the sky” thing.

Mao didn't say that.

It was a mistranslation.

Like how Machiavelli said,

"The ends justify the means."

Except he didn’t.

What Machiavelli actually said was,

“One must consider the final result.”

That’s kinda different.

Right.

And what Mao actually said was that

women can hold up half the sky.

What?

That doesn't sound so "girl power" anymore.

It's true that the Communists abolished foot binding,

and gave women the opportunity to get an education

and work outside the home.

But it wasn't because the Communists altruistically

believed in the equal rights and freedoms of women.

Mao "liberated" women because he felt that they were

an untapped source of labor.

When the Party took over China,

they needed to ramp up production fast,

and you can do that much easier

when half the population isn't forbidden from working.

So what you're saying is that…

The Communist Party wanted women to be equal

with men so they could be equally exploited

and controlled by the Party-state.

And the labor force is just the beginning.

When Mao believed that China needed more workers,

he convinced women to have more babies.

When that backfired and the Party believed they

were facing a demographic crisis,

they started the one-child policy.

Leading to forced abortions and sterilizations.

Yes, and Party officials monitoring your periods.

Wait, really?

Yup.

All ways in which the Party

tries to control women's bodies.

And you know the thing they started 10 years ago

about leftover women?

Yes, educated unmarried women

over the age of 27.

Well, now it's 25.

And there aren't leftover women in China.

There are about 30 million more men than women.

The whole thing is a propaganda campaign.

The Party is trying to manipulate women

into getting married younger so that

they can avoid the social instability that comes from

having too many unmarried young men.

Wow, you're talking about a lot of issues here.

Yeah, sorry,

it's just that Women's Day only comes once a year

so I have to cram them all in.

What?

You can totally talk about women's issues

even when it's not Women's Day.

Well, thanks Chris.

That's very generous of you.

In fact,

in honor of International Women's Day,

I'd like to present the first annual

Most Outstanding Woman of China Uncensored award

to you, Chris.

I get an award?!

Well, after all, by starting China Uncensored,

you gave me a platform

to talk about women's rights in China.

I'm going to hang this up in my trophy room.

Right next to my China Uncensored

Host of the Month award.

And this gives me a great idea.

I'm going to create a Most Outstanding Man

of China Uncensored award

for International Men's Day.

And do you know who I'm going to give it to?

Wow.

I have to say that's very open-

Me!

What?

You're going to give yourself

the Most Outstanding Man award?

Yeah.

I mean,

you're out of the running

since you're a woman.

And like Matt is ever going to win

most outstanding man.

I'm the obvious choice.

I'm speechless.

Don't worry, Shelley.

You'll always be a Burger Queen.

What?

I thought that was supposed to be empowering!

Well, what do you think about Women's Day

in China?

Leave your comments below.

Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.

Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.