Initial period Later scholars such as Jacqueline Nivard and Wang Zheng have characterized ''The Ladies' Journal'' as taking a conservative stance during its first four-to-six years of publication, under the editorship of Wang Yunzhang. Significant debate and division on the role of women existed within the journal from an early stage. Many early contributors—alongside Wang himself—were writers of the "
Mandarin duck and butterfly" genre of romantic fiction, sometimes criticized as
melodramatic and beholden to traditionalist social values. Serialized short stories associated with this genre frequently ran in the journal, boosting its popularity among younger women. Such stories often featured Western protagonists, and commonly Americans. Women's education was a major focus throughout the magazine's publication. It also sought to showcase ideal role models for women, showcasing women in a variety of careers and activities through articles and photos, as well as providing biographies of famous women. Articles on Western technology and medicine, mainly translated from Japanese sources, were very common, as were more general advice on topics such as housekeeping,
bookkeeping, medical care, and
gardening. Some coverage was of more technical subjects, such as
aquaculture,
beekeeping,
papermaking, and wild
mushroom identification. Food writing included coverage of nutrition and a mix of both Western and traditional
Chinese recipes. Many non-fiction articles credited to editor Wang Yunzhang were translations from the Japanese magazine and the American
''Ladies' Home Journal''. A regular column entitled "literary scene" () published poetry. Initially, this was limited to that written by historical women; in the third issue, men's works about female poets began to be published, and by the second year, it began to consist mostly of works about women by men. Initially this section also included essays written by women, but these were later spun off into an "exposition" () column. A fiction column () published serialized (a form of verse fiction), most of which were written by the popular writer
Cheng Zhanlu (). The first fiction work signed by a woman that was published in the journal was a serialized story entitled
Lingering Music in the Capital City (), which was published across five issues in the second volume (1916). It was signed under the name "Hua Qianlin" (); although it is not certain that it was written by a woman, as male authors during the period sometimes wrote under women's names. More fiction submitted by women began to appear in the following issues. Other recurring columns in the journal included entertainment, reports, miscellaneous subjects, and a
supplement. From the third volume (1917) onward, some stories in the journal were
written in vernacular Chinese as opposed to the literary
Classical Chinese, following the
New Culture Movement (an intellectual movement against the perceived shortcomings of traditional Chinese society) and its promotion of
vernacular literature. In 1919 and 1920, the journal shifted entirely to vernacular Chinese. It was announced to be the official language of the journal in January 1920. Articles also became much longer from late 1919 onward, and began to cover social issues and theoretical topics.
May Fourth era In the wake of the May Fourth Movement, feminist writings became more common in New Culture periodicals. The Commercial Press had adopted a conservative stance during the 1910s, but by the end of the decade this had grown unpopular, with sales declining across many of its publications in 1918 and 1919. In May 1919, the scholar and May Fourth Movement activist
Luo Jialun published a critique of the Commercial Press magazines in the New Culture journal
New Tide (), writing that
The ''Ladies' Journal
"talks of women as if they were slaves of men; [the journal] is a real crime against mankind". Several major Commercial Press periodicals, including The Ladies' Journal
, underwent reforms of leadership and structure in 1919. Shen Yanbing, who became the de facto'' editor of the paper in 1920, published some of the first articles in the journal advocating for women's liberation. These included an introductory essay on Western feminist movements in the August 1920 issue. ''The Ladies' Journal'' began to more explicitly focus on social issues, especially feminism, once Zhang Xichen became the editor-in-chief in 1921. A liberal and feminist, Zhang recruited like-minded authors—mainly, although not exclusively men—from the
Chinese Literary Association () and the Woman Question Research Association (), the latter of which he founded in 1922. Inspired by the writings of the Swedish feminist
Ellen Key, he championed the principles of
love marriage (as opposed to
arranged marriage), free divorce, motherhood, and a new sexual morality. Zhang and other Chinese followers of Key proposed that romantic love should be the sole reason for marriage. Dubbing his ideas "love morality" (), Zhang saw
premarital,
extramarital, and
polyamorous sex as permissible if they were mediated by feelings of romantic love. Zhang and his co-contributors opposed
singlehood as an option for women. In response to an essay by Jiang Fengzi (among the journal's most prolific female contributors during the early 1920s) advocating it, Zhang labeled the increase in singlehood "a sick phenomenon in a civilized society". The journal became the primary feminist magazine in China during Zhang's editorship. It moved away from coverage of domestic matters, with translations of foreign works restricted to social, political, and theoretical topics. Several feminist writers had their work translated and featured in the journal. Many of these were Japanese feminists, such as
Yosano Akiko; others were Western feminists, almost invariably those who had been previously translated in the Japanese feminist journal
Seitō. Translated writings by
eugenicists and birth control advocates such as
Havelock Ellis,
Francis Galton,
Marie Stopes, and
Margaret Sanger were also included. A correspondence column allowed readers to participate in social discussions. In 1921, the journal introduced a column titled "reader writings" (), resulting in an increase in female contributors of poetry and fiction to the magazine. Three years later, a literature column was introduced to showcase new-style fiction and drama. Zhang cancelled the correspondence column in 1924, citing a lack of reader interest, and increased the number of
editorials. Beginning in 1922, Zhang began to run special issues dedicated to particular topics. These included issues focused on
prostitution, feminism, choosing a spouse, and 'domestic revolution' among other topics. In a January 1925 special issue on "The New Sexual Morality" (), Zhang and Zhou (alongside two guest writers, Shen Yanbing and his brother
Shen Zemin) argued that morality should be based around doing what one wishes as long as it does not harm others, and extended this framework to sexual relations. Zhang argued that the focus on
monogamous marriages and the
nuclear family was restrictive, and advocated instead for
free love. Two months later, the
Peking University professor
Chen Daqi attacked their articles as conservative, arguing that their position on polyamory would be in effect a return to traditional
polygamy. The Commercial Press was unwilling to let the two editors write a response, although Zhang rebuked Chen's criticisms in editorials in
Contemporary Review () and
Wilderness (). Zhang was pulled from his position as editor-in-chief several months later.
Later years After Zhang's departure, the magazine returned to a more conservative stance, emphasizing motherhood. Discussions of social issues were removed, as were most translations of foreign literature. Instead, the journal focused on stories sent in by readers, which became the majority of the content featured in the magazine. Special issues on art were published in 1926 and 1929. These included coverage of a variety of art forms (ranging from
seal carving and traditional painting to photography), profiles on notable female artists, and advocacy for women to get involved in careers in art fields. The 1929 issue, dedicated to the
First National Art Exhibition in Shanghai, featured extensive coverage of the female painter
Pan Yuliang. Ye Shengtao revived the magazine's advice and correspondence columns in 1931, again allowing for dialogue between readers and editors in the magazine. During the journal's final years, it took more left-wing stances, possibly due to the growing influence of the
Chinese Communist Party and the creation of a leftist writer's league in Shanghai in 1930. Coverage of Western literature and thought was reintroduced, and Chinese intellectuals such as
Feng Zikai and () supplied essays on Western art and culture. Other intellectuals, such as () and
Chen Wangdao, wrote articles advocating for the
empowerment of women. A special issue on women's writing, the only one in the periodical's history, was published in 1931. This issue was mainly focused on Western women writers (such as the
Brontë sisters and
Agnes Smedley), with little mention of contemporary Chinese women authors. The journal's final issue in December 1931, produced shortly before the Japanese bombing of the Commercial Press headquarters, included two lengthy articles warning women of the threat the
Empire of Japan posed to them, and called on them to stay informed. == Covers ==