This edited volume presents significant new findings on new domains of employment for women in China's burgeoning market economy of the 1990s and twenty-first century. Experts in gender, politics, media studies and anthropology discuss the impact of economic reform and globalization on Chinese women in family businesses, in management, the professions, the prostitution industry and domestic service. Significant themes include changing marriage and consumer aspirations and the reinvention of domestic space. The volume offers fresh insights into changing definitions of 'women's work' in contemporary China and questions women's perceived 'disadvantage' in the market economy.

Anne E. McLaren is a Senior Lecturer in Chinese literature, language and cultural studies at the Melbourne Institute of Asian Languages and Societies, University of Melbourne. She has published extensively in the popular culture of late imperial China, women's performance narratives, gender studies and Chinese marriage systems.

1. Introduction Part 1: 'New' Domains in the Chinese Market Economy Part 2: Women in the Professions Part 3: Reinventing Domestic Space