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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/28\/world\/asia\/china-jane-eyre-required-reading-literature.html?ae=oa&emc=edit_nn_20260928&nl=the-morning&segment_id=227179",
    "parsed_content": "AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTWhat China Sees in \u2018Jane Eyre,\u2019 Now Required Reading for Ninth GradersThe Victorian heroine has long been celebrated in China for her independence and insistence on equality.Listen \u00b7 5:52 min Share full articleA woman reads at a bookstore in Beijing in August. \u201cJane Eyre\u201d has found generations of readers in China since it was first translated into Chinese a century ago.Credit...Zhu Zhenqiang\/VCG, via Getty ImagesBy Yan Zhuang and Li YouSept. 28, 2026, 1:58 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Nearly two centuries after \u201cJane Eyre\u201d first defied the conventions of Victorian England, China is requiring a new generation of teenagers to read her story.The British classic has long been popular in China and was already recommended reading for schoolchildren. But this fall, ninth-grade students across the country are being required to read the novel in full, according to Chinese state media. One report in an official newspaper held it up as an anti-materialistic love story that young people could learn from.The book, in which the young orphan Jane Eyre works as a governess in the household of the wealthy but elusive Mr. Rochester, is widely celebrated in China for its themes of independence and equality between women and men.A Chinese translation appeared as early as 1925, and there have since been numerous translations and adaptations for stage and screen. A British film adaptation was shown in Chinese theaters in 1979, just a few years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, as China was reopening to foreign culture.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTPing Zhu, a literature professor at the University of California, San Diego, who researches Chinese feminism and literature, said the novel is compatible with the Chinese government\u2019s vision of women\u2019s equality \u2014 one that can coexist with traditional gender roles and the heterosexual nuclear family. Its inclusion in the ninth grade textbook comes as China struggles with population decline and the government encourages young people to marry and have children, she said.\u201c\u2018Jane Eyre\u2019 is about an independent woman, but she\u2019s not too outrageous in her challenge of patriarchal power,\u201d Ms. Zhu said. By the end of the novel, Jane has married Mr. Rochester and had a child. \u201cAll these things are what the Chinese government wants the younger generation to do,\u201d Ms. Zhu said.Published in Britain in 1847, \u201cJane Eyre\u201d was striking for its depiction of a poor young woman insisting on her independence, dignity and equality in a society in which women \u2014 particularly married women \u2014 had severely limited legal and economic autonomy.The novel has long been celebrated in China for its feminist themes, with state media often quoting Jane\u2019s declaration to Mr. Rochester: \u201cDo you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you \u2014 and full as much heart!\u201dImageJane Eyre and Mr. Rochester in an illustration from an 1896 edition of Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s \u201cJane Eyre.\u201dCredit...De Agostini Editorial, via Getty Images\u201cJane Eyre\u201d was progressive in its 19th-century context but some contemporary feminists would view its idea of liberation as limited, Ms. Zhu said. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe kind of feminism depicted in the novel has long been supported by the Chinese Communist Party, Ms. Zhu said. It is at odds with how the party sees more modern kinds of feminism, like the #MeToo movement, she added, \u201cor the kind of feminism that teaches women to not marry and not have children \u2014 that is a feminism they cannot accept at all.\u201dIn recent years, the Chinese government has restricted some other portrayals of romance and relationships.The authorities have detained dozens of writers of Boys\u2019 Love, a genre of gay romance novels written largely by and for straight women, that state media said could shape young readers\u2019 ideas about sexuality.Regulators have also sought to rein in a popular genre of micro-dramas about wealthy executives falling in love with less privileged people, urging creators to avoid glorifying marriages to powerful and wealthy people.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTState media has suggested that novels like \u201cJane Eyre\u201d offer young readers an alternative to what they call superficial love stories. An article in Beijing Daily, an official Chinese Communist Party publication, argued that teaching literary classics like \u201cJane Eyre\u201d could help children \u201cestablish a more balanced value system.\u201dChinese readers have long found their own meanings in Jane\u2019s story.Vicky Li, 46, read \u201cJane Eyre\u201d when she was young and saw something of herself in its heroine. Years later, she said, she shared the novel with her daughters, now 13 and 15, because she wanted them to become independent and courageous.Ms. Li said she was happy to see the novel included in the textbook, even if some might think Jane did not embody the modern idea of a strong woman. \u201cGiven the historical context in which she lived, the choices she made were truly groundbreaking \u2014 a profound act of defiance,\u201d she said.The novel itself complicates the idea that Jane ultimately submits to convention. She leaves Mr. Rochester rather than become his mistress and returns only after inheriting a fortune. Mr. Rochester has lost his estate and his sight, dramatically altering the balance of power.Wang Sirui, 30, pointed to Jane\u2019s refusal to become a mistress \u2014 even if it meant starving to death \u2014 as a key moment that showed the character\u2019s commitment to independence.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cThe core of the work lies in the message that a woman must make choices based on her own will and values, rather than succumbing to various temptations,\u201d said Ms. Wang, who first read the book when she was 13.Ms. Zhu said the Chinese authorities may ultimately have limited control over what messages young people take from \u201cJane Eyre.\u201d\u201cLiterary works, especially these great literary works, they\u2019re always very rich, and they\u2019re open to millions of ways of interpretation,\u201d she said.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-28T05:58:32+00:00",
    "author_name": "Yan Zhuang, Li You",
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    "ai_headline": "What China Sees in \u2018Jane Eyre,\u2019 Now Required Reading for Ninth Graders",
    "ai_simplified_title": "China Requires 'Jane Eyre' for Ninth Graders",
    "ai_excerpt": "China has made \"Jane Eyre\" required reading for ninth graders, celebrating its themes of independence and equality. The novel's portrayal of feminism aligns with the government's vision, encouraging traditional family values amidst population decline.",
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