As China celebrated Women’s Day on March 8, our staff decided to hold a retreat for our North Korean refugee women where they gathered for a time to share their burdens with one another and encouraged each other in their faith. 

Despite the fact that China has not honored the rights of North Korean women and has committed a number of atrocities on its women, Women’s Day has been a widely celebrated event in the country. 

Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, China held major events to celebrate Chinese women around the country. According to Xinhua, the All-China Women’s Federation held a meeting in China’s capital city of Beijing to honor 310 female role models on March 3 this year. The female attendees were called on to embrace self-respect, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-empowerment, as well as to strive for fulfilling lives. The President of the federation also encouraged women to “contribute their wisdom and strength to the cause of building China into a stronger country and national rejuvenation through concrete actions and accomplishments.” Meanwhile, Beijing also launched a March campaign, “Inspire, Inclusion,” which offers female guests exclusive access to cocktail tutorials, spa treatments and a range of “unforgettable” experiences in three China World Trade Center hotels throughout the month.

As a highly patriarchal and conservative society that is not often associated with women empowerment, it may come as a surprise to the West how widely celebrated Women’s Day is in China.

The Meaning of “Three Eight” in China

Despite the widespread celebrations on March 8 nowadays, “three” and “eight” put together in Chinese ironically forms a word that was traditionally used to describe immodest and indecent women. It is said that this term can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty when the Manchu government only allowed foreigners to enter the port city of Hong Kong for trade on the 8th, 18th and 28th of each month. As the conservative Chinese neighborhood would only be exposed to foreigners, who they described were dressed more openly, on these three days that end with the number “eight,” the Chinese called these foreign women “Three Eight” as a sign of mockery and to criticize their “indecency.”

In fact, some people still mistakenly believe that Women’s Day, which is more commonly known as “Three Eight Festival,” shares its origin with the unpleasant word “three eight” in the Chinese language.

Celebration of Women Across Major Chinese Provinces

Driven by the festivity, flower market sales across the nation have thrived. It was reported that the Kunming International Flower Auction Center in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan saw a record high of 5.04 million flower purchases in a single day, with an average daily sale of 4.49 million flowers this March. Roses, carnations, lilies, tulips and baby’s breath, among other flowers, have become especially popular and high in demand due to their association with Women’s Day.

Meanwhile, many major Chinese provinces hosted public events to celebrate the contributions and successes of women from all walks of life. For instance, the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang held a commemorative activity called “A New Era of Zhejiang Women,” which aimed at displaying how women in Zhejiang strive for development and excellence. Female representatives at the event shared stories about their struggles as women in modern society, vowed to always serve the Party and to play their role as female leads in their families. 

Another coastal city in the south, Guangzhou, selected over 300 female representatives who have a mindset that “the country is great” and display a “correct view” of marriage, childbearing and raising a family to promote “familial civilization” to participate at a Women’s Day meeting. At the meeting, women working groups were encouraged to excel in leading and playing the role of a bridge between society and women. Other government departments were also ordered to protect the rights and interests of women and create favorable conditions for high-quality development of women’s causes in the province. The rights of North Korean women in China were not publicly discussed.