Women's experiences during the war depended on a variety of factors, including class, place of origin, and social connections.
Refugees who fled to Chongqing from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the east were referred to by locals as "downriver people" (Chinese: 下江人).
Women in China supported injured soldiers in Communist and Nationalist bases alike, working as nurses, doctors, and midwives during the war.
In 1940, female high school graduates in Hunan and Sichuan were required to work as nurses, either for the military or for rural public health.
[10] Middle-class and upper-class women across China participated in various fundraising activities and led organizations to provide relief for soldiers, refugees, orphans, among other groups.
Volunteers in orphanages taught children a number of songs and plays with anti-Japanese sentiment alongside public health lessons.
Three important nationally recognized organizations during the war, which all relocated to Chongqing, were the "National Association of Chinese Women for the Cheering and Comforting of the Officers and Soldiers of the War of Self-Defense and Resistance against Japan", the "Wartime Child Welfare Protection Association", and the "Women’s Directorial Committee of New Life Movement Promotion Federation".
[12] Prominent women such as Song Meiling, Deng Yingchao, Shi Liang, and Li Dequan cooperated to lead these organizations.
After this project was launched, refugee women worked at a textile factory, library, farm, and schools, among other places in Songji.
Many women in wartime China migrated to different regions, either to escape Japanese soldiers and bombing or disasters such as floods and famine.
[21] For poor women in Chongqing, the mass arrival of refugees in their hometowns drove up prices, making it even more difficult to cover basic needs.
[22] Women from peasant families in Chongqing could barely make ends meet before the war, so they took on more jobs that sometimes put their lives at risk.
[23] Women in Henan who were displaced and affected by the 1938 Yellow River flood resorted to various survival strategies to stay alive during the war.
While many women in occupied areas decided to stay indoors to avoid contact with Japanese soldiers, some braved the threat of leaving their houses.
In one instance, a refugee woman was forced to satisfy a man's sexual desires to protect her family and gain connections in a new city.
[34] While estimates vary, scholars agree that the number of women who worked in forced prostitution in occupied areas was over 200 thousand.
[36] Due to a number of men leaving home to either work or fight, the structure of the household and gender roles shifted dramatically in various regions of China.
[37] While refugee women lost their support systems, they also gained certain freedoms living away from family, such as choosing one's own husband rather than having an arranged marriage.
However, the war disrupted the postal service in places like Chongqing, which meant that women struggled to meet basic needs and had to find alternate ways of getting money.
Women in Japan-occupied Shanghai, for instance, worked in stores, cotton mills, as models, and opera singers among other jobs.
[47] In various mediums, such as cartoons, women in China during the war were depicted as victims of sexual violence and murder to inspire Chinese people to keep fighting.
She also took an active involvement in fundraising and caring for "warphans" or war orphans, to ensure China received donations overseas.