無論從發行期或影響力來看，《婦女雜誌》都可謂是中國近代史上規模最大的婦女期刊，因此常被學者視為婦女史研究最基本的史料 ；並且由於五四時期該刊所呈現的激進論調與影響力的成長 ，前人經常認為此一時期的中國婦女論述經歷了高度成長。這類前人研究基本上假 設史料空間背後的社會脈絡具有一貫性，但五四時期《婦女雜誌》的讀者、編輯者、撰稿者等所身處之社會脈絡，是否與五四前後具有連續性 ？其實仍有待驗證。為了解決這個問題，本文將先對《婦女雜誌》十七年的內容作全盤考察，並分析商務印書館與《婦女雜誌》的主編、執筆 陣容及讀者間多層面的人際關係，來重建作為婦女史研究基本史料--《婦女雜誌》的社會脈絡。然後重新思考《婦女雜誌》的史料空間，究竟 能否代表五四前後的中國婦女論述。《婦女雜誌》所呈現的婦女論述之水準，的確以五四時期為最高點，但這並不意味整個中國社會的婦女論 述，也以五四時期為最高點。如果說早期的《婦女雜誌》是保守的男性主編叮嚀婦女們成為「賢妻良母」的刊 物，那麼，五四階段的《婦女雜誌》則搖身一變，成為一群年輕知識分子討論婦女問題的園地。

　　　　　Women's magazines in modern China, a side-product of the emerging free press in the first decades of the twentieth century, provide invaluable materials for the study of Chinese women in modern era. However, their value is not a reflection of the extent of historical content in these magazines themselves, but due to the paucity of other historical sources on Chinese women. Thus, it is not surprising that the Ladies' Journal (Funu zazhi), published by Shanghai Commercial Press from 1915 to 1931, has become a critical source for modern Chinese women's history, especially for the May Fourth Movement era. It is widely accepted that the Ladies' Journal reached its apogee during the period of May Fourth Movement, which was used to validate the value this magazine as a historical source for the study of the women's liberation movement during this era. However, this assumption overlooks the two critical points: first, that the social background of a journal (such as readership or authors) can change, and, second, that any historical conclusions drawn from specific sources need to be verified by the social background of the sources themselves. Since each historical source reflects only a fraction of a whole society, the changes portrayed in one specific source cannot be extrapolated to explain the “zeitgeist” without verifying of the continuity of its social background. This paper examines the history of the Ladies' Journal over its seventeen-year existence through its authorship, readership, publisher's attitudes, and circulation. This allows us to determine more precisely the actual value of the Ladies' Journal for the study of the women's liberation movement during the May Fourth Movement era.