 During the day, the word refers the character as a divine "goddess", a loving mother and guardian for her son, while at night, it refers to her occupation, in that the Chinese term "shennü"serves as an old euphemism for prostitute.At the time of the film's release, this euphemism was particularly relevant as Shanghai was believed to be home to 100,000 women working as prostitutes.Wu’s use of the euphemism portrays his views of seeing beyond the stereotype of the fallen women and calls attention to the themes of class struggle and social inequality through the complex character of Ruan Lingyu, who is both victimized and empowered at times.