Late Qing Women and Modern China

Author: Xia Xiaohong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: The book is titled "Women in Society" and "Women's Death":
The first part, "Women in Society," aims to reflect the new changes in the lives and thoughts of late Qing women through case studies. Among them, the examination of Shanghai's "China Women's School" focuses on the early stages of women's socialization education, with the mutual impact, conflict, and reconciliation of Eastern and Western concepts as the key points of discussion. The educational ideal of "integration of Eastern and Western cultures" promoted by the school holds particular inspirational significance in the later educational practices across various regions. Complementing this is the study of Du Chengshu, a female student in Beijing, who refused a date request from male student Qu Jiang. Through the analysis of their public private letters and the hidden divisions within women's organizations behind the scenes, the author intentionally highlights the real-life dilemmas faced by late Qing women as they navigated between new education and old morals. The emergence of women's newspapers also began in the late Qing era.
Chapter 3 takes the magazine Zhinu Shijie (Women's World), published in 1904, as a case study to clarify the late Qing period and the content of women's discourse by the advocates of the "women's revolution." Textual analysis not only reveals the editor's shifting thoughts over the three years of editing but also draws attention to the similarities and differences between male and female voices. The saying "Men should submit, but women should not" was popular in the late Qing era. This discourse was rooted in historical memories from the Ming-Qing transition and also referred to the unique practical concerns of late Qing women's discourse. Exploring its complex multiple meanings and revealing how historical resources were transformed into modern concepts is the focus of this chapter.