The Development of Women's Liberation Thought in Modern China

Author: Zhang Liangbo
Publisher: Henan University Press
Synopsis:
In China, women's liberation has become a buzzword. However, when was the concept of women's liberation proposed? What does it mean? How can women achieve liberation? These are all elusive questions, and they have been the subject of constant reflection by the author. The book presented to you attempts to explore the issue of women's liberation by tracing the origins and development of the idea, with the hope of providing some reference for contemporary women's liberation.
It should be noted that:
1. The theoretical sources of modern women's liberation ideas are mainly Western "natural rights," but they also inherit the democratic thought of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Therefore, this book traces women's liberation ideas before 1840 and regards them as the bud of women's liberation ideas.
2. The study of modern Chinese women's liberation ideas in this book is limited to 1921 mainly because: the exploration of women's liberation from a Marxist perspective in China focused on the time around the founding of the Communist Party of China. After that, the ideas and movements of women's liberation underwent significant changes. Additionally, because Xiang Jingyu was a pioneer of women's liberation in China, in her short life, she wrote more than ten thousand words of articles on women's liberation, most of which were published in the 1920s. Therefore, 1921 is set as the lower limit of this book.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Chapter 1 The Bud of Women's Liberation Ideas in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
I. Questioning Feudal Ritual Ethics
1. The Progressive View of Women by Li Zhi, Tang Zhen, and Yan Yuan
2. Yuan Mei and His Female Disciples
3. Yu Zhengxie, Who Challenged Ritual Ethics with Ritual Ethics
4. A Perspective on Women's Views in A Journey to the West in a Miraculous Land
II. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Women's Issues
1. Measures to Liberate Women Issued
2. Women in the "Heavenly Kingdom"
3. Hong Xiuquan's View on Women
Chapter 2 The Enlightenment of Women's Liberation Ideas
I. Missionaries Promoting Women's Liberation
II. Observations and Experiences of People Who Went Abroad
III. Women's Liberation Ideas of Zheng Guanying, Chen Chi, and Song Hu
Chapter 3 The Rise of Women's Liberation Ideas During the Hundred Days' Reform
I. The Anti-Bondage Movement
II. Women's Liberation Ideas of the Bourgeois New Reformers
1. Kang Youwei's Initial Thoughts on Gender Equality
2. Liang Qichao's Ideas on Promoting Women's Education
3. Serious Advocacy for Women's Liberation
4. Tan Sitong's Ideas on Women's Liberation
5. Jing Yuanshan and China's First Women's School
III. The Awakening of Female Subjective Self-Awareness
1. The Women's Gazette's Advocacy for Women's Liberation
2. Kang Tongwei's Thoughts on Women's Education
Chapter 4 The Development of Women's Liberation Ideas During the Xinhai Revolution
I. Ma Junwu, the First Person to Introduce Western Feminist Theories to China
II. Women's Liberation Ideas in the Turbulent Democratic Movement
1. Sun Yat-sen's Views on Civil Rights and Women's Rights
2. Liu Yazi's Ideas on Women's Rights
3. Hu Hanmin's Thoughts on Women's Liberation
4. Chen Yiyi and Women's Debate
III. The First Book Discussing Women's Liberation Ideas: The Voice of Women
IV. Modern Anarchism and Women's Liberation
Chapter 5 Women's Liberation Ideas of Awakened Women During the Xinhai Revolution
I. The Women as Citizens Movement
II. The Women's Rights Movement
III. Women Who Step Out of the Country
IV. Qiu Jin, the Revolutionary, and Women's Liberation
V. The Awakening of Educated Women
1. Chen Jiefen, the Woman of Chu Nan
2. Liang Qichao of the Women's World—Zhang Zhujun
3. Lu Bicheng, the Unconventional Woman
4. Tang Qunying, the Spirit of Women
Chapter 6 The Deepening and Flourishing of Women's Liberation Ideas During the May Fourth Movement
Afterword