Show I I I NEW WOMAN IN CHINA I i I I i I In China a progressive o clito elito elo is stirring I the nation to its depths depths and nd the tho peo people peo-I peo pie bo however o painfully and d slowly are arc responding Of this there can cnn be hc no doubt Orientals often say a to us us If I tho the family that flint essential foundation of Chines Chi Chi- nes society is shaken by reform and undergoes a change then vo we 0 fb shall a behold be hc bold hold tho the riso rise of a new China Chin otherwise e etho tho old ol order of things thins will wi go on Well Vell there is already abundant evidence evi i deuce dence that tho family is is being affected b b- b th the changes es occurring in Chinese life The Tho e ho young girl ir is IS to be ruled b by her father the wife bv by her ber husband the mother r by V her Ler son son i Until recently this Chin Chinese so precept was WS never or called in iu question queston And Arid far for more than in in other jo countries the family was the basis of the tho state and aud nd the tho subjection of women was the tho family's s 's first law Today To To- day among amon the many social movements that ll disturb tu tho old oll scheme of lisp life in in China ono OM finds a full fledged feminist movement It I is surest symptom of tho breakup of old China If I woman becomes becomes be be- I comes emancipated from tom her a age long clon bondage and mc sets herself in opposition to her lord loid the pillars of the social locial edifice edi flee fice will wi collapse and tb the tho ancient house house- bold hold laws Js will wi crumble to dust There will come an n end of worship ancestor since the tho man as ab absolute monarch in tM thO borne hOle is alone alono qualified t to perform the ancient ries rites His primacy gone the Jone style old style ol-style marriage will wi go o with it and aDd tho the tr traditional code will wi be a dead let let- le tor ter tel Will Wi that occur Xo No o one can say for force occur ce certain but there is no denin denying that tr tremendous tre tremendous tre- tre efforts are arc bein being eert exerted d in behalf behalf be be- half of liberation from the tho beliefs of the past a rupture with antique customs custom and a 3 wa way of life Hie that conforms to natural natural nat nat- ural laws As S in the Latin world the tto raison raison rai- rai rat rat- son detre of marriage in iu China Chin is is to provide the tLe dead with descendants who will ill l celebrate their memory For that purpose sons are required Daughters avail nothing It I has bas been the tho custom to bandage their feet at the ago of S Sand Sand and doom oom them theta to neglect and i ino igno no rance rne At 1 12 or 1 15 they are married their parents selecting husbands for them The TLe husband may his bis wife if she bears ber him no children He Ha le purchases concubines almost always and nd their offspring The Tho law lawi i ignores noros tho the existence of of concubines so of the iliC man man is fr free 1 to treat th them i- i as as' as b bo ho likes Signs Sigs of Emancipation A widow if she belongs to the poorer class cass may remI remarry In the mandarin class clas however she sho hc lives all aU her days in in the homo borne of her husband a s relatives and aud is literally owned b by them Idee- Idee Indeed I the only Chinese women who make out a 3 I tolerable existence are aro the mothers of ninny many sons So you may conclude that if it wo we find unequivocal signs of feminine emancipation we wo are arc in a 3 position to predict the ruin run of the ancient family organization As soon as the authority of the head of the family has collapsed all aJ else will sill 1 collapse And this new newstate newstate newstate state of thin things will wi require a new system tern tem ter of household rule re a new constitution constitution tion ton for the family lodar Today the Chinese Chine e are keenly alive e al to lo tho the issues this transformation trans tran I formation is bound to raise When one undertakes to give an account account ac count of the tho feminist movement in China one naturally Uy begins by bv asking skins wh whether it has ha a connection with a doctrine doctrine doc doe trine trino clearly cearly formulated some somo time ago ag or has come into being heing fortuitously alongside the social and aDd political campaign campaign cam nm waged by the Young China party In Kang Wei lc leader er of the reformers reformers re reo re- re formers published his bis commentaries on the Chinese cJ classics giving a broad and liberal interpretation to the teachings s sI of Confucius and nd his disciples He I showed that the sa sagest sages eSt far from condemning condemning con con- change justified it whenever the future of the tho race or tho the n nation tion was WS endangered and nd his bis leadin leading thesis was A in iu I democracy which the masses share the tho responsibilities of government and the two sexes enjoy equal rights is i the tho crying need of our time Founder of Chinese Chines Feminism Accordingly According we may re recognize in him the founder of Chinese feminism which bas has now DOW had a career of seventeen years rears But he failed to work out his ide idea Later his bis disciples carried his bis theories to their logical conclusion They TheT made the claim for the equality of the tho sexes sexes a corollary to natural law bw They stigmatize the subject of Chinese women women women-as a ag a scandalous survival al of antiquity antiquity an an- it was not in the name of justice justlee jus jus- tice that they argued rued for progress i iwas it was is-as to clear Chinas China's reputation so that she would no longer bo be a barbarian among tho the nations Lot Let lt me inc cite a few cases to show that Chinese women deserve decre the liberation that is demanded for them Sin Sin-Peng- Sio Ste was as the tho only daughter of a very cr wealthy mandarin She inherited his bis fortune Immediately she gave 30 t to found a college for girls Then she sho devoted to establishing an educational journal F Finally she eho ahoa gave a ve teals teats to start a n girls girls' gils' gils school in her native village Of the that remained she gave avo a n apart apart part par to her mother and then set out for Japan to study the tho Japanese system of education for was married nt at t IV 10 u to a Xan official She bad had two chil chi dren Coining Cowin to Pekin sho she learned En English and J Japanese She conceived conceive an n ambition to found a s system stem of education edu edu- cation but her ber husband tailed to 83 SUl with her ber All Ul Al her tier efforts were in vain Tain Despite Despie tho the law eho left her husband and the children to tobel her bel mother Then she went to Tokio to study Returning to China she started a n newspaper in which she ardently ardently ar are ar- ar dently denty defended the f feminist cause cuso After a second sojourn in Japan she trek uok permanent residence in her native province where Jn ID in 1907 1007 her learning won her a position as principal of ot a girls girls' school There she taught western sciences and Chinese ethics meanwhile lecturing before audiences of adults She so influential that the tho reactionaries re rc began a campaign against her ber Last July after the a assassination of the governor all al the educated educated edu edu- cate people in the district were rero arrested arrested arrest arrest- ed cd and King Sieou-King was condemned to death and beheaded Removing Bandages from Feet lan Wu-fung-lan having espoused pro pro- ln ideas removed the bm bandages aes fro from n her feet Her Ier mother law thinking her net act st an outrage upon morals an and denoting the downfall of the thc girl rl subjected her to torture tortue of which she died The he viceroy though not nota a n confessed reformer had a tablet erected to her cUer Moreover oreo tho eon bor lion law father to pay a tine fine the rone ironey going to found a girls girls' rIs' rIs school which is to bear the tho foune martyrs martyr's mar mar- 1 tyr's name Finally this officials official's 8 wife wiCe and daughters founded ed n a feminist oran organization or or- an called the Association s of Natural Feet Such associations aro are b coming becoming mere numerous Not ot only warring against the custom of ot foot dwarf foot dwarfing ing tho they aim Rim nt at the radical reform of Chinese Chinese Chi Chi- nese DelO family lifo life In many localities girls joining these clubs call can themselves girls irb obeying their own o n will wi The They take t ake the oath to choose o their own hus bac hands bands s. s und anti if need ned be hc ther to resist their parents parents' commands Some of the clubs take up politics Thus Thug the women anI and anil girls eirls 01 ot the CheKian Kiang Che-Kiang protested against the English loan Joan for the railway and got cot up a subscription u ion her whereby by wa was raised in China Thanks to these societies the chili child the less les widow and nd the thc discarded wife wito cbill are arc areno no longer left lef to their wretched fate tate Employment is found for them if pro pro- pared for stud study abroad tho they nrc ore sent to Japan if without resources their members fellow provide pro for their sup port |