Female talent and education - Essay Example

Female talent and education The female revolutionary Qiu Jin is an exemplification of how the turn of the 20th century changed the course of the world, with education, talent, female virtue and heroism defining the course women life would henceforth take. In her book, The Precious Raft of History, Joan Judge enters into a wider discussion regarding how intellectualism helped change the place of women in the society, through revolutionizing the way women thought and tackled the issues facing them, which relegated them to second class citizens within the Chinese society. This is because women had little control over their lives, including the issue of choosing a marriage partner (Morrison, 27). This battle, waged by women through a combination of talent, education and heroism can best be traced in the life story of the female revolutionary; Qiu Jin. Thus, this discussion seeks to analyze how Qiu Jin life story exemplifies the issues discussed by Joan Judge in her book, especially in relation to the three major issues of education, talent and heroism. Education is one of the major aspects that played role in the women revolution by the turn of the 20th century, thus resulting in the rise of women activism that sought to change the position of women in the Chinese society, and establish their place as equally deserving in dignity and fundamental rights. According to Joan Judge, the turn of the 20th century was “a key moment in the unfolding of Chinese modernity” (Judge, 2). This resonates well with the life story of Qui Jin, whose public life story begins well in 1904, at the age of 26 years, when she rebelled her marriage to a man who was older than her, which she had entered through a traditional system of arranged marriage, where women had their suitors selected for them by the families (Morrison, 22). Such rebellion could not come easily for any other woman, but for Qui, it was at least easier to rebel, considering the fact that she was born of a scholarly middle-class family, a family position that enabled her to get quality education, as opposed to many other women in China, whose education did not come as easy 1880s. Therefore, education is one of the major tools that made it possible for the Chinese women to rise up and start demanding the rightful position in the society, considering that having intellectual capacity helped the women realize that they deserved much more than they were getting. Thus, education, as Joan Judge rightly puts it, was a recipe for “new hermeneutics of historical change”, which provided women with appropriate platform on which they stood their ground and demanded change in the Chinese society, towards the recognition of women rights in the society (Judge, 12). This, platform rightly worked for Qui, who was writing many poems at this age, most of them happy poems, but still some that revisited the historical aspects and domestic issues. Education formed one of the recipes that Qui applied towards establishing women activism in China, which eventually saw her executed, for having planned a failed uprising to oust the then ruling Qing Dynasty (Morrison, 33). Education had contributed to her transformation after she moved to Beijing, where she started reading feminist writings, and became interested in women education and writings. This way, she was able to use education as a platform for rebellion, where she divorced her husband, moved to Japan to study, and only came back in 1905 to start advocating for women rights (KeriLynn, n.p.). Nevertheless, education by itself was not sufficient to propel the revolution in the turn of the 20th century, towards achieving women rights and modernity. Talent is another factor that played a crucial role towards enhancing the revolution, and it was another aspect that is exemplified through Qui Jin’s life story, having helped her advance her fight for the recognition of the rightful position of women in the Chinese society (KeriLynn, n.p.). Qui Jin had exemplary mobilization skills, and is known to have been able to mobilize women in large numbers, towards advocating for their rights. In one instance when she was addressing women after returning from Japan in 1906, where she had escaped to, after rebelling against her arranged marriage, is quoted to have said “We 200 women in China, are the most unfairly treated objects on this earth” (Morrison, 48). Therefore, in advocating for women empowerment, she encouraged women to get education and join professional careers, which would give them a better platform through which they could advocate for the recognition of their rightful position in the society, including their role in contributing to the economy through being independent of men’s support. Further, she observed that while the revolutionaries were advocating for revolution while on the streets, the most fruitful revolution had to start at home, since it is in the domestic matters that women were completely mistreated and their rights fully denied (KeriLynn, n.p.). Heroism is yet the other issues that have been discussed by Joan Judge in her book The Precious Raft of History, as a tool for bringing revolution at the turn of the 20th century, which also resonates well with Qui Jin’s life story. Heroism is a concept that entails advocacy geared towards achieving a noble goal. When Qui Jin came back to China in 1905 after having lived in Japan for three years, she joined the Tirad, which was a secret underground movement that was advocating for the ouster of the Qing Dynasty, for having been the reason why the society was mismanaged and oppressed (Morrison, 41). In joining the Tirad, Qui Jin advocated for the application of the military tactics as she had learnt in Japan, where there was better organized disciplined forces that could keep the ruling regime in check against oppressing the society. It is such actions that Joan Judge describes as being responsible for “invoking Chinese or Western icons, and establishing divergent hierarchies of heroism” (Judge, 231). Through heroism, Qui Jin continued his fight against the ruling dynasty, until the end, when she was captured and executed for having plotted a failed uprising to oust the dynasty. In conclusion therefore, the turn of the 20th century was the beginning of modern revolution in China. The revolution was led by women who had acquired education, had the talent to mobilize, and who were ready to sacrifice their course of life, for the sake of the noble course of liberating women and the whole society from the oppression of the pre-modernized society. Works Cited Judge, Joan. The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2010. Print. KeriLynn, Engel. “Qiu Jin, Chinese feminist & revolutionary martyr”. Amazing Women in History. Retrived February 18, 2014 from http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/qiu-jin-chinese-feminist-revolutionary/ Morrison Dorothy. The Rise of Modern China. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1988. 9-75. Print. Read More