Imaging and Inventing Self: Constructing Heroines Through Translation in Late Qing China

Abstract

A fad for female heroism emerged in the late Qing China as women were urgently mobilized to undertake the mission of ‘strengthening the nation and preserving the race.’ However, women reaching the modern standards of heroines were almost absent in China. Western heroines were then introduced into China as exemplars for Chinese women to emulate. The story of Madame Roland, the most prestigious Western heroine at that time, was appropriated to the political ends. The male-coded virtues of her were highlighted in conformity to the standards of heroines in late Qing China: hero-worship, patriotism, political maternity and beauty. An ideal heroine was thus created through translation. As a prototype of heroine, she inspired a flood of localized Chinese heroines.