Late Qing Feminist Discourse and Natiionalism

Abstract

Chinese feminist discourse began its development embedded within late Qing period nationalist discourse in the form of proscriptions against foot-binding and advocacy for women’s education. Specific rhetorical terms conflating feminist and nationalist discourse include “mothers of citizens (guomin zhi mu 國民之母)” and “women citizens (nü guomin女國民).” This paper analyzes ways in which feminism was embedded in nationalist discourse and the legitimacy this established for the women’s movement. Such an inquiry uncovers the dependence of feminist discourse upon nationalist discourse, contributing to the unique development of feminism in China. This paper also looks at gender anxiety in Qiu Jin (秋瑾, 1875-1907) in an attempt to describe how male subjectivity influenced late Qing feminist discourse.