Born: 8 November 1875, China
Died: 15 July 1907
Country most active: China
Also known as: 秋瑾, Qiū Jǐn, Ch’iu Chin
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Qiu Jin (秋瑾) was a Chinese revolutionary, feminist, and author. Qiu Jin joined a failed uprising against the Qing dynasty and is celebrated as a national heroine, a martyr for republicanism and feminism.
Qiu Jin attended the Girls’ Practical School in Kōjimachi, Japan, overseen by Shimoda Utako, later known as Jissen Women’s University. This education equipped her for future revolutionary activities. While in Tokyo, she co-founded the Encompassing Love Society, advocating women’s education and opposing Russian involvement in northeast China. Qiu Jin was known for her fondness for martial arts, Western male attire, and anti-Manchu nationalism. She joined the anti-Qing Guangfuhui society, led by Cai Yuanpei, which later merged with various overseas Chinese revolutionary groups to establish the Tongmenghui under Sun Yat-sen’s leadership in 1905. Qiu Jin, already renowned as a calligrapher and poet, encouraged educated women to prioritize direct action over poetry, dubbing it “tossing aside the brush to join the military ranks.”
Qiu Jin led the Zhejiang Province for the Revolutionary Alliance, advocating an immediate return of Chinese overseas students to support the ongoing revolution. In 1906, she returned to China with around 2,000 students.
Between 1905 and 1907, she authored “Stones of the Jingwei Bird,” a novel in traditional ballad form. It focused on five women fleeing their families and arranged marriages to engage in revolutionary activities in Tokyo to overthrow the Qing dynasty and establish a republic.
Qiu Jin was a vocal advocate for women’s rights, addressing issues like marriage freedom, education access, and ending foot binding. In 1906, she co-founded the radical women’s journal, China Women’s News, in Shanghai, but was shut down after two issues. She later led the Datong school in Shaoxing, intended for revolutionary military training. In 1907, Qiu was arrested and publicly executed at the age of 31.
The following was written by Victoria Tong for iFeminist and is republished with permission.
Born on November 8, 1875, Qiu Jin was considered the perfect daughter—foot bound and proper. Qiu Jin was married off by her family to an uncultivated and tyrannical merchant in 1896. However, Jin would not accept this position in life. She grew up dreaming that her name would be in history books much like her martial heroine, Hua Mulan. After witnessing the horrors of the Boxer Rebellion (an anti-foreigner, anti-imperialist, and anti-Qing rebellion in 1899) and wanting to leave her husband, she pawned all her jewelry, left her two children, and moved to Japan.
At that time, Japan was home to revolutionaries from China like herself, including Sun Yat-Sen. In Tokyo, Qiu Jin enrolled in Shimoda Utako’s Women’s Practical School and trained in archery and sword fencing at a martial arts academy. She continued to rupture Chinese standards for women by unbinding her feet and cross-dressing. During this time, her poems and prose were also found in Anti-Qing publications and journals. Qiu Jin was fed up with the weak Qing government and foreign occupation in China. She believed toppling the Qing dynasty was the only way for China to regain greatness. Jin, like other reform-minded women, also believed that women’s rights came hand in hand with political revolution.
In Qiu Jin’s eyes, a woman’s place was not at home or in the kitchen, but on the front lines fighting for what they believe in. When she returned to China in 1906, Qiu Jin started Chinese Women’s Journal, China’s first feminist magazine. She appealed to women of all classes using vernacular (language of the common people) language and wrote about gender equality and the oppression of women through practices like arranged marriages and foot binding. She concluded that the solution to overthrowing these evils was a modern education and an independent income.
She opened the coeducation Datong Normal College in 1907 to teach subjects like English and military skills. Qiu Jin, dressed in men’s clothing and leather shoes and became an inspiration to her female students.
After her fellow revolutionary and co-conspirator, Xu Xilin, was caught and executed, the Qing troops were out to look for Qiu Jin. It wasn’t long before she was discovered by the Qing troops. Jin was determined to fight to the death for her cause. At the age of 31, Qiu Jin was publicly beheaded on July 15, 1907. Before she died, she wrote: “Autumn wind, autumn rain, fill my heart with sorrow.”
Her militant determinism and heroism made her a feminist martyr to the Qing dynasty revolution. Her transformation from a submissive wife to a true warrior of the revolution is an inspiration to all women.