Ah, how to frame the life of Qiu Jin, the feminist martial artist who was beheaded by the last Chinese dynastic government for insurrection in 1907? I think this quote by Jack London best captures her spirit: “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. . . . “.
Qiu Jin was born in 1875 in the waning decades of the Qing Dynasty. Like other aristocratic females of her day, she had her feet bound and was forced into an arranged marriage. However, unlike many other women in her situation, Jin’s family had allowed her the sort of education usually only open to men: she read widely, composed artful poems, and became an expert horseback rider. She even trained in swordfighting and shooting the bow.
Her marriage at age 19 repulsed her, and Qiu Jin wrote about the frustration of being forced to wed someone so intellectually incompatible. In 1903 she left her husband and their two children to study and train in Japan. There, she produced writings that many consider the first publications by a Chinese feminist. “Our women’s world is sunk so deep, who can help us?,” goes one poem. “Unbinding my feet I clean out a thousand years of poison . . . . “.
Qiu Jin returned to China an enthusiastic revolutionary, intent on overthrowing the government. Taking up a position as the head of a sport teachers training school called the Datong School, she worked to find and train like-minded people. Qiu Jin’s activities were discovered by the authorities, and although the 31-year old knew they were coming for her, she kept her ground at the school. Although she put up a martial resistance, Qiu Jin was captured and executed. One of her most well known poems begins with the line “Don’t tell me women are not the stuff of heroes . . . ” Indeed, although relatively unknown in the West, Qiu Jin is considered a heroine in China, Japan, and other East Asian cultures today. Her death was perhaps a winning move from her perspective.
Source(s): Amy Qin, “Qiu Jin: a feminist poet and revolutionary who became a martyr known as China’s ‘Joan of Arc,’ _New York Times_, 2018 obituaries. _Kung Fu Tea: Martial Arts History, Wing Chin and Chinese Martial Studies_, “Lives of Chinese Martial Artists: Qiu Jin- the last sword maiden, parts I and II” Benjamin N. Judkins, 2012. Image and poetry quotes from Wikipedia.
