The Martyr and Her Sworn Sisters Poetry, Death and Mourning in Early 20th-Century China

FAIN: FA-55314-10

Hu Ying
Regents of the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA 92617-3066)

"The Martyr and Her Sworn Sisters" examines how women experienced and responded to the tumultuous times of early 20th century China, with their lives, art and poetry. It seeks to understand how concrete and individualized experiences of modernity are articulated through art forms deeply rooted in the Chinese cultural tradition. Based on extensive research in primary sources, including genealogies, public monuments, poetry and art works, this project studies the friendship between Qiu Jin (1875?-1907), beheaded for her involvement in anti-Manchu uprisings, and Wu Zhiying (1868-1934) and Xu Zihua (1875-1935), Qiu's sworn sisters who braved political persecution to give her a proper burial. It demonstrates that the late Qing period is a time of extraordinarily vibrant cultural production by women, when they made highly creative, even audacious, use of the literati tradition in responding to radical historical changes.