The Birth of Chinese Feminism by He Zhen

Karl, and Dorothy Ko’s expertise in Chinese intellectual and cultural history in a global context. As a collective project, The Birth of Chinese Feminism brings together its translators and editors Lydia H. By including and contrasting He-Yin’s global, systematic critiques of the oppression of women with translations of Liang Qichao’s (梁啓超 1873-1929) and Jin Tianhe’s (金天翮 1874-1947) feminist writings, which looked to women’s suffrage movements in Europe and in North America as the solution to the larger problem of Chinese nationhood, the volume foregrounds the problem of East-West comparison as central to Chinese feminist theoretical discourse at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the same time, the volume also accomplishes more than introducing a little-known Chinese feminist thinker to a wider English-speaking audience. The much-needed translation and study of He-Yin Zhen’s (何殷震 1884-1920?) works address the limited definition of first-wave feminism as a predominately Western movement that focused on officially mandated gender inequalities such as the right to vote at the expense of racial and class differences. The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory is less a broad collection of essays than it is a well-argued case for the transnational and radical origins of Chinese feminism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Karl, and Dorothy Ko, editors.Įssential Texts in Transnational Theory.

The Birth of Chinese Feminism by He Zhen