History of Feminism and Feminist Art in China
By Li Xinmo
I. Early Days of the Feminist Movement
In the late 19th century, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and many other reformists, inspired by the concept of “natural rights,” attached great importance to women’s liberation. In his Da Tongshu, Kang Youwei pointed out that men and women, though of different genders, are born with equal rights. Liang Qichao, advocating for women’s education, established the Jing Yuanshan Shanghai Girls’ School, the first of its kind run by a Chinese.
In 1902, The Rights of Women by Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher, sociologist, and social Darwinist, was introduced into China, and John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women was translated into Chinese. Western feminism found its way into China.
On August 20, 1905, Peking Women’s Newspaper launched its first issue. It was the first women’s newspaper in China.
From 1904 to 1908, Lv Bicheng became the first editor of a women’s newspaper. To support women’s liberation and promote women’s education, she published a series of articles in Ta Kung Pao, including “On Advocating the Purpose of Female Education,” “Advice to My Women Compatriots,” and “Perseverance is Essential to the Promotion of Women’s Rights,” among others.
In September 1904, Beiyang Women’s School was founded with Lv Bicheng as dean of studies. The school was later renamed Beiyang Women’s Normal School, with Lv Bicheng as principal.
In the spring of 1907, Qiu Jin started Chinese Women’s Newspaper in Shanghai.
On October 10, the Wuchang Uprising (Xinhai Revolution) broke out. Sun Zhongshan praised women’s valuable contributions to the democratic revolution in “Promoting Women’s Education in Our Newly Founded Country” and a letter. The Women’s Council was founded to “spread political ideas to women, foster women’s political awareness, and obtain suffrage.”
In March 1912, Tang Guoli advocated for starting a women’s association, demanding “female suffrage.” Sun Zhongshan gave them great support. On March 16, the Chinese Women’s Association was founded with Song Qingling as honorary director, Zhang Mojun and Yang Jiwei as director and vice director respectively, and Tang Guoli as head of the Editing Section. Soon, Shenzhou Women’s School was founded where Tang Guoli taught, and Shenzhou Women’s Newspaper was started, calling on women to learn, become economically independent, participate in politics, and demand equal rights with men.
In March 1912, Sun Zhongshan, then provisional president, issued an order to abolish footbinding.
In the early years of the republic, Sun Zhongshan ordered the Education Ministry to issue Interim Regulations on General Education and Curriculum Standards, stating that elementary schools should be co-educational and emphasizing the importance of girls’ education.
In 1920, Peking University began enrolling female auditors.
In April 1929, over twenty female artists presented their works at The First National Exhibition of Fine Arts, held by the Ministry of Education at Puyutang in Shanghai. In the following decades, more and more female artists emerged on the art scene in China, including Pan Yuliang, Cai Weilian, Fang Junbi, Sun Duoci, Guan Zilan, and Qiu Ti. They were products of the women’s liberation movement in China.
After the CPC was founded in 1921, many women who believed in Marxism and followed the CPC became leaders in the party and actively participated in the struggle for Chinese liberation. Their voices were gradually subdued and eventually faded during the significant anti-capitalist movement.
II. Feminism after the 1980s
After 1949, Chairman Mao’s slogans, such as “men and women are equal” and “women hold up half the sky,” established women as an important force in socialist construction.
From the 1960s to the 1970s, the second wave of the feminist movement occurred, accompanied by the growth of feminist art. However, China was largely ignorant of these developments due to the isolationist policies of the Cultural Revolution.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the opening-up policy prioritized economic development. As a result, the market economy changed people’s lives and ideas, leading to increased competition and significant imbalances between men and women. Books on feminism, such as Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, were gradually translated into Chinese.
In 1981, Zhu Hong’s Preface to Collected Works by American Women Writers was considered the first introduction of feminism in China.
In early 1988, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, translated by Wu Yiyun, Ding Zhaoming, and Lin Wuwei, was published by Jiangsu People’s Publishing House.
In February 1989, the Chinese translation of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own was published by Sanlian Bookstore.
In February 1989, Mary Eagleton’s Feminist Literary Criticism was published by Hunan Art and Literature Press.
In 1988, the Women’s Studies Series, conducted by Li Xiaojiang, was published.
In 1989, Shanghai Literature started a new column, “Feminist Criticism,” providing a forum for feminist criticism.
In 1989, Meng Yue and Dai Jinhua’s Growing out of History, part of the Women’s Studies Series, was published.
From November 23 to November 26, 1992, the First Peking University International Women’s Studies Conference was held at Peking University. More than 7,000 participants from China, the United States, Britain, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and other regions and countries attended the conference, exchanging views on four main topics: women in opening-up China, women and law, female fertility and health, and women and culture.
In November 1994, the seminar Chinese Women and Chinese Traditional Culture was held at Peking University, providing a forum to understand and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese tradition and its influence on women.
From May 16 to May 18, 1995, the School of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized an international conference on Women and Human Rights, aimed at protecting women’s rights by establishing and improving the legal system for the protection of women’s rights and interests.
On September 4, 1995, the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing. Seventeen thousand people attended the conference, including representatives from 197 countries and regions, five UN regional commissions, 16 UN organs and the Development Programme, 12 organs and organizations, and observers from 26 inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were adopted, appealing to governments for the protection of women’s rights and adopting the slogan “human rights are women’s rights.”
From June 20 to June 22, 1995, the First International Seminar on Women and Literature was held at Peking University. It was jointly organized by the English Department of Peking University, the *World Literature Journal* by the Foreign Languages Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Free Forum of Literature of the Tianjin Literary Federation. Betty Friedan, a leader of the American women’s liberation movement, attended the meeting and delivered a speech entitled “A Woman’s Life.”
**III. Rise of Feminist Art in China**
In 1994, *Jiangsu Periodical* (Vol. 7) published Xu Hong’s “call to arms,” *Out of the Abyss: My View on Feminist Criticism*, which became a declaration of feminist art criticism.
In 1995, Liao Wen’s *Subversion in Silence and Sedition by Stealth: Feminist Pattern in Contemporary Chinese Art* introduced the concept of “feminist pattern.”
In May 1995, Liao Wen organized the *Exhibition of Feminist Pattern in Contemporary Chinese Art*.
In March 1998, about 60 female artists presented their works at *Century Women*, an exhibition curated by Jia Fangzhou at the National Art Museum. With a male curator, this exhibition was obviously from a male perspective, thus revealing some issues with feminist art in China.
In 1999, Liao Wen elaborated on the “feminist pattern” in *Women’s Art: Feminism as a Pattern*, pointing out that as a cognitive approach to the study of women’s art, it was included in every aspect of the discourse patterns in feminist art criticism. She received funds for a research program from the Asian Cultural Council, which enabled her to interview some influential female curators and artists in America. The interviews were later developed into *No More Nice Girls: Interviews with American Feminist Artists*. This book provided a valuable reference for feminist art in the West by introducing these artists in the form of dialogue.
In 1989, Xiao Lu fired two shots at her installation *Dialogue* during the First National Modern Art Exhibition held at the China Art Museum, marking the beginning of feminist art in China.
Since then, feminist artists have gradually entered the art scene in China, contributing to the history of art with brilliant artists such as He Chengyao, Chen Lingyang, Xiang Jing, Cui Xiuwen, and many others.
