Chen Xiefen

Chen Xiefen (Chinese: 陳擷芬; pinyin: chén xié fēn; Wade-Giles: ch'en hsieh fen; pen name: Chu‘nan nūzi; 1883 – 1923) was a Chinese feminist, revolutionary and journalist of the Qing era. She is regarded as one of the first progressive Chinese women to utilize the press to further women’s rights. From 1899 to 1903, Chen published Nübao magazine (later renamed Nüxuebao), where she advocated for women's education, gender equality and economic independence. After her magazine was banned in 1903, Chen Xiefen emigrated to Japan, where she briefly continued to print Nübao (now titled Nüxuebao). Chen Xiefen remained active in anti-Qing revolutionary circles until her fall from the public eye in 1911.

Biography

Early life Chen Xiefen was born in 1883 in Hengshan, Hunan Province, and was raised in Yanghu (currently Changzhou), Jiangsu Province. and was the oldest daughter of her household. newspaper. It would successfully return to publication on May 8, 1902. It was distributed to major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. Chen Xiefen described the female body as a site of oppression, as evoked through the following excerpt:Practices such as piercing the female ears for inserting metal earrings, and binding the female feet for marking the crippled sex, are manifestations of the elementary phase of the social law of corporal punishment (chuji xingfa). Those who refuse to be punished will be forced into submission, with cries of pain and tears of agony going unheard and unseen. The second phase of the social law of corporal punishment (ciji xingfa) is matchmaking that regards women’s own feelings as irrelevant. Wedded to strangers without any consideration for their feelings and wishes. When the promised husband dies before the marriage, the woman is forced to remain “widowed.” Let us not even talk about the servant girls, whose labor is enslaved and whose bodies are bought and sold like cows, horses, pigs, and chickens! The article’s core message can be expressed through the following excerpt:From today on, I want the pitiable worms who are my two million fellow womenfolk to change this situation themselves through becoming aware of it, and I want them to urge others to change it. People have to realize that without physical culture, there can be no beauty. while acting as president of the student-run women's organization Gong Ai Hui (English: Mutual Love Society). was the first organization of its kind. Little else is known of Chen Xiefen’s political and professional activities after 1911.