Renovating Confucian ideas for gender equality: an inquiry of Confucian feminist debates in modern China

Abstract

Contrary to the common perception that Confucianism is incompatible with feminist movement, this article demonstrates that Chinese intellectuals in the 1890s–1920s positively reconstructed and applied Confucian ideas that provide a theoretical and political path to gender equality. Deploying the immanent critique method and grounded theory method to analyze the texts and practices of the intellectuals, the study identified three anchoring elements of the Confucian feminism: 1. benevolent reciprocal and hierarchical relations that extend humanity to all and embrace contribution by all (expansive ren 仁); 2. critical (jian) dao, the way or path of applying ren, yi (义) and shu (恕) to the treatment of women (especially the less advantaged among them); 3. enabling and encouraging women’s cultivation for self-progression and contribution to a healthy society (xiuji da datong 修己达大同). Different from feminist political liberalism, Confucian feminism during the 1890s–1920s of China promoted the positive (e.g., benevolent and affective) features of reciprocal and hierarchical relations that enable women’s self-progression and societal contribution. It has potential to encourage transnational and global feminist politics that advance decolonial solutions from local social and cultural (particularly Asian) contexts.

Introduction

Confucianism can be defined in different ways: a set of philosophical concepts and ethical virtues developed through an intellectual tradition (Li, 1994; Ames, 2011), a state ideology institutionalized through civil service exams and dominant in some time periods yet delegitimized in others (Hu, 1997), the teaching by ru of high morality (Rosenlee, 2006), a set of historical practices that applied Confucian ideas (Hu, 1997; Liang, 2009, p.34); a method of learning that reconstructs Confucian ideas in response to external changes (Ackerly, 2005; Jenco, 2007); a culturally familiar vernacular for Chinese people with limited education (Liang, 2009, p.38). This article demonstrates that during a transformative moment in Chinese history, Confucian teaching for men and women in common circulation was redeployed or reinterpreted by political reformers, revolutionaries, and cultural critics to articulate their progressive ideas.¹

Like the concept of Confucianism, feminism has many ways to define. Different feminisms are all critical of traditional social political thoughts’ exclusion and marginalization of women, and place women’s issues at its central subject (Beasley, 1999). Many scholars have explored the shared conceptual and methodological grounds between Confucianism and feminism despite the historical practices of oppressing women in the name of Confucian concepts such as yin(阴)-yang(阳) (e.g., Li, 1994; Wang, 2005; Kim, 2014). Some developed ‘Confucian feminism’ as a family of ideas that reflect on, criticize, and guide political-cultural practices. For example, Rosenlee proposed a ‘Confucian feminism’ based on ren²(仁), extended reciprocal filial care, and complementary yin-yang(2006); Jiang argued that the major Confucian ideas, like ren, xiao(孝)³, ti(悌)⁴, li (礼)⁵and yi (义)⁶, could be used to support better gender relations in a society that emphasizes much on individualism and sex equality (2009); Kim (2014) conceptualized a Confucian feminism based on a Korean woman literati’s reinterpretation of neo-Confucian classics, as that men and women having an equal capability of moral self-cultivation. All the studies placed the implication of Confucian and neo-Confucian concepts to gender equality in historical contexts.

In this article, Confucian feminism is defined as a positive reconstruction and application of Confucian ideas that provide a theoretical and political path to gender equality in the 1890s–1920s of China. It differs from other feminisms such as nationalist feminism, Marxist and socialist feminism, and liberal feminism, in terms of what causes, how to, and for what end to fix the problem of gender inequality, although different feminisms are often not isolated from each other because of interaction within the same geographical space and historical period (Roth, 2004). For instance, Judge (2001, p. 802) referred to Confucian tradition as an enabling resource for nationalist feminist movement (e.g., cultivating women’s talent not only for family but also for the nation).

During the 1890s–1920s, Chinese intellectuals reconstructed Confucian core ideas through words and actions to legitimize and guide social and political projects of transforming gendered institutions, and developed a notion of Confucian feminism comprising the following elements: 1. benevolent reciprocal and hierarchical relations that extend humanity to all and embrace contribution by all (expansive ren); 2. advocating and practicing a critical dao (道)⁷, to retreat men and women (especially the less advantaged) with Confucian virtues like ren, yi and shu (恕)⁸; 3. enabling and encouraging women’s cultivation for self-progression and contribution to a healthy society (xiuji da datong). This notion of Confucian feminism can renovate feminism from liberal feminism’s myth of individual autonomy,⁹ recognizing the relational aspects of political life in times of transformation.

This article uses feminist-informed comparative methods to review the intellectuals’ writing, speeches, and transformative practices in three periods of time: 1) the late Qing Dynasty reforms (1890s–1900s); 2) Xinhai Revolution (1900s-early1910s); 3) New Culture and May Fourth movement (mid-1910s-early 1920s). We will demonstrate in the sections following the ‘Method of Inquiry’ how they use Confucian method of inquiry not only in reconstructing Confucian ideas to address issues concerning women’s emancipation but also in rejecting political ideology, social norms, laws, and practices that oppress women in the name of Confucianism.

Methods of inquiry

We adopt the immanent critique method (Antonio, 1981) and grounded theory method that views Confucian ideas and texts as being constructed or interpreted by intellectuals and political actors, which are shaped by the historical and structural contexts (Charmaz and Belgrave, 2018). The immanent critique method asks questions like what normative elements are in context-bound social practices, whether these norms contribute to social change that reduces human suffering (Herzog, 2016). The grounded theory method adopts the theoretical sampling to collect data, the focused coding to analyze the data, and the constant comparative analysis to identify theoretical concepts grounded in social-political contexts (Tie et al. 2019).

Combining the immanent critique method and grounded theory method, the inquiry follows Leigh Jenco’s (2007) calls to utilize the culturally situated substantive ideas for theorizing in order to minimize the ethnocentric understanding in cross-cultural comparison. For the purpose of constructing the Confucian feminism grounded in the social-political contexts of China during 1890s–1920s, the theoretical sampling selects those intellectuals who adopted Confucian methods of literati learning (ruxue 儒学) and deployed Confucian ideas found in Confucian Classics¹⁰ and popular sinology works, to reinterpret and transform gendered practices that oppressed women (Table 1). They view the reality and human experiences as unfolding dynamic processes that render transformation and creativity (Ames, 2011), reason in the public space to articulate and promote public good in accord with Confucian values (Kim, 2015), criticize practices that do not treat people humanly, and reflect on self-practices in response to criticism (Ackerly, 2005). We analyze the works and practices of intellectuals from various political camps in three periods during the 1890s–1920s, including those most critical of the Confucian rites and education, to search for their common approach to address gender issues (Table 2).

Table 1 Sampled intellectuals and works.

Table 2 Focused periods and political camps for sampling.

According to Beasley (1999, p.4–5), various feminist thoughts share the feature that they criticized traditional social-political thoughts’ exclusion and marginalization of women, but they differ in how to fix the problem. Some adopt an “inclusion and addition” approach to the traditional thought without transforming the latter; some adopt a “critique, reject and start again” approach that dismisses the traditional thoughts; others adopt a “deconstruct and transform” approach that uses traditional thoughts as a means to elaborate feminist theories. We expect that the intellectuals during the focused period mainly adopted the first and third approaches to develop the feminist argument because their experiential background and their audience were still influenced by traditional thoughts and practices then.

We focused on the Confucian feminist debates and activities during the 1890s–1920s of China for two reasons:

First, there were social and political movements and institutional reforms during this period that led to progressive changes for women, such as abolishing foot-binding practices, establishing schools for women, and more tolerance of free marriage and women’s participation in labor force (Li, 2000). While some studies still link the modern Chinese feminist movement to the May Fourth movement that was said to condemn Confucianism, other studies show that Confucian-text literate writers produced similar feminist ideas and engaged in the feminist movement decades before the May Fourth movement (Lan and Fong 1999; Menke, 2017).

Second, historically, in the period of transition and encountering foreign intellectual challenges (e.g., Wang Yangming with Buddhist thought), Confucian Classics offered intellectuals ideas and methods of learning to negotiate with the external challenges (Jenco, 2007). Likewise, engagement with (and being challenged by) the West during the 1890s–1920s provided both comparative perspectives and urgency for the Confucian concepts to be contested and revived in order to guide internal social political and economic changes. While many writers made reference to Western thoughts (e.g., anarchism, nationalism, evolution, human rights, democracy, socialism, communism) and heroines when mobilizing support for the feminist movement (e.g., Thompson, 1958; Chen, 2019), in order to influence the Chinese audience with limited education, many writers (e.g., Songshu, Kang Youwei, Hushi), deployed Confucian vernacular and Chinese heroines to explain their views.

Confucian feminism among reformers

From the First Opium War (1840–1842), the Qing Dynasty experienced foreign invasions and occupations. Reform-minded literati (Reformers) allied with different factions of officials to advocate political and socio-cultural reforms for national salvation (Chang, 1980). The practices of oppressing women, including foot binding, sale of girls, female infanticide, arranged marriage, and domestic oppression of women were criticized by the men and women Reformers as inhuman and should be eliminated (e.g., Song (1892) 1993; Kang (1935) 2009; Qian, 2004; Judge, 2004). Reformers formed the Women’s Study Society in 1897, which published Newspaper on Women’s Study (Nǚ Xue Bao), and established the first modern school for girls sponsored by local Chinese (Jing Zheng Women’s School) in 1898. The curriculum included both Chinese literature and historical studies, western studies of math, medicine, and laws, as well as practical skills such as drawing and needlework (Lee, 1995; Li, 2009).

The Reformers’ feminist arguments, in many aspects similar to those in the May Fourth Movement, were based on the expansive reinterpretation of Confucian ideas such as ren and yi, on the Confucian method of applying these ideas to change oppressive practices concerning women and to promote women’s education and political participation.

Song Shu (1862–1910) pointed out that Confucian teaching after the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), especially those by Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty, replaced the true ideas of Confucius and Mencius with Legalism (Song [1897] 1993a, 535). According to Song, legalist interpretations of Confucian classics in effect oppressed the rights of ordinary people who are not officials (抑民权), whereas the ideas of Confucius and Mencius strengthen ordinary people’s rights (扶民权) (Song [1895] 1993, 536b). In his view, Confucian concepts of ren and yi should not just exist in empty talks and articles, as Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi did, but be applied to govern the country and serve the people (经世)¹¹:

“There is not enough time to save the people, and how come there is time to talk and write about ren and yi (彼民救死不暇, 奚暇讲仁义而慕文章哉).” (Song[1897]1993c, 276)

He proposed institutional reform measures to Qing senior officials under the Guang Xu Emperor in early 1890s (Wu, 2003). Song’s writing extended the application of ren to women. He argued that “Ancestor teacher Confucius upheld equal rights between men and women” (Song, 1993, 44. cited by Wu, 2003). He criticized that the foot-binding practice was “harming women”; it was non-existent in ancient times but rather a recent fashion and should be forbidden (Song [1892] 1993d, 17). He proposed to forbid child marriage and arranged marriage for girls and boys younger than 16; that women should be allowed to divorce their husbands if the couple could no longer maintain good relations, or if women’s maternal parents did not have sons. Women divorced by men should be allowed to remarry. He argued that prior to the Song Dynasty (960-1279AD), both husbands and wives were able to propose divorce; thus, such practices were not a departure from the practices of the Sages and manifested ren. Song Shu also blamed the suicide of widows on the practice of praising chastity and blamed the killing of baby girls by parents on the economic burden of dowry, and proposed to change these norms and practices (Song [1897] 1993e, 149).

He criticized the Confucian cultural view that women without talents are virtuous (女子无才便是德) which for thousands of years discouraged Chinese women from study. He proposed to establish public schools for girls. He viewed women’s education could benefit their roles as mothers, improving the talent and customs of their children (Song (1892) 1993f, 445-8).

Kang Youwei (1858–1927), a Confucian scholar of New Text School¹² who also read widely translated Western studies, traveled and lived abroad, was an influential social and political reform leader. Although his vision of an ideal society and government in The Book of Great Concord (Da Tong Shu) contained the Western thought of Darwinism and communism (Brusadelli, 2017), like other Reformers during his time, he grounded his feminist argument in Confucian method of applying ‘ren’ to practices. He organized an Anti-footbinding Society and the Society of Studying for Strengthening the Nation to promote women’s equal opportunities for education, which was later adopted by the Emperor Guang Xu’s One Hundred Day Reform (Thompson, 1958; Qian, 2015). His Great Harmony (Datong Shu) criticized that the custom practices concerning women during the Song and Ming dynasties were not conducive to the ideal state of the society and human nature (Da tong) pictured by Confucius. The book reinterpreted Confucian Classics to support political and social agenda of gender equality.¹³ For instance, he blamed the oppressive laws and customs of promoting widow chastity on Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi:

“In ancient times, it was not heard that people would question the remarried widows, and the yi¹⁴ of ‘following one to the end (从一而终)’ was adopted later. The chaste women who served only one husband in their lifetime were first praised, and later the righteousness of ‘It is a small issue to die of hunger, but it is a big issue to lose chastity (饿死事小, 失节事大)’¹⁵ was adopted, resulting in many widows. ” (Kang, (1935)2009, 125)

Kang criticized that Chinese and Western practices of treating women unequally were nonexistent in ancient times described by Confucius:

“In the Spring and Autumn by Confucius, the women in Lu Kingdom kept their names Bo Ji and Ji Ji…They were not like women in the America and Europe who took the surnames of their husbands, nor like women in recent times (in China) who took the surnames of their husbands. That women shall have equality and independence is the great yi (大义) established by Confucius, and how can we not follow it? ” (Kang, (1935)2009, 107)

Kang argued that men and women were an extension of yin and yang¹⁶(Thompson 1958, 150); Confucian teaching of “complete equality” between men and women was essential to realize benevolent humanity (Kang and Lou, 1988, 3) Women can be educated, become officials, participate in public affairs, have occupations in agriculture, industry, business, and commerce, be independent from men, and have a free social life. These are their natural human rights. Protecting such rights for women can also benefit the nation, and is in accordance with humanity, benevolence, and justice (Kang, 1956, 155-62).

Women Reformers reinterpreted women’s virtues promoted by the traditional Classics for women’s education, such as chasteness, purity, and talent. Xue Shaohui (1866–1911), when reviewing the curriculum for the Jing Zheng Girls’ School, disagreed with the Reformer Liang Qichao’s view that women were useless and ignorant. Xue argued that many women had scholarly talents and artistic accomplishments even if they were traditionally assigned domestic roles. Xue visioned that women’s education should cultivate women’s talent. She suggested that women’s works should be added to the men-centered Chinese curriculum of the school, such as Ban Zhao(45-120?)’s Admonition for women (Nǚ Jie)¹⁷ and Li Qing Zhao (1084–ca. 1155)’s Ci lyrics (Qian, 2003). Xue also reinterpreted Ban Zhao’s definition of women’s ethics: women’s virtue (妇德) as assisting Sages and raising worthy children instead of chastity; women’s words (妇言) as scholarly and literary talent rather than proper daily speech, women’s work (妇功) meant accomplishment in science and arts rather than domestic chores (Qian, 2004).

Hui Xing, a Manchu woman widowed at 19, reinterpreted chasteness and purity as pursuing women’s education and progress. She founded a women’s school in 1905. To convey her commitment, while delivering a speech at the school’s opening day, Hui cut a piece of flesh from her upper arm, an act culturally understood to exhibit filial devotion to parents-in-law (Judge, 2004). Less than a year later, she committed suicide in order to attract public attention to the financial difficulties of the school and to advocate for the cause of women’s education (Xia, 2000). Women reformers also criticized the practices of excluding slave girls, courtesans, and prostitutes from girls’ schools as violating the norm of gender equality (Qian, 2003).

Kang Tongbi (1878–1974), the daughter of Kang Youwei, practiced the idea of yi not only in promoting women’s education but also in challenging Liang Qichao’s suspect of women’s suffrage. She organized a women’s association, China Emperor Ladies Reform Association, among Chinese in America and Canada. In the poster of the association, she and other women Reformers adapted a dictatum by Liang Qichao “In the rise or fall of our civilization, every common man has a responsibility” (天下兴亡, 匹夫有责) to “In the rise or fall of our homeland nation, men and women hold equal responsibility” (国家兴亡, 男女同责). Though the association declined after 1909, she and other reformers continued their cause in the era of Republican China (Chen, 2019).

In sum, as previous studies (e.g., Judge, 2001) have found, linking women’s education with national survival during the period opened up educational opportunities for women. Somewhat different from what Judge has found about conservative/radical disagreement, we found men and women Reformers (e.g., Kang Youwei, Xue Shao Hui, Kang Tongbi) in this period agreed that women’s education was important for both of their private roles and public responsibility. Different from men Reformers, women Reformers often deployed texts familiar to ordinary women (not Confucian Classics) when reinterpreting Confucian virtues.

Confucian feminism among revolutionaries

In 1911–1912, Revolutionaries overthrew the Qing government through military means and founded Republic of China. Feminist movements that both challenged traditional gender norms and reinterpreted Confucian virtues formed an important part of the revolution. While men Revolutionaries reinterpreted Confucian concepts and Classics to mobilize support for gender equality in education, economic participation, marriage, and politics; women Revolutionaries reinterpreted and practiced the Confucian virtues from popular Chinese female role models (Lee et al. 1998 1523–1537; Zhang, 2020; Karl, 2012). As Strand pointed out that Confucian patriarchy gave young women and men something to fight against at the time as well as the literary, martial, and social weapons to fight with (2011, 100). Both expansive ren and critical dao inspired and enabled women to cultivate for themselves and for society’s health.

Like the Reformers, Revolutionaries advocated for women’s education, economic and political participation. Sun Yat-sen (male), the leader of the anti-Qing Revolutionary and the founding president of Republic of China, related much of his political thoughts Three Principles (Nationalism, Democracy and People’s Livelihood) to Confucian ethics (Wells, 2001). He argued that China’s weakness and poverty then were not because of the inferiority of Chinese traditional morality (zhong¹⁸忠, xiao, ren, ai¹⁹ 爱, xin²⁰信, yi, hepin²¹和平) compared to Western culture, but because of the failure to practice these morality (Sun, 1924, pp 46-47). Like what Reformers had advocated for, the revolutionary society Tong Meng Hui, under the leadership of Sun, proposed “all uncles, brothers, aunts and sisters are offspring of the ancient Huang emperor, and shall be equal regardless of differences in status and wealth.” in its Charter. As the president, Sun ordered to abolish the practices of foot-binding and concubinage and promoted women’s education and political participation (Chen, 2007).

Other Revolutionaries criticized patriarchal gender norms by reinterpreting Confucian Classics. For example, Jin Tianhe (male), in his book Women’s Bell, emphasized that the oppressive cultural norms and rules such as the three obediences (三从) and seven conditions for divorcing a wife (七出) were merely citations by Kongzi and not of Kongzi (Jin [1903] 2003, 6-8). He suggested cultivating women’s public virtue (公德) and teaching women law, philosophy and economics so as to prepare for their participation in politics (Xia, 2015).

Many women who studied overseas joined the revolution and led feminist movement in the Republic of China. Among them was Tang Qunying who devoted to women’s suffrage movement despite the opposition of some men Revolutionaries in the Republic of China (Lee et al. 1998, pp.2302–2309). At the same time, Tang practiced the filial piety and gender equality by worshiping her diseased mother, which was only allowed for son according to the patriarchal customs (Ma, 2018). Tang called upon Chinese women to follow the well-known female role models Mu Lan and the mother of Mencius in their practice of women’s citizenship (Strand, 2011, 107). In the early 20th-century literature, Mu Lan was praised as a legendary heroine, a filial daughter, a brave and loyal citizen who disguised herself as a man and fought for the ruler on behalf of her father. The story of the mother of Mencius moving three times for her son’s education emphasized the female virtue of loving and cultivating children. It appeared in the San Zi Jing used for students to learn the basics of literary Chinese (Mann, 2000).

Qiu Jin (1875–1907) was one of the few women revolutionaries being executed by the Qing government. After studying in Japan, she came back to China to promote women’s education and prepare for the anti-Qing revolution (Lee et al. 1998, pp. 1427–1445). In her speech, she criticized orthodox Confucian scholars’ cliches that men are more respectable than women (男尊女卑), that women without talents are virtuous (女子无才便是德), and that husbands should guide their wives (夫为妻纲) (Qiu, 2003, 362–363). Nevertheless, Qiujin also admired Mu Lan and women fighters (Qing Liangyu and Shen Yunying) in Ming dynasty because of their filial piety to their fathers and loyalty to the ethnic Han rulers, showing her identification with the racial nationalism against the ruling Manchu, a popular norm of the secret revolutionary societies at the time (Mann, 2000; Sun, 2014; Qiu, 2003, 4–5).

Confucian feminism in the new culture and May Fourth Movement

In the early Republican era, the nation experienced aggression from foreign powers, rule of dictatorship, restoration of the monarchy, internal wars, and control by warlords (Sheridan, 1983). The New Culture and May Fourth movement (1915–2020s) used to be characterized as being anti-traditional and anti-Confucianism partly because of the well-known term “human-eating lijiao²²” (吃人礼教) tagged to Confucianism by intellectuals like Wu Yu (Ropp, 1980), partly because of the misinterpretation of their criticism in the political movement after 1949 (Johnson, 2012). Even though the movement intellectuals (including those promoting Marxist thoughts) rejected neo-traditionalists’ support of emperor’s rule and conservative interpretations of Confucianism, they still utilized Confucian method of critical Dao and ideas (ren, yi, and xiu shen²³ 修身 for healthy society) to mobilize support for women’s emancipation.

Reformers like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao turned to be political conservatives and culturally neo-traditionalists after 1911 revolution. Kang supported restoration of emperor rule and advocated loyalty to the Emperor (忠君), worshiping Kongzi (尊孔) and institutionalizing Confucianism as a state religion (Furth, 1983). Some leading intellectuals of the 1915 New Culture Movement rejected their worshiping attitude towards Confucian traditions.

The New Youth Journal, founded by Chen Duxiu (1879-1942), published a number of articles attacking the oppressive and inhumane practices towards women derived from the Confucian rites of loyalty and filial piety promoted by the imperial rulers since Han Dynasty. Wu (1919) cited stories from the Book of Han (Han Shu) and the Records of the Grand Historian of China (Shi Ji), showing how Emperor Gao of Han Dynasty worshiped Confucius and lijiao on the one hand, and promoted loyalty to the rulers by killing and eating human flesh; similar stories were cited from historians’ accounts of Dong-han (BC 25-220) and Tang Dynasties (BC 618-907), showing how high officials killed their concubines to feed hungry soldiers in the name of zhong and yi.

Chen Duxiu, who later converted to Marxism-Leninism and helped found the China Communist Party, tied the constraining norms of women’s chastity with those of imperial loyalty:

“In the Chinese lijiao, there is the doctrine of ‘no marriage after the husband’s death.’ It is considered to be extremely shameful and unchaste for a woman to serve two husbands or a man to serve two rulers.” (Chen [1916] 1999, 6)

Lu Xun (1881–1936), echoed Chen’s criticism: “The more loyalty the emperor demanded of his subjects, the more chastity the men required of the women” (Lu [1918] 1999, 13). Their criticism followed the Confucian method of jian (谏)²⁴and directed at the blind subordination to Confucian rites (Suddath, 2005).

Their rejection of worshiping Confucian rites for conservative politics had an expansive audience in 1919 when across China the May Fourth Movement protested against the failure of the Beijing government to protect China’s interest from being exploited by Western powers and Japan after the World War I. Nevertheless, other intellectuals who joined the movement, such as Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) and Hu Shi, approved Confucian virtues of ren and shu; even Chen Duxiu approved Confucian practices of loyalty, filial piety and chastity out of inner emotion, but not those out of normative constraint (Gao, 1999). Li Dazhao’s Confucian vision of Datong (from the Book of Rites), a founder of the China Communist Party, prepared him to develop socialist thinking that care for the community’s common good and distributive justice (Lu, 2011). In sum, these writers shared the neo-traditionalists’ concern with “the problem of commitment and moral responsibility to the society, which is, ironically, most Confucian” (Chang, 2004, 126).

Like Chen Duxiu and Lu Xun, Cai Yuanpei(1868-1940) also criticized worshiping Confucius (尊孔), but viewed that civic virtue education should center on Confucius’ teaching of yi, shu, and ren, which were comparable to Western civic virtues of freedom, equality, and love. Cai cited Confucius’ story to persuade people sending their children to schools rather than educating them at home. He believed girls and boys should study together so as to develop mutually respectful social relations (Cai [1919], 1984). When he was Minister of Education, he issued the decree that permitted lower primary schools admitting both girls and boys; when being the chancellor of Peking University, he permitted men and women to attend class together (Zhang, 2007). He viewed that women’s education should not restrict to preparing for roles of mothers and wives, but also for vocations that benefit women and society (Cai[1913], 1984). He viewed that women were compassionate and women’s education could promote dao of loving and helping people (Cai [1917], 1984).

Hu Shi²⁵ cited Confucius’ quote to criticize the asymmetrical norm of chastity (which women Reformers had begun in the 1890s), reflecting his re-interpretation of ren and shu:

“Chastity is not a personal issue, rather, it is an inter-personal issue…If a man cannot be chaste in the same way, he is unworthy of his wife’s chastity. These are not evil words imported from foreign countries. Rather, this is how Confucius put it: ‘Do not do to others what you do not want to be done to you.’²⁶” (Hu, 1918b, 7)

Hu Shi (1891-1962) believed in the compatibility between individual cultivation for self and for society. He quoted Confucius’ saying: “cultivating self to help people (修己以安百姓)”, to persuade people to enhance their own capability first and then help others (Hu, 2015,1073–1077). Hu Shi also traced Chinese tradition of freedom and liberation, by quoting Confucius’ saying that education can eliminate the differences in class and ethnicity (有教无类), the Mencius’ saying that “Neither wealth nor high status can corrupt him; neither poverty nor humbleness can weaken his will; and neither threats nor forces can subdue him. These characteristics constitute the great man (富贵不能淫, 贫贱不能移, 威武不能屈。此之谓大丈夫。).” (Hu, 2015, 1185–1193)

Hu Shi applied these ideas to reject women’s subservience to men. When translating Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Hu changed the meaning of freedom for the heroine Nora, from a freedom from financial debt to freedom from her husband. Hu Shi intended to criticize the constraints on women’s individuality by the familial and societal convention and demonstrate that “both individual’s free will and individual’s responsibility were pre-conditions for developing an independent personality, for a society to govern itself, and for a country to be a republic” (Hu, 1918a, 505). Following A Doll’s House, more plays and novels featuring Chinese Noras were produced during the movement.²⁷

Women writers (e.g., Shi Pingmei) in the movement not only criticized the oppressive rituality (Shi, 1996, p.326), but also proposed that women’s emancipation should not rely on men but on women themselves (e.g., Lu [1920]1999, 171-2). The woman writer Lu Yin disliked the idea of competition in Darwinism and found Confucian idea of ren being compatible with mutual help and solidarity for women’s emancipation. She quoted Mencius and Xun Zi’s sayings: human beings differ from animals in that the former has yi and rationality;²⁸ therefore, human being should not view his/her own interests as being exclusive to the interests of others (Lu, 1996a, 563-566). Like some communist men writers (e.g., Yun Daiying, Yun[1920]1999, 35), Lu Yin supported women’s economic independence through education and occupation, as well as sharing women’s housework by men or professional child carers (Lu, 1996b, 566-567).

(Ren)ovated Confucian feminism

During the 1890s–1920s, Chinese intellectuals developed Confucian feminism, a path towards gender equality that deployed Confucian methods of learning and renovated Confucian ideas. Like the popular movements in Europe and the Americas in the 1910s–1930s (Armstrong, 2021), the feminist movements led by these intellectuals built on wide coalitions that recognize and incorporate transformative ideas in Daoism (e.g., Kang Youwei, Xue Shaohui), nationalism (e.g., Kang Tongbi, Qiu Jin), liberalism (e.g., Cai Yuanpei, Hushi), Marxism and socialism (e.g., Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, and Lu Yin). Participants in these coalitions (ren)ovate Confucian feminism by both using and challenging Confucianism through their words and actions. Hence ren in the bracket of the word “(ren)ovated” refers to a core Confucian ideal that was constructed and reconstructed by these participants. The word “(Ren) ovated” means: old teaching of ren was renewed with new meaning.

We find three anchoring elements of Confucian feminism during the 1890s–1920s of China. Each element has a history of contestation within Confucian intellectual life, state ideology, and cultural norms and practices.

Expansive ren

Chinese intellectuals during the period interpreted ren as being inclusive to women and as a counter to oppressive gender hierarchies. The benevolence of expansive ren extends to the familiar and unfamiliar in a way that allows for the hierarchies respecting not only those who are privileged but also respecting the potential in those who are not privileged. The expansive ren is important for a feminist politics because it explicitly sets the bounds of community as limitless and of our commitments to others (as boundless). We can see this element in the ideas and activities by the Chinese intellectuals during the period that women and men shall have equal rights of education, political participation, and economic independence. Expansive ren reveals benevolent interdependent and hierarchical relations that extend humanity to all and embrace contribution by all.

Critical dao

While intellectuals during this period were from different political camps, they shared the Confucian method of learning: critical (jian) dao, the way or path of applying ren, yi, and shu to the treatment of women (especially the less advantaged among them). Jian means an obligation of a child or a minister to protest and rectify the conduct of an erring parent or ruler.²⁹ Such a protest should be guided by shu, being responsive to others’ life experiences.³⁰ This is a way of criticizing what is wrong, which is guided by what we have known to be right, but that also includes self-reflection about our always incomplete understanding of what is right and seeks to be informed by the suffering of others. Intellectuals from across the periods (e.g., Song Shu, Kang Youwei, Jin Tianhe, Chen Duxiu, Qiu Jin, Cai Yuanpei, Lu Xun) criticized orthodox Confucian norms and cultural practices that served the privileged and oppressed the less advantaged. They called upon people of different sexes and socioeconomic classes to be responsive to each others’ suffering.

Xiuji da datong,修己达大同

From the Confucian texts quoted by the intellectuals during the period, the third element of Confucian feminism can be expressed as: Xiuji da datong. Xiuji was quoted by Hu Shi from the Analects, meaning self-cultivation. Da is from the Analects, meaning to promote. Datong is quoted and interpreted by Kang Youwei from the Book of Rites, meaning the great harmony.³¹

In the Confucian feminism constructed by the intellectuals during the period, we see equality, not as sameness, but as reciprocity, is foundational: women’s care, sacrifice, and chastity should be reciprocated by men (Kang Youwei, Hu Shi); people should practice the norms of chastity, loyalty and filial piety out of voluntary will and affection, not in deference to constraining social norms or oppressive social hierarchy (Songshu, Tang Qunying, Qiu Jin, Chen Duxiu). Women’s education should be encouraged to cultivate their talent for self-progression (Xue Shaohui, Huixing), to enable their economic independence (Kang Youwei, Cai Yuanpei, Hushi, Lu Yin), to strengthen their capability of mutual help and contribute to the community solidarity (Jin Tianhe, Kang Tongbi, Sun Yat-sen, Xue Shaohui, Cai Yuanpei, Hushi, Qiu Jin, Lu Yin), and to prepare for their roles in benevolent hierarchical relations (as loving mothers and filial daughters) (Song Shu, Xue Shaohui, Tang Qunying).

The ideas of individual self-cultivation and societal health, which are clearly separable concepts in modern Anglo-American accounts of liberal democracy, can be integrated into the concept of Confucian feminism: individual self-cultivation does not become liberal individualism and societal health does not become oppressive social order.

Discussion

Different from the expectation, the Chinese intellectuals during the 1890s–1920s who criticized and rejected orthodox Confucian norms and rites during the focused period did not dismiss Confucian core ideas. Instead, they constructed a notion of Confucian feminism by mixing the inclusion (e.g., women’s filial piety), critique, deconstruction, and transformation approaches to the Confucian concepts developed after the Han Dynasty. This version of Confucian feminism shares the Daoist notion of complementarity, interdependence, and dissolution of dichotomy (Lai, 2000; Miller, 2017), yet the former gives priorities to humaneness and responsiveness to lived experiences and praxis which often involve benevolent social hierarchy. It is also similar to the Confucian feminism developed by Yun Jidang in the eighteenth-century Korean Chosŏn Dynasty (Kim, 2014), in that both extend ren to women and support women’s cultivation for realizing self and others. However, two versions of Confucian feminism take contrasting views towards Cheng-Zhu neo-Confucian interpretation of li (理).

While the reciprocity of feminist political liberalism requires elimination of social hierarchies as conditions to enable individuals to give and take public reasons as free and equal citizens (Hartley, 2018), Confucian feminism during China’s 1890s–1920s promotes the positive (e.g., benevolent and affective) features of reciprocal and hierarchical relations that enable and encourage women’s cultivation for self-progression and contribution to a healthy society. Such a version of Confucian feminism is particularly responsive to the sufferings of the underprivileged and lived experiences of the wide community, which is still a preferred strategy by today’s Chinese feminist activists (Wang, 2020).

The interdependence of the three elements of Confucian feminism during this period might seem puzzling to some Western feminists (Hirschmann, 2003; Gould, 1988). However, in a Confucian ontology, this interdependence is not so puzzling. Following Collins et al. (2010), we conclude that Confucian feminism in the 1890s–1920s of China has potential to encourage transnational and global feminist politics that advance de-colonial solutions from local social and cultural (particularly Asian) contexts because it recognizes women in marginalized communities as interdependent individuals in collective groups.