Tang Qunying
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Tang Qunying (; 8 December 18713 June 1937) was the first female member of the
Tongmenghui The Tongmenghui of China was a secret society and underground resistance movement founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Empire of Japan, on 20 August 1905, with the goal of overthrowing China's Qing dynasty. It was formed ...
(Chinese Revolutionary Alliance), a
secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...
and
underground resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...
founded in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, Japan by
Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...
and
Song Jiaoren Song Jiaoren (, ; Chinese name, Given name at birth: Liàn 鍊; Courtesy name: Dùnchū 鈍初; 5 April 1882 – 22 March 1913) was a Republic of China (1912–1949), Chinese republican revolutionary, political leader and a founder of the Kuom ...
in 1905. Tang has been cited as one of the "best-known women activists in modern Chinese history". She was chairwoman of the Women's Suffrage Alliance, an organization created by the merger of the Nanjing Women's Alliance, the Women's Backup Society, the Women's Martial Spirit Society, and the Women's Suffrage Comrades' Alliance in 1912. In 1913, she founded ''Women’s Rights Daily'',
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
's first newspaper for women. For her contributions in overthrowing the ruling dynasty in China, Sun Yat-sen personally met her and acclaimed her work and then she was awarded a second-class
Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain The Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain (Order of Chia-Ho ()), more simply the Order of the Golden Grain, was an award of the Republic of China. The award consists of nine classes. Recipients * Francis Aglen * Albert I of Belgium * ...
.


Early life

Tang was born on 8 December 1871 in
Hengshan County Hengshan County () is a county in the Province of Hunan, China and it is under the administration of Hengyang prefecture-level city. Located in the north of Hengyang and the east-central part of Hunan province, the county is bordered to the north ...
,
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
, as Tang Gongyi. She was the third of seven children (three sons and four daughters), and the second-to-youngest daughter of a general during the Qing dynasty rule. At the age of three, she had already started displaying rebellious behaviour to her mother. She was very close to her father who educated her and her sisters along with his sons, treating them as equals. As a child, her father recited to her the tales of
Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...
and the Yang Family Warriors, to name a few. She was excellent in her studies and was also a poet. She was a very talented speaker from a young age and her quick and sharp replies and arguments early in life reflected her keen and sharp intellect. She wrote the first poem "Getting up at Dawn" when she was 15, which was praised by her father and it laid the foundation for her advocating women's rights. She learned horse riding and swordsmanship which prompted her father to call her “female knight-errant” but her mother called her "wild like a monkey". She was regarded as a child prodigy.


Personal life

After her father's death in 1890, she married Zeng Zhuangang (the cousin of
Zeng Guofan Zeng Guofan, Marquis Yiyong (; 26 November 1811 – 12 March 1872), birth name Zeng Zicheng, courtesy name Bohan (), was a Chinese statesman and military general of the late Qing dynasty. He is best known for raising and organizing the Xiang ...
) in 1891, at the age of 19. He was from the neighbouring village of Heye (Lotus Leaf), from an elite family well connected to another famous feminist leader of China, Qiu Jin. This association benefitted her with new political thoughts and contacts. Her first and only daughter died at the age of three in 1896 due to fever and her husband followed suit in 1897. She then returned to her parental family, though it was not customary to do so, (her feminist friends like Qiu Jin encouraged her to become independent) to the "Three Good Fortune Hall". She devoted herself to serious studies of books, and caring for her mother and brothers. She read widely on reforms in society. She catalogued her father's books and wrote poetry. Her friend, Qiu Jin, also supplied her books from Japan when she was living in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, prior to her departure to Japan. One of the books which influenced her most was the ''Book of the Great Unity'', which vividly brought out the condition of women in China, and she wrote a poem giving her thoughts on the effect of the book under the title "My thoughts on reading Datong shu." Her mother died in 1918.


Career

In 1904, at the age of 33, she went to Japan to pursue her studies at Shimoda Utako's Practical Woman's School in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, which promoted conservative reformist ethos of "
good wives and wise mothers "Good Wife, Wise Mother" is a phrase representing a traditional ideal for womanhood in East Asia, including Japan, China and Korea. First appearing in the late 1800s, the four-character phrase "Good Wife, Wise Mother" (also ) was coined by Nakamu ...
." This was not to her liking and then she moved to
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
with her brother Qian. She formed a circle of her old friends from China with similar ideology to bring about change in Chinese society and political scene. She quickly became an active member of
Revolutionary Alliance The Tongmenghui of China was a secret society and underground resistance movement founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Empire of Japan, on 20 August 1905, with the goal of overthrowing China's Qing dynasty. It was formed ...
of which she was the lone female member, who was affectionately addressed as “Elder Sister Tang”, and played a pioneering role. In 1905, her revolutionary approach saw her learn the handling of weapons and bomb manufacture; the
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n anarchists were the trainers and Tang took up this training with zest and zeal, in which many of her feminist friends also took part. Then the suffrage movement was launched from 1910 to 1913 and many of her friends also joined the movement. Within the exile community, Tang, with her proficiency in political journalism, played a key role in giving a positive boost to the movement. Thereafter, she displayed a militant approach in pursuing her conviction to establish gender equality between men and women, and participation of women in political affairs. Her feminist movements in China were a part of the social revolution in China, during the
Revolution of 1911 In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elemen ...
. As a leader of the
Women's Suffrage Alliance The Women's Suffrage Alliance () was a Chinese women's rights organisation, founded 20 February 1912. Its purpose was to work for the introduction of women's rights and women suffrage. It was the first national women's suffrage organisation in Ch ...
, she led a series of demonstrations in which she and several other women stormed into sessions of parliament, demanding that the provisional constitution then under debate including voting rights for women. Sun Yat-sen agreed to mediate, and the parliament promised to take the subject up. After Sun Yat-sen resigned the presidency, however they lost much of their leverage. In August 1912 the electoral laws were passed which specifically excluded women as voters or candidates. While playing a leading role as a female member of the resistance movement in Japan, she established the ''Journal of Association of Chinese Female Students'' to promote revolutionary activities in China. She was also responsible for establishing the ''Ten-day Vernacular Newspaper for Women'' and restarted publication of ''Chinese Women Report''. In Hunan, in 1913, she started the ''Women’s Rights Daily'', which was the first of its kind. Advocacy of women's studies by Tang Qunying and Shen Peizhen resulted in Qunying establishing schools for Hunan's female community, apart from many girls' schools. A result of feminist movement was the creation of women's military organizations, when women even assassinated a few officials of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(1644–1911). Other positive developments of the revolution was, children of both sexes attended in co-education classes, which helped them to establish their rights from a young age. Tang established two educational institutions – the Girls' Art School and the Girls' Occupational School.


Later life and death

Tang was very confident of her convictions and like her leader Sun Yat-sen, she would take to the political stage with courage to face even a hostile crowd and bring them all around to her line of thinking. She imbibed confidence in women that started a genre of women who could express their viewpoints in all types of gatherings without feeling nervous. In propagating her ideas, as a
suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...
, Tang could, as a political strategist, adopt a “rigid or flexible” approach, could be “empathetic or furious”, and "analytical or impulsive” as the situation warranted. Tang was so dedicated to the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen that when he died on 12 March 1925, she wrote a poem titled “I weep for President Sun Yat-sen” and compared the grief of the nation on his death as a “miasma”. She held a memorial in his honour in the girls school she had founded. Following the appointment of
Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...
as President of the Republic of China, Tang's newspapers were forced to cease publication, organisations founded by Tang were dissolved, and Yuan, an opponent of Tang's views, ordered her capture. Tang fled to Chengsha and spent some time there with her mother. She returned to Hengshan around a year before her death. Tang died in her hometown of Hunan, China, on 3 June 1937, aged 66.


Awards

Apart from the Jiahe (Golden Harvest) Medal she was also honoured with the title of "heroine of her times" in 1991 by the former vice-chairman of the 5th CPPCC National Committee and honorary president of the All-China Women's Federation. In 1999, she was given a pride of place as one of the "eight outstanding Chinese women over a century" during the 4th World Conference on Women.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control 1871 births 1937 deaths Chinese feminists Chinese revolutionaries People from Hengshan County Educators from Hunan 20th-century Chinese journalists Writers from Hunan Chinese suffragists