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the 19th century,
early bourgeois improvers launched the Hundred Days' Reform
(1898). They held that to strengthen the power of a nation
should start from improving the condition of the citizens.
They focused on the situation of women with the lowest social
status and called for equality between men and women and rights
for both genders. They also raised the issue of feet binding
and starting women's education, all of which attracted attention.
In the early
20th Century with the appearance and growth of China's early
bourgeoisie did democratic ideas begin to be promoted in China.
The Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yet-sen overthrew the
Qing Dynasty and incorporated the claim of equality between
men and women in the revolutionary program. It called for
women to be involved in social life and be a central part
of important reforms. Women intellectuals in the middle classes
held high the flag of gender equality, while devoting themselves
to the anti-Qing cause and the establishment of the Republic
of China (1912-1949). They strove for women's rights, started
women's education and launched women's newspapers. They became
aware that women's emancipation should combine with national
liberation. For the first time, women's voices were heard
in society. These women were the pathfinders on the road to
women's emancipation.
The year 1915
saw the rise of the New Culture Movement. Its supporters held
democracy and science as their flag and crusaded against old
feudal morals, traditions and ideas. Individual freedom, liberation
of personality and personal independence became the goal of
the female emancipation movement during this
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