THE MODERN CHINESE WOMAN

Evening Star, Issue 19794, 18 February 1928, Page 20

THE MODERN CHINESE WOMAN

Writing in the ‘ Sphere,’ Lady Drummond Hay says:— “Fifty years ago a Chinese woman never dared to leave her house except iu the most special circumstances, such as a wedding, a funeral, or sickness in the family circle. She well earned her name, ‘Nei Jeun ’ ('One in the House’), and between ! ’o lour walls of her parents’ dwelling she remained until the time came to hand her over to her husband, the master she had never seen. The lot of the Chinese woman is claimed to have been infinitely worse than that of tiie mnc.hpitied veiled ‘victims’ secluded in the harems of Turkey and the Near East, but if less has been heard of_ iheir alleged'plight, it is because, until very recently, the Chinese woman has been inarticulate. “To-day the feminist movement in China is in full swing. Women occupy public posts of high political, economical, and social responsibility; practise as lawyers, doctors, surgeons, dentists, and even aviators. The Chinese woman is revealing herself as far superior in intelligence, keenness, and adaptability to any of her sisters in the Far East, and mentally above the average Chinaman. Hie famous Japanese woman journalist, Miss Shigeko Takanaka, after a long stay in China, concedes that the women of China are already far ahead of those of Japan.”