MODERN CHINESE WOMAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 December 1924, Page 15

MODERN CHINESE WOMAN.

ttSS WORK AND Pllom.li'.Am

nfa . nna JKo«e Jfei.) roiioying illuminating andinTf'gf™? • artlcle > written by a woman °F _. appeared in the ‘ ‘lnternaview of Missions.”: . ■ l " € , “story of China during the last tw 9 has been alternatelybright .glooiiiy, with the, shadows predamoptimism quickly followed spasiris (tf reform which raised many f a is e hopes, only to be succeeded by longer periods of pessimism and despair. . Chinese tliiiikfe-rs are inysti-..-tied: As ,tb the best rfeinedies applicable to thfe,general ! chads that is how their ; country; “Thh sick ihah of the Orient” ■has irideed fallen iiribri ekii d%s—has never ipjjeared nipfb helpfess. Internal .forces of disintegration have run riot, and seem to undermine the wiibife national fabric, unchecked eken . by foreign menace; national paralysis ...■everywhere sfeeihs all but complfete. Behind the political and industrial’ nostrums advocated by various reformers is the devastating background of an .apparently unchanging mass of ignorance, an incomprehensible inertia, .an oppressive hopelessness which staggers the , weak; yet; challenges the strong. “A gleam of hope in a decadent situation comes from the score or more of S. ei i a hd women whose. faith in the Christian message of freedom leads them oh in the light for a better order of ,things. These have seen hundreds ol schemes initiated, tried and abandoned ; they realise the utter folly, of reform from the top down,, and they are. bending their Energies towards education- and social self-help, ; towards progress and reform from the bottom up. To this view also the modern Cliinese wonilifi has Slowly come- arid with conviction 'she is carrying out her’ ideas in nearly.-every conceivable sphere of service; to /effect a general levelling up, especially tb sister women from the shackles of age-old customs. Her work is founded on and inspired by... Gh.fistian courage knd charity arid freedom ; it is distinctly a new phenomenon!. It is too early yet to speak of Chinese women creating “a new riiferMl arid spiritual force that is ansmuritiii g itse'lf into the hearts, of , men, but sigiis are not wanting that they are gradually constituting themselves into s%h a force'. ‘ China hasbeen synonymous With a ,vdst vacuous lnertiii, biit dßd Is a land of paradoxes, .the' khddehhess -of Change's wrought witlr bewildering rapidity iit late years has'been a§ astonishing'as it has'bben encouraging.' Thus we s4e froiheh to-' da5 j- in Pfofesgibns, in trade and industry, Serving tfihir geiieratiori in self-denying Social work—all tins, happening- side by sidfr with the cld-iasmbriea Worireri; arid girls who shrink frb'm anything hut tlte traditional rut§ that nieii fOr thodsdiids of years had made and kept for them. We have 'women /who have studied abroad flow returned as physicians. I need cite only Drs. Mary arid Phebe fetone, whose work among the po'or and lowly in factories and the slums is well known. Then there is Hr. Ida Kahn, who directs a large' hospital in Northern Chink, rind Df. Mary Charig,, whb organised Red Cross work hi the revolution. Of 1911. Trained rihr'ses' ‘ are increasing as medical collrigEs* Arid ritirsmg schools are turhiiig Out mote Every ' JOar.; iriariy Of them • have done’ excel- ■ lent, wdrk iii thb area of the' fighting. “There is a law school • in Shanghai , giving leg&i instruction to women, founded by a Christian' woman, wife, of an ex-Mmister of Justice. She is not a returned student, but Chrisitian idefils have so appealed to her that .she must put thorn tb practical application. In .an ail dent land where the legal position. bfwomeii has, been that of cOntihuous Subjugation to rrieii, their rights niolt T & -Py& ignored respected or eveit defined,' Where Women as h whole hav© :!^ n in abysmal igndrande enslaved in cOrieubirirfge, thdv hdd hardly, expected . fair treatment - from men; but now,, legal arid higher educa-tion-give promise of freedom and the . assurance, of & neiv day. ‘‘A women’s' bank iri Shanghai, nhother m Peking, organised and coif: ducted by womeri for women, arb interesting developments of something like tohdrifity, That iri &hringhai Ms a more moving spirit in Mis % staurfeh Christian wothari, of forceful personality j far-sighted; Arid shrewd in . inf philanthropy. She’ herself Wris a fraif brought up in an orphan asylum, and after marrying a’ rich-merchant one of her first acts was to ■ found an orphan asylum arid iridiistrial school where' orphans could be trained tel useful trades. She has been . untiring in church, free school- arid sdrind in organisations Kke ihfe , Y - VV •Vijf •> übyer far" behind the lead in Welfare work of all sort’s. , are the teachere trained both; rilri oad' and at fihrrie, and , devoted women are they all. Dearis of Women mission colleges arid Government schools hrive made’ rhedrds* capacity arid scholarship as well as educational leadership. In this, corinectiotfdriight bri mentioned the advent of co-eduoatiriri in China, hitherto'Ari uri:j heard df iriridvation, But which is likely to spread Us, good sense arid economy prevail Ginling College for Women, m Narikirig, is yeafiy turning out * aozeris of splendid, high-spirited ’Chris , tian gif Is, graduates who have already Won a nbsitiori in different callings. A new College for women just planned at the Union University of Chengtu, West China, will fill a great need in a vast region with a population of over . 100,000,000. 7. ‘lri the field of jorirnalism and belleslettres are women who have edited women’s . magazines and written good t? 1 * B ®*™ vbry yerastile editress is Mrs T. C. Chu, a former chairman of the ' National Committee . Of the Y.W.GIA.- in ,CKiria, "who’- has Experience in many lines of endeavour, not the least being the organisation of the Chinese Women’s Club of Shanghai arid of free schools for poof children. Since graduating from- Wellesley College she has won recognition as one of the chief figures in what may be called the feminist movement in China. With her name may be coupled that of Mrs D. Y. Liri, also a Wellesley graduate, former dean of the Y.W.C.A., who is now giving splendid assistance- to her husband in the' attempt at pro-vince-Wide afforestation work; she is also organising a new Y.W.C.A. at Chefoo. “There were women soldiers in the repriblicari revolrition of 1911, of the corps known as the “Dare-to-dies,” a body of-men and women orgarifggd more or less like’ the American Minutenien of 1776. Many girls have sacrificed tlieir lives in the cause of democracy. Only a few weeks ago there was a report- of two women appointed to division commands in the contending armies in the smith and west of China. This certainly is no sign of -Retrogression or of bid-style inactivity among Chinese women. > “Other indications" are riot-lacking that our iriodefn woirien are resenting the old role of contented idleness, or that of only rearing babies and mending socks. Women and ’girls in the cities are now filling business offices as book-keepers, shop assistants, saleswomen, stenographers and even commission agents, while hundreds have become teleohone operators and bank clerks. There ate shopkeepers /without number. The substitution, of maehinerv for hnndicrafs has taken hundreds of thousands of women from the . homes to the factories and the mills, and has created for China rieiv arid

puzzling sbcioriridustrial /problems that require sdlutiori bhforri they get out of hand.

; “In religious wdrk might mentidned Miss- Ting Shuchmg, actinggepeial secthtafy rif , ri^tibnal Y.W.C. A. movement. She hiis had wide administrative experience in Peking, where as* geheraHsecretary of the- city Y.W.C.A. she not oiily had much to do with the rhutine activities of the Y.W.C.,A. v .but co-operated iir welfare and social service work of every kind iii the,,.capital.' TMh.MiSs FM Yu-Jung is fast coiming to the fore as religious leader, social work thinker, and investigator. -An eloquent and convincing speaker, she hhs presided many times at conventions arid meetings of all kinds iri masi&tty ikshibil,- Wifaniiig high praise from foreign arid Chinese collabosfatots; Chinese woriidti niissiotiaries, have gone froiii the sedports to the iritefior, under the auspices of hbhie missibriitry societies;, fof E v ringelistic woifk in far-off Yuririan and, Szechuan, sharing struggles arid enduring hardships frith the irien. /The scores of able and devoted secretaries rioiv staffing the thirteeri Y.W.C.A’s iri as mriny cities of China 'in responsibid positions as general secretaries arid heads of departments sueh as student work, publication, general administration;; religious, braiiiirig. arid industrial welfare show the many-sided interest of modern Chinese women, who hake caught the glearii of Chrtst’s. ieadersHiri, and w%,, regardless of. past traditions arid hide-bdiirid ciistdfiig, have cht ririfr trails as pioneers fo.r tHe coiniijg generatibris to, follow. TK© phtlis hayb bldzed, are ©very fruit' ds dilficrilß; hazardous and trying ds driy in the Wbst. ■

‘‘There are also those ei-striderits arid others who havb hdd advantaged of edbcatib’n or residetice abroad, Jjrit frllo have only returned to’ lives of ease, of have Jliriped babk into the rut Of "th©: past. Pity. thein for the wonderful bp-; portnnities they are rifirisirig Of iriaking thbir lives countiri . this , great traditional era of their countfy. Sbirie* there are. Who, taken by .the pleasure of the West; add theiri to thbrie bf: the Ea‘st with increased assiduity and crriving; some seek the excitements of the dance hall, the gaming tables, of advanced styles in dfess . and x adornment, even bobbed hair. If I say, so niiich it is onl.k to .give a' complete picture of modern Chinese women as they are, and to show .that surely tnese ; are not the stay-at-hpnies.. their mothers arid graridmbtner'd fref©. CKirid is changing, arid with her change the frrimen and girls who Have aharidoped the restfictioris of a long i iiiasculirib civilisation.. Moral or social standards of ancient time's are being; iiriceferiioniouslY; jettisoned. The wririien bf tbday are discbvel'irig theinselveS iii evei'y direction, arid finding independence sweet rind 'griod. ; “Tlie double stiaiicfrtfd’of is rapidly losing favour ambrig wdirie'ri in China—more rapidly than is corisidefrid desirable by the mbri, fdr its ‘riiainteiirince riiearis tire coiitiriuritidri 6f male superiority with all the evils bf concubinage-, slavefy, patririfchalismy arid dbiriestic’ tyranny. Its dlilriiiiatioit front the .minds of Cliinese men and womeri Will destroy the vicious notion that women are men’s natural, legal and economic inferiors. The faces of bia ; modern women are Sbt rigriinst the old system of things. Gbriscibtisly Or unconseibrisly, they are deternliried to get freedom, and with the example of Western wolnen before them,. their .attainment of the franchise ’and equality of treatment in industry and labonr; Chinese women are peering ipto the future, anxjous to experience the thrill of iiideperiderice and equality when they shrill; cease to be merely domestic beasts of buideri or the wives, .of caveinen = no longer willing .-calmly- .fosubriait to parent-made maTriages -frith-men.-whom they have never seen; they demand to. arrange. tlieir' own ages,. A fefr m'oriths sigo k ybririg girl in Peking dafEd to deffr tfie Ccirivdritforis tfr snih| her be’trdthe'd to annul thb erigrigerifririt. It seeiried a modern; miracle, but she, won, evert over her -erfrn prifents’ objectiori, -the ridicule of the press and frery rigid' Official coriseravfisfS. . <

.//If Eteri practise riirintal infidelity, tlieir iriodeYri WikEs' are : a't least riht doomed tc that siterit teTferatidn which for cferitiiries . • seferilEd fentafifourit /to aiding, and abettriig the ferirse ofplural arid 6f sjaye -.'girlsi.. Their pVote&fc Against the' oad order is plainly ffegistfeifed iri tliE .ftfrmber of dtivoxcd crises. 6rqwding. the court caleridars; a situation hithertE,; the very suggestion of separation, being appalling, in . old Chinese social life. ‘."The .demand, for? female, education which provides lor higher training beyorid the iriiddle sehool reveals' an insistent. Eesire for awakening, - the feminine mind and the geriefal raising of woiriep’s' status. ,lt will riot he very B>riS before sex solidarity frill firmly ddriiand the. .right' of women to,, participate’ iri public affairs. The poprilafismg; of kiiowledge by mriss education, in the' esseritials of wiitirig arid reading will make this objfectivE easier of achievemerit than coriserkatike peopl© now think pbssibTe. If is this general leavening of' -the Chinese .masses through popular elemeritary Education making for . literacy that will reduce the present appalling 90" per cent, illiteracy. Coupled with'the gradual awAkeriing of women’s minds, their pa'rticrpatiori .iri public affairs and active interest in the problems of social welfare gives premise of a great hope' f6r the China that is lying helpless in tb'e grip of corruption, chaos and civil war. The passing of the docile women' of yesterday arid*the advent of the aggressive and practical typ© of to-day has' to he taken into-' account, in such matters as public .health work, better factory laws, child labour legislation and fairer wages. In the initiation of all these reforms the women, chiefly through the Y.W.C.A. and the Notional Christian Council, have had a voice. The incipient industrialism, new' economic readjustments, novel social ideals and rasn political eorifeeptioris' are great forces now playing upon the tired mind, and their impact causes strange reactions-. . As the significance and application of these new forces come ,to be uriderstodd, what a. tremendous driving power there will be released and ‘utilised for the national well-being. “Against- the great evils ivow tormeuting China—such as brigaijdage, poverty, famine, flood, pestilence, industrial exploitation of the man arid woman power of the, nation, vicious customs such as foot-binding, gambling and indulging iri opium, trie petty restrictions of the old family system—against {ill these men have for centuries struggled iri vain because they have fought alone, unaided by the women’s intuitive knowledge, moral indignation and entliusiasrii. Now, with' Christian women taking the lead in nearly every line of reform and uplift, holding aloft the ideals of . militant Christianity as a torch to millions , bf the oppressed arid exploited, while never ceasing tlieir quiet work of building up an indigenous church, extending the field of home missionary endeavour, and keeping clearly and steadily before themselves the great objectives of civil arid social emaricipatiori which their sisters in America' arid England , have won, it is rib idle dream to think that in the riot too far distant future China will experience a real renaissance. Then the modern women of China will indeed come into their owri, Because they will have done theifr duty and fulfilled their destiny as saviours of. their race.”