A Study Of Chinese Female Students Studying In Japan In Late Qing(1899～1911)

In Chinese feudal society,many women lived in the bondage of rules.Most of them were deprived of the right to accept school education.The overseas students in the US and Europe sent by the Qing government earlier were boys,while women were excluded from studying abroad.Missionary schools for girls provided Chinese women with the opportunities to learn western culture and knowledge at first.Also,reformists set up schools for girls and provided more Chinese women with access to modern education.A few women left home to study abroad in Japan.Under the situation of domestic turmoil and foreign aggression,Chinese female students studied in Japan in Late Qing.They shouldered the mission given by the era and country.In the second half of the 19 th century,there were a series of changes in women’s education in China and Japan,which set the stage for Chinese women to study in Japan.The first Chinese woman who studied abroad in Japan was Xia Xunlan.She went to Japan in 1899,and this was the beginning of Chinese female students’ study in Japan.With the influence of Chinese men who studied in Japan and some Japanese lobbyists,a few Chinese women accompanied their husbands or elder brothers to Japan.In the beginning,there were many students from Jiangsu,Zhejiang and Huguang regions,and then more and more Chinese women began to go to Japan spontaneously.There was the first batch of Chinese official women studying in Japan in 1905,which motivated the first rush to study abroad in Japan.With the interaction of government-funded study and self-funded study,the number of Chinese women studying in Japan has increased significantly.Most of overseas women chose normal education,housekeeping and other majors.This was deeply affected by the shortage of teachers in the development of female schools in China.The Japanese education goal of being a good wife and loving mother and the short-term courses were attracting more Chinese women.There were several self-governing institutions organized by overseas students.These institutions and several official institutions played an important role in managing overseas students.Chinese female students in Japan also took an active part in social activities while studying.Since 1907,the disadvantages of short-term courses gradually appeared,while the domestic development of women’s education had made some achievements.Meanwhile,there was a revolutionary force among overseas students studying in Japan,Chinese female students in Japan also joined it.This not only contradicted the requirement of cultivating good wives and loving mothers,but also threatened the dominance of the Qing government.All of these indicated that the number of Chinese women who studied in Japan would be limited.After 1907,the selection criteria and study requirements of Chinese female students in Japan were stricter,which could improve the quality of education but limit the number of Chinese women in Japan.After returning to China,Chinese female students who studied in Japan either became teachers or founded girls’ schools,which contributed to the development of women’s education in China.Their organizations and propaganda motivated more Chinese women to receive education,which also prompted two constitutions of women’s education.Chinese women who studied in Japan in Late Qing also attached importance to the role of women’s education in women’s rights,and fought for the rights of Chinese women with applicable actions to liberate Chinese women and promote their status.