Female role models: Fictional and actual heroines of the late Chinese Empire with reference to Meng Lijun and Qiu Jin

The woman writer Chen Duansheng (1751--1796) and the woman martyr of the Xinhai revolution and poet Qiu Jin (1875--1907) shared a radical vision: a woman leaves her home and successfully implements her abilities unhindered by societal restrictions on female behaviour.;This study seeks to point out the gradual changes in perception of upper class Chinese women during the second half of the Qing dynasty, with special reference to Qiu Jin and Meng Lijun, the paradigmatic protagonist of Chen Duansheng's only novel, the Zai sheng yuan.;A society using role models to promote certain values is sometimes confronted with the emergence of role models that call those same values into question. To what extent were Qiu Jin and Chen Duansheng able to convey their nonconformist views of women's role in society?;The role models of 'exceptional women' were originally used as an educational device to mould Chinese women according to Confucian values and to indicate their place in the prevailing hierarchy. But the rapid expansion of printing in the 18th and 19th centuries together with growing literacy among women, permitted the creation and distribution of new, subversive female role models contrary to classical ideals.;For the first time, a forum for the articulation of a new gender perception emerged. Contrary to widespread opinion, not only learned men contributed to this change, but also female authors, who sometimes even asserted subversive ideas in the guise of traditional forms of literature for women.;It can be seen that existing role models in society can be utilised both to preserve and cultivate traditions and to destroy them.;In addition, role models are useful indicators of changes in societal attitudes and values. The classical Chinese heroines who went to war or acted for their husbands or fathers in powerful positions, sometimes assuming male disguise, would later resume their traditional places in society. Conversely, modern heroines now irretrievably abandon traditional female roles in order to access power or political influence.