Born November 8, 1875 (though some sources say between 1877-79), in Xiamen, Fujian, China. Her parents were, Qiu Shounan, a government administrator & his wife, Shan, who was well-educated. Qiu Jin was born in a China in turmoil, the Taiping Rebellion had swept over most of the country between 1851-64, resulting in the death of approximately 20 million people, on the heels of the Opium War which ended just 9 years earlier. Hong Kong was handed over to the British, which gave them a trade monopoly on the 5 ports open to foreign access. Despite the instability of the society she was born into, Qiu Jin was fortunate to be introduced to both romantic Chinese folklore & epic prose, as well as more modern Western philosophy, politics & business. Qiu Jin as well as her older brother & younger sister were taught to read the Confucian classics, history & poetry. At the age of 13, she began writing poetry. It's also highly likely that due to living in a treaty port, Qiu Jin was aware of the flourishing opium trade, large numbers of poor labourers, who were forced to go overseas for work & Western missionaries preaching in China.
The second half of the nineteenth century was a turning point in Chinese history, when traditional interpretations of Confucianism were making way for more modern ideaologies. Western missionaries began establishing girl's schools in the 1890's & women & girl's rights were becoming more of a hot button topic as well. As a child, Qiu Jin attended the school her family run. In 1891, the family moved back to their ancestral home of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Where she would learn martial arts under the guidance of an older male cousin. Qiu Jin became highly adept with the sword & learned to ride horses. But they didn't stay long, moving to Hunan province, at some point in the early 1890's. Qiu Jin grew up in the Yangtze River Valley, which includes the provinces of Hunan, Zhejiang & Fujian, which was the region most impacted by the British victory during the Opium War, which "opened" China a few decades earlier. Scholars who were largely based in the great port city of Shanghai, had easy access to various works of Western literature, which put into perspective China's relative weakness on the international stage. This was needless to say, a highly pivotal period for change in Chinese history.
In 1884-85 the Sino-French War, was fought in an attempt by the French colonial powers to wrest Indochina from China's centuries long rule. A decade later the Sino-Japanese war ended in the annexation of Taiwan as a Japanese colony, in 1895. The Chinese populace became increasingly disillusioned with the Qing Dynasty, resulting in the Boxer's Rebellion, in 1900; which was fought partially to bring an end to foreign interference in Chinese affairs but was also fought with the intention of undermining the Qing's legitimacy. A budding revolution was also spearheaded by Sun Yat-Sen, the rebels wanted to emulate the constitutional monarchies of the west & believed the old Chinese dynastic system had to come to an end.
After moving with her mother & brother to Hunan to join her father, she married Wang Tingjun, in 1896. The couple had two children, a son, Wang Yuande, born 1897 & a daughter named Wang Qiu Canzhi (Guifen), born 1901. Qiu Jin & Tingjun relocated to Beijing between 1900-03. But Tingjun wasn't a good husband, he indulged in gambling & prostitution & was described by Qiu Jin as "inconsiderate & selfish". In 1904, she sold some of her jewelry & dressed as a man, boarded a ferry from Shanghai to Japan, leaving behind her husband & 2 children, in order to study abroad. Despite the country becoming a growing threat to Chinese sovereignty, it was a very attractive place to study social reform & modernization. By the time Qiu Jin arrived in Tokyo, there were over 1500 Chinese students living & studying there. That same year, Qiu Jin enrolled at the Japanese Language School, in Tokyo. The following year, she took a 5 month course called, "Special Training Course for Chinese Women", at the Aoyama Women's Vocational School, also in Tokyo. While studying in Japan, Qiu Jin became heavily involved with the Chinese revolutionary movement, joining organizations like, the Restoration Society, based in Shaoxing & the Revolution Alliance (Tongmenghui) based in Tokyo, she also routinely wrote & lectured. Radicalized students like Qiu Jin were often drawn into the somewhat mysterious subculture of secret societies made up of groups of Chinese people, who collaborated to protect their own identities against those of the upper class who sought to demean them. While living in Yokohama, Qiu Jin joined the largest of these organizations, The Triad. She also wrote for the Vernacular, publishing articles about the outlawing of foot-binding & promoting women's education & gender equality.

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We Won't Stay Silent
Non-Fiction"We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational and so disciplined they can be free" ...