Qiu Jin 秋瑾 (1875–1907) was a Chinese writer, poet, essayist, revolutionary, and the founder of the feminist publication China Women’s News《中国女报》. Defying the gender expectations of her time, she practiced cross-dressing, learned sword-fighting and horseback riding, and acquired a traditional scholarly education.
Later, she connected with other activists of China’s feminist movement, studied abroad in Japan, and returned home to join a revolution to overthrow the oppressive imperial Qīng dynasty government and fight for women’s rights. When the uprising failed, she chose to die as a martyr rather than escape, which led her to become known as a feminist revolutionary icon in China and internationally. In her brief thirty-one years of life before her execution, Qiu Jin wrote over two hundred poems, which have been compiled into various collections posthumously.
