Qiu Jin was both a poet as well as a revolutionary for women’s rights and their access to education.
Jin left her significantly older husband in 1903 to study in Japan. There, she became more vocal about her support for women’s rights and she fought to improve their access to education.
She wrote articles about historical Chinese women, starting her own women’s magazine in 1906. Through the magazine, Jin encouraged women to gain financial independence.
Jin felt that a better future for women laid in a Western-type government, rather than the Manchu government. She partnered up with her male cousin, Hsu Hsi-lin, and worked to secretly overthrow the Manchu goverment. The two united revolutionary societies.
On July 6, 1907, Hsi-lin was caught by authorities. He confessed to his involvement and was later executed.
On July 12, 1907, the government arrested Jin at a school for girls, where she was the prinicipal. She refused to admit her involvement in the scheme, but the troops found documents that convicted her. Jin was beheaded.
But even still, Jin serves as a symbol of women’s independence for the Chinese people.