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[Qiu Jin]; Min Huang (editor). Qiu yu qiu feng [“Autumn rain, autumn wind:”
memorial for the executed revolutionary Qiu Jin.]
[Shanghai]: Jung cun shu ju; Hong
wen shu ju, 1907. Octavo, original wrappers. Frontispiece portrait, 1922 stamp of a San
Francisco Chinese grocer to lower wrapper. Spine largely perished, housed in a custom
chemise and slipcase. $20,000.
Extraordinary memorial pamphlet for the Chinese revolutionary and feminist Qiu
Jin (c.1875-1907), printed less than two months after her public beheading in 1907.
Qiu Jin was born into wealth and privilege. Her parents bound her feet and
arranged her marriage, but also provided her with a comparatively thorough
education. Deeply drawn to revolutionary ideas, and chafing under the restrictions
of life as a Chinese wife and mother, Qiu Jin escaped to Japan in 1904, joining the
expatriate Chinese revolutionaries gathering there. She unbound her feet and
undertook the study of traditionally male martial skills, like her hero Mulan:
sword fighting, archery, and horseback riding astride. She adopted masculine dress,
especially Japanese andWestern styles: the famous photograph reproduced in this
pamphlet shows Qiu Jin in Japanese dress, wielding a warrior’s sword. The portrait
is a provocation, intended to spark discussion about women’s roles in the coming
revolution, as well as to burnish her own legend.
Qiu Jin began writing and speaking publicly in defense of women’s emancipation,
arguing that China as a whole would benefit from reforms that gave women more
opportunities. She directed her criticism at the arranged marriages, inadequate
schooling, and foot binding that limited the potential of Chinese women. She was
a brilliant orator, a talent all the more unusual because she “lived at a time when
women in China were not permitted to venture out of their homes, let alone
participate in public affairs” (
NewYork Times Overlooked
obituary, 2018). Her
famous poem “Reply to a Japanese Friend,” included here, is characteristic:
“Don’t tell me women are not the stuff of heroes.”
In 1906, Qiu Jin moved back to China. She became principal of a school of physical
education that served as a front for her underground revolutionary organization.
In 1907, the organization’s leader was captured after assassinating a local government
authority, and officials soon came in pursuit of Qiu Jin, the second in command.
After a fight, she was captured, tortured, and executed. The title of this pamphlet
references her death poem, her last words, which play on her surname (“qiu,”
meaning ‘autumn’): “Autumn rain, autumn wind: they make one die of sorrow.”
Qiu Jin’s body would eventually be buried and reburied nine different times, as
various factions competed to claim her as one of their own. This 1907 pamphlet
is one of the earliest examples of an attempt to shape her legacy, including excerpts
from her writings and tributes by others; the printer ran an extraordinary risk
in producing this memorial before the revolution. SunYat-Sen’s revolutionary
party, of which Qiu Jin was the first female member, would finally overthrow the
Qing Dynasty in 1911: SunYat-Sen’s wife described Qiu Jin as “one of the noblest
martyrs of the revolution.” Today, she remains a national hero, central to modern
China’s vision of itself. The legend of Qiu Jin, revolutionary general and martyr,
is memorialized in print, inscribed on stele, and dramatized on stage and
screen. Text in Chinese. Exceptionally rare survival of a poorly printed
underground publication.
