Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



75 



THE NEW WOMAN OP" THE 

 NEW EAST. 



In introducing papers on the " New Woman in 

 I hina and Japan and India," Dr. .-\Ibert Shaw, in the 

 [ii!y number of the American Revina of Reviews, thus 



nipactly sums up the situation : — 



One of the most significant an 1 ileep-reaching developments 

 of the modern spre.id of liber.ilism and social progress is the 

 awakening restlessness of the women of the Orient. The 

 Oriental woman h.as farther to gn than the woman of the West, 

 but she has already taken the first step^ in the direction of a 

 larger participation in the life of her people. In Japan and 

 China women arc attending the universities, entering into 

 business and professions, and already taking an active part in 

 public life. The refonner, Kang-Vu-wei, in his book, "A 

 Criticism of the Chinese Classics," called attention, many years 

 ago, to the fact that the raising of the status of woman has 

 always been an essential part of the spread of democracy. It is 

 more than half a century since women began to be educated in 

 China. This was when the missionary movement had attained 

 important proportions. Two decades ago a crusade began 

 against the binding of the feet, which was a great step forward. 

 In 1907 the government formally recognised tliejight of women 

 to education and began to plan schools for girls. A newspaper 

 edited by women was one of the first developments of the woman 

 movement in China. In .March of this year the hall of the 

 National .Assembly of the new Republic at Nanking was made 

 the scene of a violent demonstration by militant Chinese 

 suftragettes, discontented with the measure of " emancipation " 

 granted them by the new ri^ime. 



Social regeneration in India is going on swiftly and steadily. 

 The whole mass is being affected by the leaven of social reform. 

 In this social revolution— for nothing short of that term can 

 express the exact situation— the Hindu woman is playing a 

 most heroic part. All the rest of the vast continent of .Vsia is 

 experiencing the stirrings of the woman movement. The 

 languorous ladies of Persia are stirring, and in Turkey and 

 Egypt they are already awake. -Vltogether it is a vast and 

 portentous movement. 



LEADING CHINESE WOMEN. 



Adachi Kinnosuke recounts the achievements of 

 -some of the noted women of the new China. He tells of 

 an actress named Chin Chilan, who made much money 

 '■>• her a'tint; and charming personality, which she 

 patched to her comrades in the United States for 

 liie purchase of arms and ammunition. This was dis- 

 t covered, and she was beheaded, .\nother martyr of 

 the rivDhition was Chuchin. the only daughter of a 

 Wealthy inerchant, who left his entire fortune to his 

 child at his death. She put the whole of it into the 

 treasury of the revolutionists. She undertook the work 

 of smugL;lini; arms, ammunition, dynamite, and bombs 

 into China. .Arrested, tried, condemned, she wrote out 

 her case in English, feeling that in that language alone 

 she could appeal to the world. We are next told of 

 Madame Su. now si.\ty-five years of age, who moved 

 twelve hundred Chinese students to tears by her 

 pathetic eloquence about the needs of their country. 



THE flllNESE WIFE ALWAYS MA.STER. 



Happily, this higii valuation of womanhood is no 

 sudden outburst. The writer says : — 



Mr. Oku.la, while he w.-u serving as the Third .Secretary to 

 the J.ipanese Kuibossy at Peking, m.idc a careful study of the 

 social and commercial life of China and wrote a book. He 

 sayj that petticoat gOTcrnment is a general thing in China ; 



that the position of her women is even higher than that of h;r 

 Occidental sisters. "China is the country which respects and 

 v.ilucs her women exceedingly," he declares. " K country 

 where woman's power is strong. Kven among the lower classes 

 the husband cannot lay a violent hand on the wife, and the 

 matrimonial quarrel has only one end invariably — the victory for 

 the wife." 



INDIAN WOMEN CONQUERING CASTE. 



Basanta Koomar Roy saj's that the custom of earl\- 

 marriage is changing fast. Hindu boys refuse to maiTV 

 until they have finished their education. The prohi- 

 bition of inarriage between members of dillerent castes 

 has led to inbreeding, with physical degeneracy as a 

 result. Now there is a great movement for inter- 

 marriage between the different castes. The remarriage 

 of widows is also proceeding apace. Sometimes parents 

 advertise for a young widow of a different caste to 

 marry their boy. The Indian woman is said to be the 

 soul of the Nationalist mo\ement. Side by side with 

 Indian National Congress there is a Women's Con- 

 ference, to plan work to better the condition of women. 

 Women leaders make speeches, and pass resolutions, 

 and travel as propagandists. They are now breaking 

 out as journalists. 



THE POSITION OF WOMAN 

 SUFFRAGE. 



I.N the Englis/neoman for July Mr. Philip Snowden 

 discusses the article on Woman Suffrage by Mr. 

 Crawshay-Williams, which appeared in the Contem- 

 porary Review for June. He thinks the proposal put 

 forward in that article probably emanated from Mr. 

 Lloyd George. Discussing the future policy of woman 

 suffragists. Mr. Snowden write? that " the professed 

 friends of woman suffrage struck a most damaging 

 blow at the cause by their treachery in securing the 

 defeat of the Conciliation Bill," and adds that if a 

 woman suffrage amendment to the Reform Bill now 

 fails, " it has been killed by the Libera! M.P."s, who. 

 while professing to favour the enfranchisement of 

 women, voted against an open bill to enact it." The 

 introduction of the Reform Hill requires that woman 

 suffrage be considered in a new aspect. Woman suffrage 

 societies, he says, must press for the full demand of sex 

 equality, and, failing success in that, work for as large 

 a measure as can be obtained. Those Radicals who 

 denounced the compromise of the Conciliation Bill 

 themselves admit that some comproinise must be 

 made. The proposal of Mr. Crawshay-Williams is that 

 the qualifying age for women should be higher than 

 that of men. The Reform Bill proposes twenty-one 

 for men, " probably on the initiative of Mr. Lloyd 

 George, in order to provide an opportunity for moving 

 an amendment to admit women at the age of twenty- 

 five." But, adds Mr. Snowden, the chances of such an 

 amendment are problematical. Failing its success, it 

 would then be the bounden duty of all woman suffra- 

 gists to unite on such an amendment as could be 

 carried. 



