英文摘要 |
Existing studies state that Qiu Jin has been honored as a martyr and an advocate for women's education. She is also a historical figure who has won the recognition of local society. The historical memory about Qiu Jin has been utilized as an important resource for the state-making project. This article ventures to argue otherwise. In the late Qing period, Qiu Jin's family considered Qiu Jin a vengeful ghost, although local society was generally sympathetic with her, believing that the advocate for women's education was wrongly convicted and executed as a revolutionary. In the early Republican years, local elites started to make use of Qiu Jin to publicize their connection with the revolutionary regime and to attack their rivals. Qiu Jin gradually assumed the image as a revolutionary martyr in the confrontation among revolutionary groups. The mourning of Qiu Jin became a tool used by local elites to resist state governance and to propagate the revolutionary spirit of local society on the one hand, and to promote personal interests on the other. However, the local government dealt with the historical memory about Qiu Jin in a low-profile manner on the grounds that the revolutionary image of Qiu Jin advocated by local elites was detrimental to state governance. |