Huixing (, 1871–1905) was a

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

school pioneer and women's rights activist. She was an ethnic

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

from the

Gūwalgiya Gūwalgiya (Manchu Chinese: ; ) was one of the most powerful Manchu clans. It is often listed by historians as the first of the eight prominent Manchu clans of the Qing dynasty. After the demise of the dynasty, some of its descendants sinicized ...

clan. She was the daughter of a Manchu officer and the wife of another, but became a pregnant widow in 1889. Huixing was a passionate advocate for modern reform education as a solution to the crisis of her contemporary China, particularly for girls, who at that time could not only get such an education at the Western missionary schools as they were very few Chinese schools for girls. She collected funds for the foundation of such a school and founded the pioneer Zhenwen Girls' School in Hangzhou in 1904. When the money ran out and she was denied government funds, the school was closed and she committed suicide. Her suicide out of despair for the lack of women's education in China became famous and contributed to a flood of enthusiasm for the foundation of private girls' schools in China.

References

Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: v. 1: The Qing Period, 1644–1911
{{Authority control 1871 births 1905 deaths Chinese women's rights activists 19th-century Chinese educators 19th-century Chinese women educators 1905 suicides Suicides in the Qing dynasty

See also

References