Qiu Jin - Literary Works

Literary Works

While Qiu is mainly remembered in the West as revolutionary and feminist, one aspect of her life that gets overlooked is her poetry and essays. Having received an exceptional education in classical literature, reflected in her writing of more traditional poetry (shi and ci) Qiu composed verse with a wide range of metaphors and allusions; mixing classical mythology along with revolutionary rhetoric.

For example, in a poem Ayscough translates as, "Capping Rhymes with Sir Shih Ching From Sun's Root Land" (147) we read the following:

秋瑾〈日人石井君索和即用原韻〉
漫云女子不英雄，萬里乘風獨向東。
詩思一帆海空闊，夢魂三島月玲瓏。
銅駝已陷悲回首，汗馬終慚未有功。
如許傷心家國恨，那堪客裡度春風。
Don't tell me women
are not the stuff of heroes,
I alone rode over the East Sea's
winds for ten thousand leagues.
My poetic thoughts ever expand,
like a sail between ocean and heaven.
I dreamed of your three islands,
all gems, all dazzling with moonlight.
I grieve to think of the bronze camels,
guardians of China, lost in thorns.
Ashamed, I have done nothing;
not one victory to my name.
I simply make my war horse sweat.
Grieving over my native land
hurts my heart. So tell me;
how can I spend these days here?
A guest enjoying your spring winds?

(translated by Zachary Jean Chartkoff)

Editors Sun Chang and Saussy (642)explain the metaphors as follows: line 4: "Your islands" translates "sandao," literally "three islands," referring to Honshū, Shikoku and Kyushu, while omitting Hokkaido - an old fashion way of referring to Japan. line 6: ... the conditions of the bronze camels, symbolic guardians placed before the imperial palace, is traditionally considered to reflect the state of health of the ruling dynasty. But in Qiu's poetry, it reflects instead the state of health of China …