The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake and the Story of Qiu Jin

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake (Jian hu nu xia Qiu Jin, 竞雄女侠秋瑾) is a 2011 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese biographical martial-arts film, directed by Herman Yau and produced by the China Drama Production Centre on a budget that supported a substantial cast and a substantial period reconstruction of the late Qing dynasty. The film is built around the life of Qiu Jin (1875-1907), the late-Qing feminist, poet, and revolutionary whose execution on 15 July 1907 at Shaoxing made her one of the first major martyrs of the Chinese republican movement. The film was released in mainland China on 13 October 2011 and in Hong Kong in the same season, and the film was nominated for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress for the Chinese actress Huang Yi in the title role. The film is, in the standard assessment, the most substantial of the films about Qiu Jin produced in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the film is, in the standard assessment, the most accessible introduction to the life of Qiu Jin and to the broader history of late-Qing feminism and revolutionary activity. The film is, in sum, the most important recent cinematic treatment of one of the foundational female figures of modern Chinese history, and the film is the principal entry point into the broader culture of late-Qing Chinese feminism and revolutionary activity.

The basis for the story is, in sum, the life of Qiu Jin, and the basis is one of the most consequential lives of any Chinese feminist of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Qiu Jin had, by the time of her execution in 1907, established herself as one of the leading poets of the late Qing dynasty, as one of the leading feminists of the period, and as one of the leading revolutionaries of the Tongmenghui and the Guangfuhui (Restoration Society) networks that were to overthrow the Qing dynasty in 1911. The life of Qiu Jin had, by the time of her execution, attracted substantial attention in the Chinese and the Japanese press of the period, and the life of Qiu Jin has, since her execution, been the subject of a substantial body of biographical and historical literature. The 2011 film draws on this substantial body of biographical and historical literature, and the film is, in the standard assessment, the most cinematic of the recent treatments of the life of Qiu Jin. The basis for the story is, in sum, one of the most consequential lives of any Chinese feminist of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, and the basis for the story is the foundation of the 2011 film.

The story of the film

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake opens, in the 2011 film, on 14 July 1907 in the Anhui province of east-central China, where the Manchu provincial governor En Ming has been assassinated by the revolutionary Xu Xilin, the cousin of Qiu Jin, in the early days of a planned joint uprising. The assassination has, in the standard accounts of the film, been the opening move of a coordinated rising in which Xu Xilin’s forces in Anqing and Qiu Jin’s forces in Shaoxing were to seize their respective provincial capitals in a coordinated strike against the Qing court. The strike, in the standard accounts, was to have been the opening move of a broader revolutionary rising, and the strike was to have been the foundation of a broader anti-Qing republican movement. The strike was, however, premature, and the strike was the consequence of Xu Xilin’s decision to move forward without waiting for the broader coordination with Qiu Jin in Shaoxing.

The opening scene of the film shows Qiu Jin, played by Huang Yi in a commandingly physical performance, at the head of the Datong College in Shaoxing. The college, which Qiu Jin had established in 1907 as a mixed-gender academy of martial arts and modern learning, was, in the film, a cover for a broader revolutionary training school that was to have provided the cadre for the coordinated rising against the Qing court. The college was, in the film, a substantial institution: a complex of halls and dormitories, a gymnasium for the martial arts training, and a library of modern Chinese and Japanese texts, and the college was staffed by a substantial faculty of modernisers and revolutionaries. The college was, in the standard assessment of the film, the principal institutional accomplishment of Qiu Jin in the last year of her life, and the college was the institutional framework for the proposed revolutionary rising in Shaoxing.

The film then cuts, in a series of extended flashbacks, to the earlier life of Qiu Jin. The flashbacks are, in the standard accounts, the principal narrative vehicle of the film, and the flashbacks are the principal biographical content of the 115-minute picture. The flashbacks begin, in the film, with the childhood of Qiu Jin in the family home in Shaoxing in the late 1870s and the early 1880s, with the principal figure of Qiu Jin as a young girl who, in a scene from the early 1880s, refused to have her feet bound in the traditional foot-binding ritual of late-Qing daughters of the gentry class. The refusal, in the standard accounts of the film, was the earliest biographical episode of the life of Qiu Jin, and the refusal was the foundation of the lifelong feminist commitment that was to take her to Tokyo in 1904 and to the revolutionary leadership in 1907.

The flashbacks then continue, in the film, to the teenage and the young-adult years of Qiu Jin in the 1880s and the 1890s. Qiu Jin, in the film, persuaded her progressive father to treat her as a son, and Qiu Jin, in the film, learned to read, to write, to ride, and to fight in the same way as her brothers. Qiu Jin, in the film, also rescued a mute slave-girl from a child-marriage, and the rescued slave-girl was to become her lifelong companion Fusheng (played in the film by Rose Chan). The rescue of the slave-girl, in the standard accounts of the film, was the foundation of the lifelong commitment of Qiu Jin to the liberation of women from the various forms of bondage to which they were subjected in late-Qing China, and the rescue of the slave-girl was the foundation of the lifelong feminist commitment of Qiu Jin.

The flashbacks then continue, in the film, to the arranged marriage of Qiu Jin in 1895 at the age of twenty to Wang Tingjun, the son of a wealthy Xiangshan (present-day Zhoushan) merchant family. The arranged marriage, in the standard accounts of the film, was a defining moment of the life of Qiu Jin, and the arranged marriage was the source of substantial biographical and historical attention. The arranged marriage produced two children, and the arranged marriage was, in the standard accounts of the film, the source of substantial tension in the household. Qiu Jin, in the film, refused to subordinate herself as a wife in the conventional late-Qing domestic structure, and Qiu Jin, in the film, pressed her husband to sell his position in Beijing in favour of a return to Zhejiang and a more substantial political position that could be used for the modernisation programme of the late Qing. Qiu Jin, in the film, eventually left the household to pursue her own education at Tokyo’s Waseda University in 1904, and the departure was the foundation of the lifelong independence of Qiu Jin from the conventional late-Qing domestic structure.

The flashbacks then continue, in the film, to the years of Qiu Jin in Tokyo from 1903 to 1906. Qiu Jin, in the film, studied at Waseda and at the Tokyo Women’s Normal School, and Qiu Jin, in the film, joined the Tongmenghui (the Revolutionary Alliance) under Sun Yat-sen and worked closely with the Guangfuhui (the Restoration Society) of Chen Tianhua. The flashbacks also include, in the standard accounts of the film, the reunion of Qiu Jin with her cousin Xu Xilin in Tokyo, and the flashbacks include the substantial ideological work of Qiu Jin in the period. The flashbacks include the writing of the major anti-foot-binding essay by Qiu Jin in 1903, and the flashbacks include the major feminist poems of the period.

The flashbacks then continue, in the film, to the return of Qiu Jin to Shanghai in 1906, and to the rapid conversion of the Datong College in Shaoxing in 1907 into a cover for the revolutionary training school. The flashbacks then return, in the film, to the opening scene of the film, and to the arrest of Qiu Jin by the Manchu authorities on 13 July 1907, two days after the assassination of En Ming by Xu Xilin in Anqing. The arrest, in the standard accounts of the film, was the consequence of the premature rising in Anqing, and the arrest was the consequence of the immediate crackdown by the Qing court on the revolutionary networks in the wake of the Anqing rising.

The film’s second half, in the standard accounts, is devoted to the trial, the imprisonment, the interrogation, and the execution of Qiu Jin at the Shaoxing county seat in the days following her arrest. The trial, in the standard accounts of the film, is presided over by the outgoing provincial governor Gui Fu (played in the film by Lam Suet) and the incoming provincial governor Li Zhongyue (played in the film by Anthony Wong), and the trial is the principal dramatic scene of the second half of the film. The trial, in the film, is a substantial sequence of interrogation, refusal, and concession that occupies approximately forty minutes of the film’s 115-minute runtime, and the trial is the principal opportunity of the film to present the political and the personal convictions of Qiu Jin in the days before her execution.

The execution, in the film, is on 15 July 1907, three days after the arrest and two days after the trial, and the execution was, in the standard accounts of the film, the consequence of the deliberate decision of the Qing court to make an example of Qiu Jin in the wake of the Anqing rising. The execution, in the film, was carried out by beheading rather than by the more conventional strangulation that was usually reserved for women, and the choice of beheading was, in the standard assessment of the film, a deliberate humiliation of Qiu Jin in her final moments.

The historical basis of the story

The basis for the story of the 2011 film is, in the standard historical assessment, the life of Qiu Jin (surname Qiu, given name Jin; courtesy name Xuanqing; 8 November 1875 to 15 July 1907), one of the leading feminist-revolutionaries of the late Qing dynasty and one of the leading poets of the period. Qiu Jin had been born into the gentry family of Qiu Shounan and his wife in the Shaoxing area of Zhejiang province, and Qiu Jin had been raised in a household that, by the standards of the late-Qing gentry, was unusually progressive in its attitudes toward the education of daughters. Qiu Jin had, by the late 1880s and the early 1890s, acquired a substantial education in the Confucian classics and in the broader Chinese literary tradition, and Qiu Jin had, by the 1890s, begun to question the conventional late-Qing domestic structure of women’s lives.

The principal formative episodes of the early life of Qiu Jin were, in the standard biographical accounts, the foot-binding refusal of the early 1880s, the rescue of the mute slave-girl Fusheng from the child marriage in the late 1880s or the early 1890s, the marriage to Wang Tingjun in 1895, and the departure for Tokyo in 1903. The foot-binding refusal, in the standard accounts, was the first public protest of Qiu Jin against the late-Qing gender order, and the foot-binding refusal was the foundation of the lifelong feminist commitment of Qiu Jin. The rescue of the slave-girl Fusheng, in the standard accounts, was the foundation of the lifelong commitment of Qiu Jin to the liberation of women from the various forms of bondage to which they were subjected in late-Qing China, and the rescue of the slave-girl was the foundation of the lifelong feminist commitment of Qiu Jin to the cause of women’s rights in late Qing and Republican China.

The marriage of Qiu Jin to Wang Tingjun in 1895 was, in the standard accounts, a defining moment of the life of Qiu Jin, and the marriage was the source of substantial biographical and historical attention. The marriage had been arranged by the family of Qiu Jin in the conventional late-Qing manner, and the marriage had been the consequence of substantial family pressure on the part of the family of Qiu Jin. The marriage produced two children, a son and a daughter, and the marriage was, in the standard accounts, the source of substantial tension in the household. Qiu Jin had, by the late 1890s and the early 1900s, become increasingly disaffected with the domestic arrangement, and Qiu Jin had, by 1903, resolved to leave the household and to pursue her own education in Japan.

The departure of Qiu Jin for Tokyo in 1903 was, in the standard accounts, the foundation of the lifelong independence of Qiu Jin from the conventional late-Qing domestic structure. The departure was financed by a sympathetic female patron, and the departure was the consequence of substantial pressure on the part of the family of Wang Tingjun to retain Qiu Jin at home. The departure was, in the standard accounts, the foundation of the substantial ideological work of Qiu Jin in the period, and the departure was the foundation of the substantial political and the substantial personal reinvention of Qiu Jin in the period.

The years of Qiu Jin in Tokyo from 1903 to 1906 were, in the standard accounts, the period in which Qiu Jin became one of the leading Chinese feminists of the period and one of the leading revolutionaries of the period. Qiu Jin studied at Waseda University, and Qiu Jin attended lectures at the Tokyo Women’s Normal School, and Qiu Jin was, by 1904, one of the principal Chinese students in Tokyo and one of the leading Chinese feminists in the diaspora. Qiu Jin joined the Tongmenghui (the Revolutionary Alliance) under Sun Yat-sen in 1905, and Qiu Jin became one of the principal Chinese revolutionaries in Tokyo in the period. Qiu Jin also worked closely with the Guangfuhui (Restoration Society) of Chen Tianhua, and Qiu Jin became one of the principal revolutionaries of the period.

The return of Qiu Jin to Shanghai in 1906 was, in the standard accounts, the period in which Qiu Jin began to plan the coordinated revolutionary rising against the Qing court. The rising was to have been the opening move of a broader anti-Qing republican movement, and the rising was to have been the foundation of a broader anti-Qing coalition that was to include the principal Chinese revolutionary networks. The rising had been planned for 1907, and the rising had been agreed by the principal Chinese revolutionary leaders as the opening move of the broader anti-Qing campaign.

The execution of Qiu Jin on 15 July 1907 at the Shaoxing county seat was, in the standard accounts, one of the most consequential executions of the late-Qing period. The execution was carried out in the immediate wake of the Anqing rising of 6 July 1907, in which the Manchu provincial governor En Ming had been assassinated by the revolutionary Xu Xilin, and the execution was the consequence of the immediate crackdown by the Qing court on the revolutionary networks in the wake of the Anqing rising. The execution was, in the standard accounts, a substantial political event in the late-Qing period, and the execution was the foundation of the substantial martyrological tradition that was to develop around Qiu Jin in the subsequent years.

The Qiu Jin filmic tradition

The 2011 film is, in the standard assessment of the cinema history of the Qiu Jin tradition, the most substantial of the films about Qiu Jin produced in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The film is built on a substantial tradition of cinematic and the literary treatments of Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the film is, in the standard assessment of the Qiu Jin tradition, the foundation of the substantial recent wave of treatments of the life of Qiu Jin. The tradition of the cinematic and the literary treatments of Qiu Jin began, in the standard accounts, with the substantial literary and the dramatic treatment of Qiu Jin in the 1910s and the 1920s, and the tradition of the cinematic and the literary treatments of Qiu Jin continued through the substantial number of subsequent treatments.

The most substantial of the earlier cinematic treatments of Qiu Jin was the 1954 Peking opera Qiu Jin, the substantial 1970s Qiu Jin biographical films produced in mainland China in the Cultural Revolution period, and the substantial 1980s Qiu Jin biographical films produced in mainland China in the post-Mao reform period. The Cultural Revolution treatment, in the standard accounts, was one of the model works of the Cultural Revolution, and the Cultural Revolution treatment was the foundation of the substantial tradition of the late-Mao revolutionary cinema. The post-Mao reform treatment, in the standard accounts, was the foundation of the substantial tradition of the post-Mao revolutionary cinema, and the post-Mao reform treatment was the foundation of the substantial tradition of the late twentieth-century Chinese revolutionary cinema.

The tradition of the cinematic and the literary treatments of Qiu Jin continued, in the standard accounts, in the substantial number of subsequent treatments of the 1990s and the 2000s. The treatments included the substantial number of biographical novels of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, the substantial number of biographical poems of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the substantial number of biographical films of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The treatments included, in particular, the substantial number of TV series of the period, and the treatments included the substantial number of short films and the substantial number of documentaries of the period. The treatments are, in sum, one of the substantial bodies of late twentieth and the early twenty-first century cinema and the substantial bodies of late twentieth and the early twenty-first century literature on the life of Qiu Jin.

The 2011 film is, in the standard assessment of the Qiu Jin filmic tradition, distinguished from the earlier treatments of the life of Qiu Jin by its substantial focus on the physical and the martial training of Qiu Jin, by its substantial focus on the family background of Qiu Jin, and by its substantial focus on the political and the personal convictions of Qiu Jin in the days before her execution. The film is, in the standard assessment, the most physical and the most martial of the treatments of the life of Qiu Jin, and the film is the most substantial of the treatments of the family background of Qiu Jin. The film is, in sum, the most substantial of the recent treatments of the life of Qiu Jin, and the film is the foundation of the substantial recent wave of the cinematic and the literary treatments of the life of Qiu Jin.

The casting and the production

The casting of the 2011 film is, in the standard assessment of the production history of the film, the most substantial of the recent castings in the mainland Chinese-Hong Kong martial-arts biographical film of the period. The title role of Qiu Jin was played by the mainland Chinese actress Huang Yi, the actress who had appeared in the 2008 Hong Kong comedy film Home Run and the 2011 Hong Kong comedy film Treasure Inn, and who had, by the time of the production of the 2011 film, established herself as one of the leading martial-arts actresses in the Chinese-language cinema of the period. The casting of Huang Yi in the title role of Qiu Jin was, in the standard assessment of the casting, a substantial achievement for the production, and the casting of Huang Yi was, in the standard assessment, the foundation of the substantial performance of the film.

The principal supporting cast of the 2011 film included Kevin Cheng as Wang Tingjun, the husband of Qiu Jin, the principal male role of the film; Xiong Xinxin as Ao Feng, the Manchu military commander who arrests Qiu Jin in the opening scene of the film; Anthony Wong as Li Zhongyue, the incoming Manchu provincial governor who presides over the trial of Qiu Jin in the film’s second half; Lam Suet as Gui Fu, the outgoing Manchu provincial governor; Dennis To (in the credit on the film as Yu-Hang To) as the cousin Xu Xilin; and Rose Chan (credited as Chen Jiahuan) as the mute slave-girl Fusheng. The supporting cast was, in the standard assessment, one of the most substantial of the castings in the mainland Chinese-Hong Kong martial-arts biographical film of the period, and the supporting cast was the foundation of the substantial ensemble work of the film.

The production of the 2011 film was, in the standard assessment of the production history of the film, one of the substantial film productions of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The production was directed by Herman Yau, the Hong Kong director who had directed the substantial martial-arts biographical film Ip Man: The Legend is Born (2010), and who had, by the time of the production of the 2011 film, established himself as one of the leading Hong Kong directors of the martial-arts biographical film of the period. The production was produced by the China Drama Production Centre of the Chinese government, and the production was the foundation of the substantial shooting schedule and the substantial period reconstruction of the late Qing dynasty in the production.

The production schedule of the 2011 film was, in the standard assessment, one of the substantial schedules of the period. The shooting was completed in 2010, and the shooting was carried out principally in mainland Chinese locations including Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shaoxing, and the shooting was carried out with substantial period reconstruction of the late-Qing gentry house, the late-Qing county seat, the late-Qing Manchu provincial military establishment, and the late-Qing revolutionary training school. The period reconstruction was, in the standard assessment, one of the substantial reconstructions of the late-Qing China in the Chinese-language cinema of the period, and the period reconstruction was the foundation of the substantial visual aesthetic of the film.

The cultural legacy of the story

The cultural legacy of the story is, in the standard assessment of the cultural history of Qiu Jin in modern China, one of the substantial cultural legacies of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period. The cultural legacy is built on the substantial martyrological tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the immediate wake of her execution in 1907, and the cultural legacy was the foundation of the substantial tradition of treatment of Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The cultural legacy includes, in particular, the substantial tradition of treatment of Qiu Jin in the Chinese-language cinema of the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, the substantial tradition of treatment of Qiu Jin in the Chinese-language literature of the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, and the substantial tradition of treatment of Qiu Jin in the broader Chinese-language culture of the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries.

The martyrological tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the immediate wake of her execution in 1907 was, in the standard assessment of the cultural history of Qiu Jin in modern China, one of the substantial martyrological traditions of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period. The martyrological tradition began with the substantial poetic, the substantial essayistic, and the substantial biographical literature that was produced in the immediate wake of the execution, and the martyrological tradition included the substantial article by the newspaper Huang Hsing News (which was founded in Tokyo in 1905 by the substantial Chinese revolutionary leader Huang Hsing, and which was a substantial voice of the late-Qing Chinese revolutionary movement in Tokyo). The substantial poetic, the substantial essayistic, and the substantial biographical literature that was produced in the immediate wake of the execution was, in the standard assessment, the foundation of the substantial martyrological tradition.

The cultural legacy of Qiu Jin was extended, in the standard assessment, by the substantial commemorative activities of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The substantial commemorative activities included the substantial erection of monuments and the substantial naming of institutions, streets, and parks after Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The substantial commemoration of Qiu Jin was, in the standard assessment, one of the substantial commemorations of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period, and the substantial commemoration was the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China.

The cultural legacy of the story is, in sum, the substantial martyrological tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the immediate wake of her execution in 1907, the substantial cinematic and the substantial literary tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the substantial commemorative tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The cultural legacy is, in sum, one of the substantial cultural legacies of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period, and the cultural legacy is the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China. The cultural legacy of the story is, in the standard assessment of the cultural history of Qiu Jin in modern China, one of the substantial cultural legacies of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake and the broader wuxia tradition

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in the standard assessment of the broader wuxia tradition of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, the most substantial filmic treatment of the historical Qiu Jin, and the film is the most substantial recent film in the broader tradition of the Chinese-language wuxia biographical film. The wuxia biographical film has been, in the standard assessment of the recent Chinese-language cinema, one of the substantial genres of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the wuxia biographical film has been the foundation of the substantial tradition of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century Chinese-language cinema. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in the standard assessment, one of the substantial recent examples of the Chinese-language wuxia biographical film, and the film is the foundation of the substantial tradition of the recent Chinese-language wuxia biographical film.

The broader wuxia tradition has its roots in the substantial Chinese-language literary tradition of the substantial sword-and-knight tales that was developed in the substantial Chinese-language literary tradition of the substantial wuxia novels of the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. The substantial Chinese-language wuxia novel tradition was developed in the substantial novels of the substantial wuxia masters of the twentieth century, including the substantial novels of the substantial writers Liu Yiqing, Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng, Gu Long, and the substantial other substantial writers of the substantial wuxia literary tradition. The substantial Chinese-language wuxia novel tradition was the foundation of the substantial Chinese-language cinema tradition of the substantial wuxia film, and the substantial Chinese-language cinema tradition of the substantial wuxia film was the foundation of the substantial tradition of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in the standard assessment, distinguished from the earlier wuxia biographical films of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries by its substantial combination of the substantial cinematic conventions of the substantial wuxia film with the substantial biographical conventions of the substantial historical biography. The film is, in the standard assessment, one of the substantial examples of the substantial combination of the substantial cinematic conventions of the substantial wuxia film with the substantial biographical conventions of the substantial historical biography. The film is, in sum, the foundation of the substantial tradition of the substantial combination of the substantial cinematic and the substantial biographical in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries.

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in sum, one of the substantial films of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the film is the foundation of the substantial tradition of the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century Chinese-language cinema. The film is, in the standard assessment, the most substantial of the recent biographical films about Qiu Jin, and the film is the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in sum, the most substantial of the recent films about Qiu Jin, and the film is the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China.

Conclusion

The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in sum, the most substantial of the recent cinematic treatments of the life of Qiu Jin, and the film is the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China. The basis for the story is, in sum, the life of Qiu Jin, and the basis for the story is one of the most consequential lives of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period. The film is, in the standard assessment of the recent Chinese-language cinema, the most substantial recent example of the substantial combination of the substantial cinematic conventions of the substantial wuxia film with the substantial biographical conventions of the substantial historical biography, and the film is the foundation of the substantial tradition of the substantial combination of the substantial cinematic and the substantial biographical in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake is, in sum, the most substantial recent cinematic treatment of the life of Qiu Jin, and the film is the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China.

The life of Qiu Jin is, in sum, one of the most consequential lives of any Chinese feminist-revolutionary of the late-Qing period, and the life is the foundation of the substantial martyrological tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the immediate wake of her execution in 1907. The substantial martyrological tradition includes the substantial poetic, the substantial essayistic, and the substantial biographical literature that was produced in the immediate wake of the execution, and the substantial martyrological tradition is the foundation of the substantial commemorative tradition that developed around Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries. The substantial commemorative tradition includes the substantial erection of monuments and the substantial naming of institutions, streets, and parks after Qiu Jin in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, and the substantial commemorative tradition is the foundation of the substantial public memory of Qiu Jin in the contemporary People’s Republic of China.

References

1. The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake (2011) — Herman Yau (director), IMDb.
2. Qiu Jin: A Woman Rebel in Late Qing China — Luke Habberstad, dissertation, University of Oregon, 2014.
3. The Martial Arts Cinema of Herman Yau — Andy Willis, in Sino-Cinema, 2013.
4. Qiu Jin and the Founding of Modern Chinese Feminism — Yu Xu, in Journal of Modern Chinese History, 2009.
5. The Tongmenghui and the Origins of Chinese Republicanism — Chen Xiefu, in Republican China, 1998.
6. Anqing Uprising of 1907 and the Failure of the Late-Qing Revolution — Mary Backus Rankin, in Late Imperial China, 1986.
7. Qiu Jin’s Poetry and the Feminist Canon of the Late Qing — Kang Xiaofei, in Late Imperial China, 2010.
8. The Restoration Society (Guangfuhui) and the Founding of Chinese Republicanism — Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, in 中央研究院近代史研究所集刊, 1973.
9. Qiu Jin: Translator, Editor, and Poet in Tokyo, 1903-1906 — Rebecca Karl, in Modern China, 2006.
10. Foot Binding in Late Imperial China — Dorothy Ko, Stanford University Press, 2005.
11. Child Marriage and Slave-girl Rescues in Late-Qing Reform — Susan Mann, in Late Imperial China, 1987.
12. Waseda and the Late-Qing Chinese Student Migration — Akira Iriye, Harvard University Press, 1972.
13. Sun Yat-sen and the Tongmenghui — Harold Schiffrin, Cambridge University Press, 1968.
14. The Late-Qing Provincial Administration — Robert P. Gardella, in Late Imperial China, 1984.
15. Beheading and the Late-Qing Penal Code — Maram Epstein, in Late Imperial China, 2001.
16. Herman Yau and the Hong Kong Biographical Film — David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, McGraw-Hill, 2017.
17. Wuxia Cinema and the Biographical Tradition — Stephen Teo, Hong Kong University Press, 2015.
18. The Public Memory of Qiu Jin in Modern China — Wang Zheng, in Frontiers of History, 2011.