Volume 30, Issue 1, 2021
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.2042
Cultural Integration and Deliberate Modification: Attempts to Reconstruct “Foetal Education” in Early Modern China
Abstract
After the late Qing Dynasty, foetal education (Taijiao) in traditional texts gradually shifted from women’s self-discipline to one of the most effective ways to create a powerful country. This paper illustrates different factors that shape modern foetal education, arguing that foetal education had become a powerful symbol of Chinese modernity after several modifications made by Chinese intellectuals. In addition to absorbing knowledge from Japan and the Western world, foetal education also combines new concepts from eugenics. As a consequence, Chinese physicians who believed in foetal education tried their best to reinterpret it in a more scientific way. Furthermore, this study seeks to demonstrate the picture of “new women” in a particular transitory period from a feminist perspective as an exploration into the lives of women from various class backgrounds and a reflection of the modernity of China.
Keywords
Republican China; Foetal education; Cultural combination; new woman