Speaker 1: Revolution is the stuff of extremists, people who know they're
Speaker 1: right about the issue at hand and will stop at nothing,
Speaker 1: not violence, not murder, to achieve drastic political or social change.
Speaker 1: Only a moral people advocate for revolution. It's for people
Speaker 1: who refuse to uphold the fundamentally human banner of cooperation,
Speaker 1: or at least compromise and pursue a more reasonable goal.
Speaker 1: Revolution is for people who don't understand that change doesn't
Speaker 1: happen overnight. It's for attention seekers and want to be despots.
Speaker 1: It's for people who act brashly and deny the virtues
Speaker 1: of logic and patience. Revolution does not provide long term solutions.
Speaker 1: It's a thoughtless and unrefined way for zealous to rest
Speaker 1: power from the hands of those who truly deserve it.
Speaker 1: Revolution is scary, it's dangerous. It does not work. Revolution
Speaker 1: is wrong. Revolution is for people who are unwilling to settle.
Speaker 1: It's for people who choose not to be silently subject
Speaker 1: to the exploitation of authorities with unchecked power. Revolution is
Speaker 1: really not that extreme when lives are at stake. It's
Speaker 1: for people who's justified. Rage has reached a tipping point.
Speaker 1: For people who rebel because complying has benefited others and
Speaker 1: harmed them. Revolution is the action of people who have
Speaker 1: realized that their silences will not protect them. As activists
Speaker 1: and writer Audrey Lord put it, it's for people who
Speaker 1: have hope, for those who are down to make sacrifices
Speaker 1: to ensure a better future, people who don't care to
Speaker 1: concede to lesser evils and pity based handouts. Revolution is
Speaker 1: not for people who are arrogant and impulsive, but for
Speaker 1: those who are selfless and far sighted. The heated emotions
Speaker 1: that incite revolution are not a fault, but a call
Speaker 1: to action and catalysts for significant shifts in thought and practice.
Speaker 1: Revolution is a response to problems so pervasive and so
Speaker 1: long lasting that those who suffer recognize the need for
Speaker 1: disruption and upheaval. It's easy to criticize the means and
Speaker 1: end of revolution, and rightfully so, But what was the cause?
Speaker 1: I'm e's deaf coote and this is unpopular a show
Speaker 1: about people in history who did not let the threat
Speaker 1: of persecution keep them from speaking truth to power. Today,
Speaker 1: we'll take time to look at the life of Chio Jean,
Speaker 1: who has been called the Chinese Joan of Arc for
Speaker 1: her defiance of gender norms, her revolutionary spirit, and her
Speaker 1: legendary status in China's history. But Chio Jean's story is
Speaker 1: not Joan of ARC's story, nor is it necessary to
Speaker 1: downplay Chio Jean's life and achievements by positioning her as
Speaker 1: a woman already famously mythologized in white history, modified by
Speaker 1: her nationality or ethnicity. If you can't tell already how
Speaker 1: much this kind of phrasing bothers me, then I'm telling
Speaker 1: you how much it bothers me, especially since it typically
Speaker 1: operates so that a figure who's already mothered historically is
Speaker 1: left unnamed, relegated to the shadow of a person deemed
Speaker 1: more worthy of recognition or mythical status. Feelings aside, Joe
Speaker 1: has mentioned Joan of Arc in her writing and drew
Speaker 1: inspiration from the stories of heroins in history. My point
Speaker 1: is Cho Jean's story is one that could have only
Speaker 1: taken place once Cheo Jean was born, which may have
Speaker 1: been on November eight, eight seventy five, or could have
Speaker 1: been in the following years. It is known that Cho
Speaker 1: Jean was born named Chio guard Jean during the Qing dynasty,
Speaker 1: and Shaman Fuji a Province, China. She was part of
Speaker 1: a genty family who were respected but declining. Her father
Speaker 1: was a lower level civil servant, a job that required
Speaker 1: the family to pick up and move a lot. In
Speaker 1: the eighteen eighties and eighteen nineties. Chose Mom instilled in
Speaker 1: her a love for learning, providing Show with private teachers
Speaker 1: and books. Among the text Show read were Confucian classics,
Speaker 1: texts about the French Revolution, Enlightenment works, and novels. But
Speaker 1: the political climate that Show lived in also provided her
Speaker 1: with a form of non academic education and provided her
Speaker 1: with reason to challenge the Ching dynasty's rule. In Show's
Speaker 1: early years, China was nearing the end of his traditional period,
Speaker 1: and it was a hot bit of revolt and dramatic change.
Speaker 1: Missionaries and the Chinese were founding girls schools, and some
Speaker 1: people were criticizing the practice of footbinding, a custom that
Speaker 1: symbolized status and beauty for girls and women in China.
Speaker 1: From the mid eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century,
Speaker 1: Foreign nations like the British, French, Dutch, and Americans squeezed
Speaker 1: a lot of concessions out of the Chinese government it
Speaker 1: and operated with impunity in the country. After the Opium War.
Speaker 1: More Chinese ports were open for foreign trade. Foreigners were
Speaker 1: granted more travel in China. Foreigners were able to govern
Speaker 1: themselves in China. Valuable natural resources were taken out of China,
Speaker 1: and foreign nations could station warships and use military force
Speaker 1: for their economic interests in the country. Meanwhile, many Chinese
Speaker 1: people suffered from poverty and famine, and death tolls in
Speaker 1: war and social conflicts ran high. People like revolutionary Soon
Speaker 1: Yacht Sin expressed their anger with the Ching dynasty through rebellion, reform,
Speaker 1: and revolution. Cho's families appreciation for poetry also influenced her,
Speaker 1: as Cho began writing poetry when she was a child,
Speaker 1: and it was an art form she used throughout her
Speaker 1: life to express her personal feelings as well as her
Speaker 1: political beliefs and aspirations. Chinu or talented women contributed a
Speaker 1: lot to literature and were admired in Chinese history, and
Speaker 1: by the late Imperial era, they were exploring new methods
Speaker 1: of expression. Many elite women wanted the label of China.
Speaker 1: When Cho was young, she wrote poems and lyrics are
Speaker 1: on subjects that women poets had traditionally written about throughout
Speaker 1: Chinese history, like flowers, solitude, friendship, and domestic activities. Cho's
Speaker 1: feet were most likely bound, as was customary for young
Speaker 1: girls of many social classes in the Chain period, though
Speaker 1: they may not have been found that tightly. Still, Cho
Speaker 1: began training in the martial arts early on. She enjoyed
Speaker 1: riding horses and brandishing swords. She studied Chinese martial folk
Speaker 1: heroines like Hua Mulan, whom Cho viewed as a role model,
Speaker 1: and she began to think of herself as a knight
Speaker 1: errant who could save her country from the plague of
Speaker 1: foreign domination. In her early poems on women heroes, she
Speaker 1: critiques that accepted social orders that said women were inferior
Speaker 1: to men. In one series of poems she wrote titled
Speaker 1: on Ican Gi, she wrote, this, banished into this dusty world,
Speaker 1: what a shame to be a man shouldering dagger axes.
Speaker 1: Young beauties became generals. Now the names of the loyal
Speaker 1: and filial belonged to women. History forever speaks shame of
Speaker 1: Zuo Ning Nin, zualt Ning nine, or Zua long Yu
Speaker 1: was a Ming dynasty general who was executed in Her
Speaker 1: father arranged her marriage to Wong Tana, the son of
Speaker 1: a wealthy merchant and philanthropist, and the couple eventually had
Speaker 1: two children together, but Wong spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: gambling and in brothels. He was described in contemporary accounts
Speaker 1: as a talentless and cowardly guy, and Chow Jean was
Speaker 1: not happy in her marriage. Her desire to become a
Speaker 1: famous poet faltered. She described this distress in her poetry
Speaker 1: alas they sent me off by fourth to be mere
Speaker 1: rouge and powder. How I despise it, she wrote. But
Speaker 1: while she was in this unhappy marriage, she continued to
Speaker 1: dream of better times for China and denounced the intrusion
Speaker 1: of foreigners. When the family moved to Beijing in the
Speaker 1: early nineteen hundreds, in the wake of the Boxer Rebellion
Speaker 1: and anti foreign and anti Christian uprising, Joe met other
Speaker 1: women who were concerned about the socio political climate in China.
Speaker 1: She became close with calligrapher woot s Ying, and she
Speaker 1: delved deeper into ideas of women's liberation, democracy and revolution.
Speaker 1: She read the works of Leon Chaw, a scholar and
Speaker 1: reformist who said that the modern education of women in
Speaker 1: China should not be impractical, but should be Western and
Speaker 1: politically conscious, as that was what would help build a
Speaker 1: stronger nation. He and other writers calling for women's emancipation
Speaker 1: still confined women to roles as good wives and good mothers,
Speaker 1: and relied on the workings of patriarchy just under the
Speaker 1: guise of nationalism. Wrestling with her longing to serve her
Speaker 1: country and expectations for her to serve as a mother
Speaker 1: and wife, she wrote this in a poem, war flames
Speaker 1: in the north. When will it all end? I hear
Speaker 1: the fighting at sea continues unabated, Like the woman of Chisha,
Speaker 1: I worry about my country in vain. It's hard to
Speaker 1: trade kerchief and dress for a helmet. In nineteen o four,
Speaker 1: chose disdain for her family life and her yearning for education,
Speaker 1: as well as social and political change in China led
Speaker 1: her to move to Japan, where many Chinese intellectuals and
Speaker 1: reformers were moving at the time. She sold her jury
Speaker 1: to fund the trip. In hopped on a boat from
Speaker 1: Tangin to Japan, leaving her son, daughter, and husband behind.
Speaker 1: Pretty soon, for Chio, the patriarchal family structure would come
Speaker 1: to signify women's oppression and education. Women's emancipation and revolution
Speaker 1: would take front and center in her life. We're going
Speaker 1: to take a quick break, but when we get back,
Speaker 1: will trace cho Jean's transformation into a revolutionary In situations
Speaker 1: where there's a lot of social or political division or conflict,
Speaker 1: when people are rebelling against the status quo, many people
Speaker 1: will call for civility or respectability. Recent calls for civility
Speaker 1: in the US often reinforce an intentionally oppressive standard of
Speaker 1: appropriateness that makes people who are challenging a system look
Speaker 1: like unruly agitators who are unworthy of support. They require
Speaker 1: a person to water down or silence their descent and
Speaker 1: favor of a method that has likely been used in
Speaker 1: the past improved largely fruitless. So many people decry this
Speaker 1: kind of policing, as it implies that people must maintain
Speaker 1: the status quo in order to be respected and heard.
Speaker 1: People calling for civility are often not just calling for politeness.
Speaker 1: They are saying, in so many words, that it is
Speaker 1: inappropriate for those who are speaking up to express themselves
Speaker 1: in any way that they deem unacceptable. In the US,
Speaker 1: the word civility can bring to mind histories of cultural assimilation,
Speaker 1: discrimination and destruction, classism and racism, and political manipulation and
Speaker 1: around the world, calls for order, tolerance cultures, of course,
Speaker 1: silence and strict regulation of protest limit the effectiveness of
Speaker 1: challenges to the status quo. A figure people like to
Speaker 1: bring up often for his civil disobedience and calls for
Speaker 1: peace and cooperation is Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Neither
Speaker 1: King's intellect, nor his wide ranging appeal, nor his respectability
Speaker 1: saved him from being assassinated when he was just thirty
Speaker 1: nine years old. Uncivil or well mannered, either can be
Speaker 1: dangerous when a person who has radical ideas opposes or
Speaker 1: defies an established order. Sun and Moon have no more light.
Speaker 1: Earth is dark. Our woman's world has sunk so deep.
Speaker 1: Who can help us? Jewelry sold to pay for this
Speaker 1: trip across the seas. Cut off from my family, I
Speaker 1: leave my native land. I'm binding my feet. I clean
Speaker 1: out a thousand years of poison with hot heart aroused
Speaker 1: all women's spirits. Alas this delicate kerchief here is half
Speaker 1: stained with blood and half with tears. Those are chose
Speaker 1: words from her poem called Regrets Lines, written in route
Speaker 1: to Japan. When Cho got to Japan, she changed her
Speaker 1: name from Chio Guay Jean to just Cho Jean, removing
Speaker 1: the guay, which meant boudoir and also was used to
Speaker 1: refer to daughters and women in the inner chambers. She
Speaker 1: began attending a Japanese language school in Tokyo and later
Speaker 1: went to a vocational school that offered a teacher training
Speaker 1: program for Chinese women. She frequently cross dressed, a practice
Speaker 1: that some have said she did for attention for herself
Speaker 1: and her revolutionary efforts, but that was also the embodiment
Speaker 1: of her feelings of freedom and gender expression and defiance
Speaker 1: of the role Chinese tradition had prescribed women. Feminist activism
Speaker 1: in Japan had taken root, with people like Fukuda Hideko
Speaker 1: leading the charge. In Japan, Cho found a community that
Speaker 1: promoted radical thinking. She gave lectures on the oppression of
Speaker 1: women under patriarchy and the oppression of the Chinese people
Speaker 1: under man to rule, able to appeal to more women,
Speaker 1: including those who could not read through public speaking. China
Speaker 1: was failing, she said, subject to the whims of foreign
Speaker 1: nations and to Manchu misrule, and it was a women's
Speaker 1: duty to lift themselves out of oppression and ignorance, to
Speaker 1: save the nation and establish a New Republic. She said
Speaker 1: in a lecture addressed to Chinese women, Dear listeners, do
Speaker 1: you realize that our nation is about to perish? Man
Speaker 1: cannot be sure of their own survival, so how can
Speaker 1: we continue to rely on them? If we do not
Speaker 1: lift ourselves up now, it will truly be too late
Speaker 1: once the nation has perished. Joe also learned to make bombs,
Speaker 1: practice fencing and marksmanship, and she began writing journalistic pieces.
Speaker 1: She became involved in anti Manchoo secret society's like the
Speaker 1: Restoration Society and the Revolutionary Alliance. The Manchoos were the
Speaker 1: ethnic group that ruled in the Chain dynasty. Joe founded
Speaker 1: the Baihuapao, or vernacular journal, in which she published articles
Speaker 1: and support of women's education and in opposition to footbinding
Speaker 1: and the patriarchal system that kept women powerless. Joe advocated
Speaker 1: for publishing her work in a common Chinese vernacular that
Speaker 1: was easy to understand, as many people in China did
Speaker 1: not have access to much education. Through the journal, she
Speaker 1: sought to encourage revolution. In nineteen o five, Joe returned
Speaker 1: to China briefly, where she linked up with her cousin
Speaker 1: she she Lean, who was also involved in anteaching organizations,
Speaker 1: but she did go back to Japan for a little while,
Speaker 1: where she completed her teacher training course, did military drills
Speaker 1: and target practice, and protested the Japanese government along with
Speaker 1: other Chinese students. As the government had been pressured by
Speaker 1: the Ching dynasty to shut down the revolutionary activity of
Speaker 1: Chinese students in Japan. Activists and writer Chin Tien Hua
Speaker 1: drowned himself in protest of the regulations that the Japanese
Speaker 1: Ministry of Education Nation had imposed, an act that had
Speaker 1: a profound effect on Chio. She decided to take Chen's
Speaker 1: advice and go back to China to fight against the
Speaker 1: Ching dynasty. She wrote in a poem on her way
Speaker 1: back to China, there is no wine that can dissolve
Speaker 1: my sorrow for the nation. The current crisis demands persons
Speaker 1: of extraordinary talents. Even if it takes the blood of
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of people, We will have to turn
Speaker 1: the whole world around by our efforts. We're going to
Speaker 1: pause here for a quick break, and when we return,
Speaker 1: we'll look at Cho's last days in her home country.
Speaker 1: H Cho returned to China for good in late nineteen
Speaker 1: oh five or early nineteen oh six. There she published
Speaker 1: a short lived Chinese Women's Journal, which she wrote more
Speaker 1: vernacular articles exhorting women to fight for their freedom and
Speaker 1: save China from the Manchu government. She taught in a
Speaker 1: girls school, encouraging other teachers to become politically active and
Speaker 1: take up the causes of nationalism and women's emancipation. After
Speaker 1: the Chinese government encouraged the creation of schools teaching traditional
Speaker 1: and modern subjects, she she Leane founded a school for
Speaker 1: young women called the Da Tong Normal School in Chiao Shin,
Speaker 1: Jayjiang Province, which was really a headquarters for training revolutionaries.
Speaker 1: In February of nineteen oh seven, when she she Lean
Speaker 1: left for the Ahoi Province to lead the police academy,
Speaker 1: she became director of the school as y'all led the
Speaker 1: revolutionaries and military drills at the school. She also connected
Speaker 1: many revolutionary organizations and recruited activists to join the anti
Speaker 1: Manchu fight. Cho and she she Lean began planning and
Speaker 1: uprising against the dynasty scheduled for July, but authorities quickly
Speaker 1: got word that a rebellion would happen soon. In early July,
Speaker 1: she she Lean was executed after murdering the governor of
Speaker 1: Anhoi Province, on Ming, who was a Manchu. Cho learned
Speaker 1: of his death days later in a newspaper, but she
Speaker 1: refused to flee to safety. When she found out troops
Speaker 1: were being sent to Datong School, she told teachers and
Speaker 1: students to hide themselves in their weapons. Still, she stayed
Speaker 1: at the school. Only a week after she she Lean died,
Speaker 1: a Ching militia unit arrested Cho and other revolutionaries, interrogated
Speaker 1: her about her anti Ching activities and tortured her. She
Speaker 1: refused to give up any info or confess, but the
Speaker 1: authorities gathered evidence of her revolutionary thought and activities, including
Speaker 1: her writing. As proof of her criminality, she was beheaded
Speaker 1: on July fift nineteen oh seven. Exactly what crime she
Speaker 1: was accused of is I'm clear, but it was judged
Speaker 1: to be punishable as treason. She was buried and moved
Speaker 1: a couple of times before her remains were buried in
Speaker 1: their final location near Westlake in Hanzo. Despite Cho's death,
Speaker 1: anti Ching sentiment was still strong in China. Other revolutionaries
Speaker 1: continued the work of overthrowing the government. In nineteen twelve,
Speaker 1: the last Emperor of China, Poui, was forced to abdicate
Speaker 1: the throne, though this did not in any way read
Speaker 1: the country of political turmoil. In that same year, the
Speaker 1: new government banned footbinding, though the band wasn't wholly enforced,
Speaker 1: and the practice continued in some areas of China. Some
Speaker 1: critics say her belief in her ability to drastically change
Speaker 1: Chinese society and politics by overthrowing the Ching dynasty was
Speaker 1: foolish and bright eyed. Some consider her death a pointless
Speaker 1: sacrifice and that she could have saved herself. Some view
Speaker 1: her as a martyr who was not a fraid to
Speaker 1: put her life on the line to secure the future
Speaker 1: of China and ensure women's liberation. Cho's friend Woods Ying
Speaker 1: wrote the following about Chow after her death. Although this
Speaker 1: lady scholar was always fond of acting impulsively, she did
Speaker 1: not die because she was a criminal. The officials may
Speaker 1: have been violent and rapacious, but they would not have
Speaker 1: gone to such cruel lengths. It must be that there
Speaker 1: was someone who held a private grudge against her and
Speaker 1: plotted her downfall by availing himself of this case against
Speaker 1: some revolutionaries in order to ingratiate himself with his superiors.
Speaker 1: So it is not just the officials who are to
Speaker 1: be blamed alas, and this is called the period of
Speaker 1: preparation for constitutional government. Revolutions and revolutionaries are not always
Speaker 1: bastions of moral decency and collective progress. Revolutions can be
Speaker 1: carried out in service of racist, classist, and prejudice causes
Speaker 1: and perpetuate abuses that they did not seek to abolish.
Speaker 1: Just because someone or some group is fighting for revolution
Speaker 1: for a cause they believe is moral does not mean
Speaker 1: it is without fault or universally just. Attempts at revolution
Speaker 1: are not guaranteed to succeed in the outcome of revolution
Speaker 1: is not predictable or guaranteed to meet expectations. As with
Speaker 1: any other attempt to change established values, procedures, people, and institutions,
Speaker 1: the effects of revolution are pliable and require constant attention
Speaker 1: and care. The Manchu suppression of Han culture and anti
Speaker 1: Manchu sentiment fueld rebellion and eventual revolution. Revolution is not
Speaker 1: as cut and dry as a victory of the good
Speaker 1: over the bad, the right over the wrong. ChIL Jean's
Speaker 1: influences and ideals were also complex. She championed issues of
Speaker 1: women's liberation, challenge the boundaries, and expectations of ender and
Speaker 1: opposed Western imperialism and seeing rulership while promoting a Western
Speaker 1: style constitutional government, and her writing, full of allusions to
Speaker 1: stories in world history and evidence of her struggle in
Speaker 1: parsing her gender expression and gender norms, showed just how
Speaker 1: heavily the issues of the world weighed on her and
Speaker 1: how she believed change was necessary to end suffering. So
Speaker 1: she worked with conviction and trying to advance Chinese women's
Speaker 1: rights and tearing down an incompetent, cruel, and illegitimate government.
Speaker 1: For that, her writings and well the mythologizing of the
Speaker 1: circumstances of her execution, Cho's life is amplified in Chinese
Speaker 1: and to a lesser extent, world history. There is no master,
Speaker 1: moral compass, or crystal ball that can tell us whether
Speaker 1: our revolutionary goals are right in the grand scheme of history.
Speaker 1: We can look to Cheo Jean's story for guidance and
Speaker 1: using meaningful education and analysis, language and direct action to
Speaker 1: envision and implement thoughtful change that wants. Seemed impossible. To
Speaker 1: be a revolutionary is to wade into uncharted orders with
Speaker 1: no life jacket. But when a place you're leaving behind
Speaker 1: is a place of gratuitous personal and societal hardship. The
Speaker 1: expanse ahead seems more promising than frightening. We'll see you
Speaker 1: again next week with another episode of Unpopular. Our producer
Speaker 1: is Andrew Howard. Holly Fry and Christopher Hasiotis are our
Speaker 1: executive producers, and you can subscribe to the show on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, the iHeart Radio app, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. Two League Tween two