Culture, Challenge and Change in Late Feudal China: A Clash of Ideals and the Consequences

TERMS SUCH as restlessness, reaction, reform, revolution appro-priately describe the political, cultural, social and economic conditions of China between 1840 and 1911.1 To provide an introductory set of images for the exploration of female emancipation it will be helpful here to paint in broad strokes, before providing the finer brushwork to the Chinese canvas of the period, and then - in later chapters - enlarging the canvas with imagery beyond 1911 and up to 1949.