Xu Zihua

Xu Zihua (1873-1935) was a Chinese poet.

She was educated at home and interested in poetry from an early age. She became a widow when she was still young and became the principal of Xunxi Girls' School. Both she and her sister Xu Yunhua were part of the South Association. In 1906, she hired Qiu Jin, an anti-Qing Empire revolutionary and poet, as an assistant. They quickly became close friends. Together with Qiu Jin, Xu Zihua started the magazine "Chinese Women's News", which considered radical female-positive issues such as self-education, child education, Western-style health care, and economic self-sufficiency.

After Qiu Jin was executed in 1907, Xu Zihua helped arrange her funeral. Several thousand of people came and it turned into a public protest. Both Xu Zihua and the other chief mourner, Wu Zhiying, were on the Qing government's wanted list. Still, Xu Zihua continued to compose poems and essays in Qiu Jin's memory.

Her poetry is collected in "Xu Zihua shiwen ji".

References

* [http://www.renditions.org/renditions/authors/xuzh.html "Xu Xihua", Renditions, A Chinese-English Translation Magazine, last accessed June 9, 2007]
* [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=592475 "Qiu Jin", @Everything2.com, last accessed June 9, 2007]