The beginnings of public education for girls While it is true that public education for Chinese girls was first championed by Western missionaries, the impact on wider Chinese society represented by the first mission schools was limited. The first of such schools was opened in 1844 by Miss Mary Aldersey in the treaty port of […]

In 1986 Wu Ruo’an, a former pupil at the Wuben Girls’ School in Shanghai — among the first public schools established for girls in China at the beginning of the twentieth century — reminisced about her experiences in the years following the school’s founding in 1902.1 Aged 97 at the time of her written memoir, […]

It is always a pleasure to express appreciation for support and encouragement one has received from individuals and institutions during the arduous process of writing a scholarly book. The seeds of this particular project were first sown some time ago when a grant from the Leverhulme Trust and financial assistance from the British Council enabled […]