关键词: 革命, 性别政治, 苏菲亚, 秋瑾, 丁玲

Abstract: In the late Qing period, the image of Sophia, a Russian Nihilist heroine introduced to China via Japan, profoundly influenced Chinese revolutionary women such as Qiu Jin and Ding Ling. The “cross-dressing” practices of these three women and their intertextual relationships reflect the multifaceted gender politics within 20th-century Chinese revolutionary discourse. The novel Heroines of Eastern Europe re-gendered Sophia’s image through “cross-dressing,” rendering her an object of male gaze and desire both within and beyond the text, thereby constructing a symbol that united the revolutionary male community. Qiu Jin, conversely, employed “cross-dressing” as a de-gendering strategy to transcend the limitations of female identity, seeking to establish her position within the male-dominated revolutionary discourse. However, this approach inadvertently internalized the patriarchal ideology of the revolution, implicitly reinforcing its masculine characteristics. In Ding Ling’s life experiences and literary works, “cross-dressing” further exemplified the complexities of the de-gendering approach, revealing the processes of appropriation, integration, and co-optation of women by the revolution.

Key words: revolution, gender politics, Sophia Perovskaya, Qiu Jin, Ding Ling