For a long historical period in the past, girls have been excluded from school. In the history of modern women, the factor that has the greatest impact on women's lives is the new style of women's education. So, what was the state of women's education in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty? What role did Empress Dowager Cixi, as the ruler, play? The following article is authorized by the publishing house to be excerpted from the article ""Noble Women's School" and "Late Qing Dynasty Beijing Women's Education" in "Cultural Space of Late Qing Dynasty Beijing", which has been abridged and modified compared with the original text, and the subtitle is added by the editor.
Original author | Huang Xiangjin
Excerpts | Ho also
The Cultural Space of Late Qing Beijing, edited by Xia Xiaohong, Peking University Press, November 2021.
1
The atmosphere of female school after Wu Shu
In the history of modern women, the factor that has greatest influence on women's lives is the new style of women's education. Today's scholars generally regard the "Chinese Women's Society Shushu" (also known as the "Chinese Women's Academy" and "Jingzheng Women's School") created in 1898 as the starting point of the socialized women's education run by the Chinese people. As a product of the Restoration Movement, the "Chinese Women's Society Shushu" also ended in a political struggle: in 1900, Jing Yuanshan was electrified against the "Ji Hai Li Chu", wanted by the Qing court, fled overseas, and the female school had no one in charge and had to be closed. Since then, the fate of the new style of women's studies has become the focus of the late Qing Dynasty when they paid attention to women's issues.
What is certain is that the new style of women's education did not end with the short-lived "Chinese Women's Society Academy". In his 1902 speech, Jing Yuanshan quoted the Buddha, and posthumously recognized the identity of the "sower" of the colleagues who had previously advocated and presided over women's studies, believing that it was "the first sprout of the next millet", and he was very optimistic about the follow-up of the latecomers. This year, the "Ta Kung Pao" depicted the blossoming of women's schools in the south, which is even more exciting: "At the southern trade port, since the opening of women's schools in Shanghai, through the proposal of Lian Shan Taishou to donate to the construction of women's schools, since Suzhou and Zhejiang, Wuxi, and Wuchang have successively heeled, and the moon is expanded and as for Xiangyue. The women were indignant and self-reliant, and they took the day to teach. "Nowadays, due to what I see, the situation of the women's schools mentioned in the article is difficult to examine.
At present, the more famous women's schools founded after the "Chinese Women's Society Shushu" and before the promulgation of the "Decameron School System" are Lanling Women's School (Suzhou, 1901), Yan's Women's School (Tianjin, 1902), Wuben Women's School (Shanghai, 1902), Patriotic Women's School (Shanghai, 1902), Chengdong Women's School (Shanghai, 1903), Zongmeng Women's School (Shanghai, 1903), Hunan First Girls' School (Changsha, 1903), etc., most of which were spontaneously initiated by the gentry. If there are not a few people who aspire to promote learning and hold a wait-and-see attitude, the attitude of the upper echelons of the government to women's schools is extremely important at this time. As the "first good district" in Beijing, the popularity of women's schools is also of exemplary significance to the whole country.
2
Cixi and the "Yukun Society"
In Beijing in 1902, there were only church girls' schools, Beman Girls' School, Presbyterian Girls' School, and Muzhen Girls' College, and there was no self-run women's school. In that year, a Manchu official asked Prince Yi of Qing to set up the Eight Flags Girls' Academy, "Qing Di Ranzhi." Later, seeing that the eight banners were all unified, they dismissed the proposal." This is the earliest report I have ever seen about Chinese people running their own female schools in Beijing. Today, it seems that the atmosphere in Beijing is far less civilized than in the south, and officials in Beijing and central China need to borrow the "Women's Daily" published in Shanghai to change their preconceptions about "opening up women's wisdom and promoting women's studies."
Also in the same year, the Ta Kung Pao published vernacular contributions from enthusiastic readers, suggesting that women's schools should be promoted from top to bottom: the empress dowager would first create a women's school in the palace, and then issue an edict to order the princes and ministers of the central capital and the civil and military officials of various provinces to set up women's schools in each family. Within five years, the atmosphere will inevitably open up, and women's schools will spread throughout the country. In this article, what Caught my attention the most was the idea of a court women's school:
The empress dowager first set up a women's school in the palace and selected several Chinese female teachers. There is no need to be dazzling, as long as the literate and serene manners are qualified. The empress dowager and the empress do not have to say that they will enter the school, just ask for encouragement at any time, and the atmosphere will naturally open quickly. There are a number of palace ladies in the palace, and an inventory is opened, divided into several classes, except when they are on a mission, they are enrolled in classes.
As far as the practice of women's education in the late Qing Dynasty is concerned, the local enlightened gentry is the most important driving force, so the imagination of the path of xing women's education in this article seems unrealistic. However, the author's positioning of the starting point for the promotion of women's studies at Empress Dowager Cixi is not entirely without reason. As far as the materials that can be seen now are concerned, Cixi's new trends in women's newspapers and female schools appear as an enlightened person. For example, the Ta Kung Pao said that due to the submission of the Beijing officials, Cixi was able to read the "Women's Daily" edited by Chen Shufen( renamed "Women's Journal" in 1903) published in Shanghai. Coupled with its own gender factors, it is easy to imagine itself as a sponsor and promoter of a new type of women's education. And the news revealed by the "Women's Journal" can indeed confirm this conjecture:
In order to commemorate the sluggishness of Chinese women's studies, the empress dowager read the "Women's Newspaper" and ordered the Grand Princess to read one point each, and with the intention of setting up a women's school, she ordered the Grand Princess to take charge of her affairs. The newly built University Hall was completed, that is, the University Hall of the Princess House of the Horse Temple as a female school. There are aspiring scholars in the Eight Banners, and they are allowed to come to the church to learn. The reason for this incident was actually due to the excitement of the Japanese Minister Uchida's wife Chen Dongyang's female school last year, so she felt a sense of mercy.
The minister's wife, Masako Uchida, the wife of The Japanese Ambassador to China Yasuya Uchida, is close to Cixi. On August 17, 1902, Japan's "Baozhi Shimbun" once said: "Who cares about the empress dowager who has captured the Western Empress in Beijing's political circles today?" Mrs. Uchida also. Around 1902, when Cixi met with Masako Uchida, the other party talked about the prosperity of Japanese women's studies, which caused Cixi to feel that domestic female students were hidden, so she intended to build a women's school in the capital, including the Eight Flags women's enrollment, and following the Japanese women's school. In the same year, Cixi also agreed to the request of The Governor of Hubei Province to open a women's school, "there is a saying that the province of Hubei has been ordered to run it on a trial basis." This was the earliest origin of the Hubei Kindergarten Affiliated Girls' School that opened the following year.
By 1903, there were already rumors in the capital that the imperial court was about to set up a women's school. Hattori Shigeko, the wife of Hattori Unoyoshi, the head teacher of the Kyoshi University Normal School, once recalled that the Minister of the Interior, Makoto Makoto, came forward to ask Hattori Unoyoshi to draft a plan for the study of women. This move was most likely made out of Cixi's will. Because of the issue of hiring female teachers from Japan, the plan was not implemented immediately. In the history of women's education in modern times, the idea of creating a women's school on the site of the Beijing Normal University hall is not followed, and it is likely that cixi's whim was here. However, the interest of bubu Japanese women's school and the arrangement of Princess Rongshou (the "Grand Princess" in the report) as the head of the female school had already laid the groundwork for the later proposal of the "Noble Women's School".
The so-called "noble women's school" refers to a school run by the emperor and nobles to educate female relatives, ethnicities, or showgirls and maids. The education of women in the court or royal family has been established in ancient times, such as Ban Zhao, who once entered the palace as a teacher of the concubines, and Song Ruozhao, who was named "ShangGong" by Tang Muzong, "the queen concubines and the kings and the lords are seen by the teacher".
However, the larger schools established by the imperial family to promote girls' education are not recorded before the late Qing Dynasty. After entering the 20th century, under the influence of the trend of "Xingnu Studies", there were successively yuzheng women's schools founded by The Mongolian Qaraqin king Gongsan Norbu and the Hefei Girls' School founded by Prince Shanqi of Su. The Yuzheng Girls' School was opened in December 1903 and closed in 1909. Due to its remote location, its influence is basically limited to the Mongolian region. According to the "Beijing Chronicle" edited by Hattori Unoyoshi, the School of Girls was opened in 1905. Curiously, newspapers and periodicals in and around Beijing seem to have ignored the existence of the school, and as far as I can see, there is no record of this. At that time, the imperial women's school, which was followed and reported by many newspapers and periodicals, was the only one that was initiated in 1905. The "Yukun Society" previously proposed can be seen as a precursor to the rise of the "Noble Women's Academy".
On October 11, 1904, the Ta Kung Pao published the news that the court would set up the General Society of Yukun:
The empress dowager ordered Yu Langxi's daughter to open the Yukun Wenhui in one of the three seas, and allowed to set up a branch outside, which he had already reported. According to the legend of the Inner Servants, the literary association was located in Zhonghai and was named "Yukun General Society", and it taught the shallow grammar and the Chinese scripts every day. All the princes and ministers of The Fu Jin, the wives and wives and women of the five pins or more are admitted to the General Society to listen to the lectures. Its branches, on the other hand, were made available to gentry and merchants, all of whom were innocent and innocent, whether they had studied or not. Gol, then the prosperity of women's school is not far away.
In the "Decameron School System" promulgated in early 1904, only the Statutes of the Mongolian Nursing Homes and the Statutes of the Family Education Law slightly mentioned women's education, but the attitude was very conservative, believing that "in the situation in China at this time, if there are many abuses in the establishment of female schools, it is not appropriate", and its meaning is "to use the Mongolian nursing homes to assist family education, and to use family education to include women's studies".
Although the "Yukun Wenhui" in the "Ta Kung Pao" news is in the name of the Society, some people also think that it "only studies the language and writing, so as to translate it when preparing for the banquet of the wives of the ministers of various countries, as if it is the purpose of the founding of the association, and it has not yet glimpsed its great one", but the essence is obviously the imperial female study, and it is already valuable to put it in its place at the time and place. The news details the founder of the society, the location of the opening, the content of the teaching, and the qualifications of the students, which all hint that the Yukun Wenhui is about to start. The idea of establishing "chapters" outside the "General Assembly" and allowing women of civil origin to attend school shows the grandeur of the organizers. If women's studies can be promoted from top to bottom, led by Cixi, why can't the current situation of women's circles in Beijing be broken? The Ta Kung Pao can hardly hide its excitement, and it is understandable.
Later, Shanghai's "Times" made a follow-up report on the news of the "Yukun Meeting", Yun:
Recently, the empress dowager, because of the request of the daughter of Yulang Xijingqing, planned to create a female school in the South China Sea and gave the name Yukunhui. All the princes of Belle's Fujin and Gege, as well as the three or more ordered women and women of the Capital, signed up to join the association and learned Eastern and Western languages. At the behest of Yi, the princess of Yu was specially dispatched to manage his affairs.
The organizers and teaching content of the Yukun Club have not changed, only the location of the opening has been specifically selected in the South China Sea in the "Three Seas" (South Sea, Beihai Sea, Zhonghai), and the entry threshold for Han women has also been raised from "Five Pins of Life" to "Three Pins of Women". The course is set up with "various Chinese words", which is very different from the traditional court women's studies, quite modern, and is actually related to the personal tastes of the organizers. The 1903 Ta Kung Pao stated that "the daughter of Yu Langxi, who was very pleased with the empress dowager, entered from time to time, and both of them were dressed in dresses." The two were Rong Ling (1882-1973) and De Ling (1886-1944), who spoke English and French, served as translators in the Qing Palace, and were quite favored by Cixi. Moreover, shortly after the yukun meeting was proposed, Rong Ling, Deling and their mothers planned to set up the Eight Flags Girls' School, "specializing in the young girls of the flag people, in order to cultivate female talents." Taking sister DeLing to preside over the Yukun meeting is the best choice.
In the anticipation of the Women's Circle and the Press in Beijing, Yukunhui has not seen the following for a long time. Until the beginning of the following year, according to the alarm bell daily, the reason why the Yukunhui stagnated was because Cixi's view of female studies had changed:
The Revolutionary Prison in Hunan was revived, and the academic circles suddenly became secret; the Shanghai assassination case followed, and the political circles were greatly shocked. Kyoshi is particularly serious, and those who have or are not related are regarded as close issues. The Russian envoy warned even more that the United Party was wary. For several days, the Privy Council and the Minister of Management and Education exchanged secret consultations, which was quite sensational [listening]. The arrogance of the students in each school has decreased sharply, and there are those who are out of tune. Weekly trips are also very rare. Xihou was displeased because of the strange appearance of the academy. The former proposed Yukun Huixing Girls' School was also discontinued.
The successive events involved in the news refer to the "Anti-Russian Movement" that began in the spring of 1903, the Huaxinghui Uprising that aborted in Changsha in the autumn and winter of 1904, and the Wanfuhua Assassination Spring Case in Shanghai in November of that year. In the first two incidents, students studying in Japan and students from new-style schools in China served as the backbone, so the Qing government was extremely vigilant about the daily activities of students in school, and it was easy to overreact. Coupled with the rendering of the current "cheats" of the size of the current male and female schools, cixi's enthusiasm for female studies was shaken, and the matter of Yu Kunhui was also very exciting.
In May 1905, the "Ta Kung Pao" also had the news of the "Yukun Society", but the reporter's tone was already very hesitant, saying in the language, "There were such legends in the previous year, and I don't know whether it is true or not." In fact, De Ling went to Shanghai two months ago to take care of his seriously ill father and left the Qing Palace. Since then, in the Ta Kung Pao, there has been no news of yukun meeting.
3
Detailed examination of the "Noble Women's Academy"
The initiative to create the Yukun Society was extinguished, but Cixi's interest in the women's academy soon followed, and the figure that could not be left out at this time was Duan Fang. In July 1905, Duan fang was appointed as one of the five ministers who went abroad to investigate constitutional government. During his stay in Beijing, taking advantage of the opportunity to meet Xie En, the "Cisheng", Duan Fang vigorously emphasized the importance of the women's school, which was quite praised by Cixi. In a telegram to the female students in Hubei, he mentioned that he had been promoted to Cixi four times, "that is, the female students also played the face, and cisheng also thought so."
In the meeting between the two, Duan Fang may also mention the matter of imperial female studies. An editorial in the Ta Kung Pao revealed that Duan Fang "tried to set up a Chinese girls' school as his main point", and although "the crowd was suspicious of the public", he had the support of Cixi, "Ci Sheng paid attention to You Yin in this matter, and will be funded by the inner court to advocate for the world". Later, the "ShunTian Times" also recorded that Cixi's request for Duan Fang's performance was "extremely fond of it, and has already raised some funds from the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the purpose of opening a Chinese girls' school."
This Chinese girls' school was not immediately established, but soon after Cixi instructed, "The Special Commodore will change the Xishan Xutan Temple into a female school, and both Chinese editors can study." As soon as this decree was issued, women who aspired to enroll in the public were greatly encouraged, "The empress dowager's intention to promote women's studies is precisely to make us Chinese everyone angry and eager to learn."
On the evening of December 10, 1905, a reporter from the Southern Daily sent a telegram from Beijing, saying that "the Two Palaces Face The Qing Residence (press: that is, Prince Yi of Qing), imitating the Guiguan Academy to organize the Imperial Women's School." It can be seen that the preparation of the imperial female school has the opinion of the end party in the front, and the nearby there is the fierce thorn of the army noble school. Cixi's demand for imitation of female schools is a sign of equality in education. The Ta Kung Pao's report in early 1906 was more detailed:
When the Minister of Military Aircraft was summoned a few days ago, the two palaces inquired about the scale of the Noble Academy and urged them to hurry up. And Yunwai Yang attaches great importance to female learning, and such a trend in China has not been opened, it is planned that the Gui gui school will be effective, and then set up a royal women's school, which will be specially used to collect the first county lord of the prince's palace and the gege to enter the school, in order to import civilization, xianzhi patriotism and other edicts.
In the news, the student standard of "exclusively receiving the lord of the prince's palace and gege" is in line with the Yukun Society. According to the news that the "Jinbao" was transcribed by the "Education Magazine", the participation in the preparation of the imperial women's school were also the prince Of Qing Yili, the prince of Su, the wife of Princess Rongshou, and the wife of Lu Boying Shilang. The name "Noble Girls' Academy" used in the news was finally named for the school.
In subsequent reports on the imperial school of women, Empress Dowager Cixi has been the most powerful promoter. When she summoned the officials of the Faculty, she could not hide her urgency:
Shangshu of the Faculty of Literature had given yi instructions in the early days that Chinese women's studies were not yet developed, and it was urgent to try to promote them, in the hope that family education would become more and more important. Therefore, the statutes of Chinese women's studies have recently been proposed again.
The name of the female school mentioned in this message, "Chinese Women's School", is slightly different from the "Royal Women's School" mentioned above. In fact, "Chinese Women's School" is the name of the Japanese Imperial Family's Women's School. The Chinese Girls' School, which was independent from the Japanese "Gakuin" in November 1885, soon became the most influential girls' school in Japan by virtue of its unique advantages. As a result, the Chinese girls' school has become an indispensable place for chinese governments and the public to visit Japanese education, and its superintendent, Shimoda Kaeko, has also become a well-known figure in the field of Chinese women's education. The Qing Palace's proposal for royal women's studies and the proposed name of "Chinese women's studies" may have the meaning of taking a mirror from them.
What is more noteworthy is Cixi's reaction to Duanfang's report on the inspection of women's studies. In December 1905, when Duan Fang and Dai Hongci and their party went abroad to investigate constitutional government, Cixi ordered them to investigate the female schools in the eastern and western countries and report at any time. On the way, the Faculty was instructed to telegraph again to visit the Women's School. In April 1906, the Shuntian Times reported that "wen rifeng and dai er minister came to have an electric recital, which is the charter and all the contents of the American girls' school, which is the most complete, and it is urgent for Chinese women's studies to imitate it." The two palaces watched and were quite pleased. At present, 100,000 taels have been allocated to the government, and Lady Bao Shufang, the sister of Su Di, has been sent to organize a teacher training and girls' school first. ”
This news has been reprinted many times and has a great impact. Readers of the "Declaration" optimistically anticipate the effect of this move: "Climb high and shout, and all the mountains should respond." The discovery of the light of the women's world will shine throughout China. In connection with previous reports on imperial women's studies, in the eyes of the general reader, Cixi's generosity is likely to be due to imperial women's studies. For example, in a letter to the party, Xu Xilin mentioned that "the empress dowager is now donating 100,000 silver to open a noble women's school" as evidence that she is "a person who knows the times" among the Manchurians.
The following month, Prince Yili of Qing also had the request of the "Noble Women's Academy" to "order the women of the counties of the various royal palaces, Gege and the major members of the Manchu Han Second and Third Grades to enter the school". The most important opportunity came from examining the end of the return of constitutionalism. According to Mr. Xia Xiaohong's research, on August 13, 1906, Cixi summoned Duan Fang, who had recently returned to China, alone. When Duan Fang summoned the right person, there must have been something about the number of female students, because according to the "Ta Kung Pao" a few days later, "The Minister of Examination and Administration, Duan Wushuai, played two palaces on the previous day, and asked the Ministry of Education to quickly establish the rules and regulations of the Women's School and set up a women's school to open up the atmosphere." Wen has been instructed to prepare everything properly. ”
Taking advantage of this opportunity to meet, Duan Fang is likely to have also submitted an important recital - "Please Set Up the Central Women's College Fold". The central theme of this song by Liang Qichao is: "The establishment of the Central Women's College in Beijing is to open up the national atmosphere and serve as a model for the provinces." This method must have been in line with Cixi's previous advocacy of imperial women's studies, so soon the news of "noble women's studies" came out of the court:
Renyun of the Faculty of Literature: The Headquarters recently established the Guiguan Women's School, and all the statutes are modeled on the Japanese Chinese Women's School, and the amount is increased or decreased. And hearing of the initiation of this matter, Qingdi, Zegong and Wu Shuai were all very much in favor of it, and it would be possible to fold it in the near future.
In the matter of holding a women's school, Ye discussed all the rules with Rong Dajun, which was called the Guiguan Girls' Academy, and its students were qualified by the young girls of the three or more members.
After deliberation, Duan Fang and Rongqing finally named it "Gui gui girls' school". The use of the long-standing term "noble" instead of "royal family" and "Chinese" to name the imperial female schools corresponds to the "Army Noble School" that has been opened, and is also distinguished from the "Chinese Girls' School" in Japan. Regarding the qualifications of students, the provisions of "senior young girls with more than three pins" echo the "Yukun Society" that was not opened the previous time.
Although Duan Fang has a good feeling for women's schools in the United States, after comparing the situation of women's schools in Japan and Europe and the United States, the noble women's schools in the discussion are still ready to learn from Japanese Chinese girls' schools. The Japanese Chinese Girls' School is large in scale and has a sound academic system, and is "the place where the emperor and the maharajahs and ministers, all Chinese women's professions." It is divided into elementary primary school, high school [etc] primary school, junior high school, and higher secondary school, with four subjects, each for three years, with one year as the first level, and those who are over six years old and under 18 years old can be enrolled. ”
As a model, the Chinese girls' school has laid a beautiful prospect for the envisaged noble girls' school. According to Duan Fang's speech at the opening ceremony of the Outer City Women's School on September 30, "The Empress Dowager has repeatedly inquired about female studies and plans to open a higher school. After graduating here, all the students can be promoted to be the protégés of the empress dowager, what a decent! The "higher female school" in the rhetoric, because its students are "protégés of the empress dowager", is likely to refer to the future noble women's school - that is, the presupposition of the noble women's school will also provide higher education for imperial and commoner women in addition to providing primary education, which shows the deep expectations cixi placed on the noble women's school at this time.
Although there was the support of Empress Dowager Cixi, Prince Yili of Qing, and Shangshu Rongqing of the Academy in the imperial court, and the initiative of Duan Fang and other senior officials in the local area, the establishment of the Noble Women's School was not smooth. The first resistance encountered came from Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang. At the beginning of 1907, he called the Faculty to show his cautious attitude towards the establishment of women's schools: "Zhang Xiangshuai is enthusiastic about academic affairs, and it is recognized by all. It is not necessary to be independent of female learning, thinking that the degree of Chinese is still low, and it is inevitable to advocate women's learning at this time. It was heard that there was a Denda Faculty a few days ago, detailing the disadvantages of setting up a women's school at this time. Do the unknown Privy Counsellors also express sympathy? Zhang Zhidong's telegram did not directly target the rising noble women's school, but as a major courtier of the imperial court, his opinion could not be ignored, and the impact of this discussion on the noble women's school was almost immediate:
Wen Nei Tingren Yun: Whenever the two palaces summon the officials of the Academy, they must inquire about the promotion of female studies, and pay attention to the establishment of noble female scholars. Recently, due to the shortcomings of a certain governor playing Chen Nüxue, it was hesitation. When Rong Shangshu summoned him a few days ago, the two palaces discussed with them for a long time, saying that the Chinese atmosphere had not yet been widely opened, and if they wanted to revitalize women's studies, they must first formulate and improve the charter, and then carry out trial operations and gradually promote them. Matters should be slowed down and should not be rushed, so as to show caution. The idea of starting a noble female school has been postponed.
Before the establishment of the Faculty in 1906, Zhang Zhidong was quite active in new-style education, and was the precursor and important town advocating the transformation of traditional education, affirming and promoting new-style education, but after the abolition of the imperial examination, in the face of the current events of the reversal of the new and old schools, the dominant tendency of his school-running strategy also changed from advocating new learning to defending the old school. For the matter of the creation of the women's school, the previous "Southern Daily" said that it "never paid attention". Soon after, cixi received a certain sage king and asked about the statutes of the women's school and the government women's school, "the empress dowager did not answer, I am afraid that she is not satisfied with the female school."
The suspension of the establishment of the Guiguan Girls' School may be due to the opposition of Zhang Zhidong and others, or because of the strategic concessions made by the public opinion of the government and the public. Fortunately, the statutes of the women's schools were not far away - on March 2, the Ta Kung Pao published that the charters of the women's schools were "agreed and will be played after printing." Six days later, the Statute of the Songding Girls' Primary School and the Statute of the Women's Normal School were officially promulgated and implemented. On the same day, the news published in the Ta Kung Pao delighted the readers who cared about the Noble Girls' Academy:
For the affairs of the Noble Girls' School, the government has agreed on the matter of the Students' Department, and it can be opened in about the spring. Princess Wen Rongshou had already been entrusted with the empress dowager's kindness and served as the chief supervisor of the Noble Women's Academy.
In the 1904 school system, women's schools "had many abuses and were not suitable", while at this time it was believed that "women's education is the foundation of national education" and that "if you want a virtuous mother, you must have a complete female school", and the establishment of the noble women's school is justified.
Princess Rongshou, who was appointed by Cixi as the chief overseer, was the eldest daughter of Prince Gong Yibi, who was quite favored by the Xianfeng Emperor at an early age, and was widowed after five years of marriage with Zhiduan, and served cixi for a long time, "respectful and upright, and won the favor of the empress dowager all her life, and sometimes she was advised, and the empress dowager also adopted it." Interestingly, similar to the sisters Rong Ling and De Ling, Princess Rongshou is also interested in English. However, his position as the general supervisor of the Noble Women's Academy was not decided. Soon after, the "Declaration" published news, revealing that the matter had attracted the attention of Yuan Shikai, a pro-nobleman of Beiyang, and that the person he secretly recommended was Lü Bicheng, who enjoyed a great name in the female circles of Beijing and Tianjin. Yuan believes that Lü is "a talented and excellent person, and can be the choice of the general office of the Noble Women's Academy".
Lü Bicheng was awarded the greatest capital for the position of superintendent of the Guiguan Women's Academy, not for her talents, but for her experience in hosting the Beiyang Girls' Public School. Beiyang Girls' College was founded in the early winter of 1904, with Lü Bicheng as one of the founders and presided over the entire school' academic affairs. In the summer of 1907, when Defu Sufeng, director of the National News Agency of Japan, visited the Tianjin Public Girls' School, he praised Lü Bicheng. The Beijing press called him "the only famous artist in the women's circle in recent days." Moreover, most of the students of Beiyang Girls' Public School are official eunuchs, which is similar to the nature of the noble women's school in the discussion, and Lü himself once believed that the women's public school "has the general outline of Japanese Chinese women's school", and the people of the time also compared it to the Chinese girls' school superintendent Shimoda Kaeko. Yuan Shikai's emphasis on Lü Bicheng was naturally not surprising.