Cora Deng
| Deng Yuzhi | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 1900 |
| Died | 1 October 1996 |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Political party | YWCA and Communist Party of China |
Deng Yuzhi (Chinese: 鄧裕志, September 1900–1 October 1996) also known as Cora Deng, was a Chinese social and Christian activist, and a feminist. Born in Hubei, she promoted women's education and rights, and defied the traditional woman's role in Chinese society. A Protestant by birth, she was an active and leading member of the Chinese Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). She established night schools for the women workers of industrial establishments, and fought for their rights. At the age of 19, she participated in the May Fourth Movement, and, on the establishment of the People's Republic, held positions in the Chinese Communist Party administration.
In her student days, Deng was introduced to social and revolutionary ideology by Maud Russell. But Deng did not perceive herself as a feminist or a revolutionary, relying instead on Christianity as a source of her identity; her social activism was triggered by her religious beliefs.
Deng Yuzhi was born in 1900 in Shashi, Hubei Province. Her family had large land holdings and pursued business enterprises. Her father worked for the Qing dynasty. She was eight years old when she moved with her family from Shashi to Changsha in Hunan province. Her primary education occurred at the First Women's Normal School of Hunan Province, and the Zhounan Girls Middle School (established in 1906), which promoted "progressive, modern curriculum and student’s activism during the republican revolutionary era." Her parents died in 1910 when she was 10 years old, at which time she was taken care of by her grandmother who admitted her to the Fuxiang School run by the Protestant Mission for Girls.
While in school she developed liberal views on a woman's role in Chinese society as a result of her association with the May Fourth Movement and her Christian faith. She decided to be an independent woman, remain unmarried, and live the life of a "new woman". The first step she took in this regard was to break the Chinese traditional practice of arranged marriage. While in high school, in spite of her resolve not get married, her grandmother persuaded her to marry as the grandmother had been engaged at a young age. Deng agreed on the condition that after marriage, she would be allowed to continue her studies, find work, follow her Christian faith, and would not be forced to observe traditional Chinese religious dogmas. But after marriage, her husband and his family broke their promises to Deng which resulted in her leaving her husband to continue her studies. She entered Ginling College in Nanjing around 1923, studying applied sociology.
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