Someone may ask: A woman's head is really no different from a man's head, and a woman's waist is really no different from a man's waist. Why then must women wear their hair piled high in flaunting, wind-fearing buns? Why must they tightly bind their waists with cumbersome, trailing skirts? I say: Women were originally sinners, and the high buns and long skirts are instruments of punishment imposed upon them by men. The powder and rouge on their faces are like tattoos of criminals; the ornaments on their hands are like shackles and fetters. Pierced ears and bound feet are corporal punishments; schools and families are prisons. In pain, they dare not cry out; confined, they dare not escape. Someone may ask: How can they be freed from this guilt? I say: Only by raising a women's revolutionary army.

Printed in the inaugural issue of The Xiang River Review on July 14, 1919. Signed: Zedong.