Abstract: The women’s movement in 1895-1898 emphasized the national revolution against imperialism but neglected criticism of the male-centered gender system. In addition to historical reasons that have previously been mentioned ( national contradictions were sharper than sexual ones ) there were three traditional cultural factors that exerted a subtle influence on the movement. First, the traditional tendency to attach importance to practice but despise theory meant that the women’s movement was more enthusiastic for the practical need of “strengthening the nation and protecting the race”and less interested in criticizing the unequal gender system theoretically. Second, patriotism and a sense of responsibility for“looking upon the rise and fall of China as one’s own mission” made the participants naturally put the nation’s interests in the forefront. Third, the traditional way of viewing the situation as a whole made the participants confuse the contents of women’s emancipation with that of general people’s liberation.