In the spotlight: The Three 'Doctoral Sisters' in 1930s Brussels
We are at the last day of the month and the quota for the blog needs to be met. So, without further ado, I bring the reader's attention to a historical source I saw at the Royal Library in Brussels a month ago. Or, better: a set! The Wang sisters' dissertations (1933) In July 1932, Wang Changbao 王長寶 (b. 1906), Wang Ximin 王錫民 (b. 1909) and Wang Yazheng 王亞徵 (b. 1912) defended their doctoral dissertation at the Free University of Brussels. Each of the sisters had worked on a societal issue tied to the Chinese Republic at the time. Wang Changbao researched the sociopolical condition of women in Chinese society while Wang Ximin focused on labor by Chinese women and children and Wang Yazheng elaborated on the situation of the country's opium problem. Photo of all the Wang siblings (1929). The woman seated is Changbao. Behind her is Ximin. Yahzeng is on the right. The women graduated with flying colors and could close a decade-long chapter in their life that ...