The magazine Renquan appeared in five issues between August and December 1925. The purpose of the magazine was to make people aware of the idea of human rights and to advocate a society based on respect for human rights. The magazine’s editors regarded human rights as applicable to all countries and as characteristic of civilized and just societies. They argued that human rights were needed in order for individuals to be persons (zuoren), and held that without them humans would be reduced to the level of beasts. Human rights were based on our needs to preserve our lives and develop our personalities and intellects; they included economic, political, and educational rights. Human rights applied to all human beings. While the subjects of women’s rights (nüquan) were women, setting them in contrast to men, and the subjects of people’s rights (minquan) were the common people, setting them in opposition to rulers, aristocrats, bureaucrats, and warlords, the subjects of human rights (renquan) were all human beings. Human rights were opposed only to the minority who tried to suppress the rights of the majority.
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