Whilst still based in Tokyo, Qiu single-handedly edited a journal, "Vernacular Journal" ("Baihua Bao"). A number of issues were published using vernacular Chinese as a medium of revolutionary propaganda. In one issue, Qiu wrote "A Respectful Proclamation to China's 200 Million Women Comrades", a manifesto within which she lamented the problems caused by bound feet and oppressive marriages. Having suffered from both ordeals herself, Qiu explained her experience in the manifesto and received an overwhelmingly sympathetic response from her readers. Also outlined in the manifesto was Qiu's belief that a better future for women lay under a Western-type government instead of the Qing government that was in power at the time. She joined forces with her cousin Xu Xilin and together they worked to unite many secret revolutionary societies to work together for the overthrow of the Qing dynasty.