The 9 Most Famous Women from Chinese History

Famous Trailblazing Women from Chinese History 👩🏻 The Top 9

There have been some real badass famous Chinese women over the years. Here we’re going to have a look at the ultimate top 9 that you should know from Chinese history.

But before we introduce you to some famous Chinese women, let’s just ask ourselves why we always talk about five or ten famous women in a country’s history, but never make lists of famous men?

Also, we should remember that all the famous women on this (and other) lists had to face numerous obstacles in a deeply patriarchal society (like the one we talked about in our post on Nüshu).

So, women had to work and try much more than their male counterparts to fight for their place in history.

This is also why International Women’s Day is a big celebrated holiday.

In this post on famous Chinese women, we won’t talk about their striking beauty or similar attributes, which are often used to describe women, but rather about their accomplishments.

We also shouldn’t forget the official Confucian ideology which imposed rather strict rules on women in society, making it even harder for women to do what they wanted – women had to be submissive and obey men.

So, let’s meet some badass women in Chinese history! In this post, we will talk about:

Famous Chinese Women #1 – Empress Wu Zetian

Famous Chinese Women #2 – Lin Siniang

Famous Chinese Women #3 – Empress Dowager Cixi

Famous Chinese Women #4- Wang Zhenyi

Famous Chinese Women #5 – Hua Mulan

Famous Chinese Women #6 – Song Qingling

Famous Chinese Women #7 – Wang Xingjuan

Famous Chinese Women #8 – San Mao

Famous Chinese Women #9 – Qiu Jin

Famous Chinese Women – FAQs

So let’s begin!

Famous Chinese Women #1 – Empress Wu Zetian

Empress Wu Zetian, who lived during the Tang Dynasty, was the only female emperor who ruled China.

She was a very controversial figure because she was initially Emperor Taizong’s concubine.

When the emperor died, she married his son Gaozong and ruled behind the emperor.

Her rise to power wasn’t entirely peaceful. Some sources claim Wu Zetian had Gaozong’s original wife, Empress Wang, removed by smothering her own daughter (who she had with Gaozong) and blaming the murder on the Wang, who was then dethroned.

When Gaozong died, she placed herself on the throne as empress dowager and ruled China until one year before her death when she was 81 years old.

As a result of the efforts of her father Wu Shuhou – who was a chancellor during Tang dynasty – she was well educated: she could read and write, play music, write poetry, and she had good oratory skills.

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Famous Chinese Women #2 – Lin Siniang

Lin Siniang was born in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to a military family. During childhood, she diligently studied martial arts.

At only six years old, people had already begun to marvel at her skills.

When her parents died, she was forced into prostitution on the bank of the river Qinhuai, near modern-day Nanjing.

Feudal King Zhu Changshu saw her practicing her martial arts on the river bank and fell in love with her.

She was then brought to the palace and became a concubine. She was so good at martial arts that the King asked her to teach all the royal concubines her self-defence skills.

This led to the establishment of an essentially all-female army which was led by Lin Siniang.

She died at the young age of 15 when leading her female fighters into battle against a rebel army that had captured the King.

This was also one amazing woman who broke with social conventions at a time when women did not hold such important, or dangerous, positions.

Famous Chinese Women #3 – Empress Dowager Cixi

Surprise, surprise – another contested figure from Chinese history!

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 – 1908) was one of the most powerful figures in Chinese history, who – albeit indirectly – controlled China’s throne for almost half a century.

She was the emperor Xianfeng’s low-ranking concubine, but she gave birth to his only son.

So, when the emperor died, the son became the emperor and the regency council of eight elder officials were reigning the country.

After a couple of months, Cixi set a coup in motion, after which the regency was transferred to her.

Don’t forget those were turbulent times – famine caused the Taiping Rebellion in 1850 and in 1856 France and Britain invaded China, causing the Second Opium War. Cixi (a name she gave herself meaning “kindly and joyous”) wanted to modernize China and boost its economy, which in the end she managed to do. Cixi’s reign was a very prosperous time for China.

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Famous Chinese Women #4 – Wang Zhenyi

Well, this is one badass woman right here!

She was a famous scientist and astronomer (!) during the Qing Dynasty, but she actively fought against the feudal norms of that time which forbade women to pursue, well, any interest whatsoever.

She fought for her right to study and she educated herself in astronomy, mathematics, geography and medicine!

She wrote a famous article Dispute of the Procession of the Equinoxes in which she explained and proved how equinoxes move and also calculated their movement.

She wrote many other articles, such as Dispute of Longitude and Stars and The Explanation of a Lunar Eclipse.

But there’s more!

She was also an accomplished poet! And she managed to do all of that before the age of 29, when she unfortunately died.

Imagine what she could have done if she had lived longer!

Famous Chinese Women #5 – Hua Mulan

Ah, the legendary Mulan.

She was a Chinese warrior during the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589).

She was described in the Ballad of Mulan, in which she was said to have dressed as a man to take over her ageing father’s place in the army.

Hua is a Chinese word for flower and Mulan means “magnolia”.

Although it is not clear if Hua Mulan ever existed, she is described as a woman who brought bravery and hope to the people of China.

Want to know what we thought about the new Mulan film? Have a look at our full Mulan (2020) review.

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Women in Chinese History #6 – Song Qingling

Song was the second wife of an influential political leader Sun Yat-sen.

She became an important political figure after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China – she was the Vice President of China (in the period from 1949–1954 and 1959–1975) and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress

(1954–1959; 1975–1981).

She fell out of favour during the Cultural Revolution (hey, who hasn’t?), but in 1972 she, alongside Dong Biwu, became the Vice President, which made them the de facto Heads of State of China.

DID YOU KNOW – She was fluent in English, since she was schooled in the United States.

The time she spent in the States influenced her greatly.

She was also a vocal feminist who thought arranged marriage was a practice that should be abolished and that women were free to decide who to marry.

She also fought against the belief that women should follow the three obediences: their fathers, their husbands, and their sons.

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Women in Chinese History #7 – Wang Xingjuan

Wang Xingjuan is the founder of the first NGO in China, the Red Maple Center which focused on problems women face in society.

She primarily worked as a journalist and editor and then, when she retired in 1988, she decided to focus completely on the empowerment of women.

DID YOU KNOW – She also organized the first hotline for women suffering from depression.

As usually happens, women were the ones to suffer the most; a lot of women were laid off and did not know how to deal with this situation.

After a period when everybody had worked and contributed to society, this was a completely new situation for many of them.

In one of her interviews, Wang said that during that period 60 to 70 percent of laid-off workers were women.

As a result of her work on the hotline, they realized that a large number of women had no one to turn to if they were victims of domestic violence, so her team diverted time and resources into tackling that issue instead.

How amazing is that?

Women in Chinese History #8 – Sanmao

Born in Chongqing, Sanmao was a wandering soul.

She was a novelist and translator who unfortunately took her own life in 1991.

Born as Chen Mao Pian, she later adopted the pseudonym Sanmao, under which she is widely known.

She wrote autographical and travel novels, as well as comic books. She studied philosophy at the Chinese Culture University.

She also travelled extensively – she lived in Spain where she began her nomadic lifestyle.

Some of her famous verses are:

• Do not ask me where I’m from
• My hometown is far away
• Why do I wander around
• Wandering afar, wandering

After Spain, she travelled to Germany, the Sahara Desert, the Canary Islands, as well as Central and South America.

Google has even honored San Mao! On 26th March (which is her birthday), they honoured her life dedicating the Google Doodle to her.

Well, we think that’s huge. After all, she inspired thousands of Chinese with her writing and adventurous lifestyle.

Sanmao sold over 15 million books!

Now we are finally able to read her writing about her time in the Sahara Desert in English (you can now order San Mao’s Stories of the Sahara)! This book was very important for many women who were looking for an escape from strict societal norms.

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When in the 1970s San Mao saw an article about the Sahara Desert in National Geographic, she told her friends she wanted to travel there.

They all thought she was joking, but she did eventually manage to go on the trip and she wrote that the Sahara was her “dream lover”.

As you can imagine, we are beyond excited that San Mao’s writing has finally been translated into English and that now even more people will be able to enjoy her work.

Her travels to the Sahara were just one of the many adventures in San Mao’s life, which was filled with both adventure and sadness.

“When I first arrived in the desert, I desperately wanted to be the first female explorer to cross the Sahara. The thought of it used to keep me up all night”, she once said.

And the thought that we will soon be able to read her words keep us at night. The book is available to order.

Are you excited as we are?

Women in Chinese History #9 – Qiu Jin

Qiu Jin was a famous Chinese revolutionary, feminist and poet.

She talked about women’s rights and claimed that women had the freedom to marry whomever they wanted and the freedom to obtain education. She also opposed the practice of foot binding (which she herself was the victim of!).

She fought against the strict Confucian norms which stipulated that women had to obey men and fought for the liberation of women.

She was arrested a couple of days before the planned Anqing uprising and was soon beheaded although she never admitted that she was involved in plotting the uprising.

A courageous soul who stood up for exactly what she believed in, despite knowing of the potential consequences.

Famous Chinese Women – Conclusion

So, to summarize, we talked about some badass women in Chinese history, namely:

👑 The only female ruler of China Empess Wu Zetian.

👑 Leader of an all-female army and martial arts expert Liu Siniang.

👑 One of the most powerful figures in Chinese history Empress Dowager Cixi.

👑 The amazingly clever Wang Zhenyi.

👑 Hua Mulan, the brave and famous female warrior.

👑 The famous political leader Song Qingling.

👑 The founder of the first NGO and the first hotline for women suffering from depression Wang Xingjuan.

👑 San Mao, a famous writer and traveller.

👑 Qiu Jin, a famous revolutionary and feminist.

Do you think we’re missing anyone off this list? Let us know in the comments section!

Famous Chinese Women – FAQ’s

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