[PW] Re: "Most admired woman in china"

[Druzz]

DEAR WOMBATERS:

"The most admired woman in China" can be just one
of these two gentle, famous ladies:

1) the empress Wu Hou (Wu Chao in Wade-Giles
phonetic system), also known as Wu Zetian (in pinyin)
or Wu Tse-t'ien (Wade-Giles). Starting as a concubine
of the emperor, at the age of 13, she came to power, and
reignes efectively by near 15 years (690-705). She, the
ONLY reigning empress of China, governed in her own
name and consolidated the T'ang Dinasty. The differences
between her names is easily explainable: the emperor
(in the case, the empress) had a name BEFORE the
assumption of the throne, another AFTER the rise to
power, and FINALLY a posthumous name. The expression
"most admired Chinese woman" is current in Chinese
language in reference to Wu Zetian;

2) and, "pour cause", recently was chosen for this
title a 39-year-old Chinese actress, Maggie Cheung,
admired not for her beauty (she is not particularly
pretty, but is a good, sympathetical actress).

I beg your pardon if I am telling you some silly thing,

Evandro da Nobrega [Druzz]
+++++++++++++++++++++

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Suzanne Guinn" <librarian at calvary.edu>
To: <list at project-wombat.org>
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 1:47 PM
Subject: [PW] Re: "Most admired woman in china"


> You said "in China" but didn't say the person was Chinese. Could she
> possible be referring to Gladys Aylward? She was a missionary that 
> went to
> China, and adopted Chinese ways (dress, etc.) She eventually won the 
> respect
> of the government officials and was commissioned to go around to all 
> the
> villages and make sure that the women's and girls' feet were no longer 
> being
> bandaged. She accomplished other things as well, but this is what she 
> was
> most well known for. She broke a lot of barriers that no woman or 
> outsider
> had ever done. She became highly respected by the Chinese gov't.
>
> Suzanne Guinn, director
> Hilda Kroeker Library
> Calvary Bible College and Theo. Sem.
> 15800 Calvary Road
> Kansas City, MO 64147
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [mailto:project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf 
> Of
> Frances Hammond
> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 4:56 AM
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: [PW] "Most admired woman in china"
>
> Help!  We have a client trying to find the name of a woman who became 
> known
> as the "most admired woman in China".  The client is not very clear 
> about
> any details (and gets less clear the more I ask) however I understand 
> the
> aforementioned woman is not political (not Madam Chiang or any of 
> Mao's
> wives) and was held up as an example (possibly from a survey or list),
> probably in the 1950's (but may be later) (Not Hillary Clinton who you 
> find
> if you search the web!).  I've had a preliminary hunt through our 
> resources
> on Chinese women but short of reading them all from cover to cover I'm 
> not
> having much luck - possible she's one of the women designated an
> "Agricultural production heroine of the North East"  (a publication 
> quoted
> in Delia Davin's "Women's work : women in party in revolutionary 
> China") but
> I can't find the sobriquet "most admired" anywhere.  Possibly tied in 
> to
> reform of marriage laws and the reduction of infanticide of 
> girl-children
> (client has mentioned the infanticide bit).  I've also had a bit of a 
> hunt
> through our Ebscohost databases and Encyclopedia Britannica without 
> any joy
> and I'm not keen on reading through the "Biographical dictionary of 
> Chinese
> Women" on what is possibly a wild goose (or should that be swan?) 
> chase.
>
> Anyone have any ideas?
>
> Frances Hammond
> Reference Librarian
> Business Specialist
> State Reference Library
> State Library of WA
>
> ph: 08 9427 3456
> email: frances.hammond at slwa.wa.gov.au
>
> If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have asked for a 
> faster
> horse... Henry Ford
>
>
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