The first biographical dictionary in any Western language devoted solely to Chinese women, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women is the product of years of research, translation, and writing by scores of China scholars from around the world. Volume II: Twentieth Century includes a far greater range of women than would have been previously possible because of the enormous amount of historical material and scholarly research that has become available recently. They include scientists, businesswomen, sportswomen, military officers, writers, scholars, revolutionary heroines, politicians, musicians, opera stars, film stars, artists, educators, nuns, and more.

A biographical dictionary devoted to Chinese women, this text is the result of years of research, translation and writing from contributors from around the world. This volume focuses on the 20th century and includes sportwomen, film stars, musicians, politicians, artists, educators and more.

Though there exist many biographical dictionaries of the achievements of Chinese people throughout history, few women feature. Since the mid-1980s, researchers from the University of Sydney’s Department of Chinese Studies have been collecting the life stories of women whose academic, professional and technical achievements have had lasting impact on current and future generations. This volume contains over 300 biographies of these women, most of whom were born in China, though some were born abroad to Chinese parents, and some are foreigners whose work has become significant in China. It is in the context of globalisation and a rapidly evolving Chinese society that the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: 1912–2000, is prepared. In the first half of the twentieth century, revolutionaries, political activists and reformers feature. Some are politicians, or who rose to powerful positions within the government. As new technologies and entertainments were developed, the latter half of the century gave birth to fearless female performers and scholars: actresses, dramatists and martial arts stars alongside scientists and lawyers. Throughout the century, the creative work of Chinese women is a constant theme – novelists, directors, painters and poets all feature. This volume is accompanied by an index of names by profession, based on each woman’s most well-known research category, profession or skill; some women will appear in more than one category. To cater for readers who are not experts, this volume also includes a chronology of twentieth-century events. This edition of this work is published in full Chinese characters. A previous volume also in Chinese, The Qing Dynasty 1644–1912, is also available from Sydney University Press.

This volume of the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women completes the four-volume project and contains more than 400 biographies of women active in the Tang through Ming dynasties (618-1644). Many of the entries are the result of original research and provide the only substantial information on women available in English. Of note is the inclusion of a large number of women who reached positions of authority during this period as well as women artists and writers, especially poets, during this period of increased female literacy and more liberal social attitudes to women's cultural roles. Wherever possible, entries incorporate translations of poems and sometimes prose works so as to let the women speak for themselves. The book also includes a multitude of entertainers and actresses. The volume includes a Guide to Chinese Words Used, a Chronology of Dynasties and Major Rulers, a Finding List by Background or Fields of Endeavor, and a Glossary of Chinese Names. It will prove to be a useful tool for research and teaching.

Profiling more than 1400 print and electronic sources, this book helps connect librarians and researchers to the most relevant sources of information in genealogy and biography.

In the early twentieth century China’s most famous commercial artists promoted new cultural and civic values through sketches of idealized modern women in journals, newspapers, and compendia called One Hundred Illustrated Beauties. This genre drew upon a centuries-old tradition of books featuring illustrations of women who embodied virtue, desirability, and Chinese cultural values, and changes in it reveal the foundational value shifts that would bring forth a democratic citizenry in the post-imperial era. The illustrations presented ordinary readers with tantalizing visions of the modern lifestyles that were imagined to accompany Republican China’s new civic consciousness. Citizens of Beauty is the first book to explore the One Hundred Illustrated Beauties in order to compare social ideals during China’s shift from imperial to Republican times. The book contextualizes the social and political significance of the aestheticized female body in a rapidly changing genre, showing how progressive commercial artists used images of women to promote a vision of Chinese modernity that was democratic, mobile, autonomous, and free from the crippling hierarchies and cultural norms of old China.

The first biographical dictionary in any Western language devoted solely to Chinese women, this reference is the product of years of research, translation, and writing by a team of over 60 China scholars from around the world. Compiled from a wide array of original sources, these detailed biographies present the lives, work, and significance of more than 200 Chinese women from many different backgrounds and areas of interest.