History is filled with lost stories and unlauded achievements. All too often those untold stories belong to women, minorities, and those who are economically disadvantaged. But that doesn’t mean those contributions didn’t happen. In fact, fairly often those unnoticed events have huge ripple effects on economies, cultures, and social welfare. So in honor of women’s history month, we sought out four women in Chinese history whose stories are relatively unknown. Each of the next four Throwback Thursdays will be devoted to giving them a small measure of very belated credit. And because we build on the foundation these women laid we are going to institute Future Fridays. We will feature an amazing member of the Beijing community who is building on the work of the past and making her own contribution to the world and history right here in our neighborhood. We hope you enjoy these glimpses into these forgotten stories and they inspire you to do your own research into worthy but unrecognized historical figures and maybe drive you to make a little history of your own!
This week we take a moment to explore artist Chen Shu (陳書), a modern woman in an ancient time.
Chen Shu was a remarkable person who helped birth the Xiushui school of painting that is so widely admired and respected around the world. Her works of art hang in prestigious galleries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. She is sought after by private collectors and commands high prices at Christie’s Auction house but remarkably little is known about her life. Most of the sources I could find are single sentences in biographies of other famous men of her time. Let’s see if we can’t piece those bits together and give her work and contributions a little more credit.
Born in 1660 to a literati family she self-studied art, embroidery, and classical poetry under her parents. As was common for young ladies of her time she married young, but her husband passed on leaving her with a son to raise and a household to support. She turned to her skills as a painter and teacher. During the day she would educate other young women in the skills she had learned from her parents and at night she would paint. The next morning she would send her work to the market over 10 kilometers away for resale and start the entire process over again. She was the original working mom and not unlike today she-roes she was unappreciated.
Neither her art nor her work as a teacher made her famous or wealthy. Like many women of her era, she would succeed through her son, Qian Chenqun. Thanks to her efforts in providing for the family he was able to study and rise to prominence within the Imperial Court. He presented some of Chen’s work to the Emperor who became an avid admirer of her work and added her art to the Imperial collection.
Because of her gender and lack of official training she was never acknowledged as a master painter but almost 300 years after her death her work survives and the style of art she helped to create and proliferate is iconic.
KEEP READING: Throwback Thursday: A Brief History of China’s Caped Crusaders
Image: Chinese Social Sciences Today
