In the late Warring States period (246-221 BC), a woman achieved extraordinary war powers similar to those of Fu Hao. It was said that Huang Guigu possessed the physical “strength to draw a strong bow” and she “studied war manuals by night and trained by day.” (Huang means “Yellow-Golden”; Guigu means from “Ghost Valley”’ an ancient name for the Gui Valley, Henan Province.) As the general for the first Qin emperor of unified China, Huang Guigu commanded three military units and led campaigns against the aggressive nomad tribes known as the Xiongnu and Xianbei who were encroaching on China’s northern frontiers.13
The turbulent wars between AD 200 and 1200 brought forth a large number of real and legendary military women in China, suggesting that by this time girls were sometimes instilled with warrior values, skilled in riding horses, and trained in archery and swordplay. These Chinese heroines seem to have taken up the ways of the nomad women of the “Great Wilderness,” China’s erstwhile enemies. An outstanding example was the strong-willed wife of a warlord in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Lady Sun, feared for her entourage of more than a hundred swordswomen. Like other women of her day, ca. AD 210, Lady Sun came from a family of warriors and was adept with a sword. She played a strong role in power plays and conflicts, and her exploits were romanticized in many Chinese poems, novels, and operas.14
Xun Guan was the thirteen-year-old daughter of a warlord who rejected sewing to learn martial arts like her brothers. In a daring feat recorded in the Historical Records of the [Western] Jin Dynasty (AD 265316), Xun Guan (b. ca. AD 303) led a small band of mounted warriors to break through strong enemy lines to save her city. Mao, wife of a warlord during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317-420), was an intrepid horsewoman archer who killed seven hundred foes with her bow before she was captured and killed for refusing to marry the enemy commander. Another horsewoman archer, Kong of the Liu Song Dynasty (AD 420-479), commanded an all-female cavalry troop. Lady Mongchi commanded her husband’s fortress in AD 503 and routed the imperial army at Changyang. In AD 515, another female general, Lieouchi, defended Tsetong from imperial armies, while Queen Honchi commanded Wei forces against the emperor’s assault. The widow of Hsi clan leader Feng Pao led an attack on invading nomads in Guangdong in AD 590. During the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906), the future empress Wu Chao had learned archery as a girl and defeated several male challengers on her rise to seize the throne (AD 684). This is only a partial list of martial women in China who defied traditional gender roles.15
A collection of oral folktales, The Fourteen Amazons, coalesced around the historical Yang family of warriors active the early Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960-1127). The Yang clan defended borders against foreign invaders from Western Xia (northeastern Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia). After the last Yang man died, a dozen or so Yang widows took over the campaigns. Their Amazonian exploits became popular in Chinese fiction, drama, poetry, operas, and film. In one story, two female Yang commanders were trapped by enemy nomads in a mountain pass. Another female Yang general dispatched a fearless young “Amazon” servant named Yang Paifeng, who led a small guerrilla band in a surprise assault and rescued them.16
Liang Hongyu (“Red Jade”), daughter and granddaughter of generals, practiced martial arts during the transition from the Northern to the Southern Song Dynasty. At one point in her story, she was taken captive and forced to entertain the emperor’s court as a wrestler—her grappling skills were admired far and wide, reminding us of other wrestling heroines from Atalanta to Chichak and Khutulun (prologue and Chapters 22 And 24). Later she married a general; in helmet and armor she rode at his side in campaigns against rebel armies. When their army of 8,000 was outnumbered by 100,000 nomads (ca. AD 1130), Liang Hongyu devised a successful ambush using drum and flag signals. Pounding the great war drum, she guided the army into their positions for attack. Liang Hongyu trained an all-woman contingent that won many honors in battle. The emperor awarded her the title “Heroic and Valiant Lady of Yang,” and a temple was built as a memorial to her courage.17
World History
