Wu Qing (politician)

Wu Qing (Chinese: 吴青; born 9 November 1937) is a Chinese feminist activist, English language professor, and a seven-term district-level congress member. In this capacity she not only sought to uphold the rule of law as per the Chinese constitution, but also promoted women's rights in China, particularly in rural areas. She said, "China is still a Third World country. To change China, you've got to change the countryside. To do that, you've got to change the status of the women there. If you educate a woman, it's like educating a whole family, even several generations of the family. If you educate a man, you are only educating one person."^[1] She is actively involved in running a school for rural women sponsored by the Xie Lihua's Rural Woman magazine, educates and persuades women to stand for village elections.^[2][3] In China, she is considered a model person for the Chinese women and politicians.^[4]

In 2001, Wu won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which has been called "Asia's Nobel Prize"; she was the first Chinese woman to receive this honour.^[2] Her active role in women's welfare ensured that the Chinese women were represented at the 1995 UN Conference on Women held in Beijing.^[4]

Wu Qing continues to be involved with the Bing Xin Children's Literature Award (named after her mother). She was selected as a member of the jury for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2016, being the Chinese jury member for the award. Together with her husband, she translated Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit books into Chinese.