Zhang Yin

Thanks to Mao, Zhang Yin's a billionaire


The revolutionary leader transformed women's lives, but China still has a long way to go

It was one of China's proverbs that Mao loved to quote; women, he would say, hold up half the sky. But until the communist revolution of 1949 the Chinese had not meant it. The Chinese imperial system, famously, had been one of the most anti-feminist societies on Earth. Women had no rights, existing only to have babies and please men, the richer forced to hobble and disfigure themselves by binding their feet from birth to affirm their essential purpose - decorative daintiness.


Will Hutton
Sunday October 15, 2006
The Observer