Writers › Cultural Persona
Feng Wanzhen
Heroine of a Qing bai lei chao story who leads the young men of Xiezhuang against the Anglo-French force in 1860; no Qing-era record confirms her.
In lantern light and drifting smoke, a row of painted theatrical masks stands on a wooden rail beneath a glowing paper dragon lantern and hanging red lanterns; a folding screen painted with a river, a bridge and hills stands at the right, with a bronze burner and small lamps on the floor.
Also known as Heroine Feng · Lady Feng
- Roles
- Cultural Persona
Feng Wanzhen is the heroine of the piece 'Feng Wanzhen Defeats the English at Xiezhuang'. It tells how, when the Anglo-French force advanced on the capital in 1860, the daughter of a hunter of Xiezhuang near the Yuanmingyuan, skilled in martial arts, led the village's young men in a close-quarters ambush and saved the village. The piece appears in Xu Ke's early Republican compilation Qing bai lei chao, under the section on warfare; no Qing-era record of her or the events has been found, and the story's earliest source remains to be established. This record registers a cultural persona, not a verified historical person.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; the story is set in 1860