Ascending then Descending? Women's Soccer in Modern China

Chinese history had and has its heroines! By way of example, in the late nineteenth century the Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi (1835-1907) of the late Qing Dynasty, and in the late twentieth century Sun Wen, the FIFA's World Number One Woman Soccer Player. They illustrate respectively past and present femininity, past and present institutional values and are indicative of dramatic changes in gender perceptions, expectations and images in some 100 years. This essay explores the interrelationship between gender, soccer and culture in modern China through an exploration of Chinese women in association football.