Wu Qing

Wu Qing (; 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." 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. In China, she is considered a model person for the Chinese women and politicians.

Wu taught English and American studies for 40 years from 1960 to 2000 at the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute. Within the premises of this college she spends every Tuesday afternoon hearing the grievances of rural people to provide redress. Her mother Bing Xin was a former National People's Congress deputy. After Wu was elected as a district-level National People's Congress deputy, Bing Xin gave Wu a copy of the book 1982 "Constitution of the People's Republic of China." Since then, Wu began to use the powers granted by the Constitution to actively carry out rights protection activities.

Even as Deputy of the People's Congress, Wu was not afraid to say what she believed was right, when in 1988, she voted against the People's Congress for its Party policy. For this brazen opposition she was not permitted in 1989 by the Communist Party to get reelected for the People's Congress. But the will of the people of her constituency prevailed and she obtained 70 percent of the votes and got elected for a third term as People's Deputy. She served as the Deputy from 1984 to 2011. Because of her adherence to the constitution, a copy of which she carried with her all the time, she was known as "Deputy with the Constitution."

Some of Wu's international assignments and achievements covered: Organizing the Fourth World Conference on Women during 1994–1995; as member of the board of the Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women; member of the Global Fund for Women based in San Francisco; and Gender Action based in Washington D.C. She has chaired the Women's World Summit Foundation of Geneva; is chair of the Women Interchange Network of San Francisco, in an honorary capacity; and is represented on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as member of the jury to give International Award on Peace Education. She has also hosted an English teaching programme on Chinese Television which was broadcast throughout the country.

Awards As teacher, Wu has won many awards, notable of which are: Excellent Professor Award, Excellent Teacher Awards by the Municipality of Beijing and Margaret Turner Award. The Changping District Education Committee gave her the title of "Outstanding Individual of 2007", Chinese Senior Citizens' magazine named her the "Top Cover Personality", and the Schwab Foundation Network honoured her with an award as the World’s Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs of 2003.