the real historical inspiration for fan changyu in #PursuitOfJade is qin liangyu, the ming dynasty female general of extraordinary skill and courage. the chongzhen emperor even wrote poems in her honor, featuring the famous line, “why must a general be a man?”
growing up in what is present-day chongqing, qin liangyu studied martial arts, military strategy, and confucian classics with her brothers and showed remarkable talent early on. after marriage, she trained troops and fought alongside her husband, ma qiancheng. she continued leading troops into her seventies during the turmoil of the late ming.
qin liangyu is the only woman to have a standalone biography among generals and ministers in official dynastic history.
《pursuit of jade》’s novelist tuanzi laixi is a chongqing native who was raised on stories of qin liangyu. actress tian xiwei is also from chongqing.