Asian Descent Archives - Page 25 of 26

Jiang Qing

Jiang Qing was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, actor, and major political figure during the country’s Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976). In 1938, she became the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China, and served as the inaugural “First Lady” of the People’s Republic of China. She was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the political alliance known as the “Gang of Four”. In addition to her work as first lady, Jiang worked as Director of Film in the Central Propaganda Department, and as a member of the Ministry of Culture steering committee for the film industry. She was also known for using her political power to attack her rivals and enemies, including those who had personally slighted her.
In the 1930s, Jiang Qing was active in both the Communist Party and as an actor. She was jailed for three months in 1934 for her political activities in Shanghai. Taking the stage name “”Lán Píng”” (“”Blue Apple””, 蓝苹), she appeared in many films and plays, including Goddess of Freedom, Scenes of City Life, Blood on Wolf Mountain, Wang Laowu and a starring role in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. In 1937, Jiang joined the Lianhua Film Company and starred in the drama Big Thunderstorm (大雷雨).
At the beginning of China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1967, Jiang declared eight performance works to be the new models for proletarian literature and art, called “”model operas””, or “”revolutionary operas””. These designed to glorify Mao Zedong, The People’s Liberation Army, and the revolutionary struggles. Jiang also directed operas and ballets with communist and revolutionary content as part of an effort to transform China’s culture. She dominated the Chinese arts, and in particular attempted to reform the Beijing Opera. She developed a new form of art called the Eight model plays or “”revolutionary opera”” which showed the world in simple, binary terms (i.e “”good guys”” vs “”bad guys””).

Lakshmi Puri

Lakshmi Puri is a former Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations and the former Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. Prior to her 15 years with the United Nations, she served as an Indian diplomat for 28 years, and was the India’s Ambassador to Hungary and accredited to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based at the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters in Delhi, she served as the Under-Secretary for Japan and Korea, and later as Under-Secretary for Pakistan. She also served as the Joint-Secretary Economic Division and Multilateral Economic Relations (ED & MER) for six years, working on negotiating economic diplomacy initiatives such as the Look East Policy, Indo-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership, Indian-Ocean Rim Association, Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation as well as Group of 15.
She joined the United Nations in 2002 as the Director of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) flagship Division on Trade in goods, services and commodities. After several years, she became Acting Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD (2007 to 2009). From 2009 to 2011, she was Director of the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
In 2011, Puri was appointed Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, the pioneering global entity for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Lakshmi is a published author of several reports and research papers, and has received several awards, including the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, Novus Award for Championing the Sustainable Development Goals (Novus Summit), and the Millennium Campus Award (2015).

Lý Chiêu Hoàng

Lý Chiêu Hoàng was the ninth and last sovereign of the Lý dynasty from 1224 to 1225 and the only empress regnant in the history of Vietnam. Because she was only 6 when she succeeded to the throne, Lý Chiêu Hoàng ruled under the complete nfluence of Commander of Royal Guard Trần Thủ Độ and other members of the Trần clan. She was forced to marry another child when she was only 7, and her title diminished to Empress consort when her new husband, Trần Cảnh, was crowned. She was later further downgraded to “princess” when her husband stole another man’s pregnant wife and named her empress.

Komako Kimura

Born: July 29 1887, Japan Died: 10 July 1980 Country most active: Japan Also known as: 木村駒子, Komaku Kimura or Komago Kimura (misspellings in American newspapers) Komako Kimura was […]

Jhalkaribai

Jhalkaribai was a soldier who served in the Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi’s women’s army and eventually rose to a position of a prominent advisor to the queen herself, including analysing and strategising battle tactics. At the height of the Siege of Jhansi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, she disguised herself as the queen and fought on her behalf, at the front, allowing the Queen to escape.

Zhang Yao’er

Zhang Yao’er (章要兒).z was an empress of the Chinese Chen Dynasty, and wife of the founding emperor Emperor Wu (Chen Baxian). She was known for being educated in mathematics and poetry. After her husband died, she tried to preserve the throne for her son, who was a prisoner of war at the time, but was convinced to give up the imperial seal so that her nephew could become emperor instead.

Maurissa Tancharoen

Maurissa Tancharoen is an American television producer, writer, actress, singer, lyricist and dancer. She is best-known for her work as creator and executive producer on the Marvel Cinematice Universe television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020), which she also wrote for (17 episodes) and served as showrunner on (44 episodes).

Nawab Sikander Begum

Her Highness Nawab Sikander Begum Sahiba, Nawab Begum of Dar ul-Iqbal-i-Bhopal, GCSI ruled as the the Nawab of Bhopal from 1860 until her death in 1868. Initially appointed regent on behalf of her 9-year old daughter Shah Jahan Begum in 1844, she was recognized as nawab in 1860. She was made a Knight Grand Commander for her pro-British stance during the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. In 1863, she became the first Indian ruler to perform the Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj. Sikandar enacted many reforms in the state, including creating a mint, an administrative secretariat, a parliament and a modern judiciary.

Shahjahan Begum

Shah Jahan Begum GCSI CI was the Begum (ruler) of the princely state of Bhopal in central India for two periods: 1844–60 (with her mother acting as regent), and during 1868–1901. During her reign the first postage stamps of the Bhopal state were issued, in 1876 and 1878. She also published The Taj-ul Ikbal Tarikh Bhopal, Or, The History of Bhopal.

“Comfort women”

During World War II, approximately 200,000 Chinese, Korean, Singaporean, Malaysian, Taiwanese and Filipino women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army.