Self-dressed women in the 1950s, image courtesy of the Women Culture Museum website.

The “self-dressed woman,” literally self-combed woman, is a phenomenon that emerged in the Pearl River Delta during the late Qing Dynasty. The women are characterised by wearing their hair in a bun, never marrying, being self-sufficient and having little material wealth. Last week, China News reported on what it calls the last three surviving self-dressed women in Zhaoqing, which has long had the highest number of the women.

According to Liang Guiming who works in the civil affairs bureau of Duanzhou District, one of them is on a pension and two are on government assistance.The women receive free physical examinations and often get visits from armed police, a group that they have a historical affinity with. The concept of being a self-dressed woman has its roots in resistance to feudalism and misogyny. Armed police have always been among the few groups of men they have good relations with.

Hou Ailing, the dean of Chengzhong community accompanied a Chinanews reporter to visit two of the women. Sun Ying, 88, told the reporter she is a native of Huanggang Shatou Village. Her father died when she was young and at the age of 18, she followed in the footsteps of her older sisters to become a “self-dressed woman”. After that, she lived as a self-dressed woman with her six sisters, all of whom were of a similar age.

Ouyang Huanyan in 2011 at age 94, courtesy of Google Images

Another, Liang Yueming, 81, is unusual among self-dressed women in that she is from a wealthy background. When she was born, a fortune teller told Liang’s family that she would bring them bad luck. She was subsequently sent off and raised to be a self-dressed woman from the age of just 1. Now, Liang lives with her adoptive daughter and son-in-law. Her granddaughter is a white collar worker in Guangzhou.

Self-dressed women have traditionally gathered at the nunnery Jun’an Bing Yu Tang, the most famous nunnery in Shunde. It became the Women Culture Museum in December 2012. Shunde has its own strong tradition of self-dressed women. One such woman is Ouyang Huanyan, whose extraordinary life was the subject of this 2011 feature in China Daily. Ouyang spent more than 40 years as a domestic helper to Singapore’s most prominent family – the Lee family – which has produced two of the country’s prime ministers.

Nowadays, although there is considerable stigma attached to being a single woman, there are fewer obstacles to a woman becoming self-sufficient, even if China is still some way away from becoming a society free of misogyny.