Culture Insider: Six talented ancient Chinese women

A painting of Xue Tao, by Lu Yanguang. [Photo/artron.net]

Xue Tao

At one time in China, when Xue Tao's name was mentioned, people would think of the famous Xue Tao Jian, a sort of small-size colorful writing paper.

It is recorded that Xue Tao, a talented female entertainer during the Tang Dynasty created this colored paper to write poems. During her time, writing papers were often yellow, yet Xue changed the simple color into different shades of red or green. Later, people made similar colorful paper and named them "Xue Tao Jian".

Xue talented in poetry and music, and had relationships with many well-known poets, including Bai Juyi, Liu Yuxi and Du Mu.

Her poems were not confined to those private feminine feelings and emotions; she also expressed her empathy to soldiers on the frontier.