Expanding Influence

Women’s role continues to grow in China

- Hu Fan

Chen Wei felt a sense of pride for her country when she was awarded a national honorary medal – “the People’s Hero” – for her courageous role in the country’s fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. The female military medical scientist was one of four prominent figures to be honored on September 8 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Chen was among the first medical experts to help out in Hubei, a province in China that was hardest hit by the coronavirus. She has led her team in achieving remarkable progress in COVID-19-related basic research and development of a vaccine and protective medicine.

“We took more risks so that the people can be safer,” Chen told Xinhua News Agency.

As the epidemic spread, she was joined by more women risking their lives to help in Wuhan, Hubei. At the height of the battle against COVID-19, more than 40,000 health workers from across the country rushed to Hubei, and two-thirds of them were women.

Their heroic deeds were hailed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 1 when addressing via video the UN High-level Meeting on the 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. He singled out a nurse named Liu Jiayi from Guangdong Province who had not yet reached the age of 20. Liu was the youngest member of her team, responsible for assisting her colleagues with their protective suits. In a video interview that touched the hearts of people across the country, she was asked whether she thought she was too young to help others. “The moment I put on the protective suit, I am not a kid anymore,” she responded.