Our Favorites: Ch’en Shu

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ch'en Shu (1660–1736) was a Chinese painter from the Qing dynasty, known for her exquisite flower-and-bird paintings that blended precision with delicate beauty. As one of the few recognized female artists of her time, she mastered traditional painting techniques while incorporating her own refined sense of composition and color.

For Further Reading:

For the past six years, we’ve been telling the stories of women you may or may now know– but definitely should. This month, we’re bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from across our back catalog. These are women throughout time and around the world who made their mark.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:07.1	For the past six years, we've been telling the stories of women you may or may not know about,
0:12.0	but definitely should. This month, we're bringing back our favorite Womanica episodes from
0:16.9	across the back catalog. These are women across centuries and around the world
0:22.0	who made their mark.
0:24.0	With that, here's one of our favorite episodes.
0:27.7	Hello, my name is Abby Delk.
0:30.6	I'm a producer at Wonder Media Network,
0:32.4	and I'm so excited to be guest hosting
0:34.8	this Earth Day episode of Wamanica.
0:38.9	This month, we're talking about cultivators.
0:42.3	Women who nurtured, cross-pollinated, experimented, or went to great lengths to better understand
0:47.9	and protect the natural world.
0:51.5	With expressive brushwork and poetic compositions,
0:55.0	today's womanican solidified herself as one of pre-modern China's most skilled painters.
1:02.0	From rolling mountains and flowing rivers to elegant trees and flowers, she brought nature to life.
1:10.0	Let's talk about Chen Shu.
1:16.6	Picture this.
1:18.6	It's the year 1660 in the city of Xiahing in the Zuzang province.
1:24.6	A baby girl is born on the birthday of the god of literature.
1:30.3	Perhaps it was fate then that her parents named her Shu, a name signifying writing and books.
1:38.3	Chen Shu came from an upper-class conservative family that confined the girls in their family to domestic duties in what
	...

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