Pu Shunqing

Pu Shunqing
Background information
Chinese name	濮舜卿
Born	1902 Yuhang, Zhejiang, China
Died	Unknown
Spouse(s)	Hou Yao

Pu Shunqing (Chinese: 濮舜卿; 1902 – ?) was a Chinese screenwriter, playwright, assistant director, and actress. A feminist writer and champion of women's liberation, she is considered the first female screenwriter in China. Her husband Hou Yao was also a Chinese film pioneer and advocate for gender equality, and the couple influenced each other's style.

Pu Shunqing attended Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, majoring in political economy. At the university she formed the "Southeast Drama Society" with her classmate, and later, husband Hou Yao. She wrote the well-known three-act play, Paradise on Earth, which adds a female character named "Wisdom" to the plot of the Book of Genesis. Wisdom prods Eve to eat the apple and build a paradise on earth. Pu called for women's liberation through the mouth of Wisdom, who declares that "if you don't believe in God, he will disappear."

In 1924, Pu starred in the film The World Against Her directed by Hou; this was their first collaboration. She wrote the screenplay for Cupid's Puppets in 1925, making her the first Chinese female screenwriter; it was made into a film that same year. Playwright Hong Shen noted that Pu and her husband mutually influenced each other's style and moralism. Both Pu and Hou were concerned with stories that focused on women, and Pu likely had an influence on her husband's advocacy of women's rights.

Pu, along with her husband, joined the Minxin Film Company in 1926. She helped Hou edit the film God of Peace in that year. In 1927, she served as the assistant director and scriptwriter for the film Way Down West. Paradise on Earth, a collection of her plays, was published in 1928. She would write the scripts for Cai Gongshi and Mulan Joins the Army before the Minxin film company would go bankrupt. She also wrote the screenplays Hibiscus Tears and Her New Life, but they were never made into films. Pu's film career ended when Minxin was acquired by the Lianhua Film Company in 1930.

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