Xue Susu

Xue Susu
Girl Playing a Jade Flute by Xue Susu, self-portrait
Born	around 1564 Suzhou or Jiaxing, Ming China
Died	1637 - 1652 Hangzhou
Other names	Xue Wu, Xuesu, Sunjung, Runqing, Runniang, Wulang
Occupation	Courtesan
Known for	Mounted archery, painting

Xue Susu (Chinese: 薛素素; also known as Xue Wu, Xuesu, Sunjung among other pen names) (c.1564–1650? C.E.) was a Chinese courtesan. Known as one of the "Eight Great Courtesans of the Ming Dynasty", she was an accomplished painter and poet, and was noted for her skill at mounted archery. She was particularly noted for her figure paintings, which included many Buddhist subjects. Her works are held in a number of museums both in China and elsewhere. Her archery was commented upon by a number of contemporary writers, as were her masculine, martial tendencies; these were regarded as an attractive feature by the literati of the period.

She lived in Eastern China, residing for most of her life in the Zhejiang and Jiangsu districts. After a career as a celebrated courtesan in Nanjing, Xue married several times, but none of these unions lasted. During her later life, she eventually opted for the life of a Buddhist recluse.

Xue was born in either Suzhou or Jiaxing (contemporary sources disagree). According to the historian Qian Qianyi she spent at least some of her childhood in Beijing. She spent her professional life in the Qinhuai pleasure quarter of Nanjing in the 1580s, where she became something of a celebrity among the literati and government officials who frequented the "flower houses" there. She was highly selective in her clientele, accepting only learned and scholarly men as her lovers and declining to proffer her affections for mere financial gain; suitors might spend thousands of taels on her to no avail.

In the 1590s she returned to Beijing, where the parties and literary gatherings that she hosted, as well as her archery demonstrations, further cemented her reputation. Xue referred to herself as "a female knight-errant", and took her name from a famous woman warrior from history; she also chose the sobriquet Wulang 五郎 ("fifth young gentleman") as a nickname. The "female knight-errant" epithet was reiterated by both the bibliophile Hu Yinglin and Fan Yulin, Secretary to the Ministry of War. Apparently fond of martial causes, she was not above using her position to influence military affairs, on one occasion abandoning her lover Yuan Baode when he refused to fund an expedition against the Japanese in Korea.