Born: 1461, China
Died: 1554
Country most active: China
Also known as: 談允賢
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Tan Yunxian, one of China’s most famous women doctors, was very fortunate in many ways. Descended from a family of doctors, she learned healing from her grandparents, she was financially privileged, and her husband supported her endeavours. Yet, in her 1500s book Miscellaneous Record of a Female Doctor, she writes “As I am a woman, it is inappropriate to go outside to see to its publication, so I have told my son, Lian, to copy it and have it carved on blocks for printing in the hope that it may help other doctors. I beg readers’ indulgence and ask that they not laugh at me.”