Rise and rise of the fair sex

I still remember the applause she got as her name was announced. Time: a November day in 2002. Place: the Great Hall of the People. The occasion: the concluding session of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

On the steps outside the Hall, Wu Yi was the cynosure of most eyes. For us foreign journalists, the only woman member of the newly-elected political bureau of the CPC was an obvious story of the day. More so because the two previous political bureaus had no women on them.

Six years later, as I watch on TV one Chinese woman after another receive her gold medal to lusty cheers from thousands of spectators at Bird's Nest, Water Cube or some other venue, I'm reminded of that November day.