International Journal of Current Chinese Studies. 1 (2010): 27-43 ISSN: 2171-6374 Number 1 (2010) 27 AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF HIGH-PROFILE FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS IN THE CHINESE ECONOMIC REFORM Wenxian Zhang 1 , Ilan Alon 2 Women entrepreneurs have been playing an increasingly significant role in the Chinese economic reform of the past thirty years. Through historical review and case studies, this paper examines the development of female entrepreneurship in the People’s Republic of China. Faced with both challenges and opportunities, aspiring Chinese women must have a clear vision, sheer determination and perseverance to move forward, and they must also possess a sense of aggressiveness and decision-making competence in order to achieve desirable business objectives. In addition, successful female entrepreneurs in China appear to be well educated, mostly married and politically shrewd, they seem to enjoy strong family support and benefit greatly from extensive personal networks. Keywords: Female entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; Chinese economic reform; women and gender; characteristics; personal profile. Received 16 September 2009. Revised 8 March 2010. Accepted 3 April 2010. Women can hold up half the sky. – Mao Zedong 1. Introduction Ever since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, women’s participation in employment has been a large-scale phenomenon. During those early years of PRC, based on the misunderstood notion of equal opportunities, Mao’s slogan “women can hold up half the sky” was widely promoted. Dubbed as “iron girls”, women were encouraged to perform all kinds of works that were traditionally reserved to men. Consequently, the country has had a far higher women’s employment rate than the world average, with women representing 47 1 Olin Library. Rollins College (United States), wzhang@rollins.edu 2 The China Center at Rollins College (United States), ialon@rollins.edu Correspondence to: Ilan Alon, or Wenxian Zhang. Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave. Winter Park, Florida 32789 (United States)