Chinese Women in the People's Liberation Army: Professionals or Quasi-Professionals?

This article provides an updated description of the contemporary functions and status of Chinese military women, and addresses the question of whether these women are professionals, by examining the People's Liberation Army's officially published materials and the author's interviews with ten Chinese women colonels and two women generals. Derived from a tradition of the utilization of women in unconventional warfare and irregular military formation, Chinese military women serve in traditional female roles and their functions are supportive both in peacetime and wartime. Due to their lengthy service and training and job assignment as professionals and quasi-professionals, these women have made the military service the locus of their careers.