A Woman to Know: Wáng Zhènyì

There were times I had to put down my pen and sigh. But I love the subject. I do not give up. — Wang Zhenyi

("Women in a Qing Palace," image via Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Before she died at 29, Wáng Zhènyì made a name for herself in China's Qing dynasty. At age 18, she apprenticed herself to a small group of female scholars, hiding their knowledge from…