A photo from Hunan Library 

Tang Qunying, the third daughter of Tang Shaohuan, a general of the Qing Dynasty, was born on Dec 8, 1871 in Hengshan County, Hunan. She was the first female member of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (also known as "The Tongmenghui", a secret society and underground resistance movement organized by Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren in Tokyo, Japan, on 20 August 1905) and served as a leader in the earlier feminist movement.

As having made great contributions to overthrowing the monarchy and establishing the Republic of China (1912-1949), she was met by Sun Yat-sen, who praised her as "a heroine in the founding of the Republic of China" and granted her a second-class Jiahe (Golden Harvest) Medal. She started the Journal of Association of Chinese Female Students in Japan to advocate revolution, and later established Ten-day Vernacular Newspaper for Women and Yadong Repository and managed the resume publication of Chinese Women Report. In 1913, Tang started Women’s Rights Daily, the first newspaper for women in Hunan and successively set up many girls' schools, which was the first sign to start newspaper and establish schools in Hunan's female community.

In 1991, Kang Keqing, former vice-chairman of the 5th CPPCC National Committee and honorary president of the All-China Women's Federation, credited Tang as "heroine of her times". In 1995, Tang was recommended as one of eight outstanding Chinese women over a century by the Chinese Government to the 4th World Conference on Women.