According to historical records, the earliest and most famous businesswoman was a widow named Qing in Sichuan (yes, the widow Qing in Qin Xun Ji). This is what Sima Qian said in Historical Records. Huo Zhi's biography recorded her deeds in 76 words. Widow Qing family engaged in "Danxue" industry, that is, mining alchemy sand. Because of its unique mining and smelting technology, it has been passed down for several generations. Widows in Qing Dynasty not only managed the family business, but also organized private armed forces to defend their wealth. She lived in the era from the end of the Warring States Period to the unification of the Qin Dynasty, which was an era of chaos. Moreover, the Qin Dynasty advocated nationalization, and they often plundered property and exterminated the nation, but spared widows. Qin Shihuang named her a "chastity woman" and specially built a "women's pregnant platform" to commend her.

It is not surprising that the most active period of women's business was in the Tang Dynasty, because in the history of China, the highest status of women was probably in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the most famous businesswoman in Luoyang, the second largest commercial city, was a high dancer. She is also a widow, engaged in smelting (yellow and white). It is said that her appearance is very beautiful. First, she married a businessman named Gao, and later she married "Li". Because he earned too much money, he was also accused of getting into a lawsuit.

In the Yangtze River valley, the most famous businesswoman is Aunt Yu. She lived in the middle Tang Dynasty (766-805 AD) and was engaged in shipbuilding. The big ship built at that time could carry up to eight or nine thousand stones. As the saying goes, "Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it", but the boat built by Aunt Yu Can has reached 10,000 stones, which is the largest. It is said that flowers, fruits and vegetables can be planted on the boat, and hundreds of workers are driving the boat. The life and death of the crew can be married on the ship. It sails between Jiangxi and Huainan, and it can make huge profits every round trip. This kind of boat is directly named after "Aunt Yu".

Besides Gao Wuniang and Yu Auntie who are engaged in mass manufacturing, there are also businesswomen in history books. According to the records in Taiping Guangji and other books, most of their business transactions are closely related to people's daily consumer goods, such as "selling vegetables for a living" and "saving vegetables in the morning and evening", as well as selling flowers, cosmetics ("Hu Fen") and catering industry. It is also mentioned in the Epitaph Collection of the Tang Dynasty that Yang is a master of farming. He "manages property and learns the law of Taoism, making him fearless in drought and flood, rich and lucky".

Since the Han and Tang dynasties, the trend of female businessmen has been constant. According to the textual research of Hou Jiaju, the author of Chinese Economic History, "In the Northern Song Dynasty, women were also engaged in the management of tea shops, food stores and pharmacies, and they were vendors, fortune tellers and dentists." But in the Southern Song Dynasty in the 12 century, the atmosphere finally changed greatly. At that time, there was a moral code movement, which greatly increased the constraints on women. The famous saying "starvation is a small matter, but dishonour is a big matter" was said by Cheng Yichuan, a Confucian master. Since then, women have been locked in the house and can no longer make a difference in the mall.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties after the Song and Yuan Dynasties, widows such as Qing, Gao Wuniang and Yu Auntie became famous.