Sai Jinhua
Chinese courtesan (1872–1936)
Sai Jinhua (Chinese: 賽金花; October 9, 1872 — December 4, 1936) was a Chinese prostitute who became an acquaintance of Alfred von Waldersee, a German field marshal. Her real family name was Cao or Zhao. During her career, she used the names Fu Caiyun (傅彩雲), Sai Jinhua, and Cao Menglan (曹夢蘭). Her art name (hao) was Weizhao Lingfei (魏趙靈飛). Some people referred to her as Sai Erye (賽二爺).
In an encyclopedia article, Wenxian Zhang wrote that Sai Jinhua "was regarded by some as a cross-cultural courtesan". In another, Wan Xianchu wrote: "Regardless of whether Sai Jinhua's role in China's foreign relations may have been exaggerated and despite the controversies surrounding her conduct and affairs, she lived a tough and spectacular life that has assured her a place in the modern history of China."
Early life
Sai Jinhua was allegedly born with the name Zhao Lingfei (趙靈飛; 赵灵飞; Zhào Língfēi; Chao Ling-fei) on October 9, 1872. Sai Jinhua was from Yixian, Huizhou, Anhui, she and her father moved to Suzhou as a child. Her ancestral home was Xiuning, Anhui. At age 13 she became a prostitute after her father died and financial difficulties for her family occurred.
“Sai Jinhua” enters the record as chinese courtesan (1872–1936). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jinhua, Chinese and courtesan can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3461565. VIAF identifies the subject as 78148995902159751236. The Library of Congress control number is n82012223. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1872 and 1936.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sai Jinhua” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.