--- description: Find out why Chizuko Ueno is one of the 100 most influential people of 2024. title: Chizuko Ueno: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd84676ef2c4d65f/698a558d09208f764c41d04d/time-100-2024-Chizuko-Ueno.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 17, 2024 # Chizuko Ueno by Leta Hong Fincher  Goto Sakura Chizuko Ueno, a 75-year-old Japanese sociologist, has become a surprising superstar in China. Even as the government persecutes [feminists](https://time.com/6307236/china-feminist-podcasts/ "undefined")—journalist and #MeToo activist Huang Xueqin was put on trial last September—translations of Ueno’s books, with topics including feminism and misogyny, have become best sellers. While state propaganda in China stigmatizes single women older than 27 as “leftover” women _(sheng nu),_ Ueno, who has no children, has become a role model for millions of Chinese women quietly rebelling against pressure to marry and have babies, intensified by President Xi Jinping’s calling for “a new type of marriage and childbearing culture” to answer a plummeting birth rate. Ueno’s books have propelled feminist ideas into mainstream Chinese society, a rare bright spot amid worsening political repression. _Fincher is a journalist and the author of_ Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China _Order your copy of the 2024 TIME100 issue_ [_here_](https://magazineshop.us/TIME%5F100 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964921/chizuko-ueno/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964921/chizuko-ueno/"},"headline":"Chizuko Ueno","datePublished":"2024-04-17T11:03:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:29:16.129Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964921/chizuko-ueno/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","2024TIME100","T100Titans2024"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd84676ef2c4d65f/698a558d09208f764c41d04d/time-100-2024-Chizuko-Ueno.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd84676ef2c4d65f/698a558d09208f764c41d04d/time-100-2024-Chizuko-Ueno.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964921/chizuko-ueno/","name":"Chizuko Ueno"}}]}] ```