Unfortunately, we know very little of what life was like for the women of the Kaifeng Community. A value in Chinese culture in the seventeenth century (and at other times) was the perpetual widowhood of women. If a woman's husband died, it was considered meritorious for her not to remarry - and remain with her husband's family. This custom is at odds with the Jewish value of continual marriage, i.e. the value that people should marry, especially in those who are still able to have children.
Leslie in his book The Chinese Hebrew Memorial Book points us out to the Hsiang-fu Gazette written around 1690. There, a Jewish woman Kao Shih, is lauded for maintaining her widowhood of 44 years. She was married into the Zhao clan, and was the wife of a brother of Chao Yingcheng and Yingdou, of Chinese Civil Service fame.
Here is Leslie on Chao Yingfu and Madame Kao from his article The K'aifeng Jew Chao Ying-ch'eng and His Family:
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