Zeng Zhaoyu (1909-1964) was a native of Xiangxiang, Hunan. Her great-grandfather was Zeng Guofan’s younger brother Zeng Guohuang. His father was a civil servant, and Zeng Zhaoyu’s mother attached great importance to the education of her children. Zeng Zhaoyu’s second brother, Zeng Zhaoluan, was a famous chemist during the Republic of China. The fifth brother Zeng Zhaojie is a world-famous calligrapher, and the younger sister Zeng Zhaoyi is a student of Lin Qiaozhi, a gynecologist who is famous both at home and abroad.
Not long after Zeng Zhaoyu was born, her family began to decline. However, she grew up in a strict family education and cultural influence, but she had a different temperament from girls of the same age.
At the age of 20, she was admitted to Nanjing Central University. She first studied in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, and then transferred to the Department of Foreign Languages ??and Literature until she graduated. Her academic performance has always been among the best, and she was highly valued and trained by Professor Hu Xiaoshi, a master of Chinese studies. In 1933, Zeng Zhaoyu completed his university studies with excellent results.
The era in which Zeng Zhaoyu lived in his youth was a period when women in society were pursuing individual liberation. She realized at that time that in order for women to have the same social equality as men, they must first be economically independent and cannot be dependent on men. At that time, there was a popular belief among some women with a certain level of education that marriage was a woman's grave and she would lose her whole life. Zeng Zhaoyu also believes that many women are busy with housework all day long after getting married, which buries their intelligence. For the career she longed for, she decided not to get married and live a single life with her sister. Later, Zeng Zhaoyu turned out to be unmarried for life.