Chinese women get respect in the two-hour Nihon TV special "Onnatachi no Chugoku (Women's China)" (Monday, 9 p.m.), which looks at the country's female citizens and 4,000 years of history.

Veteran TV personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and comedy duo Cream Stew travel to the Asian mainland to gain understanding of Chinese women's lives from the historical perspectives of food and popular entertainment.

They meet a 16-year-old girl who is studying hard to earn a certificate as a Special Class Cook, which means she would be licensed to prepare meals for nobility — if nobility still existed in China.