I was thinking of perhaps playing a martial arts master, a woman who lives in a more rural area, and is heavily respected by the locals for both her mastery of the martial arts, as well as her strong conviction to justice, and the fact that she teaches some of the local villagers the art of the spear in order to defend themselves from bandits. I see her getting roped into larger matters more through necessity than anything else. Perhaps she's sought out by someone higher up, or perhaps the current affairs threaten the villages she's taken to watching over.
As for her style of fighting, as mentioned above, I think she'd primarily fight with a qiang (spear), and probably have an unarmed fighting style similar to bajiquan. I believe bajiquan has its roots in spear fighting, so it would make sense for her to have that combination of fighting styles.