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HAN PHILOSOPHERS AND SOCIAL COMMENTATORS

The change in perceptions of women that occurred during the early
imperial period is perhaps most evident in the evolution of the position
of woman in yin-yang thought. In early expressions of the concept,
the various pairs that embodied the yin-yang duality—sun/moon,
man/woman, Son of Heaven/queen—were complementary, and
the distinction of superior/inferior was muted.[7] A cosmogony
in the Huainanzi [OMITTED] seems to give equal weight to yin and
yang:

In the Book of Rites, for example, yin and yang are linked to the
function of the Son of Heaven and to the queen, without implying that
one occupies a place of honor and the other is debased. Indeed, the
text makes it clear that each requires the other in order to fulfill its
proper functions. The Rites describes separate, complementary realms
of responsibility for the Son of Heaven and his consort and likens their
roles to father and mother of the people:

By the middle part of the Former Han, however, a significant shift
from the complementary view of women was already occurring. The
complementarity evident in such explications of yin-yang theory was
now being replaced by a clear sense that things feminine were inferior
to those masculine and that yang no longer need be balanced by yin.
The salient expressions of this interpretation are found in the Chunqiu
fanlu [OMITTED] [Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn] of Dong
Zhongshu [OMITTED] (179?-104? B.C.).[10] Dong used yin-yang and
Five Phases (wu xing [OMITTED]) concepts to explain hierarchical and
complementary relationships, such as those between ruler and subject,
man and woman. In his conception, however, yang is superior to yin;
the one is noble, the other base, and by extension man is superior to
woman. Moreover, with Dong it is no longer important if yin and yang
are not in balance. Yang, being good, should prevail, though it should
not destroy yin.[11] Toward the end of the Former Han, the revised
concept is unequivocally expressed in the writings of such people as
the influential scholar Liu Xiang [OMITTED] (79-8 B.C.), as in the following
statement from Liu's Shuo yuan [OMITTED] [Garden of Persuasions]:

As we shall see, similar views were to inform Liu's other writings and
the counsel he gave his emperor.

In the hands of men like Liu, such notions could be powerfully
effective when interpreting the effects that the actions of palace women
might have on the well-being of the empire and the health of the
imperial government. When Liu Xiang and Gu Yong [OMITTED] sought to
have the unfortunate Empress Xu—who had failed to bear an heir—
set aside in 17 B.C., they couched their arguments in terms of the need
to redress an excess of yin. This excess, according to them, was manifest
in a series of events dating from the beginning of the reign, when a
comet had appeared in the lunar mansion House Builder (yingshi [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]) in the first month of spring and the ancestral temple of Emperor
Xuan's father had caught fire.[13] Since then, they asserted, there had been

a series of solar eclipses and natural disasters—floods in particular—
evidence of a serious imbalance between yin and yang. The "Basic
Annals of Emperor Cheng" ("Cheng di ben ji" [OMITTED]) does indeed
record a string of such events,[14] and as they were occurring, the emperor
and some of his officials recognized that there was a serious problem.
In the fourth month of Heping [OMITTED] 1 (28 B.C.), following an eclipse
that had closely followed a major flood the previous month, the
emperor issued a decree criticizing himself for having failed to uphold
the work of his predecessors and quoting the Gongyang zhuan [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] [Gongyang Commentary], "When the male teachings are not
cultivated, affairs pertaining to yang will not succeed, and the sun will
be eclipsed because of it."[15] Five years later, in Yangshuo 2 (23 B.C.),
another decree was issued underscoring the fundamental importance
of working in accordance with the operations of yin and yang and
criticizing officials who did not believe this and consequently failed to
conduct the affairs of Government in accordance with them.[16] Three
years after that, Emperor Cheng issued another mea culpa, declaring
that yin and yang had fallen into disarray because he had failed in his
duties.[17] Thus when Liu and Gu—ostensibly motivated by concern over
the lack of an heir—lay the blame for the excess of yin at the feet of
Empress Xu, the emperor was receptive, and he set her aside.[18]

Throughout the Later Han, yin-yang cosmology continued to
provide a theoretical basis for attacking the influence of women, often
as a means of criticizing the emperor and his appetites. For example,
in his critique of government submitted to the throne in 167, Xun
Shuang railed against the extravagant numbers of women in the rear
apartments of Emperor Huan's court. In part he was distressed by the
enormous expenditure these women entailed, but he also asserted that
their influence produced an inversion of yin and yang that resulted in
natural disasters.[19]

Yin-yang was not the only cosmological principle used to assess the
ramifications of the activities of palace women. Equally important was
the theory of the Five Phases. Of the five phases of Water, Fire, Wood,
Metal, and Earth, the second was that associated with things male, and
disruptions in fire were held to result from the improper behavior of
women.[20] This concept lay behind the references to the fires at the
ancestral temples of Emperor Jing and Emperor Xuan's father
mentioned earlier. Whereas yin-yang cosmology was used most often
in reproaching current practice, references to anomalies arising from
disruptions in the Five Phases were often applied retroactively to explain
events in the past that might serve as cautionary precedents for the
present or the future. The most important examples of this are found
in the treatises on the Five Phases by Ban Gu [OMITTED] (A.D. 32-92) and,

to a lesser extent, in those by Sima Biao, found in the standard histories
of the Former and Later Han.[21]

In explicating the Five Phases, Ban followed the tradition of the
Former Han scholar Fu Sheng [OMITTED], who was active at the beginning
of the Former Han; he also frequently quoted the interpretations of
Dong Zhongshu, Liu Xiang, and Liu Xin [OMITTED] (46 B.C.-A.D. 23). In
discussing Fire, Ban quotes Fu on the actions that lead to disruptions
in this phase: "Disregarding the laws/Dismissing meritorious ministers/
Murdering heirs apparent/Making concubines into principal wives/
These cause Fire not to blaze and ascend."[22] Then Ban cites a number
of instances from the distant past and from the beginning of the Han
that demonstrate the disruptive effects the actions of women might have
on Fire. Referring to an incident in the Chunquiu [OMITTED] [Spring and
Autumn Annals] for the fourteenth year of Duke Huan (698 B.C.),
in which an ancestral temple granary was struck by lightning, Ban
cites Liu Xiang, who attributes the occurrence to the duchess's lewd
behavior, which resulted in the duke's assassination four years later.[23]
And concerning a terrible "disaster" that occurred in Qi [OMITTED] in the
twentieth year of Duke Zhuang [OMITTED] (674 B.C.), Ban quotes Liu again,
who says that it happened because of Duke Huan of Qi's excessive
fondness for women and because he repeatedly made a concubine his
principal wife. Ban also cites Dong Zhongshu, who blames the disaster
on the duchess's licentious behavior and on the fact that seven of the
duke's sisters remained unmarried.[24] Regarding the Han, Ban cites two
cases of lightning striking government buildings during the reigns of
Emperor Hui and Empress Lü, both of which were attributed to
Empress Lü's cruelty.[25] Ban Gu lists a total of twenty-two instances of
portents involving lightning, and in the explanations of each one—by
Ban or an authority quoted by him—women or eunuchs play a role.[26]

Sima Biao's treatises on the Five Phases likewise link portents such
as fires, floods, earthquakes, and spontaneous sex change in a rooster
to imperial consorts' exceeding their proper station or to the ascendancy
and improper behavior of affinal families.[27] Although these examples
did not appear in memorials specifically directed at criticizing the
emperor or his wives, they formed part of the general intellectual
context in which the court operated. Moreover, Ban's inclusion of a
treatise on the Five Phases and his highlighting of episodes involving
the disruption of Fire are surely related to events of his own time.

The interpretation of past events in the light of cosmological theory
as a means of addressing current problems was complemented by
interpretation of the classical canon. During the Han, one of the most
important and effective ways to express views on women—empresses
and consorts in particular—was through commentary on classical texts.

Although the views expressed by a commentator might be his own,
they gained weight by appearing to be explications of the concealed
meanings of canonical texts and by referring back to a classical age—
usually the beginning of the Western Zhou—when China was thought
to have been well governed. A striking example of this genre are the
commentaries to the Classic of Poetry. Poems in the "Guo feng" [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] [Airs of the States] and "Xiao ya" [OMITTED] [Lesser Elegantiae] sections
seem to come out of both upper-class and village culture. These sections
include festal poems, epithalamiums, soldier's complaints, poems
complaining of bad government, hunting poems, and love poems. Since
many of these poems did not seem serious enough for a classic
purportedly edited by Confucius himself, an "apologetic exegesis"
developed.[28] During the Han, moralistic and historicist interpretations
began to be assigned to the poems. Among the most important of these
were the Mao commentary and Mao prefaces.[29] That these interpretations
reflect contemporary concerns is clear from the very first ode,
"Guanju" [OMITTED]. Apparently composed to celebrate the marriage of a
man and woman—not necessarily a ruler and his consort—it is
interpreted by Mao's interlineal commentary so as to describe the
appropriate behavior of a consort:

Largely because of the interpretation expressed here, "Guanju" became
a metonym for the model consort. This interpretation was complemented
by negative examples such as Baosi, and this sort of exegesis
was an important contribution to the growing body of literature
describing the proper place and behavior of a consort.[31]

The dangers posed by the growing influence of women at court
became a recurrent refrain in the writings of Later Han political and
social commentators. It was, for example, an important theme in the
Xin lun [OMITTED] [New Treatise] of Huan Tan [OMITTED] (43 B.C.-A.D. 28), who
had lived through the demise of the Former Han, the Wang Mang
interregnum, and the founding of the Later Han by Emperor Guangwu.
Huan wrote his work as a manual on governing, perhaps intended for
Guangwu.[32] His concern over Emperor Ai's infatuation with Dong
Xian's [OMITTED] younger sister and the threat that it posed to Empress Fu
[OMITTED], the young daughter of his friend Fu Yan [OMITTED] (d. after 1 B.C.), may
have influenced his views. Huan counseled the father on how to conduct
himself and guide his daughter in order to avoid her being replaced
by a new favorite. In doing so, he referred to the cautionary example
of Emperor Wu's Empress Chen [OMITTED], whom the emperor had replaced
with a new favorite, Wei Zifu.[33] The case of Wei Zifu bothered Huan,
and he included it—along with examples of Emperor Wen's favoring
Lady Shen [OMITTED] and Gaozu's [OMITTED] (r. 202-195) excessive reliance on
Empress Lü—in the Xin lun as examples of how otherwise intelligent
rulers had allowed their judgment to be clouded by their consorts.[34]
Unfortunately for Huan, he managed to offend the object of his lessons,
and he died en route to exile after having narrowly escaped execution.

As one might expect, criticism of the influence of palace women—
and of the "feminine" influence of eunuchs—was voiced most strongly
during the reign of Emperor Huan and appeared in the discourse on
affairs of the day submitted to the emperor by candidates for office
who had been recommended to the throne.[35] In their remarks
candidates referred to ancient practice as models of the sort of restraint
that an emperor should be exercising. In 165/166, for example, when
Liu Yu [OMITTED] was recommended to the throne by Grand Commandant
(taiwei [OMITTED]) Yang Bing [OMITTED] as capable and good, sincere and upright,
he submitted comments to the throne on current affairs that offered
strong criticism of the influence of eunuchs and then took aim at the
palace women:

The following year, when Xun Shuang was recommended as
extremely filial by Grand Master of Ceremonies (tai chang [OMITTED]) Zhao
Dian [OMITTED], he similarly criticized the influence of the eunuchs and then
addressed the need to impose propriety (li) on the management of
palace women:

In the tense factional atmosphere of Emperor Huan's reign, such
critiques were little heeded and were likely to result in retribution.[39] Xun
Shuang left office and returned home, and he subsequently suffered in
the partisan (danggu [OMITTED]) persecutions.[40]