Empresses and consorts selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary |
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| 3. | Chapter 3: Women in Early Imperial History and Thought |
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Chapter 3: Women in Early Imperial History and Thought
The matter is admittedly rather more complicated than this statement suggests.
The position of women in Daoism, for instance, is an interesting question.
Women like Zhang Lu's [OMITTED] mother may have been influential in the Celestial
Masters (Tian shi dao [OMITTED]) centered in northeastern modern Sichuan (Sgz,
31.867). A text of early Daoism, the Da dao jia ling jie [OMITTED]
[Admonitions Mandated for the Families of the Great Dao], written ca. 250
(HY 788), indicates that women held parish ranks (see Bokenkamp, Early
Taoist Texts and "Taoist Literature," 140). Furthermore, concern over the
plight of women in society is a characteristic of literature of the late Han and
Wei periods. The names of Cao Zhi [OMITTED] (192-232) and Fu Xuan [OMITTED] (217-278),
among others, come to mind. Although some pieces about rejected or
abandoned women from that time are read as political allegories, not all of
them should be. See, for instance, Zhang, Jian'an wenxue lun gao, 8-9; Pei,
"Lun Jian'an qi de shi," 4; Yu, Han Wei Liuchao shi lun cong, 104; Roy, "The
Theme of the Neglected Wife in the Poetry of Ts'ao Chih;" Jing, Wei Jin shiren
yu zhengzhi, 63-70; Xu, "Cao Zhi shige de xiezuo niandai wenti," 150-152;
Miao, "The `Chi'i ai shih' of the Late Han and Chin Periods (I)," 183-204;
Jean-Pierre Diény, Pastourelles et magnanarelles: Essai sur un thème litteraire
chinois (Paris: Libraire Droz, 1977); and Allen, "From Saint to Singing Girl."
Whatever sympathy for distressed women may have existed, in studying the
Han poem "Mo shang sang" [OMITTED] [Mulberry by the Path] and subsequent
literati imitations, both Allen and Diény call attention to a shift away from
folk-erotic traditions—with the sexual freedom they implied—under
conservative (Confucian) influence. Our concern here is with evolving norms
norms generally.
Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu, 1, 7; Ebrey, Chinese Civilization and Society, 33.
See also Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China, 33.
Lj, 52.18b. Cf. Legge, The Chinese Classics, 1:406-407; de Bary, Chan, and
Watson, Sources of Chinese Tradition, 1:120.
Lj, 60.1a. Cf. Legge, The Chinese Classics, 1:357; de Bary, Chan, and Watson,
Sources of Chinese Tradition, 1:115.
See the citations by Chen at Sgz, 5.155, 34.909, 50.1203, which are translated
in Fascicles 5, 34, and 50 below.
Bao, "Yinyang xueshuo yu funü diwei," 38; Xu, "Han shi waizhuan de
yanjiu," 42. In contrast to Han conceptions of this dyadic relationship, Laozi
[OMITTED] considers the feminine role to be preferable. See Lau, "The Treatment
of Opposites in Lao-tzu," 349; Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient
China, 203.
John S. Major, trans., Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters
Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993), 62; Hnz,
3.3a.
Ling, Chunqia fanlu zhu, 11.3a-5a, 9a-b, 12.3b-4a, 6a; Bao, "Yinyang
xueshuo yu funü diwei," 39-40; Mansvelt Beck, "The Fall of the Han," 366.
See also Liu and Cao, "Cong xifang shengtai nüxing zhuyi de shijiao kan
Zhongguo de `tian ren he yi,' " 24-25.
Sy, 18.6a-b. The inclusion of such items in the Shuo yuan was calculated. The
work was part of Liu Xiang's effort to combat the growing influence of palace
women and affines. See the cogent discussion in Xu Fuguan's [OMITTED] "Liu
Xiang Xin xu, Shuo yuan de yanjiu."
Hs, 10.302; 97B.3977-3978. These two events in fact occurred well before
Empress Xu was established as such. She had been Emperor Cheng's principal
wife from the time he was heir apparent, and he was quite infatuated with
her. House Builder was one of the twenty-eight lunar mansions of Chinese
astronomy, and according to Liu Xiang and Gu Yong, it was associated with
the rear apartments of the Son of Heaven. We follow David Knechtges in
rendering yingshi as House Builder; see Knechtges, Wen xuan, 2:268n.
Floods and other water-related disturbances are recorded for 30, 29, 28, 26,
25, and 23 B.C., and solar eclipses for 29, 28, 25, and 24 B.C. (Hs, 10.306,
307, 309, 310, 311, 313). In addition, a fire at Emperor Jing's ancestral temple
in 18 B.C. is mentioned (Hs, 10.318). As discussed below, it was thought that
improper behavior by women could result in disruptions in the element Fire.
Hs, 10.309; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 2:384-385.
Heping literally means "the He [Yellow River] pacified." This reign title was
adopted in response to the massive flooding that resulted when the He broke
its dikes in Dong commandery [OMITTED]. In 24 B.C., Emperor Cheng changed the
reign date to Yangshuo [OMITTED], literally "yang's beginning." The second-century
scholar Ying Shao [OMITTED] (ca. 140-before 204) explained the change thus: "At
date to `yang's beginning.' He hoped that yang would revive." The Tang
commentator Yan Shigu disagreed, pointing out that the change had been
occasioned by a stone's producing fire in Shanyang [OMITTED] (Hs, 10.311n).
Although Yan is correct about the event that prompted the change, Ying is
probably right about the underlying aspiration behind the new name. Emperor
Cheng must have been exasperated when there was another eclipse in the
second month of Yangshuo 1.
Hs, 10.318, 97B.3974-3981; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty,
2:398-399. With life in the inner apartments, there were always additional
elements not immediately apparent. In addition to the ostensible concern over
Empress Xu's failure to deliver an heir (she gave birth to a daughter and a
stillborn son), her dismissal was also entwined with factional tensions between
the Xu and Wang [OMITTED] families. Wang Feng [OMITTED] was ascendant at court, and
some attributed to him responsibility for the eclipses (see Hs, 97B.3982; cf.
Hinsch, "Women in Early Imperial China," 459).
Fire was also the element or phase associated with the Han dynasty, which
made disruption of it doubly significant (Liu, "Handai zhi furen zaiyi lun,"
7).
The most important study in a Western language of these treatises is by B.
J. Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises of Later Han, 131-155. The title
notwithstanding, Mansvelt Beck devotes considerable space to Ban Gu's
treatises as well as to those by Sima Biao. Sima Biao's treatises—originally part
of his History of the Posterior Han—were appended to Fan Ye's Later Han
History. See Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises of Later Han, 1-2. Sima Biao's
treatises are hereafter cited as HHs, zhi, followed by the treatise fascicle and
page number as given in HHs.
The Grand Scribe's Records notes that an earthquake in the second year
of the reign of King You of the Zhou was caused by yin's suppressing yang,
a sign of the impending demise of the Zhou. The same year, Mt. Qi [OMITTED]
collapsed and the Three Rivers (San chuan [OMITTED]) dried up, further signs that
the Zhou would fall (Sj, 4.145-146; Chavannes Mémoires historiques, 1:279280;
Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records, 1:73). These omens are clearly
tied in the text to the king's infatuation with Baosi, whom he made his queen
the following year, replacing his Queen Shen [OMITTED] and deposing her son as heir
apparent (Sj, 4.147; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, 1:280-281;
Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records, 1:73). This interpretation of events
is certainly a Han view rather than one of King You's time.
Hs, 27A.1321; Legge, The Chinese Classics, 5:62; Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises
of Later Han, 134.
Hs, 27A.1322; Legge, The Chinese Classics, 5:100; Mansvelt Beck, The
Treatises of Later Han, 134.
It was also thought that excessive female influence, resulting in an imbalance
136, 139).
A good discussion of the commentary and the preface, and their relationship
to one another and to the Classic of Poetry, can be found in Van Zoeren, Poetry
and Personality, 80-115.
On Baosi, see Chapter 2, "Pre-imperial China" above. In his "Han shi wai
zhuan de yanjiu" [OMITTED], Xu Fuguan has pointed out that one of
special characteristics of the Han shi wai zhuan [OMITTED] [Exoteric Commentary
on Han's Poetry] is the number of anecdotes it contains stressing the
feminine values, such as chastity and the importance of maternal instruction
to rearing a proper son. Unlike the Mao commentary, the Han shi wai zhuan
is a collection of stories, each of which (with a few exceptions) ends with a
quote from the Classic of Poetry that is supposed to sum up the point being
made (Xu, Liang Han sixiangshi, 3:42-45).
HHs 28A.955-956; Pokora, Hsin-lun (New Treatise) and Other Writings,
232-233. On Wei Zifu and her rise from lady-in-waiting to empress, see
Wilbur, Slavery in China during the Former Han Dynasty, 295-299.
A promising scholar-official might be recommended to the throne for
appointment under several categories, including filially pious and incorrupt
(xiaolian [OMITTED]), capable and good (xianliang [OMITTED]), sincere and upright
(fangzheng [OMITTED]), flourishing talent (xiucai [OMITTED]), and those who spoke
frankly and admonished unflinchingly (zhiyan jijian [OMITTED]). See Bielenstein,
The Bureaucracy of Han Times, 133-137; Hucker, A Dictionary of
Official Titles in Imperial China, no. 2418; and Lü, Zhongguo lidai guanzhi
da cidian, 416.
It is not clear which of the various He tu is referred to here. On the He tu
phenomenon, see Seidel, "Imperial Treasures and Taoist Sacraments."
HHs, 57.1855. "Six maladies" (liu bing [OMITTED]) is a reference to Zuo zhuan,
Zhao 1: "Heaven has six humors, which descend and produce the five flavors,
which emit the five colors, which are evidenced in the five sounds. Excess [of
these] produces the six maladies. The six humors are yin, yang, wind, rain,
darkness, and light. They divide among the four seasons and are ordered
according to the five divisions. If there is an excess [of any of them], there will
be calamity. An excess of yin brings maladies of cold; an excess of yang brings
maladies of heat; an excess of wind brings maladies of the extremities; an excess
of rain brings maladies of the abdomen; and an excess of brightness brings
maladies of the mind. Woman is the property of yang and [is approached] in
a time of darkness. If [man uses her] to excess, then he will come down with
maladies of internal heat and besotted delusion" (Sk, 20.34-35).
More is implied in Liu Yu's reference, however, than just a discussion of
maladies in the Zuo zhuan. The description cited here was given by a physician
from Qin who was invited to treat the illness of the marquis of Jin [OMITTED]. Just
prior to this, however, the text quotes the famous statesman Zichan explaining
his surname and to whom he devotes too much attention. The reader of Liu
Yu's memorial would have understood the reference (Sk, 20.34).
These were by no means the only criticisms addressed to the emperor. See,
for example, the criticisms of the famous scholar Xiang Kai [OMITTED] and of Wei
Huan [OMITTED], who refused summonses to serve what they considered to be a
degenerate court (HHs, 20B.1078, 53.1741; see also de Crespigny, Portents
of Protest in the Later Han Dynasty).
Not all the admonitions delivered to the emperor went unheeded. Chen Fan
[OMITTED], who was widely respected and feared for his frank criticisms of the
emperor's failings and the corrupt influences at court, was able to achieve a
modest reduction in the size of the imperial harem as a result of a memorial
submitted in 159. The following is from Chen's biography in the Later Han
History:
At the time, enfeoffments and rewards exceeded the sumptuary
regulations, and favorites of the inner chambers increased profusely.
[Chen] submitted a detailed admonition:
Your subject has heard that for those who serve the altars of Soil
and Millet, it is the state that is important, while for those who
serve the ruler, it is the look of pleasure that is important. Now,
your subject has been blessed by the sacred court and has been
appointed among the nine ministers. When he has been received
in audience, he has never failed to remonstrate, [and the emperor]
has had a look of pleasure. The subordinate lords are symbolized
above by four times seven [i.e., by the twenty-eight lunar
mansions] which let down brilliance from Heaven, while below
they respond by apportioning territory to form a protective
barrier around the emperor's state. According to the compact of
Gaozu, if one were not a meritorious subject, one would not be
made a marquis. But I have learned of the posthumous recording
of the trivial merit of Zun [OMITTED], father of Deng Wanshi [OMITTED],
the governor of Henan, and the restitution of rank of the
terminated enfeoffment of the ancestors of Prefect of Masters of
Writing (shangshu ling [OMITTED]) Huang Jun [OMITTED]. Recently, it
has been customary to bestow benefices inappropriately, for
attendants to monopolize rewards without having merit, for
offices to be granted without regard to their duties, and for
territory to be divided without recording the merit [of the
recipient]. It has reached the point that within a single household
there are several marquises. Consequently, heavenly objects have
lost their coordinates, yin and yang are in disarray, grain does
not ripen, and the people are not well off.
Your subject realizes that the enfeoffments have already been
carried out and to speak of them would serve no purpose.
However, I sincerely hope that Your Majesty will adopt this and
desist. Moreover, in recent years, 50 to 60 percent of the harvest
has been damaged, many people suffer starvation and cold, and
number in the several thousands, eat meat and dress in silk, make
themselves up with oils, powder, and eyebrow black, and the cost
is incalculable. A proverb says, "A robber can't beat a household
with five women," meaning women impoverish a home. Now,
the women of the inner apartments—how can they not
impoverish the state? In this way, wives were taken into the
Hundred Mou Palace [of the last Shang King Zhou], and the
subcelestial realm changed; a woman of Chu was distraught
[after being set aside and banished to the Western Palace by Duke
Xi of Lu [OMITTED] in favor of a secondary wife], and disaster struck
the Western Palace. If women are collected but the emperor does
not see them, it will surely give rise to feelings of unhappiness
and bring on problems of balancing flood and drought. Prison
is the means of preventing licentiousness; office is the means to
balance abilities and order affairs. If laws are deficient in fairness
and offices do not have the proper people, then the kingly way
will be missing. But if you ask people throughout the subcelestial
realm to give their opinions, all will say that jailings result from
resentments and that rank is filled by bribery. "If there is no
ordure, the flies will not fly." Your Majesty should choose to seek
after the benefits and losses and elect to adopt loyalty and worth
[as the criteria for appointment to office]. Issue a decree of
recruitment of officials, authorize the masters of writing and the
Three Dukes, and commission them to assign praise and blame
and to give out punishments and rewards, each as appropriate.
How could that not be good!
The emperor partially accepted his suggestions and dismissed more
than five hundred palace women. But he granted Huang Jun the rank
of marquis within the passes (guannei hou [OMITTED]) and made Deng
Wanshi marquis of Nanxiang [OMITTED].
HHs, 62.2056; Ch'en, "A Confucian Magnate's Idea of Political Violence,"
81. The reader will have noted that Xun Shuang speaks of the emperor as
having taken twelve wives, whereas in the preceding quotation Liu Yu spoke
of the emperor's having nine wives. Bo hu tong, which dates from about A.D.
79, contains the following statement:
Why is it that the Son of Heaven and the Feudal Lords marry nine
wives at a time? It is to emphasize the importance of their states and
to enlarge their progeny. Why does it happen to be nine? It is modelled
on Earth with its nine provinces which, responding to Heaven's
creative force, leaves nothing without life. To take nine women in
one marriage should likewise be sufficient to meet the requirements
of the Lord's creative force. If with nine women he does not beget
children, [then even] one hundred would not produce results. The
Wang du ji says: "The Son of Heaven and the Feudal Lords marry
nine women at a time." The Chunqiu Gongyang zhuan says: "When
a Feudal Lord marries a woman from one state, then two other states
send each a concubine to accompany her, [in all three cases] with her
sister and cousin following." . . .
Some say: "The Son of Heaven marries twelve wives, modelling
himself on Heaven with its twelve months, [during which period] the
ten thousand things are bound to [complete their cycle of] life."
Po hu t'ung, 1:251-252; brackets in the original)
Despite the emphasis on nine wives shown here, during the Han twelve seems
to have been the more commonly accepted figure. It is was used, inter alia,
by Wang Mang (Hs, 99A.4051), the Biographies of Women (Lnz, 2.5a), and
He Xiu [OMITTED] (129-182) in his commentary to the Gongyang Commentary
(Gongyang zhuan, 17.19b). Cai Yong's Solitary Judgments has the following:
Three ladies (san furen): Di Ku [OMITTED] had four consorts in imitation
of the four stars of the Queen and Consorts. The brightest of these
was the principal consort, and the others were secondary consorts.
Nine concubines (jiu pin): The Xiahoushi [OMITTED] [the Xia dynasty]
increased three times three, making nine. Total: twelve. When in the
Spring and Autumn period the Son of Heaven took twelve wives, this
was the Xia system. Twenty-seven hereditary consorts (shi fei [OMITTED]):
The people of Yin further increased by three times nine, making
twenty-seven. Total: thirty-nine persons. Eighty-one royal wives
(yunü [OMITTED]): The people of Zhou emulated Di Ku's principal consort.
Further, [they added] nine times nine to increase them. Total: one
hundred twenty persons. The Son of Heaven married twelve women
at once, imitating the twelve months: three ladies and nine
concubines. The subordinate lords married nine women at once,
imitating the Nine Provinces: one wife (qi [OMITTED]) and eight concubines
(qie [OMITTED]). The aristocracy took one wife, two concubines; officers (shi
[OMITTED]) one wife, one concubine.
On Di Ku, see Fascicle 5, notes 71 and 75 below. The four stars "Queen and
Consorts," also known as the Four Sustainers (Si fu [OMITTED]), refers to a group
of four circumpolar stars (Sun and Kistemaker, The Chinese sky during the
Han, 164). "Nine Provinces" (jiu zhou [OMITTED]) refers to the territorial divisions
into which China was supposed to have been divided in high antiquity.
Although the Han History is conventionally attributed to Ban Gu, the question
of the work's authorship is very complex and unresolved. The writing of a
history of the Former Han was begun by his father, Ban Biao [OMITTED] (A.D. 3-54),
who is said to have left an incomplete work of sixty-five or one hundred
sections (pian [OMITTED]) at his death. Ban Gu undertook to continue his father's
history but reportedly was dissatisfied with what his father had done. There
is a wide range of views on the extent to which he retained, revised, or discarded
his father's work. In any event, at Ban Gu's own death, the history remained
incomplete, and the emperor ordered Ban Gu's sister, Ban Zhao, to compile
the "Treatise on Astronomy" ("Tianwen zhi" [OMITTED]) and the eight tables.
Because Ma Xu [OMITTED] (fl. A.D. 141) was also asked to complete these same
sections, it is not clear how much of the final work is from the hand of Ban
Zhao. It is beyond the scope of the present work to tackle these issues. Where
we cite one of the authors other than Ban Gu, it is because there is good reason
to think the cited text is by that person. Elsewhere, we simply refer to Ban
Gu or "the historian." Readers interested in exploring this issue further can
Historiography of the Han Period;" Li, Zhongguo shixue shi, 30-34; Van der
Sprenkel, Pan Piao, Pan Ku, and the Han History; and Lu, "Cong shixue he
shiliao lai lunshu Han shu bianzuan tedian."
The Grand Scribe's Records is divided into five sections: "Ben ji" [OMITTED] [Basic
Annals]; "Biao" [OMITTED] [Tables]; "Shu" [OMITTED] [Treatises, called zhi [OMITTED] in later
histories]; "Shi jia" [OMITTED] [Hereditary Houses]; and "Lie zhuan" [OMITTED]
[Biographies]. With minor modifications, Ban Gu and Fan Ye adopted the same
basic structure. Although the format of the standard histories now appears to
have been more or less fixed ever since Sima Qian wrote The Grand Scribe's
Records, it was by no means considered a given by historians in early imperial
China. Other formats were used; only later did the format we now associate
with the standard histories come to be fixed. A brief discussion of the evolution
of the standard histories is found in Gardiner, "Standard Histories, Han to
Sui." See also Qian, "Zonglun Dong Han dao Sui de shixue yanjin."
Some of the shorter standard histories did omit the treatises (e.g., the Bei
Qi shu [OMITTED] [Northern Qi History], Liang shu [OMITTED] [Liang History], and
Chen shu [OMITTED] [Chen History]), but otherwise they followed the ji zhuan
format.
Examples are King Wu's oath at Muye as he prepared to attack the Shang,
in which he blamed the bad rule of King Zhou on the undue influence of
women, and the case of Baosi, who was held responsible for the fall of the
Western Zhou. The mother of Duke Kang of Mi [OMITTED] may also have been
warning of the danger of infatuation with beautiful women when she advised
her son to give the three beauties in his company to King Gong [OMITTED] (r. 946935
B.C.; (see Sj, 4.122, 145, 148-149; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques,
1:265-267, 278-279, 284-285; Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records;
1:60, 70, 73-74).
Sj, 5.189, 190, 192, 197, 209; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, 2:33-34, 3536,
39-40, 51, 76; Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records, 1:97, 98, 100,
104, 114. In one case, the marriage paid direct returns to Qin when the wife
of Duke Wen of Jin [OMITTED], who was herself from Qin, was able to intervene
and save the lives of three Qin generals who had been captured after they had
been crushed by Jin (Sj, 5.192; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, 2:39-40;
Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe's Records, 1:100). See also Fascicle 34, notes
19 and 24.
One passing reference does suggest, however, that dowager mothers of minor
rulers already were recognized to have great authority. In 238 B.C., when the
Marquis of Enduring Trust (Changxin hou [OMITTED]) attempted a revolt against
the young Qin king (and future First Emperor), he fabricated the seals of the
king and of the queen dowager (tai hou) in order to command the government
troops to attack the Qinian Palace [OMITTED] (Sj, 6.227; Watson, Records of the
Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty, 37).
Hs, 1A.5. Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 1:32. As with a
number of other founding emperors, Liu Bang's rise to greatness was portended
when his mother, then pregnant with him, dreamed that she encountered a
spirit (shen [OMITTED]). The Han History says that the sky clouded over and there
was thunder and lightning. Her father went to see what was happening and
Han Dynasty, 1:28).
Interestingly, it was Emperor Hui who presented a problem for the historians.
The son of Gaozu and Empress Lü, he inherited the throne upon the death
of Gaozu but seems to have been unable or unwilling to deal with his
domineering and sometimes malevolent mother, who actually ruled the Han
during the years 188-180 B.C. Sima Qian did not write an annals for him,
placing the "Annals of Empress Lü" immediately following that of Emperor
Gao (Liu Bang). Ban Gu, in contrast, includes an annals for him and begins
the annals for Empress Lü's reign only in the first year following the death
of Emperor Hui.
It is true that Fan Ye's [OMITTED] (398-446) Later Han History contains a
"Huanghou ji" [OMITTED] [Annals of Empresses and Consorts], but this is
appended to the annals section of Fan's history and is much closer in form
to the biographical chapters (liezhuan) than to the imperial annals. Fan's two
annals on empresses and consorts followed the example of Chen Shou's
contemporary Hua Qiao [OMITTED] (d. 293), who consciously departed from the
format of The Grand Scribe's Records and the Han History of a monograph
on the affinal families ("Waiqi shijia" [OMITTED] in the former case; "Waiqi
liezhuan" [OMITTED] in the latter). Hua thought such chapters did not
adequately reflect the important function of an empress in complementing the
role of an emperor, so he wrote two fascicles of annals for the empresses, which
he placed immediately following the imperial annals. Fan may not have simply
followed Hua's format but incorporated his text as well. The one extant
fragment from Hua's "Annals of Empresses" is reproduced almost verbatim
in Fan's work (HHs, 10B.453; Js, 44.1264; Zhou, Ba jia Hou Han shu ji zhu,
2;515; Bielenstein, The Restoration of the Han Dynasty, 1:12).
Sj, 9.142; Hs, 3.104; Watson, Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty,
1:284; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 1:210. Emperor
Guangwu ordered that offerings no longer be made to Empress Lü in the
ancestral temple to Gaozu and that she be replaced there by Empress Bo [OMITTED],
the mother of Emperor Wen (HHs, 1B.83). On the criticisms of Empress Lü,
see Yang, "Female Rulers in Imperial China," 51; Ch'ü, Han Social Structure,
48, 61-62, 74-83.
Other palace women were stripped of posthumous honors bestowed on
them. The mother of Emperor He, the grandmother of Emperor An, and the
mother of Emperor Shun had been posthumously given the title of empress
by the respective emperors. In A.D. 190, officials memorialized that these
women were not qualified to be called empress (bu he cheng hou [OMITTED])
because they had not been principal wives (zheng di [OMITTED]) and should be
stripped of their titles, to which Emperor Xian agreed (HHs, 9.370).
Hs, 10.330; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 2:417-418. Ban
Biao was the father of the noted historian and writer Ban Gu; his twin brother,
the famous explorer Ban Chao [OMITTED] (32-102); and their sister, the scholar and
writer Ban Zhao.
Hs, 10.306, 318, 319, 11.333, 12.347; Dubs, The History of the Former Han
Dynasty, 2:380, 398-399, 401, 3:15-17. Only in the case of the maneuvering
to replace the king of Zhongshan [OMITTED] with the king of Dingtao [OMITTED] as heir
apparent to Emperor Cheng are events described in any detail. In this instance
they may have been described at more length because the outcome was
the heir apparent and subsequently became Emperor Ai (Hs, 11:333; Dubs,
The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 3:15-17).
Fan Ye, of course, did not write the Later Han History until well after Chen
Shou compiled Records of the Three States. Much of his material, however,
was drawn from histories written contemporaneous to Chen. Although the
reader must bear in mind the temporal relationship of the two works, Fan's
history remains useful in fleshing out our understanding of how historians of
the early empire viewed the function of women.
Sj, 49.1981-1986; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, 6:55-64. On Chu
Shaosun and his relationship to The Grand Scribe's Records, see Pokora, "Ch'u
Shao-sun." Watson does not translate Chu's addition to Sj, 49.
The portrayal of Favorite Beauty Ban was no doubt influenced by her being
Ban Biao's aunt. See note 51 above.
Hs, 97A.3983-3988. The fu [OMITTED] (rhapsody) that Favorite Beauty Ban
composed—one of the earliest such laments by a rejected lady of the palace—
goes by the title "Zidao fu" [OMITTED] [Fu of Self-Commiseration]. Translations
include O'Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China, 232-235, and
Watson, Courtier and Commoner in Ancient China, 263-264.
HHs, 10A.400-401. The primary subjects of the "Annals of Empresses" are
those women who had "dwelled with the emperor and had held the formal
title" of empress. This includes Empress Guo, who was dethroned and replaced
by Empress Yin and whose son was removed as heir apparent. Women who
were mothers of emperors but who for one reason or another were never
installed as empress also are treated in the "Annals of Empresses." Among
them were Honorable Lady Jia [OMITTED], mother of Emperor Zhang, Beautiful Lady
Yu [OMITTED], mother of Emperor Chong, and Lady Chen [OMITTED], mother of Emperor
Zhi. Women posthumously made empress are not included, and their
biographical information is found elsewhere. Emperor An's father had been
heir apparent to Emperor Zhang but was deposed as the result of harem
machinations. Biographical information for An's grandmother, Honorable
Lady Song [OMITTED], and his mother, Dame Zuo [OMITTED], are included with the biography
of his father Liu Qing [OMITTED], king of Qinghe [OMITTED] (HHs, 5.232, 10A.401, 414,
10B.440, 441, 55.1799-1803; HHs, zhi 9.3197). Dame Zuo, whose
appellative was Xiaoe [OMITTED], is said to have been versed in historical writings
and rhapsodies.
HHS, 10A.411-412. Empress Ma's actions may have been motivated as much
by a well-honed instinct for survival as by modesty. The Ma family had suffered
she had been accepted as consort to the heir apparent that the family was
spared. She may have wished to forestall renewed factional enmity that could
hold disastrous consequences for the Ma family.
HHs, 10B.440. Cf. de Crespigny, "The Harem of Emperor Huan," 4-8. Liang
Na is reported to have kept illustrations of virtuous women close by her as
reminders (HHs, 10B.438).
Hs, 19A.732, 734; HHs, 26.3594-3595, 3607-3608. In fact, most of the
references to offices pertaining to palace women are found not in these sections
but scattered throughout the different parts of the histories. These have been
assembled and discussed in Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Times, 22,
50-53, 63-64, 69-74.
This omission was deplored and corrected by the sixth-century commentator
Liu Zhao [OMITTED], who included in his commentary a lengthy quotation from
the Later Han scholar Cai Zhi [OMITTED] (fl. second century) describing the
investiture of Empress Song [OMITTED], consort of Emperor Ling (HHs, zhi 6.31213122
n. 3). Cai's text is translated and discussed in part 1 of Goodrich, "Two
Chapters in the Life of an Empress of the Later Han."
Favorite Beauty Ban is said to have read works of self-improvement, including
three entitled Nü shi [OMITTED] [Models for Women], Yaotiao [OMITTED] [The Modest
Maid], and De xiang [OMITTED] [Symbols of Virtue]. Ban Zhao twice mentions a
work entitled Nü xian [OMITTED] [Patterns for Women] that is no longer extant
(Hs, 97B.3984; HHs, 84.2790, 2791; Watson, Courtier and Commoner in
Ancient China, 262; Swann, Pan Chao, 80, 81, 97).
The memorial submitted to Emperor Yuan by Liu Xiang and Gu Yong
criticized Empress Xu's management of the inner apartments, and her
biography states that they were concerned because she had not born a son.
A major theme of Liu's own biography in the Han History is his efforts to
rein in the influence of the affinal families, including the Xus (Hs, 36.1929;
see also Xu, Liang Han sixiang shi, 3:54-62).
On these texts, see Knechtges, "Hsin hsü" and "Shuo yüan," in Loewe, Early
Chinese Texts, 154-157, 443-445. Although the Biographies of Women and
Ban Zhao's Precepts for Women probably had a far wider influence in later
periods than either the Garden of Persuasions or the Newly Arranged
Anecdotes, neither is included in Early Chinese Texts.
English translations of the stories from the Biographies of Women are found
in O'Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China. The received version of
the Biographies contains an eighth chapter entitled "Xu lienü zhuan" [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] [Continued Biographies of Women]. According to Liu Xiang's biography
in the Han History, the Biographies has eight chapters, but the last is not usually
considered part of the original work.
Sj, 3.105-106; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, 1:199-201; Nienhauser, The
Grand Scribe's Records, 1:49-50.
O'Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China, 9. An example of such an
illustrated text from a somewhat later period is the scroll entitled "Admonitions
of the Instructress to the Court Ladies" (Nü shi zhen [OMITTED]) held by the
British Museum. The scroll is thought to be a Tang copy of an illustrated
version of Zhang Hua's [OMITTED] (232-300) text of the same title done by the
celebrated painter Gu Kaizhi [OMITTED] (ca. 344-406). Zhang wrote his
"Admonitions" in response to the growing power of Empress Jia [OMITTED] and
her family at court (Js, 36.1072; Straughair, Chang Hua, 45). The text of the
"Admonitions," most of which appears on the scroll, can be found in Yan,
Quan shanggu sandai Qin Han San guo Liu chao wen, 2:1792. It has been
translated and the painting discussed by Edouard Chavannes, "Note sur la
peinture de Kou K'ai-tche conservée au British Museum." Illustrations from
the painting are found in Sullivan, The Arts of China, 100, and Rawson, The
British Museum Book of Chinese Art, 104, 174, 197.
O'Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China, 9; Waley, An Introduction
to the Study of Chinese Painting, 62-63; Zhao, Cao Zhi ji jiao zhu, 3.528530.
There is some disagreement over the extent of Ban Zhao's contribution to the
compilation of the history. See note 41 above.
Swam, Pan Chao, 40, 87; Lee, The Virtue of Yin, 20-21. Remarriage seems
to have been common among widows during Han times, although there are
recorded instances of widows refusing to remarry. It was extremely common
for widows to remarry during the Three States period as well (Ch'ü, Han Social
Structure, 42-43; Dong, "Cong Han dao Song guafu zaijia xisu kao," 45).
Besides Ban, Later Han advocates of the idea that widows should not remarry
included thinkers such as Zhongchang Tong [OMITTED] (179-219) and Wang Fu
[OMITTED] (85-163) in the Later Han (Dull, "Marriage and Divorce in Han China,"
34). The emphasis on widow chastity became much stronger in later periods,
however (Chiao, "Female Chastity in Chinese Culture").
Yu-shih Chen states that although the Precepts for Women may have been
written earlier for Ban Zhao's daughers, it possibly was "published" in A.D.
106 for the covert purpose of diverting would-be critics of Empress Deng's
assumption of power in the previous year. Unfortunately, the question of what
"publication" means in this context is not addressed. (Chen, "The Historical
Template of Pan Chao's Nü chieh," 244-245).
HHs, 84.2792. Yu-shih Chen has argued that Ban Zhao's original purpose in
writing the Precepts for Women was to instruct her daughters in survival
techniques for life in the households of their husbands. Chen further holds that
the virtues discussed in the Precepts derive from Daoist and strategist (bingfa
[OMITTED]) thinking rather than from Confucianism (Chen, "The Historical
Template of Pan Chao's Nü chieh"). Although there is conceivably some basis
for Chen's thesis, it is not entirely sustained by her evidence and argumentation.
Furthermore, Ban was Ma Rong's teacher, and Ma became a leading
commentator on the Confucian classics.
Interestingly, Fan Ye included Ban Zhao's biography in his "Biographies of
Women" section rather than with her father's and her brother's biographies,
thus stressing her role as a model for other women rather than her
accomplishments as an historian and scholar. Indeed, although Ban Biao's
biography reports that he had two sons and gives their names, it does not
mention his daughter. Did Fan perhaps include the text of the Precepts for
Women in Ban Zhao's biography to counterbalance her other scholarly (and
thus masculine) achievements?
The Song dynasty encyclopedia Taiping yulan [OMITTED] [Imperially Reviewed
Compendium of the Taiping Era] contains several fragments from works by
Cai Yong entitled "Precepts for Women" (Nü jie) and "Lessons for Women"
(Nü xun [OMITTED]). Cai's biography in the Later Han History lists only the second
work, and it may be that the first title is a mistake (HHs, 60B.2007; Li, Taiping
yulan, 365.6b, 459.7b, 577.7b, 714.2a, 719.2a, 3a, 814.8a).
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