Lessons for Women also translated as Admonitions for Women, is a work by the Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

 female intellectual Ban Zhao

Ban Zhao

Bān Zhāo , courtesy name Huiban , was the first known female Chinese historian. She completed her brother Ban Gu's work as he was imprisoned and executed in the year 92 BCE. because of his association with the family of Empress Dowager Dou. It was said her works could have filled eight volumes...

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Outline

Lessons for Women outlines the four virtues a woman must abide by, proper virtue, proper speech, proper countenance, and proper conduct. The book itself describes the status and position of women in society. It is a small book and many women had the sections memorized. The book contains only 7 chapters as outlined below.

Contents

Chapter	Chinese	Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...	Translation	Subject
1	卑弱 / 卑弱	Beiruo	Humility	Humility defined the relative natural positions between the male and female sexes. Accordingly, the female was deemed to be the more diminutive of the two and naturally, the more humble.
2	夫婦 / 夫妇	Fufu	Husband and Wife	The sole role of a woman as a wife was to serve her husband.
3	敬慎 / 敬慎	Jingshen	Respect and Caution	As defined by the yin-yang duality Dualism Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from... , in yang (men's hardness is his virtue) whereas in yin (women's weakness was an asset), husband and wife should mutually respect each other.
4	婦行 / 妇行	Fuxing	Womanly Qualifications	Simply the qualifications deemed necessary for the ideal woman whether in her virtue, her type of work, or the words she uses (wifely virtue + wifely speech + wifely appearance + wifely work).
5	專心 / 专心	Zhuanxin	Whole-hearted Devotion	This was usually depicted by the woman's devotion to the husband. For example, if the husband were to die, there would be no re-marriage for the widow. This was deemed to be the most virtuous task in later dynasties.
6	曲從 / 曲从	Qucong	Implicit Obedience	A section that is dedicated to obedience towards the mother and father-in-law.
7	叔妹 / 叔妹	Shumei	Harmony Between Younger In-laws

Precepts for Women

Ban Zhao also wrote on the four desired "Precepts for Women" which were intended to guide women in society. These precepts were: womanly virtue, womanly speech, womanly manner, and womanly merit.

External Links

• Chinese Cultural Studies: "Lessons for a Woman" http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/banzhao.html