Lienü zhuan
Encyclopedia
18 BC
Year 18 BC was either a common year starting on Friday, Saturday or Sunday or a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...
book compiled by the famous 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...
scholar Liu Xiang
Liu Xiang (author)
Liu Xiang , born Liu Gengsheng , courtesy name Zizheng , was a famous Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty. He was born in Xuzhou and related to Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty...
. It includes 125 biographical accounts of women exemplars in early China, taken from Chinese histories like the Chun Qiu, Zuo Zhuan
Zuo Zhuan
The Zuo Zhuan , sometimes translated as the Chronicle of Zuo or the Commentary of Zuo, is among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history and covers the period from 722 BCE to 468 BCE. It is one of the most important sources for understanding the history of the Spring and Autumn Period...
, and Shiji. The Lienü Zhuan served as a standard Confucianist textbook for the moral education of women in traditional China for two millennia.
The idealized biographies are divided into eight scrolls, including the eighth addendum from an unknown editor, as shown below.
| Chapter | Chinese | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 母 儀 傳 | Matronly Models |
| 2 | 賢 明 傳 | The Worthy and Enlightened |
| 3 | 仁 智 傳 | The Benevolent and Wise |
| 4 | 貞 順 傳 | The Chaste and Obedient |
| 5 | 節 義 傳 | The Principled and Righteous |
| 6 | 辯 通 傳 | The Accomplished Speakers |
| 7 | 孽 嬖 傳 | Depraved Favorites |
| 8 | 續 列 女 傳 | Supplemental Biographies |
This book follows the lièzhuàn (列傳 "arrayed biographies") biographical format established by the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
historian Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
. The word liènǚ (列女 "famous women in history") is cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with liènǚ (烈女 " women martyrs"), which Neo-Confucianists used to mean "woman who commits suicide after her husband's death rather than remarry; woman who dies defending her honor".
The online Chinese Text Initiative at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
provides an e-text edition of the Lienu Zhuan, including both digitized Chinese content and images of a Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
woodblock edition with illustrations by Gu Kaizhi 顧凱之 (ca. 344-405 CE) of the Jin Dynasty
Jìn Dynasty (265-420)
The Jìn Dynasty , was a dynasty in Chinese history, lasting between the years 265 and 420 AD. There are two main divisions in the history of the Dynasty, the first being Western Jin and the second Eastern Jin...
.
Biographies included
- The mother of MenciusMenciusMencius was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.-Life:Mencius, also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Ko, was born in the State of Zou, now forming the territory of the county-level city of Zoucheng , Shandong province, only thirty kilometres ...
(孟子) - Zheng MaoZheng MaoZheng Mao was the primary wife of King Cheng of the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China. She is one of 125 women of which biographies have been included in the Lienü zhuan, written by Liu Xiang.-Life:...
(鄭瞀) - Consort BanConsort BanConsort Ban called Ban Jieyu . Jieyu was a title for a concubine, her personal name is not known.-Life:Consort Ban started as a junior maid, became a concubine of Emperor Cheng and quickly rose to prominence at court. She bore him two sons, but both died in infancy...
(班婕妤), Scholar and poet - Empress Zhao FeiyanEmpress Zhao FeiyanEmpress Zhao Feiyan , formally Empress Xiaocheng , was an empress during the Han Dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Cheng...
(趙飛燕) (c. 32 BC – 1 BC), empress from 16 BC until 7 BC - Empress WangEmpress Wang (Ping)Empress Wang , formally Empress Xiaoping , formally during her father Wang Mang's Xin Dynasty Duchess Dowager of Ding'an then Princess Huanghuang was an empress during the Han Dynasty -- the last of the Western Han Dynasty—who was the daughter of the eventual usurper Wang Mang...
(王皇后) (8 BC – AD 23), last empress of the Western Han - Empress MaEmpress Ma (Ming)Empress Ma , formally Empress Mingde , was an empress during Han Dynasty from the year 60 until her death...
(馬皇后) (40–79), empress from the year 60 until her death in 79
External links
- Lienu zhuan, University of Virginia E-text
- Lienuzhuan, ChinaKnowledge (mirror)
- Traditions of Exemplary Women: Liu Xiang's Lienü Zhuan, Anne Behnke Kinney
- Chapter 11: Women & Men in Society, Gregory Smits, Topics in Premodern Chinese History