Sherry J. Mou - Gentlemens Prescriptions for Womens Lives: A Thousand Years of Biographies of Chinese Women: A Thousand Years of Biographies of Chinese Women (East Gate Books)

Gentlemens Prescriptions for Womens Lives

A Thousand Years of Biographies of Chinese Women

Sherry J. Mou

First published 2004 by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015 by Routledge
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Copyright 2004 by Sherry J. Mou. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mou, Sherry J.
Gentlemens prescriptions for womens lives: a thousand years of biographies of
Chinese women/Sherry J. Mou.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7656-0867-7 (hc : alk. paper)
1. WomenChinaSocial conditions. 2. WomenChinaBibliography. I. Title

HQ1767. M68 2002
305.420951dc21 2002022159

ISBN 13: 9780765608673 (hbk)

To
the memories of
Horng Jih-chiou (19271966), my mother,
and Donna Schaefer (19312001), a great teacher and friend

The first time I paid attention to Liu Xiangs Lien zhuan (The biographies of women) was in the first year of my graduate study. Professor David Chen asked me which lie, the one with or without four dots, should be the title character. The answer was easy, but answering it meant taking a long road of meandering through the tradition of biographies of women in Chinese history. I was writing my masters thesis on Eileen Chang (19201995) at the time. Perhaps thinking about Lien zhuan too much, I saw shadows of Lien even in Changs modem characters. Eventually, the idea fermented into my dissertation topic.

This book originated in that dissertation completed in 1994 at Ohio State University. I was very lucky to have Professor Yan-huan Lao as my advisor and whose encouragement, support, and guidance were invaluable. My gratitude also goes to the others on my dissertation committee, who provided the first round of criticism: Professors Marlene Longemecker, Judith Mayn, Hao Chang, and Charles Williams. Interrupted in the middle by a book I edited and by other projects, this book takes a direction quite different from the design of the dissertation.

I also want to thank Wellesley College, whose Faculty Awards enabled me to get better software and other editorial assistance. An NEH summer grant in 1999 allowed me to carry out research at the Academia Sinica and to complete appeared previously in Presence and Presentation.

Professors Ruby Yuan-chu Lam, Don J. Wyatt, Suzanne Cahill, Idema Wilt, Paul Rouzer, and Maureen Robertson have all read portions of the manuscript at various stages, and this curt acknowledgment can hardly express my gratitude. Many of their comments are incorporated here. Going beyond the call of friendship, Janice Gohm and Cameron Webster read through the draft with their proverbial tooth of combs. Professor Bernadette Yu-ning Lis encouragement and help throughout the final stages are deeply appreciated.

Two major forms of assistance from DePauw University at the final stage of production were invaluable. The Faculty Professional Development Fund enabled me to complete the index and glossary; I wish to thank Martha Rainbolt and the Faculty Development Committee for their support. Scott Long, Angela Smock, and the many capable hands in the Digital Media Lab provided inestimable computing and digitizing assistance; without their state-of-art skills and unbelievable patience, I would not have been able to include all the illustrations. Angela Piliouras, Managing Editor at M.E. Sharpe, an anonymous copyeditor, and an artist at the press patiently went through the draft and the illustrations, and offered precious suggestions and comments. I am grateful to them all. Any mistakes that remain are my own.

Finally, to Juris and Augustus Lidaka I express my most heartfelt gratitude for their moral and practical support, through both good and bad weather and always with good humor.

SM
at Wellesley, Massachusetts

In general, pinyin is used for romanizing quotations from Chinese texts. Chinese proper nouns and titles also follow pinyin, with the exception of when the authors own spellings are known; they will be respected.

The Glossary is arranged alphabetically according to the pinyin of individual Chinese characters, regardless of word divisions. Thus, Shanxi (the province) will proceed Shang (the dynasty) in a list. Chinese entries in the Bibliography are also alphabetized this way.

Titles and names that appear in the Bibliography are not repeated in the Glossary, nor are dynastic names of early dynasties, which are included in the Chronology on .

Shang (sixteenth to eleventh century B.C.E.)

Zhou (ca. eleventh century-256 B.C.E.)

Western Zhou (ca. eleventh century-771 B.C.E.)

Eastern Zhou (770256 B.C.E.)

Spring and Autumn period (770476 B.C.E.)

Warring States period (453256 B.C.E.)

Qin (221207 B.C.E.)

Han (206 B.C.E. 220 C.E.)

Western (Former) Han (206 B.C.E.25 C.E.)

Eastern (Later) Han (25220 C.E.)

Three Kingdoms (220280)

Jin (265420)

Northern Dynasties (386581)

Northern Wei (386534)

Eastern Wei (534550)

Western Wei (535556)

Northern Qi (550577)

Northern Zhou (557581)

Southern Dynasties (420589)

Liu Song (420~479)

Qi (479502)

Liang (502557)

Chen (557589)

Sui (581618)

Tang (618907)

Five Dynasties (907960)

Gentlemens Prescriptions for Womens Lives