A Study of the Biographies of Eastern Han Women As Found in Hou Han Shu Lienü Zhuan
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Strong Minds, Creative Lives: A Study of the Biographies of Eastern Han Women as Found in Hou Han shu lienü zhuan Ana Teresa Sellés González Department of East Asian Studies McGill University, Montréal October, 2009 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree © Ana Teresa Sellés González Acknowledgments Writing this thesis has been a genuinely collective endeavor, whose completion has rested on the magnanimity of colleagues, friends and family. Since my first day at the Department of East Asian Studies at McGill University, Suan Ong has helped me navigate the subtleties of graduate school, keeping me on task and grounded. I am also grateful for the camaraderie of my colleagues Eavan Cully, Rongdao Lai, Margaret Ng, and Afra Tucker. I feel inestimable gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Griet Vankeerberghen, for her patient guidance and generous assistance with the very many drafts. I consider myself privileged to be surrounded by friends who cheerfully and selflessly dedicated their time and energies towards this project: Samia Aisha remains a constant source of encouragement; Dr.María Arrieta, Imane Essrifi, Haoua Mamoudou, Dr. Louai Razzouk, and Flore Saget simultaneously gifted me French translations of the abstract; Ugurgul Tunc tirelessly remained at my side during the decisive moments of the anchor leg. I am exceptionally indebted to M. Essam Hallak, who never fails to remind me every time I forget. Most importantly, I thank my mother, Rita González, whose limitless support makes possible all my endeavors and my brother Francisco Sellés for putting things in their due perspective. Although this thesis has benefited for the participation of many, I alone am responsible for its errors and shortcomings. i ii Strong Minds, Creative Lives: A Study of the Biographies of Eastern Han Women as Found in Hou Han shu lienü zhuan This thesis addresses a chapter titled Lienü zhuan, or Arrayed Traditions of Women from Fan Ye's (398-446) Hou Han shu, or Book of Later Han as starting point to challenge the prevailing image of early Chinese women as helpless victims of an oppressive Confucian society. The women represented therein behave as purposeful, active participants in the creation of Eastern Han social mores. Most remarkably, they can be interpreted as agents defining their social roles as wives and daughters. Chapter One focuses on the historiography of the Hou Han shu, generally, and the Lienü zhuan, in particular, and formulates some hypotheses about the extent of Fan Ye’s own creative input in the process of compiling his Lienü zhuan. Chapter Two investigates previous scholarship on the genre of biographies of women and proposes a theoretical model for reading the biographies of women found in Hou Han shu based on notions of ritual discussed by Catherine Bell and by the collaboration between Seligman, Weller, Puett, and Simon. In order to gain further insight into the women represented in the text, Chapter Three analyzes the social, economic, and literary background of the seventeen women included in the text. These findings on the commonalities and differences in marital status, economic situation, political influence, literacy, and education are put to use in Chapter Four, which applies the ideas on ritualization to the social roles the women in Fan Ye's text perform as wives and daughters. The thesis ends with a partial translation of the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan chapter into English. Cette thèse traite d’un chapitre intitulé Lienü zhuan, ou Traditions arranges des femmes, du livre de Fan Ye (398-446) Hou Han shu, ou le Livre de Han postérieur, comme point de départ utile pour défier l’image dominante des femmes de la Chine antique où elles sont perçues comme des victimes impuissantes d’une société confucéenne oppressive. Les femmes dépeintes dans ce texte adoptent une attitude déterminée, participant pleinement à la création des codes sociaux de la dynastie Han orientale. Fait remarquable, ces femmes définissent elles-mêmes leur rôle social en tant qu’épouses et filles. Le premier chapitre met l’emphase sur l’historiographie des Hou Han shu, en général, et le Lienü zhuan, en particulier. Il s’agit aussi d’émettre des hypothèses sur la démarche créative de Fan Ye dans sa compilation de biographies des femmes. Le deuxième chapitre s’attarde sur les études existantes concernant les biographies de femmes et suggère une approche théorique dans la lecture de ce genre littéraire dans Hou Han shu basée sur les notions de la ritualisation tel que discutées par Catherine Bell et par la collaboration de Seligman, Weller, Puett, et Simon. Le troisième chapitre analyse en profondeur le fond social, économique et littéraire des 17 femmes décrites dans le texte. Le quatrième chapitre met en évidence les différences et les similitudes entre le statut marital, la situation économique, l’influence politique, l'instruction aussi bien que l’éducation. Dans ce chapitre, on retrouve aussi les notions de rituel du rôle social des femmes en tant qu’épouses et filles. La thèse se termine par une traduction partielle en anglais du chapitre Hou Han shu lienü zhuan. iii iv Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The Hou Han shu lienü zhuan and its Sources ......................................................................................................7 Fan Ye, Compiler of the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan .......................................................................................................................8 Sources for the Hou Han shu..........................................................................................................................................................9 The Introducition and the Appraisal of the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan.........................................................................................12 Sources for the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan ...................................................................................................................................18 Fan Ye’s Hou Han shu in Relation to Surveyed Parallel Texts ...................................................................................................27 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................34 Chapter Two: Approaches to Biographies of Women .................................................................................................................37 Women in China’s Traditional Confucian Society.......................................................................................................................38 20th Ccentrury Studies of the Biographies of Women .................................................................................................................42 Histories and Fiction.....................................................................................................................................................................49 Ritual and the Subjunctive............................................................................................................................................................51 Chapter Three: The Women of the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan ..................................................................................................59 The Identification Formula...........................................................................................................................................................60 Economic Status ...........................................................................................................................................................................67 Relative Wealth of the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan Women’s Household .....................................................................................68 General Comments about the Hou Han shu lienü zhuan based on the Identification Formula....................................................71 Chapter Four: Wives and Daughters ............................................................................................................................................75 Theoretical remarks ......................................................................................................................................................................77 Daughters......................................................................................................................................................................................80 Wives ............................................................................................................................................................................................85 Wives as Household Educators ....................................................................................................................................................87 Various Approaches to Widow Remarriage.................................................................................................................................89 First Person Experiences of Virtue in the Writitngs of Ban Zhao and Cai Yan.........................................................................105 Chatper Five: Partial Translation