Ban Zhao

Chinese historian, poet, and scholar

• Born: c. 45
• Birthplace: Anling, Fufeng County (now near Xianyang, Shaanxi Province), China
• Died: c. 220
• Place of death: China

Imperial China’s greatest woman scholar, Ban Zhao wrote a guide that formulated ideal precepts for the conduct of women.

Early Life

Ban Zhao (bahn jaw) was one of the most erudite and the most eminent persons of her time, a renowned scholar and poet who was one of traditional China’s most illustrious women. She came from a family of distinguished literati. Her grand-aunt, known as Ban Jieyu (Pan Chieh-yü; c. 48-c. 6 b.c.e.), the “Favored Beauty Ban” on account of her rank as the most distinguished concubine of Emperor Cheng (Ch’eng; r. 32-7 b.c.e.), was a woman of great literary abilities and strong moral character. Her father Ban Biao (Pan Piao; 3-54 c.e.) was an accomplished scholar-official and historian. One of her twin older brothers, Ban Chao (Pan Ch’ao; 32-101 c.e.), was a famous explorer and campaigner in the border regions of far western China. Her other elder brother, Ban Gu (Pan Ku; 32-92 c.e.), was a great literary talent, best known for his lengthy and intricate rhapsodies (fu) and, especially, for his lifelong project on the history of the Former Han Dynasty, the Han Shu (also known as Qian Han Shu, completed first century c.e.; The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 1938-1955), a project that had been begun by his father. Ban Gu had not yet completed his great history when was dismissed from office and imprisoned, accused of being a supporter of a dishonored general; he died in prison and the project was finished by his learned sister Ban Zhao, in accordance with the emperor’s personal directive. Ban Zhao’s official biography is in the section of the Hou Han ji (fourth century c.e.; “record of the Later Han”) devoted to “Illustrious Women,” where she is referred to as “the wife of Cao Shishu” (Ts’ao Shih-shu, an otherwise undistinguished lesser official). Ban Zhao often is referred to in this manner, that is, by her social position. Ban Zhao was married at age fourteen; after her husband died young, she never remarried. As tutor to the empress and the palace ladies, Ban Zhao came to be known as Cao Dagu, or “Respected Elder Aunt Cao,” the name by which she equally is known in Chinese sources.

Life’s Work

When Ban Zhao’s brother Gu died, Emperor He (Ho-ti; r. 88-105 c.e.) commanded her to work in the imperial library to complete her brother’s great historical project. Although there is disagreement on how much she actually completed herself, she usually is credited with having composed at least the eight tables and the “Treatise on the Heavens.” When Ban Zhao completed the work, many were unable to completely absorb it; Ma Rong (Ma Jung; 79-166 c.e.), who would come to be known as one of the literary luminaries of his age, was appointed to study the work with her in the library as her apprentice. Emperor He invited Ban Zhao to provide personal instruction to his wife, Empress Deng, and her entourage, and to compose descriptive poetic eulogies about the various treasures and curiosities that came as tribute to the court. Ban Zhao was a learned scholar, practiced in literary and historical composition, but she apparently also was a savvy player in government affairs. After the emperor passed away in 105, young Empress Deng held sway over the court until her death in 121, and it is said that Ban Zhao was her confidante, with whom she would confer on matters of politics and administration. The empress so favored Ban Zhao that she granted Zhao’s son Cao Cheng (Ts’ao Ch’eng) with a title of enfeoffment and a high court appointment.

Ban Zhao may best be known for a treatise she wrote concerning the proper conduct of women, especially in their position as wives and members of the husband’s family. Her Nu jie (c. 99-105 c.e.; The Chinese Book of Etiquette and Conduct for Women and Girls, 1900; also known as Lessons for Women) is included in her biography, written ostensibly for the edification of her own daughters; she tells in her exceedingly humble introduction that they should each write out a copy and strive to put into practice the principles discussed in the essay. Lessons for Women addressed personal cultivation and appropriate conduct with respect to relations within the husband’s family, expounding on correct feminine attitudes and comportment within a largely Confucian value system. Her text finds many corroborations in the Confucian classics for canonical authority; nevertheless, one modern scholar has suggested that much also is owed to Daoist texts and texts on military strategy. Perhaps the most consequential precept in the treatise is uncompromised fidelity to the husband, including an injunction not to remarry; throughout all subsequent dynasties, “chaste widows” were held up as paragons of virtuous conduct. The Lessons for Women comprises seven sections plus an introduction. The sections are “Humility and Compliance,” “Husband and Wife,” “Respect and Judiciousness,” “Womanly Conduct,” “Single-minded Devotion,” “Yielding and Following,” and “According with Younger In-laws.”

Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women had a certain influence in its day and had immense influence over the centuries of Imperial China, continuing even into the present, but it also has had its critics. In many ways Ban Zhao’s text came to be seen as the authority on proper conduct for women. Ban Zhao’s student Ma Rong had his wife and daughters study it, and women over the next two millennia were praised for emulating the ideal feminine values and conduct described in Zhao’s short treatise. Still, the younger sister of Ban Zhao’s daughter-in-law apparently took her to task and wrote her own countertreatise.

Some modern critics have argued that the Lessons for Women has had a profoundly negative influence on women through the centuries by promoting what they see as subservience, obedience, humility, devotion, self-abnegation, and other aspects that they relate to negative expectations for a woman’s conduct. Others, including the majority in imperial times, have praised it for promoting the education of women; for marking a path for upright conduct in the largely oppressive and sometimes treacherous realities of concubines and wives of the scholar-official class; and for providing a framework for the type of genteel femininity that has been praised and emulated in the characterization of women in traditional Chinese culture.

Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women spurred numerous derivative compositions and books on female propriety over the centuries, and Ban Zhao herself sometimes is portrayed within the conceit of a dialogue, where she serves as arbiter and provides instruction to an individual or group in a question/response format. An example is the Nü xiao jing (Classic of Filial Piety for Women, 1932) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 c.e.).

Ban Zhao’s copious and wide-ranging writings were collected by her daughter-in-law, surnamed Ding, who also composed a now-lost eulogy for her. The collection of Ban Zhao’s writings was in sixteen sections, and included rhapsodies, eulogies, threnodies, memorial inscriptions, poems, propositions, commentaries, laments, letters, treatises, memorials, and bequeathals. Ban Zhao’s collected writings remained intact for several centuries, but now only a few of her works remain. After the Lessons for Women, Ban Zhao’s most important extant writing is her “Traveling Eastward,” an elegant poetic account of her trip when she accompanied her son to his first posting in 95 c.e. (the year of the journey has been emended from 113 c.e., on the basis of contextual historical evidence), which includes her reflections on the moral associations of the places passed in her travel. In addition to these famous writings, Ban Zhao’s extant works include two carefully wrought and persuasive memorials to the throne and rhapsodies on the sewing needle and thread, on the cicada, and on an ostrich sent back by her brother from Central Asia. Ban Zhao also usually is credited with having annotated or otherwise edited Lienü zhuan (late first century b.c.e.-early second century c.e.; Biographies of Illustrious Women, 1945).

Significance

Ban Zhao often is called China’s foremost woman scholar, a rare example of a woman known to her contemporaries and to posterity for her erudition. Her Lessons for Women set the model for the ideal comportment of women in traditional Chinese culture. In this treatise, Ban Zhao advocated education for women, outlined her views of a woman’s proper conduct to her husband and in-laws, and established that a woman should not remarry. Lessons for Women is the first integral writing on the ethics of womanhood, a treatise pairing philosophical principles with practical applications. This text became an essential and indispensable part of the education for women in traditional China.

Bibliography

Chen, Yu-shih. “The Historical Template of Pan Chao’s Nü chieh.” T’oung Pao 82 (1996): 229-257. A recontextualization of Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women.

Cutter, Robert Joe, and William Gordon Crowell. Empresses and Consorts. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999. Best scholarship on diverse aspects of women in early and early medieval China.

Dull, Jack L. “Marriage and Divorce in Han China: A Glimpse at ‘Pre-Confucian’ Society.” In Chinese Family Law and Social Change in Historical and Comparative Perspective, edited by David C. Buxbaum. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978. Still the best exposition of these practices, with all data and examples coming directly from primary sources.

Hinsch, Bret. Women in Early Imperial China. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. A topical presentation of female experience, illustrating Ban Zhao’s lasting influence.

Knapp, Bettina L. “Pan Chao: Poet, Historian, and Moralist.” In Images of Chinese Women: A Westerner’s View. Troy, N.Y.: Whitston, 1992. Fair treatment of Ban Zhao, including translations of Ban Zhao’s works done by Nancy Swann.

Lee, Lily Xiao Hong. “Ban Zhao (48-c. 120): Her Role in the Formulation of Controls Imposed Upon Women in Traditional China.” In The Virtue of Yin: Studies on Chinese Women. Broadway, NSW, Australia: Wild Peony, 1994. Concise, contextual, and analytic treatment.

Martin-Liao, Tienchi. “Traditional Handbooks of Women’s Education.” In Woman and Literature in China, edited by Anna Gerstlacher et al. Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1985. Good introduction to and summary of the topic.

Raphaels, Lisa. Sharing the Light: Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. Excellent treatment of many diverse facets of philosophical and cultural discussions concerning womanhood in early China, especially concerning the role of virtue as expressed in the literature about exemplary women.

Swann, Nancy Lee. Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China. 1932. Reprint. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001. See this book first; by far the best and most thorough account of Ban Zhao and her work.