Inventing Familial Agency from Powerlessness: Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women
2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 73; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/10570310802636318
ISSN1745-1027
Autores Tópico(s)Japanese History and Culture
ResumoFor centuries Chinese women have been trained to Sanchung Side or "Three Obediences and Four Virtues," as set forth in Nüjie, (Lessons for Women), written in 106 CE by Ban Zhao, , 1 There are inconsistencies in extant scholarship on the year when Ban was born. The earliest date given is around 45 CE. All Chinese names in this essay follow the convention that the surname is presented first, the given name second. I choose to use pinying system for Chinese names in this article except for well-accepted names like Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Fang-liang, and Mao Fu-mei, among others. during the East Han Dynasty. 2 Sanchung originates from the Book of Rites, suggesting that a woman obey a father or elder brother before marriage, a husband after marriage, and a son after entering widowhood. Side refers to Ban's womanly virtue, womanly words, womanly appearance, and womanly work. This essay reinterprets the oldest extant and most important female conduct manual in Chinese in order to question the traditional view that Ban silences Chinese women. It argues that Western feminists' approach to the idea of agency is not appropriate to understanding Chinese women's agency. It delineates a different concept of agency, based on Lessons for Women, forged out of the powerlessness of individual women, which is familial, communal, indirect, and conferred by others. In addition to expanding rhetorical scholarship on agency, I demonstrate that Ban's embedded concepts of familial agency are well illustrated by the 20th-century Taiwanese First Lady Chiang Fang-liang, a Russian Communist who married Chiang Ching-kuo, eldest son and heir of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who followed Ban's precepts to transform her perilous situation into an honored and respected life role.
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