Inventing Familial Agency from Powerlessness: Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women

Abstract

For 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 during the East Han Dynasty. ² 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.

Keywords:

• Ban Zhao
• Chinese Women's Agency
• Familial Agency
• First Lady Chiang Fang-liang
• Lessons for Women

The author thanks Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Jim Kushner, and Angela Ray for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper, and the anonymous reviewers for insightful suggestions.

Notes

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.

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.

These were collective efforts; in the case of the early woman's movement, for example, votes at conventions reflected the extent of support by participants of a speech by an individual author or a committee, which was to be delivered to a state legislature or a congressional committee. No individual, however, was compelled to support views or positions with which she disagreed, and hierarchy in organizations or conventions reflected a woman's talent, experience, and available time.

For Mulan and Liang, see Z. Wang (1999), pp. 127–128. For Xie, See Garrett (2002), p. 93. In the Chinese history, there are also renowned empresses and regents, such as Empress Wu and Express Cixi, who exerted influence through their maneuvering of power for personal and self-serving purposes.

Jieyu, the most distinguished imperial concubine, was known for her wise refusal to ride in public with the emperor Cheng and her literary achievement in Qiosan or “The Autumn Fan,” a classic Chinese poem and the symbol for the discarded wife (Gross & Bingham, 1973).

Dajia was the official form of the modern Dagu. Dagu, an address of respect in family circles today, corresponds in usage to aunt. In China, children and adults alike would use this mode of address for an aunt. See Swann (1932), p. 52.

This is another important historical work published not long before the time of the literary activities of the Ban family. See O'Hara (1971), pp. 230–235.

For Ban's four Fu, see Swann (1932), pp. 102–105, 113–117.

For Ban's memorial, “The Pacificator of Distant Countries,” on behalf of her brother Chao, and her other memorial, “Yielding Place to Others,” see Swann (1932), pp. 28, 31, 74–76.

Swann (1932) writes that Ban observed “the canons of widowhood” (p. 40); the Chinese translation is you jie xing fa du, . This became a well-known phrase in the description of an ideal widow. Later writers credit it to this biography of Ban.

Hanzi (standard Chinese script) is the official Chinese language that was created by men for use by men. Traditionally, most Chinese women were excluded from formal education in Hanzi writing or literature.

For information, see Chen (1996), pp. 245–247 and Swann (1932), pp. 82–90.

The most significant schools of thoughts in the Eastern Han include School of Confucius-Mancius, School of Lao-Zhuang, School of Mo Zi, School of Law, School of Names, School of Agriculture, School of Vertical and Horizontal, School of Storytellers, School of Naturalists, and Miscellaneous School.

Nüshu is an allegedly 1,000-year-old female language articulated in a variety of texts sung and chanted by rural, illiterate women over their needlework on pieces of red fabric, handkerchiefs, and fans. For Nüshu, see L. Lee (2002) and L. Lee (2004).

Many people in the Chinese and Japanese cultures adhere to the saying that “silence is gold, speech is silver” (Farrell, footnote 3, p. 24).

Hebei is northeast of China. Chahar is historically part of Inner Mongolia. Parts of the former provinces of Rehe and Chahar were incorporated into Hebei in 1956.

Allegedly, she took an official car to the golf course and was criticized by her husband, so Fang-liang decided to stop playing golf.