March 8 marks the annual International Women's Day. Around the world, women usually played a not well-known role in history. They were often buried with their unknown talents and amazing tales. Yet there are still some lucky ones whose stories have been recorded. Here are six talented ancient Chinese women who once impressed in their time, and still affect us in our time.
Praised as the “No.1 talented woman”, Li Qingzhao, a poet from the Song Dynasty, was born in Shandong province. She excelled at poetry and in ink painting and calligraphy (书法). Li was most well-known for her poems, which were divided into two contrasting styles reflecting her life as a married woman and a widow. Before her husband's death, her poems were mainly about a carefree and happy life. The keynote turned into a sad tune after her husband passed away. However, Li was not a narrow-minded woman. Apart from expressing feminine (女性的) feelings and experiences, she also wrote poems praising war heroes and criticizing the corrupted emperor. As an example of female patriot, Li has a great effect on modern women's literature.
Cai Wenji was good not only at poetry and calligraphy, but also mathematics, astronomy, debate and music. Her masterpieces were Hu Jia Shi Ba Pai. As the daughter of literatus Cai Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai had a very unusual life. After her first husband died, she was forced to marry Xiongnu tribe's king. Living in a totally different environment, Cai was very homesick. Twelve years later, Cao Cao, a student of Cai Yi, rescued Cai from the Xiongnu tribe. At the age of 35, Cai got married for a third time in a union arranged by Cao to a man named Dong Si.
Ban Zhao was the first female historian in China. She was also good at writing poems, yet only seven of her works have survived. Ban was often invited by the emperor to teach the queen mathematics, astronomy and poetry. She was honored as Da Gu, a title for knowledgeable and noble women. At the age of 40, Ban finished Han Shu, based on her brother's writings. A total of four people wrote the book, and Ban, as the last writer, faithfully kept the style of the first three. Ban Zhao also wrote Nv Jie, a book to teach women how to deal with relationships with their husbands and husbands' relatives and how to properly behave.
Shangguan Wan'er was famous for being given an important position by the only female emperor, Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. Despite Shangguan's grandfather being killed for offending Wu, she was highly praised by the female emperor for her literary talent. She served as a key secretary to Wu and was called “a female prime minister” at the time. Shangguan changed court poetry so that it used more meaningful expressions than empty praise, and further developed her style based on her grandfather's poems.
Su Hui was known for a handkerchief she made. It was embroidered (刺绣) with 841 characters that could form 7,958 poems. Named Xuan Ji Tu, the handkerchief was originally made by Su to send to her husband, Dou Tao. Su waited for her husband to come back after Dou's exile (流放), yet Dou had an affair with another woman. Sad and angry, Su created the poems on a handkerchief in red, yellow, blue, white, black and purple silk thread and sent it to her husband. Dou was deeply moved by the poems, felt guilty for his behavior and reunited with Su.
When Xue Tao's name was mentioned, people would think of the famous Xue Tao Jian, a sort of small-size colorful writing paper. It is recorded that Xue Tao created this colored paper to write poems. During her time, writing paper was yellow, yet Xue changed the simple color into different shades of red or green. Later, people made similar colorful paper and named them “Xue Tao Jian”. Xue had talent for poetry and music. Her poems were not limited to those private feminine feelings and emotions; she also expressed her empathy (共鸣) to soldiers on the frontier.
