Gentlemen's prescriptions for women's lives : a thousand years of biographies of Chinese women / Sherry J. Mou.

"An east gate book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed July 22, 2015).

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; List of Tables; Preface and Acknowledgments; Explanatory Notes; Chronology of Early Chinese Dynasties; 1. From The Biographies of Women to the Biographies of Chaste Women; Introduction; Women in the Confucian Tradition; Summary of the Book; 2. Appropriating Women; Introduction; Rectification of the Name; The Formulaic Structure; The Biographies; Conclusion; 3. Subjecting Women to Histories; Introduction; Hou Han shu (History of the Later Han Dynasty [25-220]); Jin shu (History of the Jin Dynasty [265-420]); Conclusion.

Illustrations for Biographies follow page 1124. Reinventing Women; Introduction; Wei shu (History of the Wei Dynasty [386-556]); Sui shu (History of the Sui Dynasty [581-618]); Bei shi (History of the Northern Dynasties [386-581]); Conclusion; 5. Writing Virtues with Their Bodies; Introduction; The Paradigms: Chinese Womanhood of the Tang Dynasty (618-907); Interpreting the Inconsistencies: The Undercurrents in the Biographies; 6. Conclusion: A Biography Tradition That Is Not; Setting Examples: The Paradigm of Motherhood and the Separation of the Imperial and the Common.

The Reintroduction of Women: Gendering VirtuesOfficial Honoring and Willful Oblivion: The Names of Women; From Signs to Symbols: Writing Chastity with Their Bodies; Toward a Coherent Reading of the Lienü zhuan Tradition; Appendixes; A.1: The Biographies of Women: Chapter Introductions; A.2: The Biographies of Women: Chapter and Biography Titles; A.3: The Biographies of Women: Biographies by Chapter; B: Dates and Compilers of ""Biographies of Women"" Chapters in the First Nineteen Official Histories.

C.1: Introductions (Xu) and Eulogies (Zan) from ""Biographies of Women"": Chapters in the First Nineteen Official HistoriesC.2: Introductions (Xu) and Eulogies (Zan) from ""Biographies of Women"": Chapters in the First Nineteen Official Histories (in Chinese); D: ""Biographies of Women"" Chapters in Hou Han shu and Jin shu; E: Comparison Among ""Biographies of Women"" Chapters in Wei shu, Sui shu, and Bei shi; F: ""Biographies of Women"" Chapters in Wei shu, Sui shu, and Bei shi; G: Comparison Between the Two Tang Histories' ""Biographies of Women"" Chapters.

H: Paradigms, Virtues, and Expressions in the ""Biographies of Women"" Chapters in the Two Tang HistoriesGlossary; Bibliography; Index.

As far back as the first century BCE, Chinese dynastic historians - all men - began recording the achievements of Chinese women and creating a structure of understanding that would be used to limit and control them. To men, these women became role models for their daughters and wives; to the few literate women readers, they became paradigms for their own behavior. Thus, although these biographies are descriptive by nature, they actually became prescriptive. Gentlemen's Prescriptions for Women's Lives is an enlightening source for studying Chinese women of the Imperial era as well as for unders.

English.

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