班昭The_Red_Brush_-Ban_Zhao.docVIP

PART ONE Early Models for Later Ages In imperial China, the rules of behavior for (upper-class) men and women were codified in the Rites (Li). The Rites actually is the collective name for three independent treatises that each emphasized the importance of ritual to the social fabric and spelled out the rules of ritual ceremony, as well as everyday behavior. These three works, the Rites and Ceremonies (Yili), the Records of the Rites (Liji), and the Rites of the Zhou (Zhouli, also known as Offices of the Zhou [Zhouguan]), achieved their final form in the second and first centuries bce. The Rites was designated as one of the Five Classics, the corpus of texts that were regarded as embodiments of the Way, and which served as the basis for a proper education. This education, however, was primarily a male affair, as these texts were designed to instruct a man in the correct ways of thinking, speaking, and acting, in preparation for his participation in public life, ideally as an official. The Classics and the teachings of Confucius left no doubt that it was a mans highest calling and duty to assist his ruler in establishing order in society. For a successful official career, literacy and a mastery of the art of composition were essential, since the imperial state was sustained by a large and complicated bureaucracy and every government action required extensive paperwork. While in the earliest centuries of imperial China appointment to office was primarily a matter of hereditary privilege and recommendation, eventually the examination system became institutionalized. It first made a major impact during the latter partof the Tang dynasty (618-906), and by the Song dynasty (960-1278) had become the most important avenue to high office. Women in elite families also were taught to read and write, if only because they were expected to be able to manage their husbands family estates after marriage and provide their sons with a primary education. There was little point in a