Ban Zhao

Ban Zhao

Ban Zhao ( Chinese  班昭 , Pinyin Bān Zhāo , W.-G. Pan Chao ; * around 45 in Anling ( 安陵 ) in today's Shaanxi Province ; † 117 ) was a Chinese lady-in-waiting and historian.

origin

The Ban family had ties to the royal Liu family of the Han Dynasty for three generations ; Ban Zhao's great-aunt was once Emperor Cheng's favorite . Her great-uncle Ban You , together with Liu Xiang, had been entrusted with the editing and cataloging of old manuscripts and received a few duplicate manuscripts from the Cheng Emperor as a reward. This suggests that the Ban family had their own library and consequently the family's children had early access to books.

Ban Zhao's father, Ban Biao , had joined a former Xin dynasty military leader in the transition period between the western and eastern Han , but switched fronts when the Liu family regained power. His civil servant career as a consultant and military officer under the Guangwu emperor was not characterized by any particular highlights. Accordingly, his ambitions were not in politics, but in his studies, especially in the writing of historical works. So he set about a continuation of the Shi Ji by Sima Qian to write that in the middle of the Western Han had ended.

Ban Zhao had older twin brothers, Ban Gu and Ban Chao . Ban Gu would later excel as a historian at the court of the Eastern Han , while Ban Chao, as a general, helped restore China's control over Central Asia. After Ban Biao's death, Ban Gu continued his father's work, but was arrested on charges of writing a private dynasty history. But the Ming Emperor was so taken with his work that he not only released him, but hired him as a court historian and commissioned him to continue his work on the history of the Han dynasty.

Life

Ban Zhao, with the legal age (zi 字) Huiban 惠 班 and a second personal name (ming 名) Ji 姬, was born around 49 AD in Anling in what is now Shaanxi Province .

Her father and brothers were in close contact with scholars and discussed politics and literature with them. So she grew up in an intellectual environment, studied the classics at a very young age and followed the discussions of her father and brothers.

At the age of 14 she married Cao Shishu , who however died early. After his death she led a model life as a widow and devoted herself entirely to her studies. Presumably she returned to her family and assisted her brother Ban Gu with his research on the Han Shu .

Ban Zhao was a highly educated woman of considerable literary talent, whose education and intellect were publicly recognized. The size and variety of her writings are impressive and leave no doubt that she was the one who carried on the family scholarly tradition. However, few of her writings - some poems and entrances to the throne, and the short treatise Nu Jie (Precautions for Young Women) - have survived.

After Ban Gu became embroiled in political power struggles that ultimately led to his execution, Ban Zhao was summoned to court by the He Emperor to complete the Han Shu . This gave her - even if only unofficially - the status of court historian after the death of her brother. As the first commentator on Han Shu, she taught many prominent male scholars how to correctly understand the work, including Ma Rong , who was to become one of the main exponents of Confucianism of his time.

In addition to her work as a historian, she had also received an assignment from the He-Kaiser to instruct the young empress and the palace ladies in classical writings, history, as well as astronomy and mathematics. Her students addressed her with the honorary title Cao Dagu .

After the emperor's widow Deng Sui took over the reign in AD 106, Ban Zhao played an important role in court politics as an advisor on state and family affairs. Ge justifies her influence with the fact that, on the one hand, she had already won the respect and trust of the emperor and empress through her behavior and knowledge and, on the other hand, she had great political skill and profound knowledge of the political situation at the time.

When Ban Zhao passed away at the age of 70, the Emperor's widow bore mourning for her.

Works

Little is left of their work, that is what it takes

• Commandments for women . In it she called for the right to education for women, which was unknown in China in her day.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jack Holland: Misogyny 2007, p. 223.

Web links

• Liu Xiaolin: Ban Zhao (Shanghai Daily, September 3, 2017)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Ban is the family name here, Zhao is the first name.