Ban Jieyu

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Ban Jieyu, depiction from the Qing Dynasty
Ban Jieyu refuses to sit in the litter beside Emperor Cheng. Depiction from the Northern Wei Dynasty .

Ban Jieyu ( Chinese  班 婕妤 , Pinyin Bān Jiéyú  - "palace lady Ban"; * around 48 BC; † probably 6 BC) was a Chinese poet and concubine of the Han emperor Cheng . She is considered the only female poet of the Western Han Dynasty.

Ban Jieyu was born in the Anling District of Fufeng Headquarters (near present-day Xianyang in Shaanxi Province ). Her personal name has not been passed down. Her father, Ban Kuang, was the cavalry commander under Emperor Cheng. Ban was admitted to the palace at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Cheng with the low rank of Shaoshi (少 使). Her intelligence, her impeccable behavior, her high level of education, but also her beauty and literary talent quickly attracted the emperor's attention. She quickly rose to the rank of Jieyu (婕妤, for example: preferred beauty , a title for concubines which was introduced under Emperor Wu and corresponded to the rank of Lord Chamberlain) and became the Emperor's favorite wife. She bore the emperor two sons, but both of them died in childhood.

Ban Jieyu is said to have taken the values ​​of the Book of Songs for women very seriously. The emperor's affection had made her modest, she had not become arrogant or presumptuous. It is said to have been based on the example of the concubines of the mythical great emperor Shun Ehuang and Nüying , on Tai Ren , the mother of the Zhou king Wen, or Tai Si , the mother of the Zhou king Wu . Bao Si , who was infatuated with Zhou King You and who had brought the Zhou dynasty to the brink of decline, was also a lesson to her. When Emperor Cheng wanted to be seen with her in the same litter in front of the people, Ban Jieyu refused to do so. She argued that the old rulers were only in the same car with senior government officials. Only the last Zhou kings - they were considered weak rulers - as well as merchants and supervisors appeared in the same car with their favorite women. Because of the virtue that Ban displayed in that episode, she was considered a fan ji of the Western Han Dynasty even in her own time .

From around 20 BC BC Emperor Cheng began to associate with other palace ladies. In a gesture of classic female sharing, Ban Jieyu proposed her maid Li Ping , who was soon promoted to the rank of Jieyu . But the sisters Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede , who were previously singers and dancers at court and were among the most controversial female actors in Chinese history, also caught the emperor's attention. Ban Jieyu, but also Empress Xu, had less contact with Emperor Cheng from then on. At 18 BC Zhao Feiyan developed ambitions to become empress herself. She therefore accused Empress Xu, her sister Xu Ye and Ban Jieyu of harming Wang Meiren - then Emperor Cheng's pregnant - and Chief of Staff Wang Feng through witchcraft . Emperor Cheng's mother Wang Zhengjun ordered an investigation, as a result of which Empress Xu was deposed and her sister Xu Ye was executed. Ban Jieyu escaped punishment because she used quotes from Confucius' talks to explain that fate and heaven decide people and that she therefore does not need to do evil. Knowing that she was in danger in the Imperial Palace, she was transferred to the Changxin Palace by Wang Zhengjun as a servant . In the loneliness of the vast neglected estate, she wrote poetry and compared her situation with that of Queen Shen , who was rejected by King You. Nevertheless, she served from 7 BC. In the memorial park of King Cheng, where she was buried after her death - she had the privilege not to have to die violently.

During her time at Changxin Palace, she wrote the Rhapsody of Self-Pity (自 悼 賦), in which she describes her life as a concubine, as she was cast out by Emperor Cheng, and her lonely life in the palace of the Empress. It also contains unclear attacks on the Zhao sisters. The rhapsody about the fulling of silk (搗 素 賦) is also attributed to her. It is about a beautiful woman who gets up on a moonlit night to knock silk on the walktable. The most famous poem by Ban Jieyu is probably The Fan in Autumn (扇 诗), also song of bitterness (怨 歌行). It was created after the Zhao sisters ousted them. In the poem she compares herself to a fan that is round like a moon, as long as it is useful to its master in the summer heat, but which is thrown away after the end of summer.

Ban Jieyu's descendants include her great-nephew Ban Gu and her great-niece Ban Zhao . They wrote the Han Shu Chronicle , which is one of the most important sources on the life of Ban Jieyu.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Keith McMahon: Women shall not rule: imperial wives and concubines in China from Han to Liao . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-1-4422-2289-2 , pp. 63 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Zheng Bijun: Ban Jieyu, Concubine of Emperor Cheng . In: Lily Xiao Long Lee and AD Stefanowska (eds.): Biographical dictionary of Chinese women: Antiquity through Sui, 1600 BCE – 618 CE . ME Sharpe, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7656-1750-7 , pp. 101-103 .
  3. ↑ a b Michael Loewe : A biographical dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin periods: (221 BC - AD 24) . Brill, Leiden 2000, ISBN 90-04-10364-3 , pp. 7 .
  4. ↑ a b c d 张宏伟: 中国 后妃 全 传 . 5th edition. 中国 华侨 出版社, Beijing 2017, ISBN 978-7-5113-3273-8 , pp. 71-72 .
  5. ↑ Keith McMahon: Women shall not rule: imperial wives and concubines in China from Han to Liao . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-1-4422-2289-2 , pp. 77 .
  6. ↑ David R. Knechtges : Ancient and early medieval Chinese literature: a reference guide . tape 1 . Brill, Leiden 2010, ISBN 978-90-04-19127-3 , pp. 16-19 .
personal data
SURNAME Ban, Jieyu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 班 婕妤 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese poet and lover of Han Emperor Cheng
DATE OF BIRTH around 48 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH near Xianyang
DATE OF DEATH around 6 BC Chr.
Place of death near Xianyang