Speaking of historians, there was the first historian in history: Zuo Qiuming, and Sima Qian, who wrote the "Great Song of Historians" in prison, the "Records of History"; now there are Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, Hu Shi and so on.
Throughout ancient and modern times, most historians are mostly men, and there are only a few female historians in history, Ban Zhao is one of them, she is not only extremely excellent in historiography, but also a famous literary scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Ban Zhao has seven surviving works, such as the Eastern Crusade Fu and the Female Commandment, which have a great influence on later generations. So why is she said to be the daughter of many talents? Why are they scolded by later generations as "female thieves"?
Ban Zhaotu
Ban Zhao, courtesy name Ji (名姬), courtesy name Huiban, was born into a Confucian family that had been officials for generations. Her family is almost related to "history", her father is the famous great literary hero, historian Ban Biao, the eldest brother Ban Gu is also a historian, wrote China's first biographical body of the history of the Dynasty - "Book of Han", the second brother is the idiom "throw pen from Rong" prototype figure Ban Chao, across the western region for thirty-one years, not only opened up the Silk Road, but also on the road of the Silk Road, making more than fifty countries along the way and Han friendship.
In such an excellent family, Ban Zhao was familiar with the Hundred Classics of the Sons from an early age, and later mastered a wealth of astronomical and geographical knowledge, and was the only woman to participate in the history books. So where is Ban Zhaozhi??
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > supplement the Book of Han and fulfill the last wishes of his father and brother</h1>
Ban Zhao's father, Ban Biao, taking Sima Qian as a model, had been determined to write the Book of Han since he was young, and before that, Ban Biao began a long process of collecting materials, but he did not want to, and only wrote a beginning and died.
Ban Zhao's second song Ban Gu, in order to fulfill his father's last wishes, spent twenty years to continue to write the "Book of Han", the content of which was written to Emperor Zhang, and before it was completed, he was killed by the traitors and imprisoned because he was implicated in the murder of the great general Dou Xian.
After Ban Gu's death, the Book of Han not only had the "Eight Tables" and the Astronomical Chronicle not yet been completed, but also the manuscripts were scattered and urgently needed to be sorted out. When Emperor Han and Emperor He learned of this, they killed the traitors and ordered Ban Zhao to inherit his father's and brother's will and continue to write the Book of Han.
Book of Han
Imagine how a weak woman could complete the repair of the Book of Han in such a messy situation.
However, Ban Zhao did. She tirelessly read a large number of historical books in the library over the years, sorted out and proofread the scattered chapters left by her father and brother, and finally completed the "Book of Han" at the age of 40, and wrote eight tables and "Astronomical Records" on the basis of the original manuscript.
When later generations evaluated the Book of Han, they unanimously agreed that these two chapters were the most difficult and tricky to write, which shows that Ban Zhao's talent was high, and in that feudal period, it was unprecedented for women to participate in the writing, and it can be said that the Book of Han began with The Great Confucian and ended with a woman.
Ban Zhao transcribed the diagram
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > book "Seeking Substitutes for Brother Chao", so that his brother returned to the Central Plains</h1>
Ban Zhao's second brother, Ban Chao, had worked diligently in the Western Regions for decades, and because of his old age and missing his family, he repeatedly went to the emperor and asked to return to his hometown, but Emperor Hanhe only said that he would stick to his post and did not mention the matter of returning to his hometown.
After Ban Zhao knew about it, he handed the emperor a recital overnight, which was called "Seeking Substitutes for Brother Chao" by later generations, and the content of the text was meticulous and gentle, which could not help but make the Han and Emperor at that time soft, so they immediately recalled Ban Chao.
Although Ban Chao died of illness less than a month after his return, he died properly, and the two brothers and sisters also met for the last time. Just think, how can a piece of paper make the stubborn emperor soften his heart? This sonata, which is known as one of the classic works of ancient literature, is full of Ban Zhao's brotherly feelings, which is comparable to the text of the "Chen Qing Table".
Ban Zhao statue
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > the "Female Commandment", which has a profound impact on future generations</h1>
The first two stories may not be known to many people, but "The Female Commandment" must have been heard by many people.
The book is 1800 words long, and the rulers have vigorously advocated it for thousands of years, and have even been called "women's must-read textbooks". Ban Zhao wrote this book with the intention of educating women on how to be a woman, but he did not want to be hollowed out by the rulers and moralists of later generations, and was widely promoted and over-interpreted, so that Ban Cai's daughter became a representative of advocating feudal gangchang, which was also the source of "female thieves".
The Female Commandment
Why did later people attack Ban Zhao?
The reason is in this book, the beginning of the book: the ancient man gave birth to a daughter for three days, under the bed, and made bricks and tiles. That is to say, in ancient times, if a girl was born, in the first three days of birth, he let her sleep under the bed and give her a spindle as a toy. Why use a spindle as a toy, is to let her know that a woman is born without status, that is, to work, to make her humble.
And giving birth to a boy is different, to "carry the bed of sleep, carry the clothes of the clothes, carry the Zhang", that is to say, give birth to a boy to sleep on a tall bed, wear gorgeous clothes, and use jade as a toy. Let the boy know that he is noble. Because of such a sentence, it caused the anger of later generations.
Ban Zhao with children
In fact, from today's point of view, this move is really inappropriate, but we must know that Ban Zhao's original intention in writing this book was to educate his daughter, which belongs to the category of family style and tutoring, and such words are also recorded in the "Book of Poetry", not that she initiated this move.
Moreover, as soon as the "Female Commandment" was born, it became a tool for the ruling class to use, so it was vigorously promoted, and even over-interpreted, with the purpose of achieving a complete male supremacy through the complete suppression of women. Today, it seems that blindly advocating women's feminine restraint and grievances is completely unreasonable.
Ban Zhao
In summary, Ban Zhao's talent is indeed obvious to all, and she is a strange woman with good emotional intelligence and intelligence, who has a life merit and has left a posthumous name. Of course, the "Female Commandment" can be promoted for so long, not only by the ruler's incitement, but also from the masses, and this is not an overnight thing, because in people's hearts, especially in the hearts of men, is very eager and agreed with the idea of "male superiority and female inferiority", so the birth of the "Female Commandment" just caters to the ideas of most people.
Finally, Xiao Bi wants to say that the blind herd mentality is not right, we should also think about the historical origin behind this while criticizing Ban Zhao, see here, I don't know what everyone thinks about Ban Zhao's "female thief", welcome to comment on the message!
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References: Book of Han, Female Commandment
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