Sharing the Light ― Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China

Explores historical and philosophical shifts in the depiction of women and virtue in texts from the period spanning from the eighth to the first centuries B.C.E., as well as from a variety of texts from Han dynasty tombs excavated during the past 20 years. The author argues that these representations counter the familiar notion of Chinese women as eternally oppressed, powerless, passive, and silent. While she takes for granted that the texts were composed, consumed, and transmitted by men, she points out how many of the texts depict women as intellectual, moral, and political agents whose activities influence or determine their own well being and that of their families and states. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Lisa Raphals is Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Chair, Asian Studies Program, Bard College. She is the author of Knowing Words: Wisdom and Cunning in the Classical Traditions of China and Greece.