This volume presents the first English translation of the Confucian classics, Four Books for Women, with extensive commentary by the compiler, Wang Xiang, and introductions and annotations by translator Ann A. Pang-White. Written by women for women's education, the Confucian Four Books for Women spanned the 1st to the 16th centuries, and encompass Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women, Song Ruoxin's and Song Ruozhao's Analects for Women, Empress Renxiaowen's Teachings for the Inner Court, and Madame Liu's (Chaste Widow Wang's) Short Records of Models for Women. A female counterpart to the famous Sishu (Four Books) compiled by Zhu Xi, Wang Xiang's Nü sishu provides an invaluable look at the long-standing history and evolution of Chinese women's writing, education, identity, and philosophical discourse, along with their struggles and triumphs, across the millennia and numerous Chinese dynasties. Pang-Whites new translation brings the authors of the Four Books for Women to life as real, living people, and illustrates why they wrote and how their work empowered women.
This volume brings the first English translation of the Confucian classics, Four Books for Women, to the English-speaking world with extensive commentary by the compiler, Wang Xiang, and annotations by the translator. As a female counterpart to the famous Sishu (Four Books) compiled by Zhu Xi, Wang Xiang's Nü sishu was an indispensable primer for women's education from its publication in the 16th century until the beginning of
the 20th century. This work provides an invaluable look at the long-standing history and evolution of Chinese women's writing, education, identity, and philosophical discourse, along with their struggles and triumphs, across the millenniums and numerous Chinese dynasties.
With this complete translation of the Four Books for Women, Ann A. Pang-White fills a longstanding and embarrassing gap in Western literature on traditional China. Her decision to include the commentary by the late-Ming literatus Wang Xiang adds immensely to the collection by affording a glimpse of its reception at the turn of the seventeenth century. The texts are preceded by Pang-White's thoughtful and evenhanded discussion of not only their historical value, but also their place in contemporary feminist discourse.
