Chapter 18 Section 4 Girls' Education in the Han Dynasty

In the royal tutoring of the Han Dynasty, in addition to the crown princes and princes, women such as queens and princesses were also educated.The opening of the precedent of royal women's education in the Han Dynasty played an important role in the formation of the imperial women's education system in my country's feudal society. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Empress Dowager Deng Ji" contains that Empress Dowager Deng Sui is the queen of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu Zhao.According to legend, she was able to read history books at the age of six, and mastered "Poetry" and "Poetry" at the age of 12. Her family name is "Zhusheng", which means Taixue.During the Yongyuan period, she entered the imperial palace as a nobleman, received scriptures from Master Cao (Gu Gu), and also studied astronomy and arithmetic.Later, she was established as a queen, and she lived in the court for 17 years.When Empress Dowager Deng came to the court, Confucianism was weak, and Shangshu Fan Zhun published "Please Revitalize Confucianism on Empress Dowager Deng's Book", suggesting "favoring Confucianism". "It is time for the sage to give lectures. The ministers each cited the Ming scriptures and the descendants of old Confucianism, entered their titles, and made Zuan [zuan compile] their careers."He persuaded Empress Dowager Deng to pay attention to royal family education with Jia Yi's famous saying that "a gentleman must learn from it", so as to "explain the way of the former emperor to enter the industry".Empress Dowager Deng seriously adopted Fan Zhun's suggestion, Zhaozheng Hedi's younger brother Jibei, Prince Hejian, and more than 40 boys and girls over five years old, as well as more than 30 close relatives and grandchildren of Empress Dowager Deng, set up schools for them, taught scriptures, and Empress Dowager Deng personally supervised the examination, nurtured and taught her, and her grace reached the extreme.She ordered the young descendants of the royal family to be equipped with guardians, adopting the crown prince's method of protecting Fu.In order to ensure the quality of teachers, especially to ensure that the palace people who take care of these royal descendants have a certain degree of cultural accomplishment, the Empress Dowager Deng ordered the eunuchs of the Zhonggong Palace to go to the East View, the school bookstore of the Luoyang Palace, "to teach the palace people by reading scriptures and biography" (" The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager Deng Ji").

The Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperors paid attention to the education of royal girls, and the Empress Dowager Deng strengthened it by establishing schools. This is not only a precedent in the history of royal family education, but also a major event in the history of female education in my country.Ban Zhao's "Women's Commandments" can be said to be a masterpiece explaining women's tutoring. The purpose, content and methods of women's tutoring she explained meet the needs of feudal royal patriarchal ethics and politics, and have always been favored by rulers. Ban Zhao's name is Huiban, and her name is Ji.She is the daughter of Ban Biao, the younger sister of Ban Gu and Ban Chao.She was born in a family of historians. Her elder brother Ban Gu's "Han Shu", "Ba Biao" and "Astronomical Records" failed to die, all of which were completed by Ban Zhao.Because of Ban Zhao's profound knowledge, everyone in the government and the public knew her, so Emperor He repeatedly called her into the palace. The Pope and other nobles studied and called her "Master Cao".In her teaching practice, she elucidated Confucian principles and famous teachings, and wrote "Nv Commandments", which were used as textbooks for royal women.

The main content of "Women's Commandments" is how to be a good woman with "Three Obediences and Four Virtues". It consists of seven chapters. The "low and weak" mentioned in the first chapter refers to the rationality of men being superior to women and how to "be inferior to others".Ban Zhao believes that women should be "modest and respectful", "bear humiliation and dirt" in order to "be inferior to others"; Family inheritance, ancestors, incense, etc., are women's "common way" and the "classic teaching" of etiquette.

The second chapter is about "The Tao of Couples".Ban Zhao believes that only when a husband controls his wife can he show his masculinity; it is only natural for a wife to serve her husband.Therefore, she advocated that family education should pay attention to women's morality, and put etiquette in the first place. The "respect and prudence" mentioned in the third chapter refers to how to carefully cultivate one's temperament.Ban Zhao said: "Yang uses strength as virtue, and yin uses softness as usefulness; men regard strength as valuable, and women regard weakness as beauty." If women want to achieve "beauty", they must pay attention to self-cultivation, and the best way to self-cultivation is "" Jingshun".The so-called "respect and obedience" means obeying the husband in all matters in the family, right and wrong, all decisions are made by the husband, the husband sings and the wife follows, and everything is aimed at coordinating the relationship between husband and wife.

The "women's behavior" mentioned in the fourth chapter refers to the four behavioral morals of women: "women's virtue, women's words, women's appearance, and women's merit".The so-called women's morality does not refer to "unique talents", but "leisure and chaste, chastity and order, shame in doing one's own conduct, and lawful actions and movements"; Proper, don't say "bad words" that hurt people, don't talk too much, and make people hate; the so-called feminine appearance does not mean "beautiful in color", but neat clothes, "not degrading the body"; "Excellent workmanship", but concentrate on spinning, don't laugh, drink and eat cleanly, and entertain guests warmly.Ban Zhao believes that these four virtues are the "great virtues" of women.

The "concentration" mentioned in Chapter 5 means not to be half-hearted towards your husband, and not to complain about your husband taking a concubine.Because "a husband has the right to remarry, but a woman has no suitable text (reason)".As a woman, you should concentrate on being serious.If the husband behaves frivolously because of his remarriage, and if he enters, he will have a bad appearance, and if he leaves, he will behave in a slim and graceful manner, which is contrary to the etiquette. The "Qu Cong" mentioned in the sixth chapter means that as a daughter-in-law, she must be good at subduing herself and others, obeying her words and bowing her head in front of her parents-in-law.

Chapter 7 talks about "with uncles and sisters", which is how to handle the relationship between sisters-in-law and sisters-in-law.Dealing with peer relationships lies in humility and caring for others. "Female Commandments" is a product of feudal ethics.It has been used as a royal family education textbook until the Qing Dynasty. For thousands of years, many people have commented on it and made vernacular straightforward explanations, and the influence is very far-reaching.