Empresses and Consorts: Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's Commentary 0824819454, 9780824819453

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Selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's Commentary Translated with Annotations and Introduction by Robert Joe Cutter and William Gordon Crowell

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© 1999 University of Hawai'i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 04 03 02. 01 00 99 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ch'en, Shou, 233-297. [San kuo chih. English. Selections] Empresses and consorts: selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary / translated with annotations and introduction by Robert Joe Cutter and William Gordon Crowell. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–8248–1945–4 (alk. paper) 1. Empresses—China. 2. China—Court and courtiers. 3. Women—China—History. 4. China—History—Three Kingdoms, 220–265. I. P'ei, Sung-chih, 372–451. II. Cutter, Robert Joe. III. Crowell, William Gordon. IV. Title. DS748.25.C49 199 98–41899 931'.04—dc21 CIP University of Hawai'i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by Cameron Poulter Printed by Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

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For Kay, Krista, Mei-yüeh, Alexis, Claudia, Erin, and in the memory of Barbara Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

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Page vii Profound is the love between a wife and her husband. A ruler cannot obtain it from his ministers nor can a father obtain it from his sons. —Sima Qian, Shi ji

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CONTENTS Preface Translators' Note

xi xiii

Part One: Prolegomenon 1 Introduction

3

2 Palace Women in the Early Empire

9

3 Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

26

4 Empresses and Consorts of the Three States

46

5 Records of the Three States

61

Part Two: Translation Records of the Three States: The Book of Wei

89

Fascicle 5: Empresses and Consorts Records of the Three States: The Book of Shu

115

Fascicle 34: Consorts and Sons of the Two Sovereigns Records of the Three States: The Book of Wu

122

Fascicle 50: Consorts and Concubines Appendixes Appendix I: Tables

137

Appendix II: Character Count in the San guo zhi and Its Commentary

149

Abbreviations

151

Notes

153

Bibliography

229

Index

255

Maps follow page

81

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PREFACE This volume is the result of a long-standing mutual interest in the Han and immediately post-Han periods. Although the idea for this book came much later, we first met at the University of Washington, where history and literature students habitually invaded each other's disciplines with relative impunity. During a conversation in Madison, Wisconsin in the summer of 1985, we decided to identify a project that would lend itself to being undertaken jointly by two people with separate interests in literature and social and economic history and a shared love of classical Chinese texts. The fascicles devoted to empresses and consorts in Records of the Three States presented themselves as an obvious choice, for in addition to meeting these criteria, they offered a sampling from each of the three divisions of the text and dealt with a common theme. We also had in mind a complete translation of Records of the Three States, and it seemed to us that this initial publication would provide an opportunity to test ideas and approaches, as well as to seek criticism that could guide us in the larger work. Finally, we thought that translating these fascicles would serve as a tribute to the women in our own lives, to whom this effort is dedicated. Would that the project could have been carried out under such circumstances as we enjoyed in our graduate student days! Instead, we have contrived to work separately in places as scattered as Bamako, Beijing, Boise, Boulder, Falls Church, Hong Kong, Madison, Reykjavík, Sarajevo, Shenyang, Taipei, and Yuma, with only a handful of opportunities to work briefly together in any of these cities. While the three fascicles and prolegomenon offered here deal with issues relating to women during the Three States period, it has not been our intention to write a history of women. Such a history is unquestionably needed, and Records of the Three States contains much valuable information on third-century Chinese society. We can only hope that we have made the way a bit smoother for those better qualified than we for such an undertaking. We have benefited from the help and guidance of many. Among those who have read and commented on all or portions of the manuscript Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

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at various stages in its development are Jeff Howard, Hsing I-tien, David N. Keightley, William H. Nienhauser, Jr., Melvin P. Thatcher, and Stephen H. West. We would especially like to thank Rafe de Crespigny, Albert Dien, Anne Kinney, and David Roy. Their wise and generous counsel immeasurably improved the final work. Where we failed to heed that counsel, and the work has consequently fallen short, we are of course to blame. Others who offered guidance or information include Ho Tze-chuan, Ch'en Shun-cheng and Lü Zongli. Their help was critical to enlightening us on specific points. J. Michael Farmer assisted with computer-related questions and ran the character count that appears in Appendix II. Francis Stanton of Eagle Eye Maps crafted the maps. We are also grateful to the Vilas Foundation and the Graduate School Research Committee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for their financial support, to Patricia Crosby of the University of Hawai'i Press for her advice and encouragement, and to our editors Victoria Scott and Masako Ikeda for their careful reading and helpful suggestions. A special expression of gratitude is due our mentors in classical Chinese language and literature, especially Father Paul L-M Serruys and David R. Knechtges. Father Serruys imbued us with an appreciation of the importance of rigor in reading and understanding classical Chinese, while Professor Knechtges showed us that such rigor should not be incompatible with an elegant rendering into English that conveys a sense of the beauty of the original. We cannot claim to have achieved their standards, but as Father Serruys would say, "Even a cow can catch a rabbit sometimes." We hope these pages contain a bunny or two. In closing, we wish to express our gratitude to three gentlemen whose contributions have greatly influenced our efforts and whose example will be sorely missed as our work continues. The writings of Professor Miao Yue on the Three States era are well known and widely appreciated. Perhaps less well known are his generosity with foreign scholars and his interest in their understanding of the literature of the period. As is obvious from the Notes, we are beholden to him not only for his own contributions but also for those of the scholars he trained. Similarly, the Notes reveal our debt to Achilles Fang and his translation of those portions of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Governing (Zizhi tongjian) concerned with the Three States. The passages from Records of the Three States translated in Fang's work have often proved valuable. Finally, it is with gratitude, and sorrow, that we note our indebtedness to Jack L. Dull, whose high standards, ever-questioning mind, and deep sense of integrity have informed this effort. Demanding teacher, valued colleague, and cherished friend, he is greatly missed. Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

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TRANSLATORS' NOTE The translation is based on the Zhonghua shuju

and other works.

This book consists of two main parts. Part One is introductory and provides historical and historiographical information on women in early imperial China. Part Two consists of three chapters of (233–297) history and Pei Songzhi's (372–451) translation and includes both Chen Shou's (fascicle, or chapter) and page numbers of the 1982 Zhonghua shuju edition commentary. The juan are provided in the margins of the translation to facilitate finding the original text; thus "5.160" in the margin marks the beginning of juan 5 on page 160 of that edition. The translation of the San guo zhi itself is in regular type, while Pei's commentary, which is keyed to the text by superscript letters (beginning with A), is set off from it in a smaller type size. The placement of the commentary mirrors the Zhonghua shuju text, which in turn follows the traditional placement of the commentary. There are two appendices. Appendix I contains tables that present or supplement some of the information in the Prolegomenon and the Translation in concise form. Appendix II contains a character count for the San guo zhi that shows the lengths both of the history proper and of Pei's commentary. This is useful because of the widespread but unfounded assumption, sometimes purportedly supported by numbers, that the commentary is much longer than Chen's own work. Sources are cited in the Notes in two principal ways—either by an abbreviation of the title (as listed in the Abbreviations) or by an

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author-title reference. In both cases, of course, page numbers are provided. Full bibliographic information on each work cited is provided in the Bibliography. Citations to a small number of Classics are given according to Sinological convention, and reference is made to specific editions only where necessary. Since it is our desire to make our work and related material accessible to the specialist and nonspecialist alike, where possible we provide references to English translations of texts we cite. If an English translation is not available, we try to refer the reader to translations in other Western languages. Unless otherwise noted, however, all translations included herein are our own.3 Chinese characters are given at the first occurrence of a name or term. If no characters are given, the reader can assume that the name or term appeared earlier in the text and can consult the Index to find the earlier occurrence. Names in the text are frequently anachronistic. For example, in the Wei section, Cao Cao (155–220) is consistently referred to by his posthumous title Grand Progenitor (tai zu ), and empresses may be called empress (hou ) even in accounts of events that occurred before their assumption of that title or after their assumption of some other title.4 These special usages figure not only in the descriptive and narrative parts of the material, but in ostensible reports of direct speech as well. Thus, in a statement supposedly made by Empress Bian to Cao Cao's supporters, she is made to refer to Cao Cao as Grand Progenitor, even though his later success and his role as father of a dynastic founder could scarcely have been guessed at the time. In the translation, the name Cao Cao or an appropriate pronoun may sometimes be substituted for the Grand Progenitor of the Chinese text. Such posthumous names and titles (shi ) figure prominently in the juan translated here.5 A posthumous name represents a judgment about an individual's life. Ideally, probity led to a good posthumous name, lack of probity to a bad one.6 Since the bestowal of such a name took place soon after death, it constituted a contemporary evaluation of the person. But inasmuch as it was intended to be permanent, the name selected was meant to shape the image of the deceased in the minds of both present and future generations. Thus the power to determine posthumous names was not trivial. It generally rested with the sovereign and his ritual advisers. Although this power might theoretically be exercised in a more or less impartial way to commemorate genuine virtue and condemn undesirable behavior, inevitably political judgments and personal considerations colored the process.7 Because posthumous names were meant to carry meaning, we have attempted to translate many of them.8 Among the most notable posthumous titles in the translation are those applied to the royal women. These follow Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

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a pattern established earlier.9 Cao Cao's Empress Bian, for instance, is given the title Wu Xuan Bian huanghou .The title can be explained as follows: huanghou means empress; Wu (the Martial [Emperor]) is her husband Cao Cao's posthumous designation;10 Bian is her own surname; and Xuan is her posthumous name. This can be dealt with in translation by writing ''Empress Bian, Consort of the Martial Emperor and Canonized 'Celebrious,'" which we shorten to "Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor."11 To render the word zi , referring to the name given to or adopted by an individual after reaching maturity, we have used the English word "appellative." We considered "courtesy name" and "maturity name," which describe zi of certain types, but ultimately rejected them as too narrow to encompass the full range of zi. The Roman terms agnomen and cognomen were eliminated after consultation with Hsing I-tien of Academia Sinica. Dr. Hsing, a specialist in the comparative history of the Han and Roman empires, pointed out that, even though there are some superficial similarities, the Chinese and Latin terms denote quite different names, and to adopt Roman usage would risk leading the non-Sinological specialist astray. We also decided against the old standby of "style" for zi as misleading. In China, people have traditionally been reckoned one year (sui ) old at birth and turn two at the first lunar New Year. Thus a person who is forty sui might be thirty-nine or even thirty-eight years of age according to Western reckoning. Because of the difficulty of knowing a person's age according to the Western system of counting, the reader should understand that when a person's age is given, it is in sui. A good deal of direct speech is recorded in these chapters. Clearly, these words cannot all be the actual utterances of the parties involved. Not only would verbatim transcripts have been lacking in most cases, but the literary language in which the texts are written was even then at some remove from the spoken vernacular. The direct speech probably comes from three sources: oral traditions concerning what was said at a given moment; written materials available at the time; and conjectures about what might have been said, based on the author's understanding of the circumstances and personalities involved and his own agenda. Since the Three States continued in large measure to use Han official titles, we have generally opted for the translations in Hans Bielenstein's The Bureaucracy of Han Times. We have chosen Bielenstein's renderings12 over Charles Hucker's functional translations because they convey a better sense of the system of naming offices. We have employed Bielenstein's translations and conventions even with regard to titles from the Jin and other periods, because although the nature of offices might change over time, the titles themselves frequently remained the Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

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same. Occasionally we have had recourse to Hucker's A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China and other sources, particularly "Official Titles of the Han Dynasty: A Tentative List," which was compiled under the direction of Jack L. Dull for the Han Dynasty History Project at the University of Washington. Where necessary, we have coined our own. Pinyin is the principal romanization system for this book. When quoted material includes transliterated Chinese words in other romanizations, we have converted them to Pinyin. We acknowledge that this is an imperfect way of dealing with the problem of different romanizations but hope that it may make the work somewhat more accessible to a variety of readers. We ask the forbearance of those who find this convention objectionable. We have not, of course, altered transliterations appearing in the titles of books, articles, and other works. After the manuscript of this book had gone to the publisher, we learned of two new works on palace women in early imperial China: Liu Yongcong , De, cai, se, quan: lun Zhongguo gudai nüxing : [Virtue, Talent, Beauty, and Power: Women in Ancient China] (Taipei: Maitian chubanshe, 1998) and Lisa Raphals, Sharing the Light: Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China (Albany: SUNY Press, 1998). While we were unable to make use of these two fine studies in our research, we were gratified to find that their interpretations parallel many of our own and agree with Professor Raphals regarding Liu Xiang's authorship of the Lie nü zhuan. Start of Citation[PU]University of Hawaii Press[/PU][DP]1999[/DP]End of Citation

Prolegomenon

1

Introduction

It has long been held that throughout Chinese history women occupied a position subordinate to men, inhabiting a sphere of activity that was limited by ideology and social custom to serving the needs of a patriarchal, patrilineal, and patrilocal world. Occasionally a woman might be able to surmount these constraints, but such instances were considered aberrations. To early Western observers, the position of women, like other aspects of China's history and culture, seemed to change little from ancient times to the beginning of the twentieth century. And what change there appeared to have been was for the worse, such as the emergence of the praaice of footbinding and the adoption of Neo-Confucianism as orthodoxy from the Song dynasty (960-1279) onward. During the past quarter century, as approaches to the history of women generally have advanced and become more sensitive and as the handling of the Chinese sources has been refined, our understand ing of the position of women in Chinese history has grown more so­ phisticated. Recent research has made it strikingly clear that the picture is far more complicated and nuanced than would have been expeaed just a few decades ago. Even so, little has been uncovered to suggest that Chinese women were significantly better off than heretofore thought, and while broad generalizations can no longer be made without care and qualification, it does still seem appropriate: to conclude that Chinese women have seen their position—as manifested in social status, legal protection, economic rights, and ideological valorization— in continuing decline from earliest times to at least the end of the nineteenth century. This decline has not been entirely constant, however, and as one might expect, changes in the position of women have paralleled changes in other aspects of China's hikorical development and have experienced a number o f 44turning points.MThe Song has long been considered one of the most significant of these turning points, though “point” is perhaps a misnomer for a span of three hundred years.1 Chinese and Western writers alike have pointed to Neo-Confucian orthodoxy, the 3

4

Prolegomenon

importance assigned to widow chastity, and footbinding as de­ velopments during the Song that rationalized and enforced the inferiority of women.2 Recent research has shown, howcvci; that the matter is rather more involved. The idea that widows should remain chaste and not remarry hardly began with the Song, and the new emphasis given it was actually a post-Song development.3 Moreover; developments were not uniformly to the disadvantage of women. For example, during the Song women enjoyed much greater property rights than in earlier periods.4 In recent years, scholars have posited a second major turning point in Chinese women's history: the Ming-Qing transidon.5 One writer has pointed to the rise of a group of male critics who questioned such repressive practices as widow chastity and suicide, footbinding and concubinage. Some of these critics grew out of the new school of Han Learning tRat challenged the assumptions of Song Neo-Gonfudanism ， while others were the product of a culture that sprang from increased urbanization and commercialization and the spread of literacy among elite women.6 Other scholars have pointed to a growing women's literary movement or to intellectual developments that, though they might embody a reaffirmation of classical ideals and result in a solidification of the existing gender system, generally represented beneficial developments for Chinese women.7 While these studies underscore the need for a rethinking of received notions of the situation of women during the Ming-Qing period, there has also been a recent reminder that we must be careful in viewing discrete phenomena as representative of broader and deeper developments. Kathryn Bernhardt has noted thaq when placed in a broader context^ many of the beneficial developments noted by others seem less striking and of diminished import for the later rise of feminism and growing pressure for the equality of women. Moreover, Bernhardt shows that, when one considers the matter from the point of view of law, the important transition in fa a occurred earliei; between the Tang-Song and MingQing periods,8 and that, rather than being beneficial, the change actually brought decline in the legal status of women.9 The Song and the Ming-Qing transition are, of course, by no means the only turning points in the history of Chinese women. During the Qin-Han period as well, developments occurred that fundamentally altered the direction of the history of Chinese women. As the examples of later periods have demonstrated, however these developments are best understood in the broader context of the social, economic, and political changes that were occurring at the time. One would naoirally expect that the creation of the centralized Chinese imperial structure by the Qin 秦 （z u b.c.) and Han 漢 B.C.-A.D. 220) emperors

5

Introduction

would have enormous implications for social institutions, and this was certainly the case where women and the family were concerned. One of the most significant of these implications stemmed from the desire of the imperial government to deal directly with the heads of families rather than through a hierarchy of feudal-like subordinates. As Patricia Ebrey has pointed out, Chinese patriarchy was to a very large extent the produa not of the classical period but of the early imperial state, and patriarchal institutions and practices were reinforced by the policies and laws adopted by the Qin and Han.10 The appearance of patriarchy was strongly supported by intellectual developments. A gradual transformation of yin-yang thought took place during the Han that saw the nature of the feminine principle of yin change from being complementary and equivalent to the male principle of yang to being subordinate and inferior to yang.u The Han also saw the compilation of the first texts explicitly intended to provide examples of correct behavior for women. The first among the extant examples of these, compiled during the Former Han, was Liu Xiang's 劉向（ 77-6 B.c_) Lie 列 女 傳 [Biographies of Women】. Liu presented examples of feminine virtues that were hardly intended to promote expansion of the scope of women’s activities outside traditional roles. A section with a similar title and purpose became a regular feature of the dynastic histories.12 The second was the Nü jie 女 誠 [Precepts for Women], written during the Later Han by Ban Zhao 8EBS (ca. 49-ca. I zo).13 Both works became extraordinarily influential in later periods and were models for similar works right up to the modem era.14 With the creation of the centralized imperial structure, the role and function of royal wives necessarily changed as well. Marriages among royal families of the pre-Qin states were largely between persons of the same or nearly the same social standing, and they were contracted to form political alliances between states or between states and the royal 2^hou house.15Once China was governed by a single imperial structure with an emperor at its head, such marriages were no longer needed or possible. An imperial wife was chosen from among the emperor’s subjects, and although her family might gain enormous influence through the marriage, they could never be the equals of the imperial family. At the same time, the exalted position of the emperor made Kim more remote from his ministers and officers, presenting opportunities for imperial wives and their families to exert extraordinary influence over the government and the country through manipulation of the mechanisms of imperial rule or even of the emperor himself. The potential for mischief contained in this new situation and the threat it posed to the empire became clear very early in the Former Han, when

6

Prolegomenon

Empress Lü 呂 was able for a rime to seize control of the government. Coping with this problem would require a redefinition of the role and function of imperial wives, to give them a place within the imperial structure where they were clearly subordinate to the emperor and from which they could not undermine the imperial family. But a new definition of the role of the imperial wives had implications beyond the imperial government, because it established a model for the place of women generally, whether in the household or at court. Despite the importance of the early imperial period for the history of Chinese women, there has been relarively little study of women during this era and even less that places them in the context of wider social, economic, and political changes. Earlier studies tended to deal with outstanding individuals, such as the historian and poet Ban Zhao,16 or with particular empresses.17 Others have examined some­ what broader issues, such as the influence of the imperial wives and their relatives on court politics.18 In most cases these studies have followed the primarily political concerns of the sources on which they have been based. More recently, howevei; historians of the Qin-Han have undertaken new approaches, not simply looking at women as such but examining the institutions that shape women's lives, such as marriage and the family. Pung-tsu Ch'ii's study of Han social structure, for example, included chapters on marriage and the position of women.19 Although Ch'ii^ work advanced our understanding of Han society significantly and made available in translation a considerable amount of primary source material, it suffered from treating the Qin Han period_ a span of more than four hundred years—almost as though it were a homogeneous block of time. One thus misses a sense of the developments that occurred over the course of this period. Subsequent writers have continued to focus on particular aspeas of women in early imperial China, gradually building up a body of analytical literature and increasing our understanding of the subjea.20 The fruits of their work not surprisingly reinforce the conclusions reached by their colleagues studying the history of women in later periods：Whereas the broad, impressionistic view may show women to have been subject to social^ ideological, and economic constraints, closer examination reveals that the strength and relative importance of these forces varied in response to social, economic, and political change. This should caution us against being too quick to assume that we understand what life might have been like for any woman—from empress to peasant一 in early imperial China. The purpose of the present work is not to attempt a history of women in early imperial China. Although we sketch the history of women from earliest rimes through the Later Han~apparently in flagrant violation

7

Introduction

of our own caveats against superficial studies— our aim is more mod­ est. Our hope is to contribute to the growing body of literature and source material that will one day make {possible the writing of that history. Specifically, we have translated the three fascicles of Chen Shou's Records o f the Three States that are devoted to empresses and consorts, together with the extensive material found in Pei Songzhi's commentary to those chapters. Records o f the Three States is the history of the three independent states of Wei 魏 （ 220-265)， Wu 吳 （ m - 2 8 0 ) ， and Shu 蜀 （or Shu Han 萄漢，221-263)， which were established as a result of the dissolution of the Han empire (206 b .c -a .d . 220). The parts translated here are the “Hou fei zhuan” 后 妃 傅 [Biographies of Empresses and Con­ sorts] from the Wei section，the “Ér zhu fei zi zhuan ” 二主妃子傳 [Biographies of the Consorts and Sons of the Two Sovereigns] from the ghu section， and the “Fei pin zhuan” 妃 嫌 傳 [Biographies of Consorts and Concubines] from the section devoted to Wu.21 Because these deal with the various wives and concubines of the successive heads of state in the three regions, they form a topically coherent group.22 The biographies in this group are intnnsically interesting for what they tell us about the lives of these women and their relatives, for the attitudes toward women expressed in them, and for the light they shed on historians' approaches to writing about women. A comparative study of these seaions can also deepen our understanding of the struaure and composition of the text of Records o f the Three States as a whole. The material in this prolegomenon is meant to give our texts and their content a historical context. Wc discuss the treatment of women by Han writers, how their views, were influenced by political de­ velopments, and how attitudes toward imperial spouses in particular and women in general might have changed over time. Although we believe the reader will find in our translation and discussion much that is useful for understanding the history of women of this period, we feel obliged tu caution against assuming that these chapters present a complete picture of the subject. There is much yet to be gleaned from a careful study not only of Records o f the Three States but of other writings of the period. Still, taken as a whole, the three fascicles presented here seem to provide a fuller picture of women in general than do the chapters on empresses and consorts in the other histories of the Han period. This has much to do with the differing natures of the courts of the Three States. The chapter on the Wei comes closest to the norm for a chapter on empresses and consorts, because the Wei court was in many ways a continuation of the Han court, with all its attendant titles and ritual. The Wu court, in contrast, to a very large degree grew out of a series of marriages among regional elites, perhaps

8

Prolegomenon

more akin to those of the pre-Qin era than to those of the Han. And the Shu Han court and the marriage patterns of Liu Bei (161223) and Liu Shan # 1# (207-271) were even further from the imperial model of the Han. Thus these three chapters show us a variety of types of women and possible spheres of activity for them. Moreovei; the rich variety of material found in Pei Songzhi's commentary presents us with additional perspectives on the women, while allowing us to evaluate Chen^ historiography in the context of his time. Finally, aside from whatever scholarly merit our modest effort might have, it is our fervent hope that it will provide the nonspecialist (in Chinese studies and beyond) an opportunity to appreciate better the richness of this transitional period and the extraordinary people and writing it produced.

2

Palace Women in the Early Empire

A fair amount has been written on changes in the status of women in China over the last fifteen hundred years, but those that occurred in the preceding millennium and a half up through the end of early imperial China were no less sweeping or significant.1 Meager liter­ ary and archeological sources strongly suggest the outlines of a pro­ found transformation beginning at least with the Shang ^ (ca. 1700ca. 1028 b . c .) and ending with the early empire. It began with a time when women—royal wives in particular—occupied a position of com­ plementarity, if not equality, in governing. Their position was legitimate and their aas of governance were recognized. By the end of the early empire ( a . d . mid-third century), however, the situation was quite different, and though imperial wives and other palace women might be active in affairs of state, their actions were regularly thought to be inappropriate and ultimately inimical to the well-being of the empire. A person alive in the Shang probably would not have predicted that result. In the first half of the twentieth century, influenced by Marxist ideas coming from the West, Chinese historians posited the existence of a very early period of Chinese history characterized by matrilineal society.2 After 1949, this view became orthodoxy and variations of it are found in China in general histories and on signs for museum exhibits about prehistoric times. Ideological content aside, historians in China have been able to present considerable circumstantial evidence to support their claims. Early writers such as Chen Dongyuan 陳東原、 pointed to the supposedly immaculate births of such mythological figures as Fu Xi 伏義，Shen Nong 神農，and Zhuan Xu Ä 頊 ， wRose mothers were touched by supernatural forces and became pregnant: a footprint into which Fu Xi's mother stepped; a divine dragon (shett long ^ H ) that quickened Shen Nong9s mother; and a rainbow that affected Zhuan Xu’s.3 A similar myth exists for the birth of Hou Ji 后 授， or Lord Millet, the founding ancestor the Zhou 周 dynasty (ca. 1040-256 b.c.), whose mother Jiang Yuan HJlS became pregnant after she trod in a divine footprint.4 Other evidence adduced for this 9

io

Prolegomenon

interpretation is that the graph for the word for lineage» xing i t , comprises the elements for female and birth. Additionally, several writers have pointed out that many ancient surnames contain the element for female.5 Also frequently cited in support of the evidence of irmtrilineality are passages f^om later texts~mosdy fourth and third century B.c.—that in ancient rime ttpeople knew their mothers but not their fathers."6 Finally, some have found praaices and terminology in the Shang period that they believe to be artifacts of a pre-Shang matrilineal society.7 Having established to their own satisfaction the existence of matrilineal society, some scholars have made the dubious inference that matriarchy (rule by women) existed in most ancient China, a conclusion that is not sustained by the evidence.8 P R E -IM P E R IA L C H IN A

Tantalizing pieces of evidence notwithstanding, the existence of a preShang matriarchal or matrilineal society remains unproven. Moreover even if one grants the existence of matrilineal elements, by Shang times Chinese society was unquestionably patrilineal and patriarchal.9 Even so, royal wives and other women could exercise considerable authority and have high status. Shang kings performed sacrifices to their female as well as their male ancestors, and the well-being and health of a royal consort was often the subject of the king's divinarions.10 Shang kings seem to have practiced monogamy in the beginning but later adopted polygyny, probably for political reasons and to address growing concern about the need for heirs who could continue the royal sacrifices.11 According to one Chinese scholai; King Wu Ding Ä T (ca. iz o e x a . 1181 b.c .)12 had at least sixty-four concubines, not all of whom lived in the palace. Those he did not favor (maintain as sexual partners) were given a piece of territory, and some of these were ordered to perform sacrifices or to condua military expeditions. They traveled back and forth between the capital and the outlying regions on the king's business, and they were for all practical purposes trusted officers of Äe king.13They also supervised ancestrd sacrifices and seem to have performed other duties at court.14The performance of such important functions appears not to have been limited to Wu Ding^ wives or just to the wives of the Shang king. It has been suggested that the wives of subjea rulers may have presented tribute at the Shang court on behalf of their husbands, or the women presenting the tribute may in fact have been subjea rulers themselves.15 The overall impression is that royal wives, and perhaps upper-class women generally, were respeaed and held positions of authority, though Shang women typically occupied a position inferior to men.16 Royal wives continued to perform an active role in governing during

Palace Women in the Early Empire

the Western Zhou (ca. 1040-771 b.c.). Bronze inscriptions refer to the activities of queens, who had their own officers and were persons of status.17 H. G. Creel noted that one queen, whom he identified as the consort of King Cheng Ä (n ca. 103 5-ca. 1006 b.c.), appears in several bronze inscriptions performing functions that normally would have been those of a king.18 For a later period, a poem in the Shi jing S5 [Classic of Poetry] presents a list of seven of the highest officials of the government and states that ttthe beautiful wife splendidly side by side (with the king) has her place•” 丨9 The “Minor Preface” （ “5üao xiT 小 序 ） to this poem says it is a criticism of King You 幽 （r 781-771 b.c.).20 The beautiful wife has been understood to be the enchanring Baosi 褒拟 ， with whom King You was so infatuated that he bungleä his rule of the kingdom and allowed it to be overrun by the armies of a non-Chinese people from the North.21 As we shall see in Chapter 3, this interpretation may be more a reflection of later thinking than a description of what actually transpired. Creel could be correct in saying that Baosi's appearance here (if indeed it is she) might simply acknowledge the important role this wife played in decision-making and perhaps even in the conduct of government.22 In any case, the impression conveyed by the available sources is that at times during the Western Zhou, if not throughout the period, royal wives could did actively participate in government functions, in some cases acting as a king might and in others perhaps performing duties analogous to those of a minister. Our understanding of the situation, however is decidedly hampered by limited evidence. With the Eastern Zhou (720-256 b.c.),23 source materials become more plentiful, offering us a more complete and more elaborate picture. The major texts from the period reveal a set of intricate institutions and practices involving not only the Zhou kings but the rulers of subordinate states (zhuhou and the aristocracy (qirtg daifu W 大夫 ).24 Their very complexity suggests that the beginnings of these institutions would surely be found well back in the Western Zhou, if only our sources were riehen Particularly interesting are the institutions of marriage as practiced during the Spring and Autumn period. These constituted arrangements based on sororal polygyny; whereby the Zhou king married twelve women at one time, the rulers of suix^rdinate states, nine women, and aristcx:rats lesser numbers according to their rank.25 Although this practice was in part driven by the desire to ensure an heii; it was also largely impelled by political motives， especially the need to establish and sustain alliances among states, as is suggested by the fact that all primary wives of rulers came from other states. In a process known as ying one state would send the primary bride, accom­ panied by a younger sister and a niece, while rwo related states would

i2

Prolegomenon

each send a secondary bride, also accompanied by a younger sister and niece, making a total of nine. The primary bride became the primary wife, and the eight other women (or girls) who accompanied her all became secondary wives. This ensured that even if the primary wife failed to produce an heir or was for some reason divorced, there would be an heir from the lineage of the principal bride or from a related lineage, thereby preserving the affinal relationships established by the marriage. These wives were also to be agents of their natal states and were to protea the short-term interests of their lineages while producing heirs who would ensure long-term amity between their natal states and those of their husbands.26 A practice so involved must have been difficult to sustain, and it eventually ceased, though vestiges existed during the Han.27 The harem of a ruler also included concubines and maids. Wives and concubines were ranked within the harem, and we know that there were at least nine ranks. A woman's ranking determined the status of her children in the succession, and it could change.28There were several sources for concubines, including rulers sending girls from their lineage or fathers sending their daughters into concubinage. An abbreviated marriage rite might be performed fur some concubines, particularly those from other ruling lineages, but they were usually treated as private property. A ruler could elevate a concubine and make her his wife; this usually happened only if the concubine had become a special favorite of the ruler or he wanted to make her son his successor. Such actions were frowned upon and were apparently made a punishable offense through an interstate convention; there was a recognition that con­ cubines were a potendal source of disrupnon.29 The size of the harems is uncleaz; but they could sometimes run into the hundreds.30 Although women could still be important in the cementing of alliances among lineages and states, they do not appear to have exercised the same sort of authority in the Eastern Zhou as they did in the Shang and the Western Zhou. The ß 周 榷 [Rites of Zhou] lists a number of posts that were to be held by women. The Rites is a relatively late text,31 and although many of the positions it de­ scribes arc attested to in othei; earlier works, this does not seem to be so much the case with the positions held by women.32 The Rites does describe the royal wives as being counterparts of the highest-ranking ministers in the government, but there is no evidence that they or the wives of the rulers of the subordinate states exercised any authority outside the confines of the palace. The separation of the court into inner and outer domains appears to have been well established by Spring and Autumn times, and the appropriate realm of the activities of the royal wives was considered to Se limited to the inner court.33 Because the

i3

Palace Women in the Early Empire

main political funcrion of the royal wives was to serve as agents for their natal lineages, conditions were ripe for them to begin engaging in the sorts of manipulative，inner-court politics on behalf of their families that was to charaaerize the early empire. The situation was exacerbated by the growing popularity of large numbers of concubines during the Warring States period,34which led to the development of sizable harems that became hotbeds of competition for the ruler's favor and fertile ground for the sort of plotting that marked the courts of the early empire. T H E T R A N S IT IO N TO E M P IR E

Multiple consorts and large harems may have been a source of prestige and gratification for late Eastern Zhou rulers, but in the end they became simply a part of the spoils of conquest amassed by Qin as it rolled up the empire. Just as he integrated other aspeas of China to build his empire, so the First Emperor consolidated the harems of the conquered rulers to form a seraglio worthy of the lord of the subcelestial realm. He built palaces and pavilions in his capital, where he assembled the women belonging to Âe rulers of the states he had eliminated.35 One text says, aHe demarcated within and without one hundred forty-five halls and lodges, and the diverse women occupying the rear apartments numbered more than ten thousand. An emanation rose and surged to Heaven.”36 Given the systematizing policies instituted by the First Emperor in the other spheres of the new empire, it is not surprising to find that he established an elaborate scale of ranks and titles for the women of the harem that mirrored those of the civil bureaucracy. The system differed, at least in titles, from that found in the Eastern Zhou. It comprised eight ranks, and like many other Qin institutions was adopted by the Han: The principal wife was called empress (huattghou) and secondary wives were called lady (furen ^ À ). There were also beautiful lady (weir你 美人>， sweet lady 良人)， eighth-rank lady (fcazi 八 子>，seventh-rank lady (0zi• 七子)， senior maid 長使)， and junior maid 少使}.37 In addition, the emperor’s mother was called empress dowager 发 taihou and his paternal grandmothei; grand empress dowager (toi/?«伽 g 太皇太后） .3丨 The tit 丨es favorite beauty (/»y« 婕 妤 )，graceful lady (xiVig’e 經娥)，elegant lady (rongfow 容華)，and compliant lady (cAowgyi 充依 ） were added by Emperor Wu 武帝 of Han (r. 140-87 b.c .)，and brilliant companion 昭儀） was added

i4

Prolegomenon

by Emperor Yuan 元 帝 (r 49-33 B.c.).39 As Hans Bielenstein has pointed out, three additional ranks were created beyond these. No earlier than the reign of Emperor Yuan, the sequence of the fourteen ranks was rearranged, and the individual ranks were correlated with those of the bureaucracy. Now the harem not only possessed official rank but also enjoyed the income that came with it.40 The reign of Emperor Wu is often associated with grandeur and excess, and women were part of the display. According to the Sanfu 如 三 輔 黃 圖 [Yellow Chart of the Capital District]: In his quest for immortality. Emperor Wu built the Palace of Bright Radiance. He sent two thousand beauties from Yan and 2^hao to fill it. They selected girls under twenty but over fifteen. Those who reached the age of thirty were sent away to be married.... Whenever one of the girls died, another girl was found to take her place.41 Emperor Wu's successors sought to outdo him, and the increasing extravagance of emperors in building their harems drew criticism. The Ho« 5/7« 後 漢 畲 [Later Han riistory] reports， “After Emperors Wu and Yuan, each generation was increasingly profligate and wasteful until the palace women numbered three thousand and their official ranks grew to fourteen."42 Following the restoration of the Han, Emperor Guangwu 光 武 帝 （ r. 15-57) reduced the size of the harem and the number of ranks. Besides the empress, there were only honorable lady OfM/rew 貴人}， beautiful lady (me/ren)， and chosen lady (cainii 3|^^C).43 The honorable ladies had a small fixed income, but the beautiful ladies and the chosen ladies did not.44 Subsequent Later Han rulers did not feel obliged to emulate Emperor Guangwu*s restraint, and Emperor Huan’s te 帝 （ r. 146-168) harem reached some five to six thousand women, the vast majority being chosen ladies.45 What were the origins of the wives and concubines of the Han emperors? Unlike the pre-Qin period when rhe families of the rulers of h é different states married among themselves， thus practicing a sort of class endogamy where marriages occurred among equals or near equals (the ZÎîou king being a special case>， once an imperial structure was established, the ruler had no equals. Moreover with the founding of the Han, the matter became a bit more complicated, for the Han founder Liu Bang 劉 邦 （ d. 195 b.c.} and his followers were of plebeian origins. Consequently, imperial marriage in the Former Han was relatively free of the strictures that characterized not only Zhou times but the Later Han as well. A striking example is the case of Lady Wang 王夫人， wife to Emperor Jing 景 帝 （r 157-141 b.c.} and mother of Emperor Wu. She had been previously married to a man of rather modest background. But her mother ended the marriage when a

15

Palace Women in the Early Empire

fortune-teller predicted fame and fortune for her two daughters, and she arranged to have Lady Wang taken into the härem， where she bore three daughters and a son to the heir apparent, the future Emperor Jing. That son ultimately became Emperor 切u.46 Over time，however; Han marriage rules grew increasingly rigid, due both to the systematizing tendencies that charaaerize the period and to the growth of powerful lineages.47 Although in the early years of the dynasty the consorts and empresses came mainly from humble origins, most of the women in the “Annals of Empresses” （“Huanghou ji” 皇后紀 ） of the f /伽 History were from great families.48 Already early in the dynasty there was somerimes a tension between the Han sovereigns and their more class-conscious officials over the choice of an empress. To the dismay of officials and historians alike, some Former Han empresses apparently attained that exalted station simply because the emperor was fond of them. Such putatively bad judgment on the part of an emperor might well draw stertorous objections from officials and was likely to bring out the strong didactic element that always has been part Chinese historiograpüy.49 The “Wu xing zhi” 五行志 [Treatise on the Five Phases】of the f /伽 harshly condemns women of low estate who would be empress.50 Among those criticized in the uTrearise" and elsewhere are Emperor Wu’s Empress Wei 衛 (appellative Zifu 子夫，d. 91 b.c 〇, who had been a singer in the retinue of a princess; the same ruler’s Lady Li 李夫人 and favorite Beauty Yin 尹餘妤 ， who had been entertainers; Emperor Cheng's Empress Zhao SI, better known as Flying Swallow Zhao (Zhao Feiyan 趙飛燕 } for her skills as a dancer and musician; and Emperor Ôheng’s Favorite Beauty Wei 衡婕 好，who had simply been a palace maid.51 The base origins of such women bothered officials, especially Confucianists, whose ideology centered on propriety and etiquette. As the Han ruling house got farther from its own humble antecedents, similar origins became less acceptable for imperial wive$. Shi ji StnE [The Grand Scribe's Recorck] states that only the daughters of princes and marquises possessing territory were worthy to wed a ruler.52 By the time Wang Mang 3EH (45 b .c . - a . d . 23) began maneuvering in a . d . 2 to have his adolescent daughter made empress of the equally young Emperor Ping, the principle that imperial wives were to come from “good families” /ia 良家} was well established. In a mem­ orial to the throne，Wang said that the difficulties of the state derived from the lack of an heir and the improper seleaion of imperial spouses. He proposed an examination into the Five Classics to fix the ritual for marriage and correct the duties of the twelve imperial wives as a means of expanding the succession. He said that a selection should be made from descendants of the Zhou kings Wen and Wu, the Duke of

i6

Prolegomenon

Zhou and Confucius, and the hereditary full marquises (lie hou 列侯 ).53 The Confucianists' desire to have consorts from good families was used by Wang Mang as a pretext for his own daughter's marriage to the emperor. During the Later Han, howevei; ugood family" (liartg jia) came to mean something different. Under the Former Han, the term connoted a family that was pure and blameless~that is, one not engaged in unacceptable occupations such as trade, medicine, or manufacturing.54 Such families did not need to have high social status.ss During the Later Han, however although the term retained some of its earlier sense, it also now clearly referred to large families of some standing and reputation—in short, to powerful lineages.56 These families developed into a powerful force at court and in the govern­ ment during the Later Han, and their aggrandizement became a major factor in weakening the dynasty.57 Toward the end of the Later Han ， howevei; such families were themselves gready weakened in the political struggles that attended the fall of the Han. Still, their own role in undermining the dynasty would become a warning to subsequent rulers, and in the turmoil of the final years of the Han and during the Three States period, Confucianist concerns with ugood families" would cease to be quite so important in the selection of imperial wives.58

PALACE W O M E N A N D PALACE P O L IT IC S

The creation of the imperial structure brought major changes in the political roles of palace women. Wives could no longer be drawn from the ruling families of other Chinese states, nor were imperial wives the means for establishing political alliances among states， as rulers, wives had been in the pre-imperial period.59 This meant that imperial wives did not have the outside source of support and authority that had been available to pre-Qin rulers* wives, whose natal families were themselves ruling lineages. Moreovei; the formal political participation that had been available to royal wives in the Western Zhou and before had long ceased to exist. All activities of the imperial consorts were to be limited to the inner court, which meant that the only outlet for the political ambitions of imperial women was through their ability to manipulate the emperor. Furthei; because the ruler had now been elevated to an exalted position over ail the empire, he became remote from his ministers, and the sort of collaborative relationship that had existed between such men as Guan Zhong 管仲 and Duke Huan of Qi 齊桓 公 ceased to exist. Under such conditions，empresses， empresses dow­ ager, and concubines became an important means through which ambitious officials sought to influence and control the emperor.

17

Palace Women in the Early Empire

Although such influence was not always bad, in most cases it worked to the detriment of the imperial insdcution, and it was generally railed against both by honest officials and by those who did not have access to such influence themselves.60 Involvement in state affairs by palace women during the Han established general patterns for the entire subsequent history of imperial China and was generally of three kinds. First was the empress who used her position to seize power in her own right. This was the case with the first Han empress, Empress Lii. As the wife of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han, she shared his humble background, and according to Sima Qian 司馬遷（ 145-aL 86 B.c.)， she had “aided him in pacifying the empire" and was hard and ruthless.61 Moreovei; the position of the emperor still very much relied on personal abilities and alliances and was not yet buttressed by the ideology of an imperial sovereignty that could be violated only with strong justificarion.62 Upon Liu Bang’s death in 195 b.c .，Empress Lü’s son inherited the throne. Known to history as Emperor Hui 惠 帝 （t 195-188)，63 this hapless lad seems to have been unwilling or unable to cope with his domineering and malevolent mother who actually ruled during his reign. Upon his death she placed a succession of two infants on the throne but was so effectively in control that Sima Qian entitled his chapter covering the period wBasic Annals of Empress Dowager Lü" (MLü taihou ben ji” 呂 太 后 本 記 She appointed members of lier family to positions of high authority. Four were named kings, thereby violating an oath taken by Liu Bang and his followers that only members of the Liu family could be kings. Others of her kinsmen were made marquises and generals. Approaching death in 180 b.c .，she composed a valedictory proclamarion naming two of her relatives to the most senior positions in the government, chancellor (xiangguo and general of the army (s/wig /ijng/M« 上將軍 >. The Lii family saw an opportunity to supplant the Liu and seize the empire for themselves. They were thwaned^ however; by kings from the Liu family and officials who remained loyal to them.64 Although Empress Lii failed in her bid to establish her own family, she did leave a legacy of usurpation of authority by empresses and affinal relatives that was to bedevil China into the present century. Her case also served as an objea lesson to those later rulers who were willing to heed it. One who did was Emperor Wu. From his deathbed he ordered the death of Lady Zhao 趙夫人， mother to the infant heir apparent Filling 弗 陵 . When asked why he had the mother killed when he haä established the son, he replied, Right. This is not the sort of thing you puerile ignoramuses could understand. In times past, what brought chaos to the state was the

18

Prolegomenon

ruler's being an infant when the mother was in the prime of life. When a woman rules alone, she is arrogant, promiscuous, and debauched. None can restrain her. Haven't you heard about Empress Lii?65 The second pattem of interference in the affairs of state by imperial wives was that in which powerful male relatives used them to exercise influence or control over the emperor. The Former Han witnessed the rise of powerful regional families, which was fostered by the development of the private ownership of land. As these families became prominent in the bureaucracy and politically active on a national scale, they maneuvered to have their daughters become the consorts of emperors in order to improve the position of the family itself or to strengthen the hand of whatever political faction family members might represent. As we have seen, representatives of these families sought to solidify their position and that of their class generally by redefining the criteria for Mgood families" so that the term came to encompass only the powerful. A consort from one of these families was no longer simply an agent of her family but a pawn whose function was to ensure the position of her natal family by producing an heil；providing access to the emperoi; and becoming the means for enunciating policy or even dethroning the emperor once she had become empress dowager•“ One of the most important early examples of the manipulation of an empress to achieve political goals was orchestrated by the powerful Former Han minister Huo Guang 霍 光 （ d. 68 b . c .). Huo was the younger half brother of the famous general Huo Qubing who brought him to court.67 He gained the trust and confidence of Emperor Wu, who promoted him to positions of increasing responsibility. On the eve of his death, Emperor Wu named Huo one of the three regents for his successoq the eigkt-yeai>old future Emperor Zhao 招 帝 …8774 B.c.). Huo Guang's granddaughter became consort and then empress to Emperor Zhao. Following the death of Emperor Zhao in 7 4 b . c . at the age of fifteen, Liu He 劉賀， king of Changyi 昌邑王， was chosen to succeed to the throne. His comportment while he was in mourning for Emperor Zhao proved so outrageous that Huo Guang decided he must go. Huo convened a group of ranking officials to discuss the situation and propose dethronement.68 After strong initial reluaance, thirty-six of them were persuaded to sign a memorial con­ taining a bill of particulars that was then read out to Liu He in the presence of the fifteen-year-old empress dowagec. The empress dowager was of course Huo^ granddaughter and she was certainly primed on what was expeaed of hen She expressed extreme outrage and approved the measures outlined in the memorial deposing Liu He. Huo was then free to propose another successor to Emperor Zhao. This rime it was

i9

Palace Women in the Early Empire

eighteen-year-old Liu Bingyi 病已， who succeeded as Emperor Ximn 宣 帝 (r. 74-49 b.c .)，assuring Huo Guang’s dominance. Huo^ action was to reverberate down through the centuries, for he had created a legitimizing precedent for empresses and empresses dowager to assume the power of decree. He had thus provided to these women—and those who controlled them ~the means with which to usurp the emperor's authority and, while perhaps acting ostensibly in his name, to achieve their own political aims.69 More specifically, Huo had provided the model for dethroning an emperor using the authority of the empress dowager historical precedent, and the imperial cult. The case was cited specifically in later dethronements, and it would provide the model for the dethronement of Cao Fang (r. 239-254) in 154.70 Huo also provided a model for the usurper Wang Mang, who went beyond him and replaced the Han with his own Xin dynasty (923) following the death of the juvenile Emperor Ping.71 Wang was the nephew of Wang Zhengjun 王政君, empress to Emperor Yuan. When her son acceded to the throne as Emperor Cheng at the age of eighteen， she named her eldest brothei; Wang Feng i Ä l , regent. Emperor Cheng was little interested in governing and contenr to leave affairs of stare to his uncle. Wang Feng died in 22 b.c. and was succeeded by a series of cousins and brothers until 8 b.c., when Wang Mang, then in his mid-thirties， became regent. The following year，however， Emperor Cheng died and was succeeded by his nephew, who became Emperor Ai (r. 7-1 b.c.). This emperor was somewhat more interested in his vocation, and the Wang clan found themselves challenged by the Ding T clan of Emperor Ai*s mother and the Fu i# clan of his grand­ mother: Wang Mang was forced to withdraw from government, though Wang Zhengjun remained, since by tradition she was considered the emperor's adoptive grandmother. When Emperor Ai died in 1 b.c., Wang Mang, who had widespread support in the capital, was able to return to power. Emperor Ai's mother and grandmother had died, and the emperor himself had succumbed without issue. This left the Grand Empress Dowager Wang as head of the imperial dan, making it possible for Wang Mang to engineer the selection of an infant descendant of Emperor Yuan as successor This was Emperor Ping, during whose reiga Wang controlled the government. He quickly exacted revenge on the Fus and the Dings, ordering that the corpses of the Grand Empress Dowager Fu and Empress Dowager Ding be exhumed, stripped of their seals, and reburied in wooden coffins as befitted the concubines they had once been. Empress Dowager Zhao, who had been wife to Emperor Cheng, was degraded and driven from the imperial palace, as was Ai's Empress Fu.

2〇

Prolegomenon

Ironically, Wang's actions seem to have been motivated not simply by a desire to exact revenge but also by a clear understanding of the threat that affinal relatives posed. He would not allow Emperor Ping's mother Dame Wei or her relatives to come near the capital. This a a met with disapproval from several quarters, including from Wang's own son Wang Ÿu 王 宇 ， who tried to arrange for the Weis to come to court. For this effort, Wang Mang ordered the execution of his son, along with members of the Wei dan and others. Wang was left securely in control, a position he further solidified by orchestrating~over the opposition of his aunt—the marriage of his daughter to the young emperoi; thereby making himself a relarive of the emperor. His carefully laid plans were dealt a blow, however when the emperor died in a . d . 6 without having sired a son. Had Ping had a son, Wang would have been extremely well positioned as father-in-law to Emperor Ping and grandfather to his successor. Since that was not to be, he apparently saw assuming the imperial throne himself as the only way to ensure his continued power. He knew well the difficulties an affinal family faced in carrying its dominance across generations, for had his aunt not lived as long as she did and been willing ro bring him back, he might well have remained in the wilderness to which the Dings and Fus had consigned him.72 The third pattem of interference with affairs of state occurred when an emperor became so taken with one of his harem, especially a low­ born woman, that he not only took no interest in governing but was led to excesses that undermined the stability and moral authority of the imperial institution. Such was the case with Emperor Cheng, who was sminen by Zhao Feiyan, a slave-entertainer in the service of the imperial princess of Yang’e 限阿公主 • He took Zhao Feiyan (along with her sisteq known to history as Brilliant Companion Zhao 趙昭 ft) into his harem, where she became his favorite. When Empress Xu D1, losing favor and anxious to produce an heil；was accused by Zhao Feiyan of performing occult rites, the emperor dismissed Xu and banished the members of her clan from the capital. Although Emperor Cheng made Zhao Feiyan empress—over the protests of his mother, who was offended by her humble background 一 he gradually lost interest in her， and she was replaced äs his favorite by her sisteq the Brilliant Companion. But neither sister was able to conceive a child by Cheng. Others were, howevec, and a slave girl and a certain Beautiful Lady Xu I t H Ä each bore him a son. Realizing the threat that direct male descendants posed to the Zhaos, the Brilliant Companion induced the compliant emperor to kill both infants. As a consequence, when Emperor Cheng died in 7 b . c ., he left no heir, creating a succession crisis that was resolved by the selection of a half nephew of the

21

Palace Women in the Early Empire

emperor， a descendant of Emperor Yuan’s consort of the Fu dan. There was some suspicion that Emperor Cheng had not died a natural death， and the Brilliant Companion committed suicide. Her sistci; Empress Zhao, was protected by Emperor Ai’s grandmother, the Empress Dowager Fu, and remained safe until Wang Mang returned to power several years later.73 The patterns of activity and involvement in court politics by palace women that developed in the Former Han were repeated and refined during the Later Han (25-220) and, indeed, on into the present century. During the Later Han, however, their impact was magnified by institutional changes adopted by Emperor Guangwu. The power of the outer coun was reduced, and within the inner court the influence and access of powerful maternal relatives and officiais were curtailed. They were replaced by a palace bureaucracy controlled by eunuchs, who thus became imperial advisers and were able to control the flow of in­ formation to and from the emperor. Consequently，the emperor was now raised primarily by palace women and eunuchs. These changes were to contribute significantly to faaional struggles among eunuchs, affinal relatives， and officials and would result in the dynasty’s ru in ,4 What is particularly striking about Later I Ian imperial marriages is the continuing role played by a rather limited group of families until the final years of the dynasty. The origins of this phenomenon are to be found in the marriage policy adopted by Liu 文iu 劉秀 during the struggles that ended with hüs becoming the founding emperoi; Emperor Guangwu, of the Later Han. The workings of this p>olicy are redolent of the system of interstate marriages in the Spring and Autumn period and presaged the marriage policy of the Suns ^ at the beginning of the Three States. In order to construa his power base and build support in the struggle for dominance in the wake of the fall of Wang Mang, Liu Xiu concluded alliances with powerful clans from his home commandery of Nanyang 南陽 ， the Northern Plain， and the North­ west.75 These clans were u> be the dominant source of imperial wives until the reign of Emperor Ling (r. 146-168). For example, Guangwu’s first wife， ô uo Shengtong 郭聖通， came from a powerful family on the Northern Plain， and Guangwu married her in order to gain needed support against a rival in the region.76 Once he ascended the throne in a . d . 25, she became his empress. The support of the Northern families was no longer needed, howevei; and the Nanyang faction increasingly dominated his government and began to press for the empress to be replaced with a consort from Nanyang, ostensibly on the grounds that Guangwu's eldest son, born of Yin Lihua ^ 11 should replace Empress Guo's son as heir apparent. Bowing to pressure, Guangwu divorced Empress Guo in a . d . 37 and replaced her

22

Prolegomenon

as empress with Yin Lihua, who was from Nanyang and whom Guangwu had married in a . d . 23, a year earlier than Guo Shengtong.77 The Guo family had been linked with the Ma faction led by the illustrious general Ma Yuan 馬 援 （ d. a . d . 49). The Yin family were allied with the Northwestern faction, led by Dou Rong ÄHt, and their ascendancy meant that of the Dou as well. From that point on through the reign of Emperor Ling, most imperial wives came from the Dou and allied Northwestern families (most notably the Liang or from Nanyang families, such as the Yin and the Deng 9 . The exceptions were Emperor Ming’s 明 帝 （ r. 57-75) Empress Ma 馬 and Emperor An’s 安 帝 （ r. Io 6 -i 15} Empress Yan 閩 ，whose family was from He’nan 河南 ,78 The selection of wives~as well as their dismissal—is usually described by the dynastic histories as based on very personal considerations, but in faa the process was clearly driven by factional concerns, as Hans Bielenstein has cogently demonstrated.79 The persistence of this small group of families is quite striking. At least two of the families, the Mas and the Dousy had been active at the imperial level during the Former Han, and the Liang family was already quite wealthy during the reign of Emperor Wu. In part this persistence was the result of the extreme social stratification that had occurred by the end of the Former Han and that had resulted in imperial spouses being taken from a limited group of families. Whereas the Former Han women could provide entrée to court and a way for the family to rise (the family of Wang Mang is an example), during the Later Han marrying a daughter to an emperor became the way to maintain a family's established position of prominence.80 This meant, howevei; that a family's posirion might hang by a slim thread, and when that connection was broken^ the family would fall. The most salient example is the Liang family, who first came to prominence when Liang Tong assisted Guangwu in conquering the Northwest. In recog­ nition of his support, Liang Tong was granted a marquisate, and his son Liang Song married an imperial princess, one of Guangwu's daughters.81 Although the family's fortunes were dealt a temporary blow when Liang Song was dismissed in a . d . 59 on charges of corrupdon, then jailed and ultimately executed, the family had arrived at the highest reaches of government. The Liang recovered when Liang Song’s niece entered Emperor Zhang’s 章 帝 （ r. 75-88} harem and two years later bore a son who would become Emperor He 和 帝 （r 88io6). The family subsequently provided empresses for Emperor Shun 順帝（ r. 125-144} and Emperor Huan. A scion of the Liang family, Liang Ji 梁冀， dominated tRe government under Emperor Huan， but after the empress died in 159, Liang Ji lost a crucial means of control over the emperor and was unable to replace her. His high-handed

z)

Palace Women in the Early Empire

manner had won him the enmity of many, including Emperor Huan, who turned to the eunuchs for support and drove Liang from powen82 Other families fared better. When Emperor Guangwu set aside Empress Guo in favor of Yin Lihua, for example, Guo's sons were made kings, and Guangwu continued to honor other members of the family.83 In this case, the claims of the author of the Later Han History notwithstanding, the emperor appears to have understood that he was setting aside his empress simply for reasons of political expedience and not as the result of some bitter factional struggle or because she no longer pleased him.84 The Mas demonstrated how timely and effective use of imperial marriages might save a family from destruction. In the wake of the death of Ma Yuan, who at the time of his passing had been under attack from the Dou faction, his faaion fell from power. Ma Yuan was posthumously demoted from marquis to commonei; and the family had to plead with the emperor to be allowed to bury Ma properly in his ancestral plot. Ma Yuan’s nephew Ma Yan 馬嚴 was distressed by the situation; to fend off disaster, he petitioned to have Ma Yuan's daughters enter the harem of the heir apparent. His plan worked. The youngest was accepted, and eventually she became empress to Emperor He, reviving the fortunes of the family.85 Emperor Guangwu was very much aware of the threat that affinal families could pose to the position of the Lius on the throne. After all, the objea lesson of Wang Mang's usurpation was still vivid. Hence Guangwu was careful to lîmit the positions held by the Guos and Yins so that they did not begin to approach those held by the Wang and Xu families in the later part of the Former Han.86 His successor. Emperor Ming, made an effort to uphold the policies and institutions of his father. He would not allow relatives of his palace women to be enfeoffed as marquises or to participate in government.87 But what neither he nor his father could foresee was that most of the Later Han emperors would come to the throne at an early age, providing an opening for empresses dowager and their families.88 Because empresses dowager served as regents for minor emperors~even those who were not their own sons~and could issue decrees in their names, they were well positioned to exercise extraordinary authority in the interests of their own families. Indeed, they couid even control the succession, as was done, for example, by Emperor Shun's Empress Liang. When Emperor Shun died in 144, he was succeeded by a son by one of his concubines. The son (Emperor Chong) died a mere five months after ascending the throne. Empress Dowager Liang then consulted with her brother and chose another child, though adult candidates were available. This lad (Emperor Zhi) in turn died under suspicious circumstances a little more than a year latei; and the empress dowager

24

Prolegomenon

named an adolescent to succeed Kim and arranged a marriage with her younger sister. Because they had supplied the empress dowager the dominance of the Liang could in this way be ensured.89 The Later Han also saw a large growth in the imperial harem. Although the First Emperor had created an extensive harem and Former Han emperors had permitted themselves to be distraaed by beautiful courtesans, the size of Former Han harems seems to have been relatively controlled. As we have seen, when Emperor Guangwu ascended the throne, he simplified the harem structure by reducing the number of ranks from fourteen to three (honorable lady, beautiful lady, and chosen lady). Growth of the harem under Guangwu's successors, however was marked, and by 165 Xun Shuang， who was to become a leading intellectual and political commentatoi; was criticizing the enormous expense and size of the harem, which he had heard contained five to six thousand chosen ladies.90 Girls and women between thirteen and twenty years of age (which could mean between eleven and eighteen in Western reckoning) were examined each autumn in conjunction with population registration, and those adjudged suitable were recruited for the imperial harem. They had to be virgins of good families, and they were inspected as to beauty, complexion, hair, carriage, elegance, manners, and respectability, and then graded.91 If this process were conduaed on an annual basis, it is certainly possible that large numbers of girls were brought into the palace. Moreovei; although a large harem might be considered the result of imperial extravagance, one should not rule out the likelihood that people put pressure on the recruiters to take their daughters in the hope that they might gain imperial favor or at least be in a position to intervene on the family^ behalf. Whatever the size of his harem. Emperor Huan clearly enjoyed his palace women, if not his empresses. After he sent his second empress to the Drying Room and death, he devoted his attention to a group of nine women, including Chosen Lady Ttan Sheng and although he established a new empress, he had little to do with her.92 Regardless of the actual numbers of women, dedicated officials were right to be concerned, because the growth of the harem signified a decline in the emperor's engagement in affairs of state. C O N C L U S IO N

Had one of Wu Ding's wives been transported through time to the court of Emperor Huan, she would surely have been astounded at the condinon of her Later Han counterparts and wondered at the changes that had brought them there. The transformation in the situation of palace women， particularly the consorts of rulers， in the intervening period must be considered radical, even allowing for concurrent social,

z5

Palace Women in the Early Empire

economic, and political changes. These latter of course, had much to do with the former. The most far-reaching change was the relcx:ation of the sphere of political activity for palace wives from the outer court (or even beyond the court) to the inner court. As we have seen, this transfer was already underway by Spring and Autumn times and thus must have begun much earliei; perhaps by the middle Western Zhou. Assuming that the condition of palace wives in some way reflected the situation in the wider society, the implications of this change are very significant. Certainly this would have been so for the elite classes, who would have sought to emulate the court. This shift was evident at the courts of the subordinate states during the Eastern Zhou, and it set the boundaries of activity for women at the Han court. Combined with the patriarchal nature of the imperial structure, this development at the center must have contributed to the general subordination of women. The development of the inner court and the creation of the imperial structure completely altered the nature of political activity. Now such activity was centered on a single male in an unprecedented way. Political competition focused on this individual， whether k was competition among the palace women for favor or among court and government factions for ascendancy. Even in the latter case, the struggle could be waged through the women, who were the agents—or pawns—of particular factions. The possibilities for mischief became legion, and the ramifications of such mischief were potenrially fatal to the imperial house. With comprehension of this reality came a change in the view of palace women and, ultimately, of women in general.

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

Changes in economic, political, and social structures are inevitably accompanied by changes in thought and ideology. Thus, in studying the development of the institutions pertaining to palace women of the early empire, the question is not whether or not these changes were reflected in Han writings but how were they manifested and what impact they had. When we examine the writings of Han thinkers, historians, literati, and social commentators, the one trend that is immediately apparent is an increasingly unfavorable view of women in relation to government. Not only does the position of woman relative r〇man decline,1hut women come to he viewed as requiring constraints on their behavior and activities to prevent them from causing disruption and from leading men astray. The evolution of these views was not simply concurrent with but was, rathei; directly influenced by the activities of the palace women. W O M E N IN P R E - Q I N T H O U G H T

In keeping with what we have seen of the position of women in Shang and Western Zhou times, the Chinese cultural canon often conveys the impression that women were honored in early China. The “Xu gua” 序 卦 [Sequence of the Hexagrams丨 appendix to the 易 經 [Classic of Changes] contains the following theorem: Once there are Heaven and Earth, there arc the myriad things. Once there are the myriad things, there are man and woman. Once there are man and woman, there are husband and wife. Once there are husband and wife, there are father and son. Once there are father and son, there are ruler and subject. Once there are ruler and subjea, there are superior and inferior. Once there are superior and inferioc; ritual and dutifulness have something to deal with. The way of husband and wife must be long-lasting.2 Although this passage does depia women as a link in the chain from primordial chaos to government and civilization, it says nothing specific 26

2.7

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

about their actual position in society. Of course upper-class women, our main concern here, enjoyed upper-class prerogatives, and we have seen that individual women might even attain great power or influence. But the point being made in the text cited here~a point repeated in other works as well—is that the family is the fundamental unit of Chinese society, and key in the aXu gua^ passage just quoted are the social and metaphorical connections between marriage (and procreation) and the existence and form of the traditional Chinese polity.3Amplifications of this connection are numerous, one of the most famous being the litany of hierarchical relationships found in the “Zhong yong” 中 庸 [Doctrine of the Mean】: “There are five universal relationships in the subcelestial realm__ They are called ruler and subjea, father and son, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brothei; and the association between cohorts and f r i e n d s . A famous passage from another canonical text， the MDa xue” 大 學 [Great Learning], reads ：MThe ancients who wished to illuminate their enlightened virtue in the subcelestial realm first governed well their states. Wishing to govern well their states, they first regulated their families.”5 Such philosophical pronouncements were serious attempts to articulate the values of early Chinese society. As we shall see, to a large extent they continued to inform views of women throughout the Han and the treatment of women by historians such as Chen Shou9 who subscribed to this vision of society and to the belief in the relationship between a well-run family and a well-run state.6 But as will become t, there was a difference. In the texts just cited, the relarionship Iman and wife is central, and in the tfXu guawpassage it cumcb before the relationships of superior and inferior (father/son, ruler/ subject, etc.)9suggesting, if not equality, at least complementarity. This view wa$ to change. HAN P H IL O S O P H E R S A ND SO C IA L C O M M E N T A T O R S

The change in perceptions of women that occurred during the early imperial period is perhaps most evident in the evolution of the position of woman in yin-yartg thought. In early expressions of the concept, the various pairs that embodied the yin-yang duality—sun/moon ， man/woman， Son of Heaven/queen—were complementary, and the distinction of superior/inferior was muted.7 A cosmogony in the Huainanzi seems to give equal weight to yin and yang-. Spacetime produced the primordial qi. A shoreline (divided) the primordial qi.

z8

Prolegomenon

That which was pure and bright spread out to form Heaven; The heavy and turbid congealed to form Earth. It is easy for that which is pure and subtle to converge. But difficult for the heavy and turbid to congeal. Therefore Heaven was completed first, and Earth fixed afterwards. The conjoined essences of Heaven and Earth produced yin and yang. The supercessive essences of yin and yang caused the four seasons. The scattered essences of the four seasons created all things. The hot qi of accumulated yang produced fire; The cold qi of accumulated yin produced water.8 In the Book o f Rites^ for example, yin and yang are linked to the function of the Son of Heaven and to the queen, wirfiout implying that one occupies a place of honor and the other is debased. Indeed, the text makes it clear that each requires the other in order to fulfill its proper functions. The Rites describes separate, complementary realms of responsibility for the Son of Heaven and his consort and likens their roles to father and mother of the people: In ancient times the queen of the Son of Heaven established the Six Palaces, along with the three ladies (sart furen the nine concubines (jiu pin /IÄ ), twenty-seven hereditary consorts (shi fu 世U}， and eighty-one royal wives (y« 分I•御妻>， in order to oversee the internal administration of the subcelesdal realm and to clarify and set forth feminine instructions. As a result, throughout the subcelestial realm there was internal harmony and families were regulated. The Son of Heaven established the six ministries, along with the three dukes (san gong the nine ministers (jiu qing twentyseven grandees (daifu and eighty-one primary officers (yuan shi T ti) , in order to oversee the external administration of the subcelestial realm and to clarify and set forth the masculine teachings. As a result, there was external harmony and the state was well governed. Thus it is said, MThe Son of Heaven oversaw the masculine teachings and the queen oversaw the feminine instructions. The Son of Heaven regulated the principle of yang; the queen administered the virtue of yin. The Son of Heaven oversaw external admin­ istration; the queen oversaw internal duties. The teachings and instructions perfected popular custom, within and without were harmonious and compliant, and state and family were regulated and well governed. This was referred to as thriving virtue.9

29

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

By the middle part of the Former Han, however a significant shift from the complementary view of women was already occurring. The complementarity evident in such e3q>licarions of yin-yang theory was now being replaced by a dear sense that things feminine were inferior to those masculine and that yang no longer need be balanced by yin. The salient expressions of this inteq>retation are found in the Chunqiu 春秋繁痛 [Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn】of Dong Zhongshu 董 仲 舒 （ i7 9 ? - i 〇4? B.c.)•丨。Dong used anä Five Phases (wu xing £ î r ) concepts to explain hierarchical and complementary relationships, such as those between ruler and subject, man and woman. In his conception, however^ yang is superior to yirt； the one is noble, the other base, and by extension man is superior to woman. Moreover with Dong it is no longer important if yin and yang are not in balance. Yangy being good, should prevail, though it should not destroy yin.u Toward the end of the Former Han, the revised concept is unequivocally expressed in the writings of such people as the influential scholar Liu Xiang 劉 向 （ 79-8 B.c.>， as in the following statement from Liu's Shuo yuan [Garden of Persuasions]: Flood and drought are the work of yin and yang in the subcelestial realm. When there is a great drought, one makes offerings and asks for rain； when there is a great flood, one sounds the drum and compels the deity of the soil. Why? Yang is yinys superior. Among birds, the cock is yang and the hen is yin. Among beasts, the stag is yang and the doe is yirt. Among humans, the husband is yang and the wife is yin. Within the family, the father is yang and the son is yin. In the state;, the ruler is yang and the subject is yin. Thus yan^ is noble and yin is base, yang is honored and yin is lowly. Tliat is Heaven*s principle.12 As we shall see， similar views were to inform Liu’s other writings and the counsel he gave his emperor. In the hands of men like Liu, such notions could be powerfully effective when interpreting the effects that the actions of palace women might have on the well-being of the empire and the health of the imperial government. When Liu Xiang and Gu Yong 谷永 sought to have the unfortunate Empress X u~w ho had failed to bear an heir— set aside in 17 b .c .9 they couched their arguments in terms of the need to redress an excess of yin. This excess, according to them, was manifest in a series of events dating from the beginning of the reign, when a comet had appeared in the lunar mansion House Builder •營 in the first month of spring and the ancestral temple of Emperor Xuan^ father had caught fire.13Since then, they asserted, there had been

3〇

Prolegomenon

a series of solar eclipses and natural disasters—floods in particular— evidence of a serious imbalance between y/H and y伽发 • The “Basic Annals of Emperor Cheng” （“Cheng di ben ji” 成帝本紀 ) docs indeed record a string of such events,14and as they were occurring, the emperor and some of his officials recognized that there was a serious problem. In the fourth month of Heping i (28 B.c.), following an eclipse that had closely followed a major flood the previous month, the emperor issued a decree criticizing himself for having failed to uphold the work of his predecessors and quoting the Gongyang zhuan Ä [Gongyang Commentary), uWhen the male teachings are not cultivated， affairs pertaining to will not succeed， and the sun will be eclipsed because of it.w,5 Five years latei; in Yangshuo z (23 b.c.), another decree was issued underscoring the fundamental importance of working in accordance with the operations of yin and yang and criticizing officials who did not believe this and consequently failed to conduct the affairs of Government in accordance with them.16 Three years after that, Emperor Cheng issued another mea culpa, declaring that yin and yang had fallen into disarray because he had failed in his dunes.17Thus when Liu and Gu~ostensibly motivated by concern over the lack of an heir—lay the blame for the excess of yin at the feet of Empress Xu, the emperor was receptive, and he set her aside.18 Throughout the Later Han, yin-yang cosmology continued to provide a theoretical basis for attacking the influence of women, often as a means of criticizing the emperor and his appetites. For example, in his critique of government submitted to the throne in 167, Xun Shuang railed against the extravagant numbers of women in the rear apartments of Emp>crur Huangs court. In part he was distressed by the enormous expenditure these women entailed, but he also asserted that their influence produced an inversion of yin and yang that resulted in natural disasters.19 Yin-yang was not the only cosmological principle used to assess the ramifications of the activities of palace women. Equally important was the theory of the Five Phases. Of the five phases of Watei; Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth, the second was that associated with things male, and disruptions in fire were held to result from the improper behavior of women.20 This concept lay behind the references to the fires at the ancestral temples of Emperor Jing and Emperor Xuan's father mentioned earner. Whereas cosmology was used most often in reproaching current practice; references to anomalies arising from disruptions in the Five Phases were often applied retroactively to expbin events in the past that might serve as cautionary precedents for the present or the future. The most important examples of this are found in the treatises on the Five Phases by Ban Gu 班 固 （ a .d _ 3 and ，

3T

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

to a lesser extent， in those by Sima Biao, found in the standard histories of the Former and Later Han.21 In explicating the Five Phases, Ban followed the tradition of the Former Han scholar Fu Sheng 伏勝， who was active at the beginning of the Former Han; he also frequently quoted the interpretations of Dong Zhongshu， Liu Xiang， and Liu Xin 割 飲 （46 b . c . - a . d . 23}. In discussing Fire, Ban quotes Fu on the actions that lead to disruptions in this phase: ttDisregarding the laws/Dismissing meritorious ministers/ Murdering heirs apparent/Making concubines into principal wives/ These cause Fire not to blaze and ascend."22 Then Ban cites a number of instances from the distant past and from the beginning of the Han that demonstrate the disruptive effects the actions of women might have on Fire. Referring to an incident in the Chunqiu [Spring and Autumn Annals] for the fourteenth year of Duke Huan (698 b . c . ) , in which an ancestral temple granary was struck by lightning, Ban cites Liu Xiang, who attributes the occurrence to the duchesses lewd behavior which resulted in the duke's assassination four years later.23 And concerning a terrible “disaster” that occurred in Qi 齊 in the twentieth year of Duke Zhuang 莊 公 （674 B.c. }，Ban quotes Liu again， who says that it happened because of Duke Huan of Qi's excessive fondness for women and because he repeatedly made a concubine his principal wife. Ban also cites Dong Zhongshu， who blames the disaster on the duchess's licentious behavior and on the fact that seven of the duke's sisters remained unmarried.24 Regarding the Han, Ban cites two cases of lightning striking government buildings during the reigns of Emperor Hui and Empress Lü， both of which were attributed to Empress Lii's cruelty.25 Ban Gu lists a total of twenty-two instances of portents involving lightning, and in the explanations of each one~by Ban or an authority quoted by him~women or eunuchs play a role.26 Sima Biao^s treatises on the Five Phases likewise link portents such as fires, floods, earthquakes, and spontaneous sex change in a rooster to imperial consorts9exceeding their proper station or to the ascendancy and improper behavior of affinal families.27 Although these examples did not appear in memorials specifically directed at criticizing the emperor or his wives, they formed part of the general intellectual context in which the court operated. Moreover; Ban's inclusion of a treatise on the Five Phases and his highlighting of episodes involving the disruption of Fire are surely related to events of his own time. The interpretation of past events in the light of cosmological theory as a means of addressing current problems was complemented by interpretation of the classical canon. During the Han, one of the most important and effective ways to express views on women— empresses and consorts in particular~was through commentary on classical texts.

Prolegomenon

Although the views expressed by a commentator might be his own, they gained weight by appearing to be explications of the concealed meanings of canonical texts and by referring back to a classical age— usually the beginning of the Western Zhou~when China was thought to have been well governed. A striking example of this genre are the commentaries to the Classic o f Poetry. Poems in the aGuo fengw B 風 [Airs of the States] and “Xiao ya” 小 雅 [Lesser Eleganciae】sections seem to come out of both upper-class and village culture. These sections include festal poems, epithalamiums, soldier's complaints, poems complaining of bad government, hunting poems, and love poems. Since many of these poems did not seem serious enough for a classic purportedly edited by Confucius himself， an “apolo 导 etic exegesis” developed.28 During the Han, moralistic and historicist interpretations began to be assigned to the poems. Among the most important of these were the Mao commentary and Mao prefaces.29 That these interpre­ tations reflect contemporary concerns is clear from the very first ode, “Guanju” 關雎 . Apparently composed to celebrate the marriage of a man and woman—not necessarily a ruler and his consort—it is interpreted by Mao's interlineal commentary so as to describe the appropriate behavior of a consort: Guan guan! cries the osprey On the island in the stream. This is xing. ^Guan guann is a harmonious sound. The osprey is a kingly bird. It is a bird of prey, and keeps apart [from its mate]. An “island” is a place in the water where one can stand. The Consort was delighted by her lord's virtue; there was nothing in which they were inharmonious. Moreovei; she did not debauch him with her beauty. She resolutely kept herself hidden away [in the women's quarters], just as the osprey keeps apart [from its mate]. This being the case, it was possible to transform the empire. [For] when husbands and wives keep a proper distance, then fathers and sons will be close, then lord and minister will be punctilious. When lord and minister are punctilious, the court will be rectified. When the court is rectified, then kingly transformations will be accomplished. Lithe and lovely that beautiful girl A good match for the prince. “Lithe and lovely” means “retiring and quiet.” “Beautiful” means “good.” “Match” means “mate.” This means that the Consort had the virtue of the osprey; she was a retiring and quiet, chaste and virtuous good girl；it is right that she be thought a good match for the prince.30

33

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

Largely because of the interpretation expressed here，“Guanju” became a metonym for the model consort. This interpretation was com­ plemented by negative examples such as Baosi, and this sort of exege­ sis was an important contribution to the growing body of literature describing the proper place and behavior of a consort.31 The dangers posed by the growing influence of women at court became a recurrent refrain in the writings of Later Han political and social commentators. It was, for example, an important theme in the X/n /«w 新 論 [New Treatise】of Huan Tan 桓 譚 （43 b .c .-a .d . 18)， who had lived through the demise of the Former Han, the Wang Mang interregnum, and the founding of the Later Han by Emperor Guangwu. Huan wrote his work as a manual on governing, perhaps intended for Guangwu.32 His concern over Emperor Ai*s infatuation with Dong Xian's Ä R younger sister and the threat that it posed to Empress Fu 傅，the young daughter of his friend Fu Yan 傅 晏 (d. after I b.c.)，may have influenced his views. Huan counseled the father on how to condua himself and guide his daughter in order to avoid her being replaced by a new favorite. In doing so, he referred to the caurionary example of Emperor Wu's Empress Chen Hf, whom the emperor had replaced with a new favorite, Wei Zifu.33 The case of Wei Zifu bothered Huan, and he included it~along with examples of Emperor Wen’s favoring Lady Shen 慎 and Gaozu’s 髙 祖 （ r. 102-I95) excessive reliance on Empress Lü—in the Xitt lutt as examples of how otherwise intelligent rulers had allowed their judgment to be clouded by their consorts.34 Unfortunately for Huan, he managed to offend the object of his lessons, and he died en route to exile after having narrowly escaped execution. As one might expect, criticism of the influence of palace women— and of the tffeminine** influence of eunuchs~was voiced most strongly during the reign of Emperor Huan and appeared in the discourse on affairs of the day submitted to the emperor by candidates for office who had been recommended to the throne.35 In their remarks candidates referred to ancient practice as models of the sort of restraint that an emperor should be exercising. In 165/166, for example, when Liu Yu ÏJ Â was recommended to the throne by Grand Commandant (taiwei Yang Bing as capable and good, sincere and upright, he submitted comments to the throne on current affairs that offered strong criticism of the influence of eunuchs and then took aim at the palace women: In ancient times, the Son of Heaven took nine wives in a single marriage. There was an order of precedence for the nieces [who came as secondary wives】. The succession was given according to the He /mMH [River Chart], and the wives were properly ensconced in the

34

Prolegomenon

nine halls.36 Now wives and concubines offer an alluring coun­ tenance, and they (ill the imperial boudoin All increase their trinkets, wastcfuily dine and empty the palaces, weary and dissipate ehe spirit, and engender the six maladies. This is a waste of state resources and injurious to life. If the nature of Heaven obtains, and yin and yang are properly regulated, sq>aradng and dividing their paths, then flood and drought will balance.37 The following year, when Xun Shuang was recommended as extremely filial by Grand Master of Ceremonies (tai chang Zhao Dian he similarly criticized the influence of the eunuchs and then addressed the need to impose propriety (li) on the management of palace women： In times past, the sages established the core of Heaven and Earth and called it propriety. Propriety is the means by which one invigorates the root of happiness and good fortune and blocks the source of misfortune and chaos. If man is able to curb his desires and pursue propriety, then fortune will come to him; if he follows his desires and abandons propriety, then misfortune will befall him. If one ex­ trapolates from what misfortune and fortune are in response to, then one can understand the origins of rise and decline. Of all the rites, the rite of marriage (hurt li comes first. Therefore, when the Son of Heaven took twelve wives, this was Heaven's number. And when the [numbers of wivesj of the subordinate lords on down each differed according to rank, these were decrements from that state of affairs.31 In the tense factional atmosphere of Emperor Huan's reign, such critiques were little heeded and were likely to result in retribution.39Xun Shuang left office and returned home, and he subsequently suffered in the partisan (danggu JKfti) persecutions.40 PALACE W O M E N AND HAN H IS T O R IO G R A P H Y

Of the writings that deal with Han palace women, the most im­ portant are the histories, in parricular Sima Qian's The Grand Scribe's Records^ Ban Gu's Han History^ and Fan Ye's Later Han History. Their importance lies in the variety of material they contain and in the efforts of their compilers to provide a balanced, if not wholly objective, account of their subjea.41 All three are of the ji zhuatt (annals and biographies) form that originated with Sima Qian and evolved during the Han.42This format was adopted for all the standard histories but Records o f the Three States.41 The material contained in them is

35

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

essentially of three types: the annals are rather straightforward chronicles of the affairs of state; the biographies (or monographs— some of the zhuan discussed foreign states or minority peoples) present biographical sketches of persons who had achieved prominence (or notoriety) in any number of ways, including through politics, military affairs, scholarship, as worthy officials, and so on; and the specialized sections present treatises on such matters as political economy, sacrifices and ceremonial, astronomy, administrative geography, and the bureaucracy. Any of the three types might touch on the activities of the palace women, and thus are all important to assembling a multidimensional view of them. The Grand Scribed Records differs from subsequent official histories, which for the most part take it as a model, in that it contains annals not only for the Han but for previous dynasties as well. Women appear infrequently in the pre-Qin annals, usually in references to marriages and births. But there are also a few cautionary cases, warning against the bad influence that a woman can have on a ruler.44 In the annals for pre-imperial Qin, women appear primarily in connection with marriages between states,45 and die annals for the First Qin Emperor rarely mentions women at all.46 With the beginning of the Han, how­ ever, we begin to find more frequent, albeit srill not very informative, references to palace women, empresses in particular. At the begin­ ning of the annals for Gaozu, the founder of the Han, the future Empress Lii figures prominently in predictions of his coming eminence.47 Indeed, in one case his future greatness is obliquely suggested by predictions of her own nobility.48Similar predictions of greatness are characteristic of the annals of founding emperors in later dynasties as well. References to palace women in the annals of subsequent histories are more perfunctory and arc limited to births of emperors, marriages, deaths of palace women, the punishment of palace women involved in plotting, and so forth~essentially straightforward records of affairs of state that involved palace women. A notable exceprion is the annals in The Grand Scribed Records and in the Han History for Empress Lü, the only empress in the Han pericxl to have her own annals.49These describe her actions in some detail and at times read more like biographies (liezhuart)9narrating her most egregious acts of usurpation and maliciousness. Although Empress Lii was condemned during the Han and later for her personal actions, both Sima Qian and Ban Gu do credit her reign with being a period of peace and prosperity.50 In the aBasic Annals" of the Han History^ mention of palace women becomes more frequent from the reign of Emperor Cheng to the end of the dynasty. This is not particularly surprising， since women were

)6

Prolegomenon

becoming more involved in court politics. Another factor may have been that the aunt of Ban Biao9 who initiated the Han History^ was a favorite beauty (jieyu) in Emperor Cheng's harem, which perhaps permitted the Bans to know more about what occurred in the rear palace and to appreciate better the role of palace women in court politics.51 Still, the entries are unembellished, even when they record what we know to have been bitter factional struggles. Particularly striking examples are references to events related to the machinations of the Fu, Ding, Zhao9and Wang families during the reigns of Emperors Cheng, Ai, and Ping discussed in Chapter 2. For the most part, these references state simply when a particular empress was established or deposed.52 The same can generally be said of the Later Han Historyy though because of changed circumstances~in particulai; a greater number of emperors who ascended the throne in their minority—there is naturally more frequent mention of political activity on the part of palace women.53The number of references to an empress's assuming authority on behalf of a minor emperor increase markedly, for example.54 But again, events are related in a generally straightforward mannei; leaving any judgments to the reader. Even the unhappy developments sur­ rounding the accession of Emperor Shun~the death of his mother at the hands of Empress Yan, the murder of his nursemaid and others— are narrated without comment, though they were unquestionably despicable a a s.55 When, in this case, Fan Ye does give his comments at the close of the chapter they are brief, offering only muted criticism of Emperor Shim's failure to make better use of the worthy men at his disposal and of his allowing the Liang family to establish themselves as the dominant presence at court.56 One might expect the biographical chapters to present more information and a greater understanding of the lives of palace women, and to a certain degree they do. But even though these chapters are ostensibly devoted to them, palace women are not usually the central focus. For instance, the aHereditary Houses" section from The Grand Scribe's Records^ covering affinal families, deals with palace women in rather straightforward fashion, chronicling their rise and fall largely without comment or insight. Occasionally one comes across a statement that suggests en passant the pressures and expectadons that faced these women and how they responded to them. An example is Empress Chen*s (wife of Emperor Wu) spending 90 million cash on physicians in a futile attempt to become pregnant.57 A significant exception to this characterization is the brief item by Chu Shaosun 褚 少孫（ ca. I 〇5-ca. 3〇B.c.) tacked on the end of the chapter: Chu lived during the period of Emperors Yuan and Cheng, and it is unclear when

37

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

and how his contributions came to be added to Sima Qian's text. In this instance, at any rate, his style is gossipier and more judgmental than Sima Qian's work. I Ic praises Emperor Wu, for example, for having killed the mother of his son in order to prevent another Empress Lu.58 The section on affinal families in the Han History incorporates much of the material found in The Grand Scribed Records for the reigns they both covei; though the opening paragraph of the former provides more institutional history on the palace women of the Han than does The Grand Scribed Records. And like The Grand Scribe's Records^ the Han History focuses more on the male relatives of the palace women than on the women themselves. For the later period, however the History does occasionally open a wider window on the lives and feelings of the women of the harem. A poignant example is Empress Xu's defense against the criticisms by Liu Xiang and Gu Yong of her management of the rear palace. Described as intelligent and educated, the empress offered a spirited and cogent vindication of her actions.59 Another example is Favorite Beauty Ban, who is portrayed as a woman of literary accomplishment and political acumen.60When Emperor Cheng asked her to join him in his chariot, she reportedly replied, ulf you look at the ancient paintings, worthy and sage rulers all have famous ministers at their sides; the last rulers of the Three Dynasties had favorite women. Now if you want me to join you in the imperial chariot, wouldn't that be in imitation of them?" The text also extensively quotes the moving rhapsody she evidently composed upon losing the emperor’s favor to Li Ping and the infamous Zhao sisters.61 This affair forms a backdrop for demonstrating the inadvisability of raising low-born palace women to preeminent positions. The historian^ encomium that closes the two fascicles on the affinal families takes as its theme the uncertainty of wealth and honor gained through having a daughter achieve imperial favor. It notes that over the course of the Former Han more than twenty women had benefited their families through being favored, but of these only four had been able to preserve the posirion of the entire family. The historian pointedly says that those families who had appreciated the long-standing favor they had received and who had eschewed excess were able to remain intaa. For the others, the great families were annihilated and the lesser ones, banished.62 Unique among the extant histories of the Han, the Han History includes a separate biography for a single empress, Wang Zhengjun, or Empress Yuan, consort to Emperor Yuan. However readers hoping to find at last the life of a consort described in enough detail to give deeper insight into the lives of palace women are to be disappointed, for the purpose of this biography is not to describe the life of an

38

P rolegom enon

extraordinary woman whose influence extended through the reign of four emperors, but to hold up an example of how an empress and affinal relatives ought to behave when blessed with imperial favor and the position and wealth that flow from it. The historian highlights Empress Yuan's loyalty to the Han, which led her to oppose even her nephew Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne. The point is underscored by describing how her brother (Emperor Cheng's uncle) developed gcxxl relations with the Liu family following his banishment to Nanyang and how his sons served the future Emperor Guangwu in his struggle to restore the Han. In the encomium at the end of the section, Ban Biao praises the empress for having exercised her influence over four generations of emperors and over the course of sixty years. He notes that although her male relatives had been appointed marquises and generals, she was unwilling to hand over the imperial seal to Wang Mang, and he contrasts her unstinting loyalty to the Han with the conduct of earlier empresses such as Empress Lü and Huo Guang’s granddaughter who put their own and their families9 interests first.63 Thus, in the final analysis, what we have is less the biography of an empress than a cautionary piece aimed at present and future emperors and empresses, one whose placement immediately before the nvo fascicles describing Wang Mang's rise and fall underscores its message. Although Fascicles io a and iob of the Later Han History are termed 44Annals of Empresses,wthey are in reality biographical chapters of the sort found in The Grand Scribe's Records and the Han History. They differ from the earlier works, howevei; in that their purpose and the criteria for inclusion are unambiguously stated.64 These fascicles were explicitly written to caution the emperor on the proper roles of palace women and affina里families. Those who appear in this section haü been empress or the mother of an emperoi; and they are presented so as to throw into relief the threat to imperial rule that a palace woman and her relatives might pose. The introductory section draws heavily from the Rites o f Zhou and Liu Xiang's Biographies ofWomertyemphasizing the correlative positions of the empress and ranking palace women in relation to the emperor and his highest ministers. It stresses as well the role of the empress in supporting the emperor and dwells on the wicked influence concubines can have on a rulei; citing the cases of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Xian of Jin 晉 獻 公 • It also reprises Huan Tan’s criti­ cisms of Gaozu and Emperor Wen for having failed to observe proper form in their relations with Empress Lii and Lady Shen. Fan Ye further laments the growing licentiousness at court from the reigns of Emperors Wu and Yuan onward.65 Although Fan notes that Emperors Guangwu and Ming exercised restraint and put into place regulations to limit the influence of women and affinal families, it is clear that he believes the

39

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

situation went downhill from there. He is particularly concerned about the influence of empresses dowagei; noting that in ancient times it was worthy and loyal ministers who governed during the minority of a ruler. It was not until the Qin that an empress dowager governed on behalf of a minor emperor. During the Later Han, there were four emperors who came from outside the direa line of succession and six empresses who ruled on behalf of minor emperors. These empresses, Fan asserts, all relied on their male relatives and sought to enthrone children in order to prolong their families* influence.66 Fan’s examples—positive and negative—are drawn from both emperors and empresses. He describes the steps taken by the first two emperors of the Later Han to limit the influence of palace women. Guangwu, for example, reduced the number of ranks of palace women and greatly diminished the incomes given them, and Emperor Ming adopted regulations that curtailed the scope of action of palace women and affinal families.67 Fan holds up Empress Ma, daughter of the illustrious general Ma Yuan, as an example of how an empress ought to behave. Empress Ma rejected and was critical of proposals to bestow rank and benefices on male members of her family.68 Liang Na who took charge of affairs of state during the reigns of the child emperors Chong and Zhi, is also praised by Fan for working hard and trying to rule well. She was undercut, however, by the machinations of her brother Liang Ji, who was responsible for the death of Emperor Zhi and several dedicated officials, causing her to be distrusted and lose place to the eunuchs.69 One of the more salient counterexamples offered by Fan is Empress Deng Sui 部 緩 ， who controlled the government during the reigns of the unfortunate infant Emperor Shang (r. 106) and Emperor An. Although her biography records her love of learning and literary merits and gives examples of the high esteem accorded her for the competent and compassionate way she governed and comported herself. Fan is critical of her in his discussion at the end of Fascicle i o a . He faults her for having clung to power, which resulted in a deterioration in imperial rule once authority had been turned over to Emperor An. Fan saw her rule as a significant but pernicious turning point, following which women remained involved in government and worthy officials were excluded.70 The specialized sections (sA«，zW，Wao) of the histories are devoted to particular topics such as administrative geography, the bureaucracy, political economy, ritual, religious observances, astronomy, the Five Phases, and so forth. Scattered throughout these sections are important comments, anecdotes, and descriptions that contribute significantly to our understanding of early imperial palace women. The views of palace women and their influence on rulers as interpreted in the treatises on

4〇

Prolegomenon

the Five Phases have already been discussed. The sections on the bureaucracy found in the histories of the Former and Later Han list offices responsible for empresses and other palace women.71The 44Yu fu zhi” 輿 服 志 [Treatise on Carriages and Robes】of the L j 纪 r f /伽 and \d certain certaL members of the harem, laments to be worn by empresses ornaments as well as the types of clothing and omj and other palace women on specific ceremonial occasions.72 Treatises on ceremonial and sacrifices provide tantalizing glimpses of aspects of Han ritual as it pertained to palace women, such as the sacrifices marking the posthumous elevation to empress of Emperor He's and Emperor Shun's mothers and of Emperor An's mother and grandmother that are found in the “Jisi zhi” 祭祀志、[Treatise on Sacrifices】of the /Aw History.73 The “Liyi zhi” 禮 儀 志 [Treatise on Ceremonial] of the Later Han History outlines the duties of an empress upon the death of her husband, describing what is expected of her with respea to both the funeral and the succession, important events in the lives and functions of Han empresses.74 Curiously，though， the ^Treatise on Ceremonial" offers no description of the ceremony of investiture for an empress, despite the growing political importance of empresses and empresses dowager during the Later Han.75 Although Han historians did recognize the achievements of imperial consorts, as in the cases of Empresses Lü and Deng, they clearly felt uncomfortable with the idea of women occupying positions of authority normally held by men. Perhaps of even greater concern to them, howevei; was the possibility that a woman could be the means by which males from outside the imperial clan might usurp the powers of the emperor. In their eyes, it was acceptable for an imperial consort to act as regent for a young emperor as long as she worked in the interests of the imperial clan. Emperor Yuan^s consort Empress Wang (Wang Zhengjun) is the most obvious case in point. What these writers feared was that an empress or harem favorite would use her position in the interests of the males of her own lineage and in the process weaken the ability of the emperor to a a on behalf of the Lius, a problem that would become more acute with time. Writing history as guides for their own times, the historians presented the lesson with increasing directness. TEXTS D E V O T E D TO W O M E N

The criticisms of historians, officials, and social commentators aside, concern with the influence exercised by palace women also resulted in works intended to define and present examples of the conduct appropriate to women in general and to imperial consorts in particular.

4i

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

Unlike the memorialized injunctions of men like Liu Yu and Xun Shuang, these works were to have enormous and enduring influence. Of the two such works that arc cxtant,7fi the first is the Biographies o f Women compiled by Liu Xiang toward the end of the Former Han. The point of view adopted by this work is entirely in line with the ideas we have already encountered from Liu. Indeed, the text was written as a part of Liu's efforts to address what he saw as the deleterious influence of palace women. Throughout his official career Liu struggled against the undue influence at court of palace women and affinal families. We have already seen the steps he took to have Empress Xu removed, ostensibly because the empress had not bom a son, but more immediately because of the activities of the Xu family.77 Although Liu was ultimately able to thwart the Xus by having the empress dethroned, the problem returned in even more serious form following the accession of Emperor Cheng. Liu Xiang now became disturbed by the growing influence and excesses of the emperor's favorites—Zhao Feiyan and her sister and Favorite Beauty Wei—and their families.78 His response was to compile the Biographies o f Women. The structure followed that of Liu's other works compiled for the edification of the emperor—Shuo yuan and the Xin xu ^ifT [Newly Arranged Anecdotes], collections of anecdotes drawn from various sources and arranged to provide guidance to officials and rulers.79 Biographies o f domett contains one hundred twenty-five biographies organized thematically into seven chapters. The chapter titles convey some idea of the values that Liu wished to promote: “Mu yi zhuan” 母 儀 傅 [Motherly Demeanor】 ， “Xian ming zhuan” 賢 明 _ [Worthy and Brilliant]， “Ren zhi zhuan” 仁 智 傳 [Compassionate and Wise]， ttZhen shun zhuan” 貞 順 傅 [Virtu­ ous and Compliant], “Jie yi zhuan” 節義傳 [Chaste and Righteous]， “Bian tong zhuan” 辯 Ä 傳 [Persuasive and Penetrating]， and “Nie zhuan” 等 赛 傳 [Favored Concubines】. The first six of tüese relate brief stories of women who exemplify desirable virtues. The last tells of women whose depraved influence over rulers led their states to ruin, the first three stories being those of Moxi 妹 嬸 ， Daji 姐 己 ， and Baosi， who are held directly responsible for the demise of the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou.80 The lessons to be drawn from these stories could not have been clearer. A case in point is the story of Daji. Liu Xiang's treatment of it offers a good case study of how these stories evolved in response to the perceived threat of the palace women. Daji was the consort of Zhou, putative evil last ruler of the Shang. Zhou was said to have been a ruler of extraordinary strength, cruelty, and debauchery. He was smitten with Daji and did her bidding, squandering enormous sums to build her a pleasure terrace and engaging in orgies. The result, according to The Grand Scribe*s Records^

4Z

Prolegomenon

was that the populace became disgruntled and the nobility rebellious. Zhou responded by making punishments more severe, and he introduced the punishment of the heated beam. According to The Grand Scribe's Records^ a greased bronze beam was placed across a pit of coals, and the offending person was forced to walk the beam, with the usual result being chat tîie unfortunate soul fell into the coals.81 This version does not direaly link Daji with the heated pole. Rathei; the historian includes it as an example of Zhou's cruelty. When this is compared with the account in Liu Xiang's Biographies o f Womeny howevei; we find in the latter version that Daji laughed when someone fell into the coals. Moreovei; in the infamous episode in which Zhou has the heart of the loyal minister Bi Gan 比干 cut out, Liu says it is because Daji claimed she had heard that the heart of a sage has seven cavities; in the earlier version recounted in The Grand Scribe's Records^ it is Zhou himself who wants to count the cavities in Bi Gan's heart. Liu Xiang's piupose is to demonstrate how infatuation with a beautiful and debauched woman can lead to the downfall of the ruling house, and he has shifted the balance of responsibility slighdy but significantly toward Daji.82 Following the death of Empress Zhen S of Wei, we find the balance tipped even farther in a memorial presented to Emperor Wen 文帝 as he prepared to name a new empress. In Huangdiu 黃 初 3 [ u l / ü ) ] ，öenileman»of-the-Household 中 郎 } Zhan Qian 後 潛 ， in an effort to prevent the selection of Lady Guo 郭 as empress, memorialized on the importance of choosing a worthy and enlightened spouse and warned of the dangers of appointing one who was not: “^CÎien Jie 菜 fled to Nanchao 南 巢 ， the disaster stemmed from Moxi. Zhou used the punishment of roasting alive to give joy and delight to Daji.**83 Here, it is not simply that Daji is amused by the sufferings of those who slip from the pole: Her amusement has become the motive for creating the punishment in the first place. From early on, the influence of Biographies o f Women was such that it inspired some authun> to write sung ® (eulogicb) on the biographies. Furtliermore， illustrated editions were prepared， and “texts and illustrations. .. were frequendy painted on Chinese ornamental screens and on the walls of rooms.WMSome tomb reliefs even bore such deco­ radons.85 Cai Yong, perhaps the greatest scholar of his day, is supposed to have prepared a set of Ulustrations, and among the surviving works of the famous poet Cao Zhi are found fragments of eulogies for the Biographies o f Women.96 Favorite Beauty Ban may have been referring to illustrations of stories from Biographies o f Women in her admonition of Emperor Cheng. In fa a 9 she mentions using such paintings as her ttmirrorn in the rhapsody lamenting her fall from favor.87 The second extant Han work devoted to women is Ban Zhao*s

43

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

Precepts for Womert^ which differs from Liu's work in that, rather than offering examples, it discusses and offers prescriptions for the way a woman ought tu comport herself. Ban was the younger sister of the historian Ban Gu, and after his death she was summoned to court by Emperor He to complete the Hart History." Her erudition led the emperor to order the empress and all the honorable ladies (guiren) to treat her as their teachei: She became a confidant of Empress Deng Sui, who was herself well read and who apparently consulted Ban on important matters. In the opening section of the Precepts^ Ban states that she is writing the book for her daughters, who are approaching the age of marriage and whom she has not been able to instruct properly in their duties as women. The work comprises seven chapters：MBei ruoM 卑 弱 [Lowly and Weak】， ttFu fu” 夫 命 [Husband and Wife】， “Jing shen” 敬 慎 [Respect and Discretion】， “Fu xing” 婦 行 [Womanly Conduct】， “Zhuan xin” 專 心 [Single~minded Devotion], “Qu cong” 曲 從 [Yield and Obey】， and “k e shu mei” 和 叔 妹 [Harmonize with Younger Brothers and Sisters-in-law]. The underlying theme of the work is the importance of a woman’s holding to her proper place in the relationship with her husband and his family. Of particular significance for later periods was her admonition that a woman should always remain faithful to her husband and that a widow must not remarry.89 Although some of Ban Zhao's injunctions may not have seemed immediately pertinent to the situarion of the imperial inner apartments， others dearly were， such as this passage from “Respect and Discretion" ： If husband and wife prefer to be inseparable, and they circulate only within the confines of their apai^ments, then indecent behavior will occur. When indecent behavior occurs, their language will be improper. When their language is improper, licentiousness will certainly follow. And if licentiousness follows, then an attitude of disrespect for the husband will arise. This arises from not knowing to stop at what is appropriate.90 The applicability of this passage to an emperor's relationship with his consorts would have been obvious» and although the work was ostensibly written for her daughters. Ban surely shared it with the empress and other palace women.91 It was certainly circulated, for the esteemed scho 丨ar Ma Rong 馬 嫌 （ 79-166} praised it highly and required his wife and daughters to study it.92 Liu Xiang's and Ban Zhao's works both inspired imitation. Beginning with Fan Ye*s Later Han History^ the standard histories contained a section entitled uBiographies of Women,w as did many local histories

44

Prolegomenon

and similar works.93 TTie famous second-century literatus Cai Yong seems to have been inspired by Ban's Precepts to write a similar work.94 Both the Biographies and the Precepts were to become basic texts for the education of women of ail classes and have remained influential into modem times.95 C O N C L U S IO N

Even a cursory examination of the literature of the early imperial period is sufficient to demonstrate that palace women in general, and the emperor^ consorts in particular, had become a subject of major concern to Han officials and scholars. This development is directly related to the growth of the centralized imperial state. The role of the ruler's wives had changed. No longer was a wife the agent of another state and the means of cemenring an alliance, for political activity was no longer focused on the relations among heads of state. Now there was but one head of state, and political activity centered on him. This had the effect of heightening the role of palace women as a route to political powei^ and it increased the possibility of their becoming the locus of conspiracies that could threaten the stability of the empire. The concern of Han officials (at least those not related to someone in the harem) and political thinkers was how to limit the influence of palace women and their relatives. To this end they began to diminish the position of woman. This was managed to a very large and important extent through revisions in cosmology that justified a rather different view of woman than had existed in the pre-imperial period. Granted, woman had never held a place of dominance over man in ancient China. Yet, as we have seen, a royal consort was considered to occupy a position that complemented or even mirrored that of the ruler. But within a century of the founding of the Han, changes were being made in cosmological thinking that rendered woman subservient to man and constrained her scope of activity. The first development is evident in the wrirings of Dong Zhongshu, for whom yin was no longer the same complement to 客that it had once been. The application of cosmo­ logy to history justified limiting the activities of palace women by offering concrete examples of Heaven's displeasure at their having stepped beyond their appropriate bounds. Finally, the proper role and behavior for women were defined through example, as in the models presented in Liu Xiang's Biographies o f Womert^ and by prescriprion, as in Ban Zhao's Precepts for Women. Although Ban's work may not seem to be aimed particularly at palace women, the values expressed in it were intended for the education of all women. At the level of the empress dowager~and, presumably, the widowed matriarchs of large and extended families~a contradiction presented

45

Women in Early Imperial History and Thought

itself, for though the empress dowager was a woman and thus a potential threat to the stability and well-being of the polity, she was also recognized as having a legitimate role of authority both as senior member of the family in kinship terms and as regent to a minor emperor. The problem was to ensure Ä at she carried out these responsibilities in a way that ensured the prosperity and authority of the imperial family and that she did not exceed her role in a way that would undermine them. Empresses who recognized these limits and remained within them一 Empress Yuan, for example~enjoyed the approbation of his­ torians; those who transgressed were criricized. The ramifications of the Han scholars' contribution should not be underestimated The ideas they developed did not disappear with the Han but established the framework for attitudes and policies toward women for the rest of the history of imperial China, as the enduring influence of the concept of model women developed by Liu Xiang and Ban Zhao amply demonstrates. The Han scholars defined a subservient role for woman and presented her as a potential source of instability that had to be kept within bounds. Although the actualities of women's lives might depart from these ideals—as was the case with widow chastity, for example—the ideals remained a standard to be applied whenever this was deemed appropriate.

Empresses and Consorts of the Three States

The Three States were established on the ruins of the Later Han empire, and they inherited many of its imperial institutions and much of its imperial ideology. To a greater or lesser extent, each of the three states of Wei, Shu, and Wu sought to recreate the Han imperium. But although they possessed the Han blueprint, the materials and context they had to work with were not the same. The empire was no longer united, and even within the individual states, central government control at the local level was nominal at best. In the mid-third century, the political landscape of China in many ways resembled the mulristate system of the Warring States period, when the various heads of state were on more or less equal fooring and the ability of one to prevail over the others depended much less on any sort of moral authority than on simple might and on strategic and tactical acumen. Indeed, in East Asia the Three States connotes a period of struggle for supremacy among a group of men known for their cunning, courage, and commitment to comrades—a period not dissimilar to the Warring States. MARRIAGE PATTERNS

Although many of the concerns about palace women that had occupied the Han continued to be important during the Three States, the changed political context brought differences in their relative importance and revived some pre-imperial concerns. Most important among these latter was the use of marriage to cement alliances. There were no interstate marriages such as those that had characterized the pre-imperial period, yet in the struggles preceding the crearion of the Three States, short-lived marriage alliances were concluded among the men whose families would ultimately rule the three states. These marriages do not seem to have done much to change the balance among the three states, but one of them did contribute to the lore of the period, and it also provides insight into the possible roles for women at a time when norms had been relaxed. In 209, while Liu Bei was still in Jing province fffjW and more than a decade before he entered Yi province 46

47

Empresses and Consorts of the Three States

益州 and established Shu Han, he married Sun Quart’s 孫 權 （ 182-252)

younger sister. This marriage probably took place at the initiative of Sun Quan, and it followed the general pattem of Sun marriage alliances discussed below. If Sun hoped for much from this misalliance, he was surely disappointed. The unconventional Lady Sun 孫 夫 人 was much younger than Liu Bei and was considered to be as courageous and capable as her brothers. She went about accompanied by armed female retainers^ and as relations between Liu Bei ancj Sun Quan soured, she was seen by none other than Zhuge Liang 諸 葛 亮 （181-234) to be the potential source of a coup.1 She left Liu Bei in 1 and returned to her brothei; attempting unsuccessfully in the process to spirit away the young heir apparent Uu Shan.2 Significantly, Chen Shou did not give Lady Sun a biography, though we cannot be certain whether this was because of her actions or because of some other selection criterion he applied.3 Cao Cao resorted to marriage as a means of neutralizing the growing power of Sun Ce (175-200) at a point when Sun had acquired Yuan Shu’s 袁 術 (d. 199) troops and gained some victories in the South and Cao was being pressed by Yuan Shao 哀 紹 （ d. 2〇2). Cao’s niece was married to Sun Kuang 孫 匡 ， Sun Cc’s younger brothei; and Cao’s son Cao Zhang (d. 113) was married to the daughter of Sun Ce's cousin Sun Ben The marriages were undertaken to address immediate circumstances, howcvei; and had no long-term effea. The importance of marriage pacts during this period lay not in concluding alliances between states to ensure a state’s security， but in cementing ties with other families during struggles for supremacy within a region or state. This was the case with Cao Cao, who recognized the value of marriage as a tool for forming alliances with formidable families and often married off his children accordingly.5 But he and his immediate successors also recognized the clangers of a woman who had a power base and loyalties outside the court, and they were not inclined to turn to powerful families in selecting their own empresses:6 Cao Cao's Empress Bian had been an entertainei; perhaps even a courtesan；7 though Empress Zhen was from a family of officials, she was married to the defeated Yuan Xi at the time Cao Cao appropriated her for Cao Pi W3E (187-226); Cao Pi*s future Empress Guo was an orphan of little status when, as heir apparent, he acquired her; Cao Rui*s W Wi (206-239) Empress Guo ^ had been sent to the harem because her home commandcry rebelled, and hi$ Empress Mao 毛 was dearly of plebian origins.8 The grossly weakened Cao princes toward the end of the dynasty did marry relatives of the previous empresses：Empress Zhen 薄 of Ôao Fang， the King of Qi 赛 王 ， was grandniece of Cao Pi’s Empress Zhen， while Empress Bian 卞 of the Ring of Chenliu 陳

48

P rolegom enon

留 千 （Cao Huan 曹 免 ；r. 260-265) æid Empress Bian 卞 of the Duke of Gaogui District 高 贵 嫌 公 (Cao Mao 曹 笔 ; 241-160) were，respec­ tively，gnuuiiiiece and great-grandniece of Cao Cao’s Empress Bian.9 Under the Han, this pattern would have led to a dominant position at court for one or another of the affinal families. At the end of the Wei，however; real power lay with the Sima 司馬 family. Of Chen Shou's three fascicles on royal women, that for Shu Han is probably the least satisfying. The picture it affords of the marriages of Liu Bei and his son Liu Shan is very sketchy. In contrast to the Caos and the Suns, the Lius had no apparent marriage policy. Liu Bei was the ruler of Shu for only two years, and unlike the Caos and Suns, he had no extended family to draw on or to be concerned about in planning marriages. Rather with the exceptions noted below, Liu marriages followed a pattern that might have been expected for a military leader in Liu Bei*s circumstances. He married women from the families of his supporters, as did Liu Shan9who successively wed two daughters of Zhang Fei 張 飛 （ d. one of his father’s closest comrades. In contrast to the Suns, the Lius do not seem to have used marriage to form the sorts of alliances with local elites that would be important to assuring the position of a ruling group from outside the region. But not all the wives of the two Lius have biographies, so it is difficult to know whether or not there was a marriage policy directed at local elites. Arguments ex silentio are always risky, but the faa that no such unions are mentioned suggests that the Lius did not follow a policy of alliance by marriage. Interestingly, each of Liu Bei's wives who does have an entry in Fascicle 34 is a secondary wife. Liu had one, perhaps two, principal wives before he entered Jing province in 201.,0 During the period when Liu was actively fighting in eastern China prior to 100, he was three times forced to abandon his family and suffered the humiliation of having his wife and children captured. The first time was in 196, when he was defeated by Lü Bu 呂布 for the general of the guards (wei jiangjun gentleman librarian in the Eastern Library (Dongguart mishulang and cavalier gentlemanin-attendance of the Yellow Gates (âw/ï Huangmen 散騎黃侍 郎 ).13 According to the/m s/7« 晉 書 [Jin History]， Chen was removed from oftice more than once because he chose to remain aloof from the eunuch Huang Hao, who controlled Shu at the time.14 In 2.63 Shu was conquered by Wei, and two years later Sima Yan 司馬炎 U36-190) abolished 切 ei and became the first ruler of the Western Jin 西眘 U 66-317). Chen， however did not immediately take office in the Jin government. Sometime before the change of regimes, he was in mourning for his fathei; and during the mourning period, he fell ill and had a maidservant concoct some pills for him to take. This was apparently a violanon of ritual and engendered censure, with the result that Chen spent some years out of office.15 After a time， Chen Shou was recommended as filially pious and incorrupt16 by a powerful admirei; the influential official and literatus Zhang Hua, and so came to serve the Jin. He became an assistant gentleman editor (zuo zhuzuo lang then gentleman editor (zhuzuo lang)y and next chancellor of Pingyang marquisate (Pingyang /?〇« 平•陽 侯 相 ).丨7 While Chen was serving as gentleman

63

Records of the Three States

Inspector of the Palace Writers (zfcoHgs办 m/ifl« 中 害 JK) Xun Xu 荀勖 (d. z89) and Prefect of the Palace Writers /i«g 中 書 令 >He Jiao fO*d (d. 292) enlisted him to edit the works of the famous Shu statesman and strategist Zhuge Liang. The Zfcwge LÛHg /I•諸葛亮集 [Collected Works of Zhuge Liang], Chen's edition of Zhuge's works in twenty-four juan, was submitted to the throne in 274.18 With Jin's conquest of Wu in 280, Chen began work on his history of the three now defunct states.19 Just when he completed the manuscript is not known. Chen may have completed portions of the work as early as sometime prior to the fall of Shu. The Wei section was certainly well along or complete before the fall of Wu, but the Wu section itself was probably not begun until after 280, and the complete work may not have been presented for some years after that.20 Since the writing of the work had not been officially sponsored, official copies were not made until after Chen*s death.21 It was generally well received. Xiahou Zhan 夏 侯 湛 （ 243-191), who was compiling his own Ww Am 魏 書 [Wei History】， was reportedly so impressed with Chen’s work that he quit and destroyed what he had written.22 Even so, the praise of Chen’s work was not universal， and assessments of it could be affected by nonhistoriographical considerations. The gwozfci• 華 限 國 志 [Record of the States South of Mt. Hua 】says: Following the pacification of Wu, Shou assembled histories of the Three States, wrutc a history of Wei, Wu, and Shu in sixty-five juany and titled it Records of the Three States. He further wrote Records of Ancient States in fifty chapters. It was eluant and refined. Inspeaor of the Palace Writers Xun Xu and Prefect of the Palace Writers Zhang Hua deeply liked it and believed chat Ban Gu and Sima Qian could not match him.23 A few lines latei; howevei; one finds: Hua memorialized that [Chen] be made concurrendy a gendeman of the palace w r i t e r s t w i 容中害郎}， but Shou’s o, WW had displeased [Xun] Xu. Xu did not want him within [the court] and memorialized that he be grand a d m i n i s t r a t o r 太守 ) of Changguang 長廣 commandery.24 Chengs Jin History biography mentions this incident as well but does not refer to Xun*s unhappiness with Chen's history. Rather, it says, MXun Xu was jealous of [Zhang] Hua and hated Shou, so he spoke disparagingly to the Division of Personnel (Li bu 5ÈSP), and Shou was

64

Prolegomenon

transferred to be administrator of Changguang commandery. He declined because of his mother^ age and did not go.n25 The reason fur Xun's displeasure over Chen's Record o f Wei is not readily apparent, though given the prominence of the Xun family in the work and Xun’s own role in the events described there， the possibilities are probably countless. But the problem may have been a difference over policy between Xun and Zhang， who was Chen’s champion. The two disagreed over plans to conquer Wu, with Xun opposed and Zhang in favor.26 Xun may not have wanted Zhang to have another partisan within the palace, and he may have seen something in the Record that he felt argued against his position. In any case, although Chen did not take up the Changguang posting, later Du Yu ttffi (222-284), who was then general-in-chief who subdues the South 鎮 南大將軍)，recommended Chen to be a cavalier gentleman-in-attendance (sattji shilang 6P). The court actually appointed him attending secretary-preparer of documents sfc/’ yMsfci 治 書 侍 御 史 }， a high office in the Censorate. By and by, he left office to go into mourning for his mothei:27 Before she died, Chen*s mother had asked to be buried in Luoyang Chen followed her wishes, but once more he met with criticism on the death of a parent. Some felt that Chen should have returned her to their home in Shu for burial.28 At any rate, several years later Chen was appointed palace cadçt of the heir apparent 你 如 Aon 客 太 子 中 庶 子 ）but died before he could assume his duties.29 Of the sixty-five juan that make up the Records o f the Three States^ thirty are devoted to Wei, fifteen to Shu, and twenty to Wu. There are relarively few textual problems with the work, and there is no doubt that these are essentially the original work. Although the relarive size of each section may have been partly determined by political considerations, it is also likely to reflect the amount of material on each state that Chen had at his disposal. A variety of sources was potenrially available to him.30 Among them was Wang Chen's Wei History. This was an official history of Wei that was worked on at various times by Wei Ji 衛覬 ，Miao Xi 繆 襄 （186-245^, Dan 韋 誕 ， Ying Qu 應 球 Xun Yi 荀顗 ，R uanji 兔 籍 （ 210-2^3)， Sun Gai 择 該 ， and Fu Xuan. The final forty-juan work, however; was completed by Wang Chen alone on imperial command.31 Wang’s imperially sanctioned work must be used with care because it avoids or glosses over matters sensitive to the throne.32 Another work Chen must have seen was the Wm s/m 吳 書 [Wu History]. Again, this projea was to some extent collaborative. Zhou Zhao 周 昭 ，Xue Ying 薛 整 （ d. 18 幻， Liang Guang 梁廣，and Hua He 華核 all were involve] with the Wlw ffefory， but the final fifcy-five-/«jn

65

Records of the Three States

work is from the hand of Wei Zhao 韋昭 U 〇4_i73).33 Besides these official histories of Wei and Wu, Chen Shou would have been able to draw on at least one privately compiled history一 Yu Huan5s Wei Epitome.^ Unlike Wei and Wu， Shu seems to have had neither officials charged with compiling a history nor solid records of court aaivities. Chen wrote: The state [of Shu] did not establish a history [bureau], and no one was in charge of note-taking and record-keeping. Because of this [the records of] many activities and events are missing, and disasters and anomalies lack documentation.35 Although he seems to have had much less available to him than in the cases of Wei and Wu, Chen still managed to complete a section on Shu.36 No doubt being from there, having served in its government, having already authored the Accounts o f the Elders o f Yi Region^ and having edited Zhuge Liang’s works all helped Chen overcome this difficulty.37 Records o f the Three States is somewhat different from its famous predecessors. Lacking trearises and tables, it does not adhere ro the format established by The Grand Scribed Records and Han History. Instead, Chengs history consists entirely of annals and biographies.38 Also distinctive is the title of the work, for it is alone among the standard histories in being designated zhi Lien-sheng Yang notes, howevei; that the three sections of the history have also been called shu # in the tables of contents and chapter headings of various editions since at least Song times. This use of (“history，” “documents”） as opposed to shi i (ected his work to be carefully scrutinized by people who were not entirely sympathetic to him.95 Although according to one account Xun Xu praised Chen's Record o f Ancient States^ the same source says that something in Chen's history of the Wei displeased Xun and led him to prevent Zhang’s gaining Chen an appointment at court.96 As noted earlier considering the prominence of the Xun family in the work, there were probably numerous opportunities for Xun Xu to take offense. Even so, what irritated Xun may well have been Chen’s treat­ ment of Empresses Zhen and Guo. Although the details differ, this episode is in many ways analogous to Empress Jia's treatment of Empress Yang, and Chen's account could be taken as an implied crit-

78

Prolegomenon

icism of Empress Jia. Moreovei; his lengthy description of the honors bestowed on the Zhen family by Emperor Ming might be seen as a hint that members of the Yang family Reserved similar consideration.97 Chen's handling of the Empress Guo affair could also have been interpreted as being critical of Xun*s father, Xun Yi, who had collaborated with Wang Chen on the Wei History." As we have seen. the Wei History omitted any mention of Empress Guo's treatment of Empress Zhen.99 Chen's circumspection notwithstanding, under such circumstances his account could not have avoided offending Xun. Of course, we can never know for certain Chen's reasons for wriring as he did. But the contexts and constraints with which he had to deal are clear. In hindsight, it would be easy to fault him for not living up to ideal historiographical standards. But it should be remembered that, in addition to the political context in which he wrote, history as a field was still developing and had not come completely into its own.100 In any case, Chen did not do all that badly. Despite the pressures and limitations to which he was subject, he managed to give sufficient information and leave adequate clues to enable his readers to discern the truth. This at least seems to have been Pei Songzhi^ conclusion when he compared Chen's version of the Empress Zhen story with that of Wang Chen: Your servant Songzhi understands the principles of the Spring and Autumn Annals to be that great evils within the palace are concealed, while lesser evils are recorded. We have dear knowledge of the faa that Emperor Wen did not make Madam Zhen empress and went so far as to kill her」 f the Wei historians considered this to be a great evil, they should have concealed it and not spoken of it. If they considered it a lesser evil, then they should not have written falsely about it. Such revering of embellished and untrue texts is alien to what we learn from the old historians. If we were to judge from this, then whenever the historians praised the goodness of the words and deeds of the empresses Bian and Zhen, they would be difficult to find credible. Chen Shou*s abridgements and omissions truly have some basis.101 Fang Xuanling 房 玄 龄 （578-648} and the other compilers of the/in History agreed. They noted that the Wei History by Wang Chen (and Xun Yi) had covered up a great deal and that it uwas not like the true record of Chen Shou/*102 Fang and his collaborators may indeed have been thinking in part of Chen*s treatment of Empress Zhen when they wrote in their appreciation of Chen and other Jin historians:

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Records o f the Three States

The ancient kings all established historians；they illuminated the models and set up patterns, but none approached these. In tracing origins and seeking denouements, chronicling emotions and taking the measure of human namre, their words are subtle yet apparent, their intentions pure and enlightened, and so they were able to establish persons of distinction103as standards for distant generations. After [Zuo] Qiuming 左 丘 明 had passed away, Ban Gu and Sima Qian rose, one after the othei; wielding their magnificent writing brushes in the Western Capital, giving free rein to candid words in the Eastern Lodge. From that time on down, did not Chen Shou attain the status of one who clarified things, was frank, and could carry on and illuminate the former canons!104 In summary, although Records o f the Three States has some shortcomings—shortcomings that led Pei Songzhi to compile his commentary~as early as the late Six Dynasties and Tang， Chen Shou was recognized as an outstanding historian who had succeeded, under difficult circumstances, in preserving his integrity I producing an artful j rby ished reader. history that withheld little from the accomplish ▼▼Cl。

O 。

O il

屋麗g

▼▼纛

W H O IS I N C L U D E D ?

A word needs to be said about the criteria Chen Shou used in selecting women to include in his history, for not all palace women or even all rulers* wives have entries in the Records o f the Three States fascicles on empresses and consorts. Moreover the treatment of them differs somewhat state by state. In picking those to be included in the section on Wei, Chen followed criteria similar to those applied later by Fan Ye in his Ltf/er fftw ffistory.105 All had been empresses and are listed by their titles, as befit the consorts of the rulers of the legitimate successor state to the Han. This legitimacy is underscored by the omission of the term ^empress" (hou) from the titles of the chapters on Shu and Wu. Curiously, however the section on Shu also lists empresses by their cities, though Liu Bei and Liu Shan are naturally not referred to as aemperonwThe Shu chapter differs from the other two in that it combines the biographies of the consorts with those of the younger male offspring, rather Äan separating them, as is done for Wei and Wu. This is, of course, a function of the relatively small number of persons involved. Fascicle 50 differs from the other two in not listing any of the women under the title of aempress.wWith one exception, all are listed under the title of Mladyw (furen)y though most had been declared empress. The exception is Sun He*s consort née He, who was mother of Sun Hao, the last ruler of Wu. Although Sun Hao bestowed

8o

Prolegomenon

on her the title of empress and then empress dowager she was listed as Dame He to indicate that she was not the wife of a ruler.106 Another difference is that Fascicle 50 includes wives of Sun Quan— Lady Xie and Lady Xu—who had not been declared empresses, either in their own lifetimes or posthumously. Their inclusion is further indication that Chen Shou believed there were no grounds for considering Wu to be a legitimate successor to the Han. Aside from the empresses who appear in Fascicle 5, the Caos had other wives who were mothers of younger sons who did not become emperor. These are mentioned in Fascicle 20 with the entries for their sons (see Appendix I, Tables 9 and 10). The information is sketchy, and for most Chen gives little more than a name.107 Fascicle $9, on the five sons of Sun Quan who did not rule (Sun Liang and Sun Xiu, having been rulers, share a separate fascicle with Sun Hao, the final ruler of Wu), differs somewhat because the mothers of these five are covered in Fascicle 50. Still, Fascicle 59 contains some additional information that complements parts of the biographical sketches found in the section on consorts. C ON C L U S I O N

There can be no question that Chen Shou was an accomplished historian for his time, the weaknesses of Records o f the Three States notwithstanding. Those weaknesses were to a large extent the produa of the very difficult circumstances and highly charged and politicized atmosphere in which he wrote. Chen omitted or only alluded to important particulars, which led Pei Songzhi to supplement Chen's work with numerous quotations from contemporary or near­ contemporary sources. But while Pei's additions point up the lacunae in Chen's work, they also reveal how adroit Chen was in handling sensitive events and signaling the reader of the need to look more deeply into a matter. His handling of the death of Empress Zhen is an excellent example of the context in which he wrote and the constraints under which he labored. Thanks to Pei Songzhi's selection of material for his commentary, we are able to appreciate the nature of Chen's achievement. Small wonder that Chen's work survived rather than Wang Chen’s. The women whom Chen selected for his history are not, of course, representative of women at large, nor do they include the totality of the wives or concubines of any one of the rulers. As we have seen, Chen applied fairly narrow criteria in making his choices, criteria that re> sembled those of historians before him, and ones that were later followed by Fan Ye. Given what we know about the sources for Fan's

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Records of the Three States

Later Han History^ it seems likely that the same criteria were applied by other historians among Chen*s contemporaries, such as Hua Qiao. We have noted that these fascicles are as much about the male relatives of the women included as they are about the women themselves. Wu Jing's biography appears at his sister's entry, and likewise the entry for Xu Kun， father of Sun Quan’s Lady Xu， is included with hers. Liu Shan*s two brothers and his son are given three quarters the space of the four imperial wives in the Shu section. Thus these two fascicles each do double duty: The Wu secrion incorporates material that in other histories is found in the sections on the imperially affined families, whereas the Shu section includes the entries normally found in a section devoted to younger sons of the imperial line. Only with Fascicle 5, the Wei chaptei; do we have something like the typical standard history section on empresses and consorts. One wishes that Chen could have broken with the tradition established by his predecessors and given us a fuller picture of the women about whom he did write. We are not usually told their given names, and the descriptions of them are almost entirely from the standpoint of the im paa of their actions on the ruling house. Aside from a particular womans being either jealous and scheming or warm­ hearted and wise, in most cases the historian tells us little of their personalities, their lives, and their aspirations. Still, as the reader will find in rhe following translation, a careful and symparheric reading of the fascicles on palace women~supplemented by Pei's commentary and by material from other parts of the Records and elsewhere~yields the outlines of these women and their lives, and though one can never hope to know them intimately, it is possible at least to have a sense of them and their world. Clearly there were some extraordinary individuals among the royal women of the Three States. If the age is rightly known for having produced men of heroic stature and exceptional ability, the limited sample of the following chapters is evidence that it also yielded women who were their match.

Translation

R eco rd s o f th e T h ree States: T h e B o o k o f W ei Fascicle 5：Empresses and Consorts

5.155

The Classic o f Changes states, 44A man properly takes his place outside the home; a woman properly takes her place within the home. For a man and a woman to be proper is the greatest principle of Heaven and Earth."1 Without exception, the wise kings of bygone days understood the regulations regarding empresses and consorts and complied with the morals of Heaven and Earth. Therefore, two consorts were given in marriage at Gui & ， and the way of Yu 虞 was able to thrive; Ren 任 and Si 如I married into the Ji 46, and the Zhou house thus prospered.2 Whether a state rises or falls, lives or dies is ever due to this. The [Apocryphon to the] Spring and Autumn Armais: Explaining [the am/ Word!s】says Ä at the Son of Heaven has twelve women and the nobles have nine.3 If one looks into it, this is a sound rule in terms of both emotion and reason. But later ages were extravagant and undisciplined and indulged their wasteful desires to the point that it left men and women pining and single and affected and shook the spirit of harmony.4 fh ey only exalted sex and did not take pure goodness as basic. Therefore, customs and moral teaching deteriorated, and the major relationships were destroyed. Is it not a pity? Alas, may whosoever possesses a kingdom or a family always be able to learn from this! In the Han system, the grandmother of the emperor was called grand empress dowager the mother of the emperor was called empress dowager the wife of the emperor was called empress, and for the remainder of the palace women there were fourteen ranks. Wei followed the Han model; all the terms for mothers and empresses were the same as under the old system. But from the rank of lady down， there were additions and deletions. When the Grand Progenitor |Cao Cao] established the kingdom， he initially named a queen (wanghou ê / p ) , with five ranks below her: lady, brilliant companion, favorite beauty, elegant lady9 and beautiful lady. Emperor Wen [i.e., Cao Pi] added honored concubine lady of chaste beauty 淑 暖 }，lady of cultivated 89

9〇

Records of the Three States

countenance (xiurong lady of complete complaisance 順 成 )， and sweet lady. Emperor Ming [Cao Rui] added pure consort (shufei lady of bright loveliness 昭 華 )， and lady of cultivated deportment (xiwyi• 條 儀 ） and abolished the office of lady of complete complaisance. Only in the Taihe reign period [227-233] did Emperor Ming restore lady to its position above pure consort.5 From lady down, there were altogether twelve grades of aristocratic rank:6 The positions of honored concubine or lady were second only to empress, and there were no equivalent aristocratic ranks; the position of pure consort was equivalent to chancellor of state and the aristocratic rank was comparable to king (zhuhou wartg the position of lady of chaste beauty was equivalent to grandee secretary (yushi 心 A 御 史 大 夫 }， and the aristocratic rank was comparable to $.156 prefectural duke (xiart gong brilliant companion was comparable to prefectural marquis (xian hou lady of bright loveliness was comparable to distria marquis (xiang hou lady of cultivated countenance was comparable to commune marquis (ting hou ^ ^ 1 ); lady of cultivated deportment was comparable to marquis within the passes; favorite beauty was equivalent to an official ranking fully two thousand bushels; elegant lady was equivalent to an official ranking exactly two thousand bushels; beautiful lady was equivalent to an official ranking equivalent to two thousand bushels；and sweet lady was equivalent to one thousand bushels. Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor (Wu Xuan Bian huanghou whose home of record was Kaiyang 開播 in Langye， was the mother of Emperor Wen.8 Originally， she was in a brothel/ but when she was twenty, the Grand Progenitor took her as a concubine at Qiao.9 Latei; she followed him to Luoyaiig. When Dong Zhuo 董 卓 （ d. 192} rebelled， the Grand Progenitor went eastward in disguise to avoid trouble.10 Yuan Shu spread news of his death, and at the rime those of the Grand Progenitor's associates who had come to Luoyang all wanted to go home.11 The empress stopped them ，saying， “Lord Cao’s fate as yet cannot be known. If you go home today and tomorrow he is alive, could you look him in the eye again? And if calamity should happen to befall us, what misery is there in dying together?w12 lliey did as she said. The Grand Progenitor learned of it and praised her. At the beginning of the Jian’an period， Lady Ding 丁 was set aside， and he made the empress his next wife.13 He had the empress raise all his sons whose mothers had died.BWhen

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The Book of Wei

Emperor Wen was named heir apparent, the left and right chief attendants (zuo you zhangyu congratulated her, saying, uSincc the general has been made heir apparent, everyone in the empire is overjoyed. You should open your coffers and bestow rewards.w,4 She replied, uThe king named Pi successor because he is the eldest. I should just count myself lucky that I did not make the mistake of failing to teach and guide him. Why should I also bestow gifts ?w The chief attendant returned and told the Grand Progenitor of this exchange. The Grand Progenitor was pleased and said, uNot showing your anger and maintaining your dignity when you are glad are surely the most difficult of accomplish­ ments.w A

b

The 紛 I //ifWry says: The empress was bom at Baiting 白 亭 in Qj 齊 commandery on the day 少ûi 已 已 in the twelfth month of Yanxi 延 熹 3 .15There was a yellow pneuma that filled the room for a long time. Her father, the Attentive Marquis (Jing hou wondered at it and asked the diviner Wang Dan 王 旦 about it.16Dan said, “This is an ， ， I7 The Wei Epitome says: In the beginning, the Grand Progenitor had Lady Ding, and then Lady Liut who gave birth to Zixiu [Cao Ang] and the Senior Princess of Qjn丨 he ((^nghe 淸河長公 î . ). Liu died young, and Ding raised Zixiu. Zixiu fell at Rang f t , and Ding would always say, (iHaving taken my son and killed him, you don't think of him anymore!,f Then she would weep uncontrollably. lli€ Grand Progenitor found this exasperating and sent her back to her family, hoping she would have a change of heart. Later, he went to see her. She was weaving just then， and when someone from outside conveyed the words “His lordship has arrived，” she remained kneeling at the loom. The Grand Progenitor arrived, and stroking her back, said, “Tbm around and look ai me and let us ride back together!” She did not turn to face him or respond. He withdrew* and, standing outside the door, spoke again: uMight it still be possible?11But there was no reply. He said, M Thcn this is really goodbye*' and broke off with her. He wanted her family to marry her ofTto someone else, but they did not dare. Earlier, when Lady Ding had already become the principal wife and had additionally taken on Zixiu, she had insufficient regard for the empress and her sons. When Empress Bian became the next wife, she did not think about this old grudge. When the Grand Progenitor was away, she sent someone to take presents to Lady Ding with every season of the year. She also received her privately, inviting her to take the seat of honor and taking the place below her. She received her

92r

Records of the Three States when she came and saw her o ff when she left, just as in form er days. D ing apologized, (f. She had no patterned embroider>, or pearls or jade, and her utensils were all o f black lacquer. T h e G rand Progenitor once obtained several sets o f famous ear ornam ents and bade the em press to choose a set. She selected a m iddling set, and when the G rand Progenitor asked her why, she replied, uIt would be greedy to pick the best and hypocritical to pick the worst, so I picked the m iddling ones.'1

In Jian'an 24 [219/220], she was made queen, and the patent said, ttLady Bian has had the virtue of a model mother in rearing all of my sons. Now let her be promoted to queen. Let the heir apparent and the imperial marquises take their places by her side and all the ministers wish her long life. Let the death sentences within the kingdom be commuted by one degree.w In Jian'an 25 [220/221], the Grand Progenitor died and Emperor Wen assumed the royal throne.19 He honored the queen as queen dowager. When he succeeded to the imperial throne, he honored hei; calling her empress dowager and designating her Palace of Eternal Longevity2。 （Yongshou gong 永 壽 宮 ).c When Emperor Ming assumed the throne, he honored the empress dowager as the grand empress dowager. The

Wet History says:

Because the su te 's finances were insufficient, the

em press reduced her liver}* and comestibles and got rid o f all her objects o f gold and silv er.【 Cao】Zhi, the king o f D ong’e 柬 阿 王 ， was her >t>ungest son, and she loved him best. Later, when Zhi com m itted an offense and was reported by the officials concerned, E m peror Wen had C hief C om m andam o flm p e ria l Equipages 〇 幻《iuipfi 奉車都 尉 ）【 Bian】L a n 蘭 ，who was the son o f the em press's younger brother, u k e the deliberations o f the highest officials and report them to her. T h e em press said, UI did not expect this son to do such a thing. G o back and tell the em peror that he cannot violate the laws o f the country

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The Book o f Wei

on my account•” And when she personally * nothing about it.

the emperor^ she said

Your servant Songzhi notes: Emperor Wen dreamed that he was rubbing a coin. He wanted the markings to disappear, but they became even c丨earer. He asked Zhou Xuan 周 宣 about thi&21Xuan replied， wThis derives from a problem in Your Majcstyfs own household. Although you are wishing for something, the imperial mother does not concur.n Thus, the empress's intentions could not have been as stated in this histor>r [i.c., the Wei History].22 The Wei History also says: Whenever the empress dowager went on campaigns with the army and saw elderly, white-haired people, she would always halt the caniage and call them over to ask how they were. She would present them with tafTeta and face them weeping, saying, t4I regret that my parents died before I came into my own.n Whenever the empress dowager saw her own relanves, she did not put on a charming face. She always said， “In the managemem of your daily affairs you should strive for economy and frugality. You should not expect rewards or gifts, but be mindful of your own excesses. The imperial in-lau s must find it queer that I treat them $û stinjply, but it becaiu»c I have my own norms and standards. ! have served Emperor Wu [Cao Cao] for forty or fifty years and have practiced frugality for a long time. I cannot change myself to be extravagant. If an>Famong you violates a law, I can even increase the ofTensc one degree. Do not expect money, grain, kindness, or leniency.** The emperor [Cao Cao] built a mansion for the empress’s younger brother [Bian】Bing 秉 • When it was finished, the empress paid a visit to it and invited her entire family and her in-laws. She offered an inferior cuisine and had no special foods. The empress and her entourage fed on vegetables and millet and had no Bsh or meat. Such was her fhigality.23 5.158

During the Huangchu period. Emperor Wen wanted to ennoble posthumously the empress dowager*s parents. Master of Writing 尚 書 ） Chen Qun 陳群 memorialized，saying，24 Your Majesty, with Your sage virtue, responded to destiny and received the mandate. You established the dynasty and reformed the regulations and should forever stand as a model for later ages. According to the texts of the canonical books, there are no regu­ lations for distributing land to and bestowing titles upon one*s wife's people. In the ritual canons, the wife's noble rank depends on the husband.25 Qin went against the old laws, and Han did the same. Theirs were not the excellent canons of the early rulers.

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The emperor said, MThis argument is correct. It shall not be done. We shall take the document you have iniriated and order it sent down and kept in the imperial secretariat (taige X H ) to serve forever as a model for later ages.**26 In the spring of Taihe 4 [230], Emperor Ming did confer the posthumous tide Respectful Marquis of Kaiyang (Kaiyang Gong fco« 開 隱 恭 侯 ） on the empress dowager’s grandfather Guang * . 27 Her father Yuan Ä was called Attentive Marquis, her grandmother Zhou 周 was made countess of Yangdu (Yangdu /im 曝 都 君 ） and lady of the Respectful Marquis (Gong 〜 ren 恭 侯 夫 À ). All received seals and ribbons of office. In the fifth month of that year [May/June], the empress died.28 In the seventh month [July/August], she was buried with Cao Cao at Gao Tumulus (Gaoling 髙 K ) , Earlier; the empress dowager's younger brother Bing had been made a marquis of the capital distria (du xiang hou ) for his merit.30 In the year Huangchu 7 [226/227], he was promoted and appointed both marquis of Kaiyang (Kaiyang 厶 ou 開 隱 侯 )， with a benefice of twelve hundred households, and general of brilliant achievements 昭 烈 將 軍 ).d When Bing died, his son Lan succeeded him. As a youth Lan possessed talent and learning/ and he became chief commandant of imperial equipages, scouting and attacking general (youji jiangjun SIfOKF W) and honorary cavalier attendant in regular attendance (sanji c/wigsW 散 騎 常 侍 ). When Lan died, his son Hui 輝 succeeded him.F Moreovei; Bing’s benefice was divided， and Lan’s younger brother Lin 琳 became a full marquis and rose in office to be colonel of foot soldiers 丨 步兵校尉 )• The daughter of Lan's son Long became empress of the Duke of Gaogui Distria.31 Because Long was the empress's father he became imperial household grandee 山 〜 光 祿 大 夫 ） and advanced in position with unusual rapidity. He was appointed marquis of Suiyang district (Suiyang /70“ 睢 隱 麵 侯 )， and his wife Wang ï became countess of Xianyang district (Xianyang 顕 限 鄉 君 )• Long’s late wife Liu 劉 was posthumously appointed countess of Shunyang distria (Shunyang xiangjun 辣 侯 ) because she was the empress’s mother. Lin’s daughter also became empress of the King of Chenliu.32 At the time, Lin had already died, but his wife Liu 91 was appointed countess of Guangyang district (Guangyang 廣 隱 筹 君 >.33 D

The Wei Epitome says: Earlier, in Jian'an dines, Empress Bian's younger brother Bing attained a position as mai〇r of a separate regiment (btebu

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«，iw 別 部 司 馬 ).34The empress once complained to Cao Coo» who replied, (4But isn't it enough that he gets to be my little brother-inlawPv, She also wanted Gk> Gio to give him money and silk. Cao Gio again said, uBut isn't it sufficient that you misappropriate things and give them to him?MTherefore, to the end of Cao Cao's days, Bing's office was not changed, neither was his wealth increased. e

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The Wet Epitome says: Lan presented a rhapsody praising and recounting the beauty of the heir apparent's [ Gio Pi's] virtue. The heir apparent replied, saying UA rhapsody speaks of the attributes of objective categories, and a eulogy praises the form and appearance of great virtue. Therefore, their authors do not falsify the words, and their recipients must live up to them. Hw can I live up to this rhapsody of yours? Formerly， when Wuqiu Shouwang 吳 丘 壽 王 once discoursed on a precious tripod cauldron and He Wu and others sang eulogies, they even received rewards of gold and silk.35Although your action has not been sincere, the intent is commendable. We nw award you one ox.$' Thenceforth, Lan was treated as an intimate and respected. The Wei Epitome says: In Elmperor Ming's time, Lan saw that while there were two external difficulnes, the emperor devoted his attention to his household.36Lan always took advantage of attending upon and accompanying the emperor to remonstrate earnestly with him several times. Although the emperor was unable 10 follow his advice, he still acknowledged his sincerity. Later, Lan suffered from diabetes caused by drinking. At the time, Emperor Ming believed in a shamaness's cure using water. He sent someone to deliver the water to Lan, but Lan was unwilling to drink it. The emperor summoned him and asked why. Lan said that in curing illness one should use prescribed cs. How could one trust in this? The emperor was irked, but ^er did take the cure. Later, the diabetes gradually worsened and Lan died. Thus people of today view Lan as someone who was fond of speaking bluntly, but when they say that he committed suicide because the emperor humiliated him face-to-face, such was not actually the case.

Empress Zhen the Illustrious of the Civilizing Emperor (Wen Zhao Zhen 昭 規 皇 后 )， whose home of record was Wuji 無極 in Zhongshan 中 山 ， was the mother of Emperor Ming and a descendant of Grand Guardian (to&jo 太 保 ）Zhen Han Ä 郎 of Han times.37 The family had been officials for generations at two thousand bushels.38 Her father Yi 逸 was prefect of Shangcai 上 蔡 •39 She lost her father when she was three.G Latei; when the

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armies of the empire rebelled and there was also famine, people all sold their precious of gold, silvei; pearls, and jade.40 At that rime, the empress's had an abundance of stored grain, and they bought many such objects with it. The empress was ten or so and said to her mothei; 44Although the world is now in turmoil, we are buying more precious objects. 4TTiough a man may be innocent， just possessing a jade may constitute a crime.’41 More­ over，all about us everyone is starving and in want. It would be better to give our grain as relief to kinsmen and neighboring villages and to praaice benevolence and charity on a broad scaled The whole family agreed it was a good idea and followed her advice.H g

The Wet History says: Yi married a woman named Zhang ^ from Changshan 常 山 ，and she gave birth to three boys and five girls/2The eldest son Yu died young. Next was Yan f who was recommended as filially pious and incorrupt, was clerk (yuan to the general-inchief (山 yümf/im 大 將 軍 )，and was chief of CfeUiang 曲 梁 Next was Yao recommended as filially pious and incorrupt. The eldest daughter was Jiang 萎 ， followed in order by Tbo 脱 ， Dao 道 ， Rong and the empress. The empress was bom during the Han on a 仗 丁 酉 day in the twelfth month of Guanghe 光 和 5 [i6 Januar>( 183]. Every dme she went to sleep, her family seemed to see something like a person bringing a jade garment to cover her, and they often marveled at it together. When Yi died, she added [her little voice] to the keening and wailing,44and those within and without the family increasingly regarded her as special. Later, when the physiognomist Liu Liang 劉良 examined the empress and other children, he pointed to her and said, uThe exalted status of this girl shall be inexpressible.'1 From the time she was little until she was grown, the empress never liked friv〇lit>'. When she was eight, someone performed outside by riding standing up on a horse. The people in the household and aU her older sisters went up to the gallery to watch it. Only the empress did not go along. All her older sisters thought this was odd and asked her why. She replied， “A woman should not watch such things/’ When she was nine, she enjoyed wiidng, and whenever she saw a character, she always recognized it. She often used her elder brothers* brushes and inkstones, and they said to her, uYou ought to learn women's work. Do you think all this writing and study will make you a woman erudite?1* The empress replied, UI have heard that, of the worthy women of antiquity, there was never one who did not study the successes and failures of former times in order to admonish herself. If one does not understand writing， how can one examine these?” .4 i

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The Wei Epitome says: When the empress was fourteen, she lost her middle elder brother Yan, and her sorrow continued be^nd the stipulated mourning period. In serving her widowed sister-in-law, she was humble and respectful. Managing and dealing ^ith the work and solicitously caring for Yanvs child, her affection and love were ver>' great. The empress^ mother was by nature stem and had norms for treating all her daughters-in-law. The empress often remonstrated with her mother, sa>ing, uMy elder brother unfortunately died early. Sisterin-law is young to be a celibate widow and has been left with but a single child.45Speaking in terms of moral obligations, you ought to treat her like a daughter-in-law, and you should love her like a daughter.” Her mother was moved by the empress’s words and shed tears. She then ordered the empress and her sister-in-law to live together. Whether sleeping or resting, sitting or rising, they were always together, and their mutual afTection grew increasingly deep.

In the Jian9an period, Yuan Shao obtained her for his middle son Xi. When Xi went out to govern You province, the empress remained behind to care for her mother-in-law.46 When Ji province was pacified, Emperor Wen married the empress in Ye.47 She was favored and gave birth to Emperor Ming and the Princess of Dongxiang.1ïn the first montli of Yankang 延康 I [February/ March 220], Emperor Wen assumed the throne as king. In the sixth month, he went on a military expedition south and the empress remained in Ye. In the tenth month of Huangchu 1 [October/November 220], the emperor ascended the throne as emperoc.48 Afterward, the Duke of Shanyang presented two daughters in marriage to the Wei ruling house.49 Empress Guo and the Honorable Ladies Li and Yin were all loved and favored.50 The empress was increasingly discouraged and had fractious words. The emperor became irate, and in the sixth month of the second year; he sent an envoy to order her to commit suicide.51 She was buried in Ye.J I

The Wei Epitome says: Xi went out to run You province, and the empress remained behind to wait on her mother-in-law. When Ye's dt>* wall was breached, Shao*s wife and the empress sat together in the main hal). Emperor Wen entered Shao's residence and saw Shao's wife and the empress.52As the empress, terrified, put her head on her mothcr-in-law*s lap, Shao's wife instinctively clutched her with her hands. Elmperor Wen said, uLady Liu, what makes her thus? Have your daughter-in-law lift her head.*1The mother-in-law then supported her and made her look upi Emperor Wen approached and looked at her.

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Seeing that she was extraordinary, he sang her praises. When G10 Cao learned how he felt, he brought her back as Emperor Wen's wife.$3 The Conversations of the Eras says: When Cao Cao subjugated Ye, Emperor Wen was first to enter Yuan Shang's compound. There was a woman with disheveled hair and a dirty face standing behind Shaov$ wife Liu shedding tears. Elmperor Wen asked about her, and Liu replied, i4This is Xi*s wife.** Turning around, she gathered the woman's hair and nibbed her face with a kerchief. Her good looks were matchless. Once it was over, Liu said to the empress, ^You don't need to worry about dying now!” She was taken in marriage and was favored，

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The Wcx History says: The more the empress's favor grew, the more she denigrated herself. She advised and encouraged those in the rear palace who had favor, and consoled and instructed those who did not.s$ She al^ys took advantage of leisure times Co exhort the emperor, saying, uIn former times the descendants of the Yellow Emperor were bom in great numbers. It was probably because his royal ladies were muldtudinous that he obtained this blessing. What I wish is for you to search everywhere for ladies of chaste beauty to make your progeny abundant/' The emperor in his heart appreciated this. Later, the emperor was about to banish Madam Ren, and the empress implored him, uRcn is from a well-known clan of your hometown, and her virtue and beauty are more than someone like me can match. Why banish her?1*The emperor said, wRen is by tuture rash and impetuous and is not pleasant and agreeable. She has all in all angered me more than once. This is why I am banishing hcr.MThe empress, shedding tears, insistently implored, uEveryone knows that I have received the favor of your esteemed attention. They will say Ren*s leaving is all my doing. Just as you fear cridcism for being prejudicial, I may have a hard time for being specially favored. I hope you will reconsider!^ The emperor did not heed her and sent Ren away. In Jian’an 16 [zi I / 111】， Cao Cao led a military expedition to Guanzhong M 中 ， and Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor went along [part of the way】， stopping off at Mengjin 孟 津 .56 The emperor【Cao Pi】stayed behind in charge of Ye. Ät that Empress Bian was in poor health and indisposed. The empress could not periodically check on her and was so anxious and fiightencd that she wept day and night. Her attendants repeatedly sent messengers to ask about and report [on her improvement], but the empress still did not believe it. She said, 14When the consort was at home, every rime her old ailment flared up, it lasted for a time. How could she improve so quickly now? You just want to put my mind at ease!*' Later she

The Book of Wei

received a return letter from Empress Bian which said that she had already recovered from her ailment and had returned to normal. The empress rejoiced. In the first month of [Jian'an] 17 [February/March m ] , the great army returned to Yc, and the empress had an audience with Empress Bian. When she gazed on her seated in her tent, she was both sad and happy, which moved those in attendance. When Empress Bian saw the empress like this, she, too, cried and said to her, uWere you upset over my recent illness, as you were on former occasions? It only lasted for a little while, and I was better in ten days or so. But don't look at my face!” She sighed and said, “This is a truly filial daughter-in-bw.” In [Jian’an】 11 [116/117】， Cao Cao led a military expedition east. Empress Bian, Emperor Wcnt Emperor Ming, and Princess of Dongxiang all accompanied him. At the time, the empress remained in Ye due to illness.57In the ninth month of [Jian’an] n [October/ November 217], the great army returned. The attendants and courtiers of Empress Bian noticed that the empress's face was plump and full. They were surprised and asked, 4*s strive to be modestly deferential. When the former emperor was moved to his divine tumulus, a great ceremony was prepared, but as for the former empress, she

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does not yet have an illustrious posthumous title. We humbly consider that the former empress's respectful deference was obvious in her obscurity, and her perfect behavior was manifest in her silence. Her civilizing influence circulated in the country, and her virtue equaled that of the uTwo Nan.*169 Therefore, she was able to receive auspicious signs from divine spirits and become the first royal wife of the Great Wei. Although she will have passed away long before, myriad years from now people will everlastingly spread her shining brilliance. None of the achievements of empresses and consorts will be able to surpass hers. According to the standards for posthumous titles, uWhen one's sage reputation extends everywhere, one is called zhao B8 [4illustriousv] and when one^ virtue is bright and one has achievements, one is called zßtao.nl° Zhao is the quintessence of brightness, something that is not diminished even after a great length of lime. It would be fitting for the Emperor to honor her with the posthumous title the Illustrious Empress of the Qvilizing That month the Three Dukes again memorialized: FVom ancient times, the people of Zhou first made Lord Millet their ancestor and set up a temple to worship Jiang Yuan.71 Now, as for the effect of the Illustrious Empress of the Gvilizing Emperor on myriad later generations, how can her sage virtue and perfect influence be measured? She had the honor due the first royal wife of the imperial family, yet was disarmingly deferential and sincerely respectful.72She firmly rejected grandiose status until her divine soul was transformed [by death], but for her not to have a temple to receive and enjoy sacrifices is not the way to regard her eminent virtue or to make your filial respect apparent. Looking it up in the old regulations, it is fitting, according to the Rites of Zhou, to establish a temple for a deceased He approved both memorials. In the summer of the first year of the Jingchu reign period [137], the officials concerned suggested establishing seven temples.74 In the winter they also memorialized, saying: In general, when an emperor or king arises, there is both a ruler who has received the mandate and a sage consort who is

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agreeable to the divine spirits. Only then can the ruler make his age prosper and complete the royal enterprise. Of old, Gaoxin shi 高 辛 氏 divined that the sons of his four wives would all possess the world， and hence Di Zhi 帝 孳 ， Tao Tang 陶 唐 ， Shang, and Zhou arose in turn.75 The people of Zhou reached back to Lord Millet and thereby worshiped him together with august Heaven. Tracing and recounting his kingly beginnings, they found his origins in Jiang Yuan and specially established a temple where, generation after generation, they offered sacrifices to her. This is what the Rites o f Zhou refers to by uPlay the yize 夷 則 ， sing the 中 呂 ， dance the grand /wo 灌 in order to make an offering to the ancestral mother.w76 The poets eulogized hei; saying, ttShe who in the beginning gave birth to our people [of Zhou], / This was Jiang Yuan.**77 This means she was the root of the Icing’s civilizing influence, the source which gave birth to his people. Furthei; they say, uSilent was the Closed Hall, / Solid and closely timbered. / Majestic was Jiang Yuan, / Flawless her virtue.W7SThe magnificence of the Ji ancestors praised by the [Classic of] Poetry and the Rites [of Zhou] was as beautiful as this. The Great Wei has come round at its appointed time and inherited from Youyu WÄ.79 In exalting and spreading the imperial way, however the Three Generations have been even more eminent.80 The number of temples is actually the same as in Zhou times. Now Empress Bian the Celebrious of the Martial Emperor and Empress Guo the Virtuous of the Civilizing Emperor (Wen De Guo 文 德 和 皇 后 ） each share in inexhaustible blessings. As for Empress Zhen the Dlustrious of the Civilizing Emperor she received Heaven's numinous sign and gave birth to and raised the enlightened sage. Her achievement saved the people, and her virtue filled the universe. She began all the later generations and su is the starting point für moral civilization. Special sacrifices at a temple would be taken as another Closed Hall of Jiang Yuan. But since we have not yet made known an irrevocable rule, we fear chat myriad later generations will be deficient concerning the principles of evaluating merit and rewarding virtue. This is not the way to make Your filial respect known and to demonstrate it to later generations. At Empress Zhen*s temple it would be appropriate to offer sacrifices and play music for generation after generation, ^cr known an just as a ■zephyr of holy irrevoca goodness.

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Thereupon» it was engraved with the petition for the seven temples on golden slips and placed in a golden chest. Tlie emperor thuught incessantly about his maternal uncles' families. [Zhen] Chang was still a child, but at the end of the Jingchu period, he was made colonel of archers who shoot by sound and additionally made cavalier attendant in regular attendance. The emperor also specially ereaed a great mansion for him and personally visited it. Furthermore, in its rear garden he erected a lodge and temple for Xiang’s mother. He named the ward Weiyang 渭場 ward to commemorate his mother’s family.81 In the first month of Jiaping 嘉 平 3 [February/March 251】， Chang died. He was posthumously awarded the title of general of chariots and cavalry (/m/ï /ian客/m” 車 騎 將 軍 ） and given the posthumous name Respeaful Marquis. His son Shao SB succeeded him. In Taihe 6 [13 2/23 3】， Emperor Ming’s beloved daughter Shu 淑 died.82 He gave her the posthumous appointment and name Exemplary Princess of Pingyuan (Pingyuan Yi gongz/w 平 原 懿 公 主 ） and established a temple for her.83 He selected the empress’s deceased grandnephew [Zhen] Huang to be buried with her and posthumously appointed him a full marquis. He made Lady Guo's younger cousin [G110] De their offepring， and having him take the surname Zhen, appointed him marquis of Pingyuan and let him inherit the princess's noble rank.L In the Qinglong period, he also appointed Yi who was son of the empress's older cousin, and Xiang's three younger brothers, making all of them full marquises. Yi often sent up memorials expounding contemporary government affairs, and he rose in office to be colonel of picked cavalry ( yueji 越 騎 校 尉 }• During the Jiaping period, he also appointed Changé two sons full marquises, llie granddaughter of the 84

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l

Sun Sheng 孫 盛 【fl. ca. 350] says: If there are no statutes for the appointment and ennoblement of wives in the rites, this is even more so for their children, so hw can they be established in great benefices? Dc was from a difTerent clan, yet he was brought in to carry on another famity. He was neither meritorious nor closely rebted, but he inherited his [posthumously adoptive】mother’s noble rank. Defying feelings and disregarding statutes were at their worst here. Although Chen Qun spoke in opposition and Yang Fu cited events to serve as analogies, neither was able to expound to their full extent the rites of

The Book of Wei

the former kings and make clear the principles of appointment and inheritance.85Words whose sincerity is perfect may still have shortcomings! The Classic of Poetry says, wAwc-inspiring arc you, O [Grand-] master Yin,/And the people ail look to you!MÄThe top executive officials might as well be done away with! 0” /心 （ JÏ11 2Ä» 晉諸 公 贊丨 87says: De’s appellative was Yansun When King Jing of the Sima family was ruling as regent, he married his daughter to De. She died early, and King Wen gave him a daughter for his next wife; this was Senior Princess of the Capital (Jingzhao 京 兆 長 公 主 ) .Kings Jing and Wen wanted to de themselves to Empress Guo and because of this frequently made such marriages. Although De lacked talent and learning, he was respectfully reverent and humbly compliant. Zhen Wen 薄 溫 ， appellative Zhongshu 仲 舒 ， together with Guo Jian 郭 建 ， Dq and others, all were of the empress's dan and were favored as a matter of policy. At the beginning of the Xianxi 咸 S period [264J， Guo Jian was appointed duke of Linwei prefecture (Linwei ruin 和 ”震HI渭 縣 公 ) and De as duke of Guang'an prefecture (Guang^an xian gong each with a benefice of eighteen hundred households. Wen was originally a marquis with a state. He was promoted to general-in-chief who supports the state (/2|识 0 办 加 ”沿 仰 輔 國 大 將 軍 )，tt serving also as palace attendant and œncurrent colonel of archers who shoot by sound, and De was made general-in-chief of the subduing army (zAq/im 鎮 軍 大 將 軍 In Taishi I [165 / 266]， Jin accepted the abdication [of Cao Huan] and promoted Jiant Wen, and De with great rapidity.90As a man, Dc was upright and pure and, in addition, was the husband of the Succèdent Progenitor's elder sister.91 Because of this, he was esteemed at that dmc. In Dcfs later yar% his post was again changed to director of the imperial clan (zong zhatg ^ IE), and he was transferred to palace attendant. In the Taikang period【Z80-28，】，Commander-in-Chier (办 5f>mi 大 司 馬 ） You 攸 ， King of Qj， was about to go to hi$ benefice. Dc and Left General of the Guards 左 衛 將 軍 ） Wang Ji 王 濟 jointly remonstrated and petitioned [that he remain], and their contemporaries admired them. The Succèdent Progenitor blamed De for this. G)nsequentlyt he sent him out to be grand herald (da honglu 大 鴻 Ht)， and made him concurrent palace attendant and imperial household grandee.92Soon De became ill and died. The emperor gave him the titles gcneral-in-chief of the Middle Army (zhongjun da 中 軍 大 將 軍 )93 and palatine palace attendant (irtfiyii 客開 府 侍 中 ),as before. He was posthumously named the Respectful Duke， and his son Xi $ succeeded him. Xi was refined and pure and had

io6

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th« virtue of magnanimicy. He served as gentleman of the Palace Writers, right general of the guards, and palace attendant, and he rose to be gencral-in-chief who supports the state, to which was added cavalier attendant in regular attendance. Xi was close to the throne by marriage. That he got through the incidents involving Lun, King of Zhao 趙 王 倫 ， and Jio% King of Qj 齊 王 冏 ， and was able to remain uninvolved at this juncture was really because he was considered short on talent.94But he also avoided them by withdrawal and quietude. Empress Guo the Virtuous of the Civilizing Emperor had her home of record in Guangzong in Anping Her forebears were senior subalterns (zhang li # i ) . MWhen the empress was young, her father Yong zjc thought she was extraordinary and said， “This is the queen of my daughters，” so he gave her the appellative Queenie. She lost both parents at an early age and drifted about in the death and disorder of the times, coming to rest in the household of the marquis of Tongdi 銅 梅 _96 When the Grand Progenitor was Duke of Wei, she was able to enter the Eastern Palace.97 The empress was a shrewd strategist and from time to time offered advice [to Cao Pi]. When he was designated the successor, she had a hand in planning it. Once he had assumed the royal throne, the empress was made lady, and when he assumed the imperial throne, she was made honored concubine. The death of Empress Zhen resulted from the favor shown Empress Guo. In Huangchu 3 [122/223], Emperor Wen was about to name an empress, and he wanted to designate her. Gentlemanof-the-Houschold Zhan Qian presented a memorial: 5.165

When the emperors and kings of yore governed the empire, they not only had assistance without, they also had help within. From this proceeds order or disordei; and rise or fall come from it. Thus Xiling 西 陵 was spouse to the Yellow Empcroi; and Ying 英 and E 娥 married Gui， who was below their station.98 All of them were thereby worthy and enlightened and spread their fragrances through the ancient ages. When Jie fled to Nanchao, the disaster stemmed from Moxi.99 Zhou used the punishment of roasting alive to give joy and delight to Daji.100 Hence, sage wisdom exercises circumspection in setting up a principal consort. One must select from the household of an eminent clan of former ages, and pick an outstanding maiden to control the Six Palaces, make reverent offerings at the imperial temples, and cultivate the feminine civilizing influence. The Changes says, MWhen the way of the family is correct, the empire is settled.101

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From within to without was the excellent precept of the former kings. The Spring and Autumn Annals writes that Ancestral Intendant 阳 n 宗 人 ） Xin Xia j | 夏 said there is no rite for making a concubine a lady.102 [Duke] Huan of Qi swore an oath at Kuiqiu 葵 丘 ， also saying, “Do not make a concubine your wife.103 At present, the favorite from the rear palace is often second only to the emperor. If for love*s sake you promote her to empress, causing someone of humble station to become suddenly noble, I fear that, should in later ages inferiors be usurpative and superiors be set aside, then the turmoil will have originated with Your Highness.104 The emperor did not heed his advice and subsequently made her empress, m

n

The Wei History says: Her father Yong rose in office to hold the post of grand administrator of Nan commandery and was posthumously named Attentive Marquis. Her mother, sumamed Dong was coumess of Tangyang [Tangyang>im 堂 隱 君 】 and gave birth to three boys and two girls. The eldest boy was Fu ff, who was prefect of Gaoung Ä S . Next was the girl Yu S and next was the empress. The empress's younger brothers were Du and Cheng t&,. The empress was bom during the Han on an yimao 7^ day in the third month of Zhongping 中 平 I [8 April 184】. From birth there was something extraordinary about her. The fVct History says: The empress sent up a memorial saying: I lack the integrity of Huang and Ying*s marrying below their station, and I am not one to hope to emulate Jiang and Ren.l0SI am really inadequate to be relied on to fill the grand position of woman ruler and to manage the important dudes of your household. From the time the empress was in the Eastern Palace until she assumed the venerable throne, even though she was extraordinarily favored, her heart was increasingly respectful. She cared for the Palace of Eternal Longevity [Empress Dowager Bian] and was famous for her filial piety. At that time^ Honorable Lady Chai【Chai 震tiiffn 柴 貴 人 】 also was favored, and the empress taught and trained, encouraged and guided her. When there was some lapse on the part of the worthy ladies of the rear palace, she always covered it up. When one of them was reprimanded, she always explained the ins and outs of the affair to the emperor. If perhaps he were greatly angered by someone, she

io8

Records of the Three States

would even kowtow and appeaJ for leniency for the lady's sake. Because of this, the Six Palaces had no enmity toward her. By nature she was frugal and economical. She did noc like music and always admired the way Empress Ma the Virtuous of the Enlightened Emperor 明 德 馬 后

The empress lost her brothers early, and Yong's line was carried on by her elder cousin Biao ^ , who was made chief comman­ dant of imperial equipages. The empress^ maternal relative Liu Fei 94 M married into another kingdom. When the empress heard of it, she cautioned, uIn marrying, all my relatives naturally should make matches with families in their own hometowns and should not utilize their position to force marriage with people of other places•” The empress’s elder sister’s son， Meng 切 u 盂 武 ， returned to his hometown and sought a concubine, but the empress stopped him. Subsequently, she cautioned all of her family: wIn the present age, there are too few women, so they should pair up with the officers and men. One cannot use some pretext to take them as concubines. It is appropriate for each of you to be circumspect and not be the first to get punished."0 5.166

〇

The IVd History says: The empress often cautioned and warned Biao, Wu, and others, saying, tlThe reasons the families of the pepper rooms of the Han house were seldom able to keep themselves inuct were always pride and excess*lv7You must be circumspect!”

In [Huangchu】 5 [1Z4/115]， the emperor went east on a military expeditiony and the empress remained behind at the Terrace of Perpetual Beginning in Xuchang.108 At this time it poured rain for over a hundred days, and the city walls and towers were much damaged. The officials concerned asked her to move elsewhere. The empress replied: Of old， King Zhao of Chu 楚 明 王 went out trave丨ing and Jiang the Chaste (Zhen Jiang remained behind at Jian Terrace (Jian tai IKX). When the waters of the Yangtze came, an envoy arrived, but since he had no verge, she would not leave, and drowned.109 Now the emperor is far away. If I were simply to up and move elsewhere, even though I have been fortunate enough not to experience such adversity, what then? None of the officials dared say anything more. In [Huangchu] 6 [225/126], the emperor went east on a military expedition against

i〇9

The Book o f Wei

Wu. He got as far as Guangling while the empress remained behind at Qiao Palace.110 At this time, Biao remained behind in the imperial bodyguards. He wanted to stem the river's flow to get fish.111 The empress said： The river is meant to freely transport supplies. Besides, there is too little timbei; and servants are not available. You would also need to take state-owned bamboo and wood for your personal use to make the dam. But now. Commandant of Equipages, whatever it is that you find you lack, how can it be fish? When Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he honored the empress as empress dowager and designated her Palace of Eternal Peace (Yongan gong 永 安 宮 ) . In Taihe 4 [130/231]， by edict he appointed Biao marquis of Anyang commune (Anyang ting hou 安 陽 亭 侯 h then advanced his rank to district marquis. The added households, when combined with what he had before, totaled five hundred. He was transferred to be general of the capital rampart 发 tei //jng/wn 中 曼 將 軍 )• Biao’s son Xiang 詳 was made chief commandant of cavalry (// duwei SSiPW). That year, the emperor posthumously named the empress dowager's father Yong the Attentive Marquis of Anyang district (Anyang xiang Jing hou 鄉 敬 侯 } and her mother Dong countess of the capital district xiang jurt Biao was transferred to be general of brilliant virtue (zhaode jiangjun awarded an honorary gold [seal] and purple [cord], and designated Specially Advanced (te jin 特 進 >• Biao’s second son Xiin 訓 was made chief commandant of cavalry. When Meng Wu*s mother died, he wanted to give her an elaborate burial and erea a shrine, but the empress dowager stopped him, saying, MSince the death and disorder began, there is no tomb that has not been dug up, all because of elaborate burials. Let Shouyang Tumulus (Shouyang ling 首 睹 陵 } be your model." In the spring of Qinglong 3 [235/2.36], the empress died in Xuchang.,,2They built her tumulus in accordance with her last will, and on the gengyirt day in the third month [16 April 235], she was buried west of Shouyang Tumulus/ The emperor advanced Biao's noble rank to marquis of Guanjin (Guanjin hou 觀 津 侯 ） and increased his benefice by five hundred households， bringing the total to one thousand. Xiang was transferred to be chief commandant of attendant cavalry (/Wwj 办 ⑷以 Iff馬 都 尉 }• In the fourth year [236/237], Yong had his appointment post­ humously changed to Attentive Marquis of Guanjin (Guanjin Jing

I io

Records of the Three States

觏 津 敬 侯 )， and his hereditary consort Dong was made countess of Tangyang. The empress's elder brothers were posthumously ennobled, Fu as Venerated Marquis of Liangli commune (Liangli Dai 梁 里 亭 戴 侯 }，Du as Filial Marquis of Wucheng commune (Wucheng //wg Xiao 武 城 亭 孝 侯 )，and Cheng as Reassuring Marquis of Xinle commune (Xinle ting Ding 新 樂 亭 定 侯 )• In every case an envoy was sent to present a patent and offer a Great Sacrifice. When Biao died, his son Xiang succeeded him, Biao's benefice was divided, and Xiang's younger brother Shu liÈ was appointed a full marquis. When Xiang died, his son Zhao 剑 succeeded him.

p

The Wei Epitome says: After Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he was pained by the memory of Empress Zhcn's death; therefore. Empress Dowager [Guo] died unexpectedly from worry. When Empress Zhen was near death, she had placed the emperor under the care of Lady Li. Once the empress dowager had died, Lady Li explained the harm done by Empress Zhenfs being slandered, that she was not property coffined, and that her disheveled hair covered her face.111The emperor shed tears in his soritm* and regret and commanded that in the funeral and burial of the empress dowager all be done as in the case of Empress Zhen.114 The Han-Jin Spring and Autumn says: Earlier, the killing of Empress Zhen stemmed from the favoritism shown Empress Guo, and when she was buried, they let her disheveled hair cover her face and stuffed her mouth with chaff. Subsequently Empress Guo was made empress and charged with raising Emperor Ming."5The emperor was aware of this, and in his hean always harbored resentment. He often tearfully inquired about the circumstances of Empress Zhen's demise. Elmpress Guo replied, uThe late emperor killed her. Why blame me? Besides, may a child earn a grudge against his deceased father and wrongly kill his stepmother because of his natural mother?'* Emperor Ming was angry and subsequently hounded her to death. In ordering her funeral, he had them do as previously in the case of Elmpress Zhen.116 The Wei History contains the tablet of lament which says: In the third month of Qinglong 3 ,117on the renshen day,111with the empress dowager in a caulpa coffin, the funeral procession to bury her at Western Tumulus (Xiling 西 陵 ） at Shouyang will begin. Her bereaved son Rui, the emperor, personally presented the ublet and performed I the sacriffice to initiate:the 1 funeral. Next, he personally made the offerings;to send off the departed. Striking his heart, he beat his breast and stamped his feet; loudly crying, he looked up and appealed:

hi

The Book of Wei

I am pained at the sou]*s journeying abroad, Sad at the hearse's facing the road. She has turned her back on the Three Luminaries to conceal

Empress Mao the Lamented of the Enlightened Emperor (Ming Dao Mao 明 悼 毛 皇 后 } had Henei as her home of record.124 During the Huangchu period, she entered the Eastern Palace by selection. At the time. Emperor Ming was king of Pingyuan 平 原 王 . On going in and giving herself to the emperor， she won his favor, and she shared a carriage with him going and coming. When he assumed the imperia里throne， he toolc her to be his honored concubine. In Taihe i [227], he established her as empress.125 Her father Jia M was made chief commandant of cavalry, and her younger brother Zeng @ gentleman-of-the-palace 郎中卜

Earlier when Emperor Ming was a prince, he first took Madam Yu of Henei as his consort. When he became emperor and Madame Yu was not made empress, Grand Empress Dowager Bian consoled and encouraged her. Madame Yu said: Hie Caos have always been fond of establishing the inferioL They have never been able to promote someone on the basis of

in

Records o f the Three States

what was right. Yet an empress manages affairs within, and the ruler attends to governing without. Their ways complement each othci; so if they are unable to get off to a good scan, they will never be able to end well. I fear that because of this they will surely ruin the state and let the sacrifices die out!

5.168

Madam Yu subsequently was demoted and returned to the Ye Palace. Jia was advanced to be chief commandant of imperial equipages and Zeng to chief commandant of cavalry, and their gifts as favorites were bountiful and substantial. Before long, Jia was appointed marquis of Boping district (Boping xiang hou W ^ ) 126 and transferred to imperial household grandee, and Zeng became chief commandant of attendant cavalry. Jia originally was a carriage maker (che gong cites twenty-four recorded in the Zmo 左 傳 [Zuo Tradition], sixteen of which contain the female radical. Any future citation of the presence of the element for woman in such a large body of surnames as evidence of the existence of Shang matrilineage will have to take into account David N. Keightley's suggestion that44At a stage when male elites were likely to have several consorts, as was the case in the Shang,... it would have been

157

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important for the lord to be able to identify which of his offspring were the of^pring of which consort__ This suggests that the xing^ written with its female dement, however it came to be used in later times, may in origin have simply been a patriarchal notation used to distinguish within the larger patriarchal unit the children bom of different mothersw (Keightley, wOut of the Stone Age广 21-22). Duyvendak, Book o f Lord Shangy 225; Shang jutt shuy 7.15. Sec also Wang, Zhuangzi jijie^ 2.9.262; Watson, The Complete Works o f Chuang Tzu^ 327； Xu, Lü shi chungiu jishi^ 20.934; Wilhelm, Frühling und Herbst des Lü Bu We, 346. Sec, for example. Ho, The Cradle o f the Easty 277-278. The debate over matrilineage/matriarchy in ancient China is succinctly summarized in Hinsch, MWomen in Early Imperial China/ 494-505. Keightley, **Out of the Stone Age;wChang, Art, Myth, and Ritual^ 911; Chang, Early Chinese Civilization^ 18511. In the latter K. C. Chang (Zhang Guangzhi) does admit the possibility of a matrilineal stage in Neolithic times. See also his “Zhongguo yuan^u shidai —hi shenghuo de ruogan ziliao.” There has been an effort to link Chinese tradition with Marxism onI this t point. It has been suggested that the shift from succession according to merit seen in the Yao 堯-Shun 舜 -Yu 禹 sequence to the hereditary succession practiced by Y11 and his descendants reflected the transition from a matrilineal society to a patrilineal one (Wu, **Xia Yu chuanzi shi Zhongguo you muxi shizu shehui dao nanxi shizu shehui de yi da zhuanbian,*1 xi-16). Wang Ningsheng offers a rather compelling description of how Chinese scholars have tried to bend archeological evidence to support the existence of a Yangshao matrilineal society, and he convincingly shows that such an interpretation is not sustained by ethnoarcheological analysis of the data (Wang, MYangshao Burial Customs and Social Organizationn). Richard Pearson also offers a dear warning of the difficulties of drawing conclusions about Neolithic social structure~including the position of women—from archeological excavations and the dangers of relying too heavily on theory to the neglect of the data (Pearson, MSocial Complexity in Chinese Coastal Neolithic Sites**). Chang, Sfciwg Ciwfea"ow, 89-90,171 ,190. David N. Keightley has written, uIt is of no little social and political significance that, for the Shang elites, dead consorts, in the role of ancestresses, were thought to play a role after death. A dead woman presumably became an ancestress in the same way that a dead man became an ancestor: by undergoing the proper burial rites, by the award of a temple name, and by the offering of cult.n Even so, one should not assume from this that gender equality was obtained among Shang forebears. As Keightley notes^ uThere is no doubt that the bulk of Late Shang cultic attention was addressed to male ancestors rather chan to ancestresses----Most dead consorts were not awarded temples in the first place, and no divinations were ever performed in their precincts” （ Keightley， “Out of the Stone Age，” 1719). r Hu, MYin dai hunyin jiazu zongfa shengyu zhidu kao,n 119-130, 133, 166169; Keightley, ttOut of the Stone Age," 15-16. These dates are based on Keighdey, Sources o f Shang History^ 171-176, 228. Hu, MYin dai fengjian zhidu kao，” 4; Creel, Tfce Orpins 斤， 《Cfcina， 32-33. Chang Cheng-lang believes that not all of those so identified were

158

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N o te s to Pages i o - n

indeed consorts. Rathei; he believes that those identified by the term fu Ä were female officers at the Shang court, some of whom, because of their proximity to the kingy may have become his consorts. That Fu Hao 嫌 好 (Fu Zi in Chang’s rendering) possessed military authority was the result of her having been elevated above the other fu through attaining Wu Ding's favors (Chang, MA Brief Discussion of Fu Tzu,w m -113). Cnang*s interpretation does not contradict the conclusion that women occupied positions of importance and could exercise considerable authority during the Shang. Chou，“Fu-X Ladies of the Shang，” 365-368, 371-374. Chou，“Fu-X Ladies of the Shang,” 356-365. ICeightley， “Out of the Stone Age，” 10. Creel, The Origins o f Statecraft in Chim^ 395；Pang, **Consorts of King Wu and King Wen." The apparent importance of early Zhou queens would seem to contradia the sentiments expressed by King Wu in the oath given at Muye 牧野 on the eve of the final battle against King Zhou 封 of the Shang：uThe ancients had a saying：'The hen should not call the morning. If the hen calls the morning, the house should be ransacked for baleful influences.* Now Zhou, the king of Shang, follows only the words of a woman. He destroys and rcjcas his sct-forth sacrifices, and docs not show any gratitude. He destroys and rejeas his still living uncles and uterine brothers and docs not promote them. Thus, the great criminals and run­ aways of the four quaners, them he honours, them he respects, them he trusts and them he employs, them he has for dignitaries, ministers and officers, and causes them to oppress the people and so commit villainy and treachery in the city of Shangw(Karlgren, MThe Book of Documents," 29 [modified]; Shuy n.i6b-i7b.) The Han commentator Kong Anguo 孑L安 W (fl. I i6 -tt7 r.c.) explained the quoted saying as a metaphor for women becoming involved in external affairs. When the hen replaces the rooster and crows, then the family is finished (5 /, 4.12.2., 123 n. 11). The contradiction may be more apparent than real, however. King Wu*s criticism was probably direaed less at Zhou's wives than at Zhou's inability to ensure that they aaed appropriately and did not usurp the decision-making authority of the king, Creel, The Origins o f Statecraft in Chinay 130-131, 395. This same woman has been identified by others as the queen of King Wu, King Kang , and King Zhao 昭 ， testimony to the difficulty of the sources for this period. See Shaughnessy, Sources for Western Zhou History 9 174-175, 2.08-2.09. Karlgren, The Book o f Odesy 139. The poem is M ao shi 193. Shit 12.6a; Legge, The Chinese Classics. a ： 6S. On the wPrefacc to the Mao Version of the Sfci” （“Mao shi xu” 毛 詩序 )， which has from early on been divided into a “Major Preface” （“Da xu” 大 序 }and a “Minor Preface，” sec Van Zoeren, Poetry and Personality9 80-115. According to legend, Baosi was taken into King Youfs harem, and he became infatuated with het She never smiled, howcvei; and he tried all manner of ways to make her do so. Finally he lit the beacon fires intended to summon subordinate rulers and their armies to the aid of the Zhou, and when they arrived she was greatly amused by their perplexity at finding no enemy. To make her laugh, the king repeatedly lit the beacon (ires. Increasingly fewer armies responded to his summons until, on the day he was genuinely threatened

15 9

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z 6. 27.

28. 邛

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32. 33.

N o te s to Pages I i _ i 2

by attack, none came. Although the famous Han commentator Zheng Xuan (127-zoo) did not think the poem referred to King You, his opinion was rejeaed by others. See Ma, Mao shi zhuanjian tongshi^ 1:611; Qu, Shi jing shiyiy 250. Creel, The Origins of Statecraft in Chmay 130-131. The Eastern Zhou can be divided into two subperiods_ the Spring and Au­ tumn (770-464 B.c.) and the Warring States (463-222 b.c.). Scholars differ somewhat on the dates, but the differences arc not significant (Creel, The Origins of Statecraft in China^ 47 nn. 18, 19). Melvin Thatcher has meticulously sifted these materials to produce an extraordinarily well-researched and dioughtful description of these institutions and practices. Our discussion owes much to his work. See Thatcher, “Marriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period.” Thatcher; uMarriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period^ 29-32, 49 n. 8；Ruey, aThe Similarity of the Ancient Chinese Kinship Terminology to the Omaha Type," 14-15. Cf. Chen, Zhongguo furdi shertghuo 成 34 - 3 5 Thatcher “Marriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,” 4 卜4 5 . In a posthumous decree, Emperor Ping 平 帝 （9 B.c.-A.D. 6) ordered, “Let there be sent away the wives acquired through ying and all return home and be allowed to marry as with the precedent of the time of Emperor Wen [r. i8o-i 57 b.c.I.” The Tang commentator Yan Shigu 顔 師 古 （ 581-645) explains that wVives acquired through ying* refers to those who came accompanying the empress” （ fîs, 11.360; Öubs， Tfce ffisfory Former Dynasty， 2:86). Yan does not suggest that these women were in fact related to the empress. Emperor Wen's posthumous decree referred to by Emperor Ping states simply, ttRctum home those from lady on down to junior maids" (Hs, 4.132; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynastyy 2:271). Thatchei; ttMarriagcs of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,w 33 - 3 4 . Thatcher, uMarriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,n ^9- 33Thatchei; uMarriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period," 50 n. 10. Karlgren dated the Zhou li as wc have it to the second century b.c . but concluded that it contains material from a somewhat earlier period. See Karlgren>ttThe Early History of the Chou Li and Tso Chuan Texts." See also Boltz， “Ôhou li.” Broman， “Studies on the Chou Li，” 11-14. For example, a statement attributed to the mid-sixth-century statesman Zichan 子產 by Zitai Shu 子大叔 in a discussion of propriety (/1 禮 ) suggests a mature theory about the “proper” role for women: “Propriety conforms to the regulations of Heaven and the natural qualities of Eârth， and to the actions of people. Heaven and Earth set the regulations and the people imitate them. They imitate the brilliance of Meaven and imitate the nature of Earth__ Ruler and subject, superior and inferior are distinguished in imitation of the natural quality of Earth [which submits to Heaven]; husband and wife, interior and exterior [of the home) are distinguished to regulate the two kinds of work [i.e.,

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Notes to Pages 12-15

the domestic work of women and the exterior responsibilities of men]” （ Zmo zhuarty Zhao 25; cf. Couvreui; Tcb9ouert ts*iou et tso tchouany 3:379-381). We are grateful to Melvin Thatcher for drawing our attention to this passage. Bret Hinsch sees this shifc as coming rather larei; during the Han (Hinsch, uWomen in Early Imperial China,w238-239；cf. his statements on pp. 2412 4 3 )34. Liu, Dong Zhou furtii shenghuo^ 13. 35. 5 /, 6.Z39; Watson, Records of the Grand Historian：Qin Dynasty^ 45. 36. /Vms/71 三 轄 舊 事 [Ancient Happenings in the Three Capital Districts]， cited in 5 /, 6.241 commentary. 37. Hs, 97A.3 9 3 HHs, I 〇A.399 commentary. Sec also / * ，4.134 commentary; Dub«, The History of the Former Han Dynasty^ r.zjm . HHs states that there were eight ranks (ba pirt yVan) for the Qin harem. Bielenstein says that in the early Han, at first only the six ranks here listed existed below empress. He does not count lady (furen) as a rank (Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han TimeSy 73, 176 n). "Hie figure eight given for the Qin in HH$ must include both empress and lady. 38. Hs, 97A.3935. For a discussion of the institutions of empress and empress dowager as well as the staffs under them, see Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Tintes^ 69-73. 39. f/s ，97A.3935; Bielenstein， TAe 77讲 岛 ，73. 4〇. Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Ttmesy 73. 41. Knechtges,44The Position of the ¥u in Chinese Literature, " 69. See Gong, Han fu yartjiuy 32; Chen, Sanfu huangtu jiaozhengy 79. 42. HHs, ioA-399, 400 n. The outspoken grandee remonstrant Gong Yu Ä S (fl. 44 b.c.) criticized this extravagance in a memorial to Emperor Yuan. See Hs，7i.3 〇7〇»3〇7i; Liu， Han • 办 之 办 iV/m，17-18. 43. HHSy 10A.400; Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Ttmesy73-74; Bielenstcin, wWang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han,w259. The text also mentions palace maids (gongren S A ) , but Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Tintes^ 177 n, points out that these were slaves. Cf. Wilbux; Slavery in China during the Former Han Dynasty^ 69-70. 44. HHs, 10A.400; Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Hart Ttmesy 74. 45. Bielenstein, ''Wang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han,M259；See HHsy 10B.445,62.2055. Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han TimeSy 74, writes, ^When the harem exploded^ some of the Former Han titles for imperial concubines were revived." 46. This episode is described in Xing, MHan Wudi shengming zhong de jige niiren.n 47. Liu, Han dai hunyirt zhiduy 2-3, 80; Ch'ü, Han Social Structure^ 77. 48. Zhao, Niarter shi zaji^ 3.47; Yang,44Dong Han de haozu,w 1019；Ch'ii, Han Social Structure^ 81-82. See also Liu, Han dai hurtyin zhiduy 79. 49. Cases in point are the remonstrances by Liu Fu WlÄ and Wang Ren lE.il with Emperor Cheng 成 帝 （ r. 33- 7 B.c.}， who wanted to make Favorite Beauty Zhao 趙嫌好 his empress. S^e f ^ ，77.3151-3154; ff/，2»6.za; Liu， diw hurryin zhidu^ 1% 80. Dubs, The History of the Former Hart Dynasty^ i:^ 66372, contains a good brief account of the episode. 50. Hsy Z7A.I336-I337, 2783.1374, 27^.1502; Liu, Han dai huttyin zhidu^ 80. Of course, women from prosperous families might come in for criticism, too.

i

51.

52.

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N o tes to Pages 1 5- 17

Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu981. On Empress Wei, sec 5/, 49.1978-1980,19^3, and 执 ，97A.3949-395I; on Lady Li, see S/，49.1980-1981，1983-1984, and 执 ，97M95 卜 3956; on Favorite Beauty Yin, see S/，49.19在1，1984, ami Hs, 97A.3950；on Empress Zhao, see Hs, 97B.3988-3999；on Favorite Beauty Wei, whose original name was U Ping see Hs, 97B.3984. Sec also Watson, Records o f the Grand Historian：Han Dynastyy 1:332-334；Chavannes» Mémoires historiquesy 6.55-^45 Watson, Courtier and Commoner in Ancient Chirujy 247-251, 265-277; Ch'ii, Han Social Structure^ 56, 77-78, 221; Loewe, wThe Former Han Dynasty," 174-178,214；and Knechtges, Wert xuany 1:139. 5/, 49.1981; Liu, Han dai hunyin zhiduy 81. Cf. Watson, Records of the Grand Historian：Han Dynastyy 1:334; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques^ 6:55.

53 .

54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.

the wise regent of King Cheng, who was King Wu*s son and successor MFull marquis" was the tide awarded for conspicuous merit in the service of the state. See Huckei; A Dictionary o f Official Titles in Imperial Chirta^ no. 3698; Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Timesy 180-181 n. 363. See the commentary at Hsy 28B.1644 citing Ru Chun (fl. 198-165). Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu^ 83. Liu， Han dai bunyin zhid“，83-87; Ch、 ü， Hart Social Structure， Ch*ü, Han Social Structure9 210-219；Bielenstcin, MWang Mang and the Restoration of the Han Dynasty; and Later Han," 259; Mansvelt Beck, MThe Fall of Han,w 318-321. On the selection of Later Han imperial women, see Bielenstein, MWang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han,w 259, 276, 280-287； Ch'ii, Han Social Structuref 74-75; Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu；82.-83. Marriage could, however be used as a tool for dealing with foreign polities. The most famous Han example is no doubt the case of Wang Zhaojun 王明 one of the most famous beauties in Chinese history and one of five women presented to the Xiongnu 匈奴 leader when he visited the Han court in 33 B.c. See Bielenstein, “^iang Manç, the Restoration of the Man Dynasty, anä Later Han,” 2*36; Yü, “Han Foreign Relations，” 398. Sec also Eoyang, “The Wang Chao-chiin Legend.w

60.

A n e x a m p le o f co n stru c tiv e influence (d e p e n d in g o n one*s p o in t o f view ) exercised by th e emperor*« relatives by m arria g e w as th a t o f T ia n Fen 63 w h o w as younger b ro th e r o f E m p ero r Wu*s modier*s stepfathei; a n d D o u Y ing 寶 婴 ， w h o w as related to E m press D o w a g e r D o u 寶 太 后 th ro u g h a p a te rn a l cousin. B oth w ere stro n g p ro p o n e n ts o f C o n fucianism , w hich they sucxessfully p ro m o te d to E m p e ro r W u. See X in g , a H a n W u d i sh en g m in g z h o n g d c jige n iire n w; D u b s, The History of the Former Han Dynastyy 2:3 4 4 .

61. 6z. 63.

5/,

64.

9.396. Cf. Watson, Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty^ 1:2.67. Locwe, Chinese Ideas of Life and Deaths 147. MHui,wmeaning Mkind,wwgentle,wwas the umous name given emperors who had been ineffectual and manipulated, or even abused, by powerful and ambitious officials and relatives. 9.395-412,49.1969-1970；Hs 2.85-91, 3-95-io4>97A-3937-3940；Dubs, The History of the Former Hart Dynasty91:167-210；Watson, Records of the

i 6z

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Grand Historian: Han Dynasty^ 1:267-2,84, 324-325; Loewe, ^The Former Han Dynasty,” 135_i 36. S;, 49.1986; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques, 6:64. Holmgren, ^Imperial Marriage in the Native Chinese and Non-Han State," 60-76, provides an excellent discussion of the intricacies and ramifications of imperial marriages. Bret Hinsch describes the activities of palace women in terms of kin relations and says that when an empress dowager direaed the choice of a successor she was assuming the status of head of the imperial kin group, because, he says, early Chinese states were ruled by lineages rather than isolated individuals (Hinsch, uWomen in Early Imperial China," 246-147). Huo Qubing’s mother’s younger sistei; Wei Zifu 衛 子 夫 ， had entered the harem and become one of Emperor Wu*s favorites. She then brought her sister and the young Huo Qubing to court (Hs, 68.2931; Watson, Courtier and Commoner in Ancient Chmay i i i - n i ) . Liu He allegedly refused to perform the mourning rituals properly, engaged in debauchery with his boon companions from Changyi, on whom he freely bestowed the trappings of office, and generally carried on in a highly disrespectful and irresponsible fashion (Hs, 63.2764—2765, 68.1937; Watson， Courtier and Commoner in Ancient Chinay 129; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, 1:180-183). It may be that Huo Guang's reasons for wanting to get rid of Liu He, whose accession to the throne he had supponed over that of another claimant (Liu Xu W, who was the only surviving son of Emperor Wu and who had stronger bona fides)， involved more than just his dismay at Liu's behavior. Liu He was showing himself to be a free spirit, having brought with him many of his followers and apparendy being inclined to bestow office and favors on them. Huo may have concluded that he would not be able to control the new emperor and may therefore have seen him as a grave threat to his own ability to continue dominating the imperial government. The unenthusiastic response his proposal to dethrone Liu He elicited from the high officiais whom he sought to enlist in the effort suggests that they might have been content to see Liu He remain. A n “ illegitim ate” p reced en t h a d o f co u rse been p ro v id ed by E m press Lü. T h e ass圆 p d o n o f the p o w er o f decree by em presses d o w ag e r is discussed by Yang) ^F em ale R ulers in Im p erial C h in a ," 5 3 -6 0 . Locwc, Crisis and Conflict in Han Chinay 79-81；Loewe, MThe Former Han Dynasty,w 181-184；Wallackei; 44Dethronement and Due Process in

Early Imperial China;*1 Cuttci; ttScx, Politics, and Morality at the Wei Court, 7 i- Wang Mang's rise to power and the events surrounding his usurpation of the throne are (îéscribed in f/s，99人.4〇3卜 〇 96; Dubs， TAe History Former Han Dynastyy 3:44-2.59；and Bielenstein, wWang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han9n 223-231. It is by no means certain that Wang intended firom the outset to replace the Han with his own dynasty, and he may have been forced by events to take such extreme action. 7i. On the problems facing affinal families in maintaining their positions across generations, see Holmgren, wImperiaI Marriage in the Native Chinese and Non-Han Stated 60-64. Hs, 97^3988-3998; Dubs， Former Dynasty, 1:36573371; Wilbur, Slavery in China during the Former Han Dynastyy 424-432; Loewe, aThe Former Han Dynasty," 214-215.

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Ch*en, Confucian Magnate's Idea of Political Violence," 77-83; cf. Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Tsmes^ 150-155. He Ziquan (Ho Tzcchuan) points out that the power struggle between eunuchs and imperial offices was unique to the Later Han and was a reflection of the broader struggle between the imperial government and powerful regional and local elites (uDong Han huanguan he waiqi de douzheng"). The commandery of Nanyang had its seat in the vicinity of the city of the same name in modem He*nan. Bielenstein, MThe Restoration of the Han Dynasty,w4:117. Bielenstein, aThc Restoration of the Han Dynasty,w4:114-117. Sec the table in Bielenstein, uThe Restoration of the Han Dynasty," 4:126. Bielenstein, MThc Restoration of the Han Dynasty,M4:123-126. Ch*ü, Hart Social Structurey 210; Bielenstein, ttThe Restoration of the Han Dynasty," 4:112-12.7. As Bielenstein (1x7) and de Crespigny have correctly pointed out, Etienne Balazs* and other's descriptions of these families, the Liang in particulai; as wnouveaux hchesn are mistaken. See de Crespigny, wPolitical Protest in Imperial China," 4-5 n. 1. Cf. Balazs, wPolitical Philosophy and Social Crisis at the End of the Han Dynasty," 188-189. The role of the imperial princesses in cementing linkages between the imperial family and powernJ families was extremely important and could reinforce the connections established by having a daughter enter the harem. Indeed, the families best able to sustain a position of power were those whose daughters became imperial wives and whose sons married princesses. Being married to a princess was not an unmixed blessing, howevei; since her status was higher than that of her husband and she could act quite independently. This reversal of what was considered the appropriate roles of yin and yang bothered some and was criticized during the reign of Emperor Xuan by Wang Ji 王吉 and larer, under F.mperor Huan, hy Xun Shuang 荀 爽 （a.d. ii8 -i9 〇; see Hs， 71.3064; 62.2053; Bielénstein， “Wang Mang) the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han," 1S6; Ch^, Han Social Structure^ 57-58, 86； Holmgren, 44Imperial Marriage in the Native Chinese and Non-Han State," 67-69}. The rise and fall of the Liang clan and the part played by the Liang women in rhese events is described in some detail in Young, ttCourt Politics in the I atcr Han." Eunuchs played an extremely impoftant role in coun politics of the Later Han, much greater than in the Former Han. There are no doubt several reasons for this. One, of course, is the growth in the size of the harem, which brought with it an increase in the numbers of eunuchs. More important, howevei; was the policy b^un under Emperor Guangwu of reserving offices in the palace for eunuchs. Under Emperor He, a eunuch was ennobled for the first dme as marquis, and from a.d. 135 on, eunuchs were allowed to adopt sons who could inherit their titles. Many of these adopted sons held significant regional and central government posts. Because of their position in the inner apartments^ eunuchs became a natural source of allies for the emperor or for the empress(es) dowagec The best study to date on Han eunuchs is Xiao, MGuanyu Han dai de huanguan." See also Ch'ii, Han Social Structurey 131-243, and de Crespigny, aPolidcal Protest in Imperial China" for the role played by the eunuchs in the demise of the Liang family and its resulting fallout. Cao Cao9who was the founding father of the state of Wei and whose name

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is synonymous with the Three States period, was himself a beneficiary of the rise of the eunuchs. His grandfather Cao Teng WM was castrated as a child so that he might become a palace eunuch. While serving in a minor eunuch office, Cao Teng was selected to be a companion to the heir apparent. From then on, he advanced in office, serving four emperors during a period of over thirty years (Leban, ^Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei,w47; Sgz%1.1, Pei quoting Sima èiao’s 司 馬 杰 [240-j 15] Xm 祕 m s/?“ 續 漢 害 [FÎistory of the Posterior Hank see also Kroll, “Portraits of Ts’ao Ts’ao,” 2•—3). Cao Teng’s adopted son was Cao Song W % . There were good reasons for a eunuch like Cao Teng to adopt a son: The son could carry out sacrifices to the family ancestors and to the father after his death, and he could beget his own sons to ensure that these sacrifices continued. Also, as already pointed out, the adopted son of a eunuch could inherit from his father thereby allowing for the preservation of the family position (see also Leban, “Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei，” 48; Bielenstein, MWang Mang, the Restoration of the Han Dynasty, and Later Han，” 287-288). S3- Bielenstein, uThe Restoration of the Han Dynasty," 4:119-120. This treatment of Empress Guo was quite in contrast to the other three empresses divorced during the Later Han, all of whom were jailed in the Drying House (Pu shi 暴 室 1，where they died. 84. Bielenstein, wThe Restoration of the Han Dynasty,n 4:114-izo. »5 - H f* ，ioa.4 〇8-4 〇9, 24.84卜 《44; Ch’u，h to i 5o c w / 21; Bielenstein， ^The Restoration of the Han Dynasty,** 4:112-114.

86 .

87. 88 .

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9〇.

Do呢 识 伽 H讲 I /丨 東 觀 漢 記 [Han Record from the Eastern Library]， cited in HHs, 1.IZ4 n. HHs, 2.114. Emperor He ascended the throne at age ten, tmperor An at age thirteen. Emperor Shun at age eleven， Emperor Chong 沖 帝 ing literally means wthc He [Yellow River] pacified." This reign title was adoptée in response to the massive flooding cKat resulted when the He broke its cukes in Dong commandery XSP. In 24 B.c., Emperor Cheng changed the reign date to Yangshuo PÄ5S, literaUy uyang*s beginning." The second-century scholar Ying Shao 應 肋 explained the change thus: “At

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the time ym was flourishing and yang was diminished, so he changed the date to "yang's beginning.' He hoped that yang would revive." The commentator Yan Shigu disagreed, pointing out that the change had occasioned by a stone’s pro^icing fire in Shanyang 山 明 （Hs，10.3 i i n). Although Yan is correa about the event that prompted the change, Ying is probably right about the underlying aspiration (behind the new name. Emperor Cheng must have been exasperated when there was another eclipse in the second month of Yangshuo 1. Hsy 10.312; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty^ 2:388-389. Hsy 10.315; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty^ 2:393-394. Hs, 10.318,978.3974-3981; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty^ 2:398-399. With Wc in the inner apartments, there were always additional elements not immediately apparent. In addition to the ostensible concern over Empress Xu*s failure to deliver an heir (she gave birth to a daughter and a stillbom son), her dismissal was also entwined with factional tensions between the Xu and 古 ang 王 families. Wang Feng 王 JR was ascendant at court, and some attributed to him responsibility for the eclipses (see Hsy 97B.3982；cf. Hinsch, 44Women in Early Imperial China," 459). HHsy 62.2051-2057. Fire was also the element or phase associated with the Han dynasty, which made disruption of it doubly significant (Liu, uHandai zhi furen zaiyi lun,n 7 ). The most important study in a Western language of these treatises is by B. J. Mansvelt Beck> The Treatises o f Later Harty 131-155. The title notwithstanding, Mansvelt Beck devotes considerable space to Ban Gu*s treatises as well as to those by Sima Biao. Sima Biao'îs treatises—originally pan of his History of the Posterior Han—were appended to Fan Ye*s Later Hart History. See Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises of Laiiter Han^ i-x. Sima Biao's treatises are hereafter cited as HHs, zhiy followed lowed by the treatise fascicle and page number as given in HHs. The Grand Scribed Records notes that an earthquake in the second year of the reign of King You of the Zhou was caused by yiri*s suppressing yangy a sign of the impending demise of the Zh” . The same yeaq Mt. Qi 妓 Üi collapsed and the Three Rivers (San chuan HJU) dried up, further signs that the Zhou would tall (5/, 4.145-146; Chavannes Mémoires historiques^ 1:279zSo; Nienhausei^ The Grand Scribe's Records^ 1:73). These omens are clearly tied in the text to the king's infatuation with Baosi, whom he made his queen the following yeaq replacing his Queen Shen 申 and deposing her son as heir apparent (5 /, 4.147； Chavannes, Mémoires historiques^ 1:280-281; Nienhausei; The Grand Scribed Records^ 1:73). This interpretation of events is certainly a Han view rather chan one of King You's time. Hs, 27A.1320；Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises o f Later Hany 133. ffs, 27A.1311; Legge^ 7 ^ Cixssi^s，5:62；Mansvdt Beck^ Trearises of Later Hart^ 134. Hsy 27A.1322；Legge, The Chinese Classics^ 5:100；Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises of Later Hany 134. / * ，i7A.1330-1331; Mansvelt Beck, Tfee 7>«2細 5 H讲 1，135. It was also thought that excessive female influence, resulting in an imbalance

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of yi«, could produce snowstorms (Mansvdt Beck, The Treatises uf Later Han^ 136, 139K HHsy zhi 14.3292-3297, 15.3308, 16.3328. Van 21oeren, Poetry and Personality, 9. A good discussion of the commentary and the preface, and their relationship to one another and to the Classic of Poetryycan be found in Van Zocren, Poetry and Personalityy 8o-i 15. Van Zoeren, Poetry and Personality^ 87-88 (brackets in Van Zocren). On Baosi, see Chapter 2, wPrc-imperial Chinawabove. In his ^Han ski wai de yan丨iu” Ä 氏 外 傅 的 研 党 ，Xu Fuguan has pointed out that one of special charaaeristics of the Han shi u/ai zhuart [Exoteric Commen­ tary on Han's Poetry] is the number of anecdotes it contains stressing the feminine values, suciî as chastity and the importance of maternal instruction to rearing a proper son. Unlike the Mao commentary， the ff伽 从 I.奶 》 is a collection of stones, each of which (with a few exceptions) ends with a quote from the QflSiic o, Poefry that is supposed to sum up the point being made {Xu， Lûng Hâ” sixûin炉 厶 i，3:4卜 45}. Pokora, Hsin-lun (New Treatise) and Other Writings^ xx. HHs 28A.955-956; Pokora, Hsin-lurt (New Treatise) and Other Writings, 232-233. On Wei Zifu and her rise from lady-in-waiting to empress, see Wilbui, Slavery in China during the Former Han Dynastyy 295-299. Pokora, Hsin-lurt (New Treatise) and Other Writingsy 103-105. A promising scholar-official might be recommended to the throne for appointment under several categories, including filially pious and incorrupt 孝 廉 )， capable and good 客 賢 良 sincere and uprigfu (fangzheng flourishing talent (xiucai and^ those who spoke frankly and admonished unflinchingly (Aiyaft /ï/ûn 直 言 權 諫 ). See Bielenstein. The Bureaucracy of Han Times^ 13 3-137；Hucken A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial Chmayno. 1418; and Lü, Zhortgguo lidai guanzhi da cidiarty 416. It is not dear which of the various He tu is referred to here. On the He tu phenomenon, sec Seidel, ^Imperial Treasures and Taoist Sacraments.^ HH5, 57.1855. “Six maladies” Ww发 六 病 }is a reference to Z mo zAuan, Zhao I ：uHeaven has six humors, which descend and produce the five flavors, which emit the five colors, which are evidenced in the five sounck. Excess [of these] produces the six maladies. The six humors arc ym, yatigy wind, rain, darkness, and light. They divide among the four seasons and are ordered according to the five divisions. If there is an excess [of any of them], there will be calamity. An excess of yin brings maladies of cold; an excess of yang brings maladies of heat; an excess of wind brings maladies of the extremities；an excess of rain brings maladies of the abdomen; and an excess of brightness brings maladies of the mind. Woman is the property of yang and [is approached] in a time of darkness. If [man uses her] to excess， then fie will come down with maladies of internal heat and besotted delusion(Sky 20.34-35). More is implied in Liu Yu's reference, howcvci; than just a discussion of maladies in the Zuo zhuatt. The description cited here was given by a physician from Qin who was invited to treat the illness of the marquis of Jin w. Just prior to this, howevei; the text quotes the famous statesman Zichan explaining

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how the marquis's illness is linked to his having four concubines who share his surname and to whom he devotes too much attention. The reader of Liu Yu's memorial would have understood the reference (Sky 20.34). HHs, 62.2054-2055. See also Ch'en, MA Confucian Magnate's Idea of Political Violence,w8o-8i. These were by no means the only criticisms addressed to the emperor. See， for examg^e， tEhe criticisms of the famous scholar Xiang Kai 襄指 and of Wei Huan Ä fi, who refused summonses to serve what they considered to be a degenerate court (HHsy 20B.1078, 53.1741; see also de Crespigny, Portents of Protest in the Later Han Dynasty). Not all the admonitions delivered to the emperor went unheeded. Chen Fan BK#, who was widely respeaed and feared for his frank criticisms of the emperor's failings and the corrupt influences at court, was able to achieve a modest reduaion in the size of me imperial harem as a result of a memorial submitted in 159. The following is from Chen*s biography in the Later Hart History： At the time, enfeoffments and rewards exceeded the sumptuary regulations, and favorites of the inner chambers increased profusely. [Chen] submitted a detailed admonition： Your subject has heard that for those who serve the alters of Soil and Millet, it is the state that is important, while for those who serve the rulei; it is the look of pleasure that is important. Now, your subject has been blessed By the sacred court and has been appointed among the nine ministers. When he has been received in audience, he has never failed to remonstrate, [and the emperor] has had a look of pleasure. The subordinate lords are symbolized above by four times seven [i.e., by the twenty-eight lunar mansions] which let down briUiance from Heaven, while below they respond by apportioning territory to form a proteaive barrier around the emperor's state. According to the compaa of Gaozu, if one were not a mefitorious subject, one would not be made a marquis. But I have learned of the posthumous recording of the trivial merit of Zun 遵 ， father of Deng Wanshi 登 萬 世 ， the governor of Henan, and the restitution of rank of the terminated enfeoffment of the ancestors of Prefea of Masters of Writing Ufcj«震sfctt /1•«容 尚 害 令 ） Huang Jun 夤 保 • Recently, it has been customary to bestow benefices inappropriately, for attendants to monopolize rewards without having merit, for offices to be granted without regard to their duties, and for territory to be divided without recording the merit [of the recipient]. It has reached the point that within a single household there arc several marquises. G>nsequendy, heavenly objects have lost their coordinates, yin and yang are in disarray, grain does not ripenyand the people are not well off. Your subjea realizes that the enfeoffments have already been carried out and to speak of them would serve no purpose. Howevci; I sincerely hope that Your Majesty will adopt this and desist. Moreover in recent years, 50 to 60 percent of the harvest has been damaged， many people suffèr starvation and cold， and

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they do not suppon themselves. Meanwhile, the chosen ladies number in the several thousands, eat meat and dress in silk, make themselves 〒 with 〇也 powdci; and eyebrow black, and tiie cost is incalculable. A proverb says,MA robber can*t beat a household with five women," meaning women impoverish a home. Now, the women of the inner apartments—how can they not impoverish the state? In this way, wives were taken into the Hundred Mou Palace [of the last Shang King Zhou], and the subcelestial realm chaneed; a woman of Chu was distraught [after being set aside and banished to the Western Palace by Diiüce Xi of Lu in favor of a secondary wife], and disaster struck the Western Palace. If women are collected but the emperor does not see them, it will surely give rise to feelings of unhappiness and bring on problems of balancing flood and drought. Ërison is the means of preventing licentiousness; office is the means to balance abilities and order affairs. If laws are deficient in fairness and offices do not have the proper people, then the kingly way will be missing. But if you ask people throughout the suGelestial realm to give their opinions, all will say that jaiiings result from resentments and that rank is filled by bribery. wIf there is no ordure, the flies will not fly.wYour Majesty should choose to seek after the benefits and losses and elect to adopt loyalty and worth [as the criteria for appointment to office). Issue a decree of recruitment of officials, authorize the masters of writing and the Three Dukes, and commission them to assign praise and blame and to give out punishments and rewards, each as appropriate. How could that not be good! The emperor partially accepted his suggestions and dismissed more than five hundred palace women. But he granted Huang Jun the rank of marquis within the passes M內 侯 ）and made Deng Wanshi marquis of Nanxiang 南 鄉 侯 • （HHs， 40.

HHs，6 n 〇56; Ch’en， “A Confucian Magnate’s Idea of Political Violence，” 81. The reader will have noted that Xun Shuang speaks of the emperor as having taken twelve wives, whereas in the preceding quotation Liu Yu spoke of the emperor's having nine wives. Bo hu tongywhich dates from about a . d . 79, contains the following statement： Why is it that the Son of Heaven and the Feudal Lords marry nine wives at a time? It is to emphasize the importance of their states and to enlarge their progeny. Why docs it happen to be nine? It is mockllcd on Earth with its nine provinces which, responding to Heaven's creative force, leaves nothing without life. To take nine women in one marriage should likewise be sufficient to meet the requirements of the Loras creative force. If with nine women he does not beget children, [then even] one hundred would not produce results. The Wang du ji says：^Thc Son of Heaven and the Feudal Lords marry nine women at a time.wThe Chunqiu Gongyang zhuan says： 44When a Feudal Lord marries a woman from one state, then two other states send each a concubine to accompany hei; [in all three cases] with her sister and cousin following.” …

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Some say: tfThe Son of Heaven marries twelve wives, modelling himself on Heaven with its twelve months, [during which period] the ten thousand things are bound to [complete their cycle of ] life, (Tjan^ Po hu t*ungy 1:251-25x；brackets in the original) Despite the emphasis on nine wives shown here, during the Han twelve seems to have been the more commonly accepted figure. It is was used^ inter alia, by Wang Mang (Hs, 99A.4051), the Biographies of Women (LnZy i-sa), and He Xiu (129-182) in his commentary to the Gongyang Commentary (Gongyang zhuany 17.19b). Cai Yong*s Solitary Judgments has the following： Three ladies (san furen): Di Ku had four consorts in imitation of the four stars of the Queen and Consorts. The brightest of these idary consorts. was the principal consort, and the others were secondary coi >eXia dyiuisty] Nine concubines (;ïm 冲 t}: The Xiahoushi 夏后氏 Ithe ' c. When increased three times three, making nine. Total: twelve. Wli in the period the bon Son ot of Heaven took twelve wiv«. ^ Spring and Autumn penod this was die Xia system. Twenty-seven hereditary consorts (shi fei tEffi): The people of Yin further increased by three times nine, making twenty-seven. Total: thirty-nine persons. Eighty-one royal wives (>^戒 御 女 ):The people of Zhou emulated Di Ku’s principA consort. Funhei; [they added] nine times tir nine【0 increase them. . Tocal:- one hundred twenty persons. The;Son ! of Heaven married twelve women months：three ladies and nine at once, imitating the twelve twe! concubines. The subordinate lords married nine women at once, imitating the Nine Provinces: one wife (qi # ) and eight concubines (aie ïc). The aristcxrracy took one wife, two concubines；officers (shi 壬 ） one wife, one concubine. (IW, a » 一

On Di Ku, see Fascicle 5, notes 71 and 75 below. The four stars uQucen and Consorts," also known as the Four Sustainers (Si fu E9 M), refers to a group of four circumpolar stars (Sun and Kistcmakei; The Chinese Sky during the Ha«, 164h “Nine Provinces” （ ;如 zfccw 九州）refers to the territorial divisions into which China was supposed to have been divided in high antiquity. Although the Han Histoiy is conventionally attributed to Ban Gu^ the question of the work’s authorship is very complex and unresolved. The writing of a history of the Former Han was begun by his father， Ban Biao 班 彪 （ a.d. 354), who is said to have left an incomplete work of sixty-five or one hundred sections (pian It) at his death. Ban Gu undertook to continue his father's histoiy but reportedly was dissatisfied with what his father had done. There is a wide range of views on the extent to which he retained, revised, or discarded his father's work. In any event, at Ban Gu's own death, the history remained incomplete, and the emperor ordered Ban Gu's sisten Ban 21hao, to compile the “Treatise on Astronomy” （“Tianwcn zhi” 天 文 志 ） and the eight tables. Because Ma Xu (fl. a.d. 14 i) was also asked to complete these same sections, it is not clear how much of the final work is from the hand of Ban Zhao. It is beyond the scope of the present work to tackle these issues. Where we cite one of the authors other than Ban Gu, it is because there is good reason to think the cited text is by that person. Elsewhere, we simply refer to Ban Gu or Mthe historian. " Readers interested in exploring this issue further can

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44.

Notes to Pages 34-35

begin by consulting Hulsewé, uHan shu\* Hulscwé, uNotes on the Historiography of the Han Period;" Li, Zhongguo shixue shiy 30-34; Van der Sprenkel, Pan Piaoy Pan Ku9and the Han History；and Lu, ttCong shixuc he shiliao lai lunshu Han shu bianzuan tedian.9* 77祀 G w iJ S a i l ’s Reconfs is divided into five sections: “Ben ji” 本 紀 [Basic Annals】；“Biao” 表 [Tables]; ttShu” 書 [Treatises, called Ai•志 in later histories]丨 “Shi jia” 世 家 [riereditary riouscs]; and “Lie zhuan” 列 傅 [Biographies]. With minor modifications. Ban Gu and Fan Ye adopted the same basic structure. Although the format of the standard histories now appears to have been more or less fixed ever since Sima Qian wrote The Grand Scribed Recordsy it was by no means considered a given by historians in early imperial China. Other formats were used；only later did the format we now associate with the standard histories come to be fixed. A brief discussion of the evolution of the standard histones is found in Gardine^ uStandard Histones, Han to Sui.wSec also Qian, aZonglun Dong Han dao Sui de shixue yanjin.w Some of the shorter standard histories did omit the treatises (e.g., the Bei Q/ sfcw 北 齊 書 [Northern Qi History], Lûwg 梁 害 [Liang Aistoiy]， and O en 陳 鲁 |Chen History】)， but otherwise they followed the /， format. Examples are King Wu's oath at Muye as he prepared to attack the Shang, in which he blamed the bad rule of King Zhou on the undue influence of women, and the case of Baosi, who was held responsible for the fall of the Western Zhou. The mother of Duke Kang of Mi ffi康 公 may also have been warning of the danger of infatuarion with beautiful women when she advised her son to give the three beauties in his company to King Gong Ä (r. 946935 B.C.; (see S/, 4.121, 145, 148-149; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques^ 1:165-2.67, 178-179, 184-2.85；Nicnhaiiser, The Grand Scribed Records,

。，70, 73 一74>.

I..6 45*

46.

47.

•S/，5.189,190,191，197,209; Chavannes， 2:33-34,3 536, 3^-40, 51, 76；Nienhausei; The Grand Scribe's Records^ 1:97, 98, 100, 104, 114. In one case, the marriage paid direct returns to Qin when the wife of Öuke Wen of Jin 晉 文公， who was herself from Qin， was able to intervene and save the lives of three Qin generals who had been captured after they had been crushed by Jin (5 /, 5.192; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques^ i ： 3^-4 〇； Nicnhausei; The Grand Scribed Records^ 1:100). See also Fascicle 34* notes 19 and 14. One passing reference does suggest, howevei; that dowager mothers of minor riders already were recognizeato have great authority. In 238 b.c., when the Marquis of Enduring Trust (Changxin hou attempted a revolt against the young Qin king (and future First Emperor), he fabricated the seals of the king and of the queen dowager (tai hou) in order to command the government troops to attack the Qinian Palace 鑛 年 宮 （ S/，6.127; Watson， Recordi Grand Historian：Qin Dynasty^ 37). Hs，I A.3— 4, 5, 8; Dubs， Tlbe History 〇,认 泛 Former Dymisry，1:31-31， 37.

48.

Hsy 1A.5. Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynastyy 1:32. As with a number of ocher founding emperors, Liu Bang's rise to greatness was portended when his mother then pregnant with him, dreamed that she encountered a spirit (shen W1). The Hart History says that the sky clouded over and there was thunder and lightning. Her father went to see what was happening and

173

Notes to Pages 35- 36

saw entwined dragons above her (Hs, i A.i; Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynastyy 1:28). 49- Interestingly, it was Emperor Hui who presented a problem for the historians. The son of Gaozu and Empress Lü, he inherited the throne upon the death of Gaozu but seems to have been unable or unwilling to deal with his domineering and sometimes malevolent mother who actually ruled the Han during the years 188-180 b.c. Sima Qian did not write an annals for him, placing the uAnnals of Empress Lüwimmediately following that of Emperor Gao (Liu Bang). Ban Gu, in contrast, includes an annals for him and begins the annals for Empress Lii*s reign only in the first year following the death of Emperor Hui. It is true that Fan Ye’s 范 曄 （398-446) H伽 contains a “Huanghou ji” 皇 后 紀 [Annals of Eiiipresses and Consorts}, but th丨s is appended to the annals section of Fan's nistory and is much closer in form to the biographical chapters (liezhuart) than to the imperial annak. Fan's two annals on empresses and consorts followed the example of Chen Shou*s contemporary Hua Qiao ^ 4)1 (d. 293), who consciously departed from the format of The Grand Scribed Records and the Han History of a monograph on the affinal families (“Wakji shijia” 外 戚 世 家 in the former case; “^Zaiqi liezhuan” 外 戚 列 傳 in the latter}. Hua thought such chapters did not adequately reflea the important function of an empress in complementing the role of an emperoi; . The Social Uses of Female Virtue in Late Ming Editions of Liertii 9 5 - See Carlitz, M zhuan.n

Chapter 4 : Empresses and Consorts of the Three Sûtes i. 1.

Hygz 9 6.525. See Chapter 3. See also Z功，66•工099; de Crespigny， To Estofefis/?加 從 ，2:109,

3,

On the question of Chen^ selections for the fascicles we have translated, see 44Who Is Included?" in Chapter 5 below. Given the appearance of strong, frequently martial women in genres such as chuanqi (classical language tales), one might expect to finaa woman as intriguing as^Ladv Sun embemshed in fiction. The Lady Sun of the , 0 zfc/ pi«如 mû 三國志平話 [^istoric£l Narrative of the llirec States】and tKe Lady Sun of the Sa« 供〇 咖 yjfiyi 三 國志演義 【Romance of the lliree States] are cjuite different figures êrom the Lady Sun of Records o f the Three States. In the Historical Narrative^ she is depiaed as a clever fifteen-ycar-old maiden who helps Liu Bei escape an assassination plot by Zhou Yu 周 麻 （ I 75-210) of Wu in which she is the bait. In this version, Sun Quan initially supports Zhou’s ploty but on meeting Liu is so impressed that he sees advantages in becoming his brother-in-law. In the Romance^ Lady Sun is described as an amazon surrounded by armed handmaidens, but she is loyal to Liu and helps him escape Zhou's trap. In this version, howevei; her brother is so angry at her helping Liu that he orders his soldiers to kill her. She escapes and accompanies Liu to Jing province. The Romance has her attempt to return to Wu later with Adou W4 - (Liu Shan), the heir apparent, because she has been falsely informed that her mother is dying and wishes to see her and the boy. This is another of Zhou Yu*s schemes to wrest Jing province from Liu Bei, dûs time by taking the bov hostage. In one of the most celebrated sections of the Romancey Zhao Yun SLS (d. 119) rescues the lad in the middle of the Yangtze, and Lady Sun continues on to Wu unaware of the plot. Sec San guo w i pinghuay 73-76; San guo yanyi 9 1:45 1 : 5 2 0 - 5 1 3 ; Roberts，71^ 從 40^-4 i 〇. If， as Ândréw Lo suggests, the Romance did not derive from the pinghua but Umust be set in [the] written tradition that precedes Song-Yuan oral forms,w it would be interesting to know at what point and how the metamoq^hosis of Lady Sun occurred. See Lo, uSart-kuchchih yen -i^ 669.

211 .

178

Notes to Pages 47-49

4. 5. 6.

Sgz9 46.1104, 51.1213；de Crespigny, Generals of the Souths 197. Liu, Han das hurrym zhiduy 150. Note, too, that the behavior of the earlier Caos seems to parallel Cau Cau's attitude toward the selection of men for office. He is famous for his three Qiu xian ling” 求 資 令 【Edicts on Seeking the Worthy】， in which he argues tRat ability~~not virtue or social status—should be the sole qualification for official employment. Sec Sgzy 1.32, 44, and 49-50, Pci quoting Wang Chcn*s (d. 266) Wei shu 9km [Wei History]. Sec also Kroll, aPortraits ofTs'ao Ts*ao,w 17-19. 7. Aditiittedly, Cao Cao married Empress Bian long before he could have imagined die power he would ultimately hold. He had been dismissed from office and had gone home to Qiao ill in 178, and the following year he married her there. 8. Sec Liu, Han dai hunyirt zhiduy 150；Fang, The Chronicle o f the Three Kingdoms^ 1:241. 9. See Liu, Han dai hunyin zhiduy 150, 219. 10. Such is the conclusion of de Crespigny in Generals of the South7 294 n. 8. In this note， de Crespigny convenienîfy summarizes the data from tfie /^cord!s of the Three States about Liu Bei's wives. 11. 5^,32.873. 12. Sgz, 3 ^*8 7 4 13• 扭 ，31.875. 14. SgZy 32.874, 38.969; HygZy 6.511. See also Ch'ii, Han Social Structure^ 116, 121, 147, 345 n; Liu, Han dai hunyin zhiduy 151, 157；Tang, uClients and Bound Retainers in the Six Dynasties Period," 112-113, 127. 15. There is no biographical entry for this wife or wives. Lady Gan's biography says that during this period Liu Bei tfwas bereaved of a primary wife on several occasions." See Fascicle 34.905 below. Cf. de Qespigny, Generals of the Southy 295 n. 16. See Empress Wu*s biography in Fascicle 34.906 below. Ch*ü, Han Social S/ructMre, 43; Liu, 151，置$8; Tätige “Clients and Bound Retainers in the Six Dynasties Period,” 112-113, IZ7. 17. Sçc Fascicle 34 at commentary c Wow. 18. On the Liu ruling house, see Appendix I, Table a . In addition to his natural sons, Liu Bei haJa n adopted son， Liu Feng 割 封 （191-120}. When Liu Bei first arrived in Jing province (201 ), he did not yet have an heii; so he adopted a son of the marquis of Luo 羅 侯 sumamed Kou 寇 ，who was related by marriage to the Uus of Changsha 長 沙 . In 111， Liu Béi attacked Liu Zhang 割萆 （ 3. 夕)， the provincial shepherd of Yi province. Liu Fengy at the time only twenty, proved to be a skilled and exceptionally energetic soldier. Once Yi province had been subjugated, Liu Bei appointed him leader of the palace gentlemen of the adjunct army 嘴 仏 货 /ûmg 副 軍 中 郎 將 } and ordered him to join the administrator of Yidu S w commandery, Meng Da (d. zz 8)9 in taking Shangyong ilfllf commandery. Once Shangyong commandery administrator Shen Dan 申耽 had surrenderéd and sent members of his family to Liu Bei's capital at Chengdu as hosuges, Feng was promoted to general of the adjunct army (fujun jiangjun and would seem ，

179

Notes to Page 49

to have been much in his adopted father’s fav〇L But when Guan Yu M羽 （160219} surrounded Fancheng 樊 城 and Xiangyang 襄 W and sent repeated appeals to Liu Feng and Meng Da for assistance» diey refused. They gave as a reason that their areas had only recently been subjugated, so they were not yet able to move. Moreovei; Liu Feng and Meng Da had a serious falling out, and Meng took his army and went over to die Wei, who rewarded him handsomely with tides and position. Meng wrote to Liu Feng, pointing out that Feng's relationship to Liu Bei was not one of flesh and blood and nodng that since Liu Shan had been made heir apparent, there had been a cooling of Liu Bci*s feeling toward Feng. He told Feng that as Liu Bei moved to consolidate his position, he would be suspicious of outsiders. For the moment, Meng said, Feng was safe because he was distant from the capital; once he returned, he would be in dangen Meng urged Feng to come over to the Wei. He would succeed to his natural father's position of marquis of Luo, which could not be construed as a betraval of his family. Feng ignored the advice. Shen Yi 申 儀 , younger brother of Shen Dan, rebelled against Feng and drove him back to Chengdu. SKcn Yi, too, went over to the Wei, and just as Meng had predicted, Liu Bei turned on his adopted son. Liu Bei condemned Liu Feng for his maltreatment of Meng Da and for failing to go to the aid of Guan Yu. To make matters worse, Zhuge Liang considered F eng to be recalcitran t a n d th o u g h t he w o u ld b e difficult to c o n tro l o n ce Liu

19. 2〇.

Shan succeeded Liu Bei. He therefore advised Liu Bei to get rid of him. Liu Feng was compelled to commit suicide (5gz, 40.991-994, 41.1016'；Hygzy 1.1x8,134,139; Zztjy 69.2180; Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:7-8, 29, 31). See Fascicle 34 at commentary Ebelow. When he was newly instaUed on the throne, Liu Shan wanted to choose women to fill the rear hal丨s. Dong Yun 董 允 （ d. 2^6)，palace attendant 片侍 id concomitantly general of the gendemen of...................... the household as rapid as 中 }and concci 虎 賁 中 命 將 ),had been charged by Zhuge Liang ogers(h ^. with providing guidance to the immature sovereign. Dong pointed out that mdquity the Son of Heaven had no more than twelve wives and that there in antiquity >already a full complement in Liu's harem. Since it would not be appropriate to add any, Dong refused to consider the matter furthec As a consequence, Chen says, Liu*s respect and awe for Dong increased (Sgzy 39.986；Hygzy 7.573). Still, Liu was very fond of his harem and, Dong*s advice notwith­ standing, allowed it to swell. Yu Huan’s 魚 樂 Wh 魏 略 [Wei Epitome】contains an interesting story about Zhang Fei and the mother of Liu Shan's wives： IXiahou 夏 侯 j^ a 霸 ， appellative Zhongquan 仲 權 ： [His father] Xiahou Yuan 2^ was killed by the state of Shu, so Ba was always resentful and wanted to take revenge on Shu. During the Huangchu TCriod(A.D. 2ZO-Z26], he was made lieutenant généré {pian jiangjun W將 ÿ ) . During the Ziwu 子 午 campaign, Ba was put in the vanguard. He advanced to Xing^hi 興 勢 , was surrounded, and took refuge in a winding valley. When the Shu officers observed and realized that it was Ba, they ordered their soldiers to attack him. Ba himself fought within the abatis. He ultimately was rescued. Latei;

i8o

Notes to Pages 49-50

he became^neral of the right (you jiangjtm andgarrisoned Longxi HI茜 ， where his succor of the troops and ûie non-Chinese won over the hearts of both. In the mid-Zhengshi if.in reign period [240-249】， he replaced Xiahou Ru 夏 侯 儒 as commissioner over the army attacking Shu Shu 办 m/Wi 征 葡 護 軍 ） and was in command of attackif^ the West. The general artackine the West (決例客 x/ /Û2”皮M ” 征 成 將 軍 }at the time， Xiahou Xuan X 侯 玄 ， was nephew to Ba， and Xuan was a maternal cousin (u/âû£i•夕卜弟}to Cao Shuang 曹 爽 . When King Xuan of the Simas 司 馬 宣 王 executed Cao Shuang, he summoned Xiahou Xuan, who went back east. When Ba heard that Cao Shuang had been executed and that Xuan, moreover, had been summoned, he assumed that disaster would certainly come to him and was inwardly fearful. Furthermore, Ba earlier had not been on good terms with Inspector of Yong Province (Yongzhou cis^i 雍 州 刺 史 ) Guo Huai 郭淮丨 d. 155]， and when Guo succeeded Xiahou Xuan as general attacking the West, Ba was especially dismayed and fled to Shu. Hurrying southward toward Yinping 陰 平 ， he got lost and entered a deep valley. His provisions exhausted, Ba slaughtered his horse and went on on foot. He injured his feet and lay down beneath a crag. He sent someone to look for the route, but did not discover which way to go. Shu learned of this an d sen t so m eo n e to w elco m e Ba.

Back in Jian*an 5 [200-201), when Ba*s niece was thirteen or fourteen years old in her home commandcry, she had gone out to gather firewood and was abduaed by Zhang Fei. Zhang realized that she was a girl of good family, so he took her to wife, and she bore him a daughter, who became Liu Shan's empress. Formerly, when Xiahou Yuan had just died, she asked permission and went to bury him. When Xiahou Ba entered Shu, Liu Shan met with him and explained, uYour father met his death in action. It was not by my famées blade.wHe pointed to his son, saying MHe is a sororal nephew of the Xiahou.n He was generous in bestowing rank and fav o r on Ba•( 处 2, 9.171- 273, quoted by Pei)

11. z).

24. 15.

Cf. Zztjy 69.2188; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 2:60-61. We are indebted to Rafe de Crespigny for bringing this passage to our attention. The “Ziwu campaign” refers to (jao Zhen’s attack on Shu in 130, when he followed the Ziwu Road southward from Chang'an 9.282). Xingshi was north of modem Yang xian in Sichuan province, on the southern reaches of the Qinling mountains. Longxi was near modern-day Longxi in Gansu province. Fang, Wei Jin Nanchao Jiangdong shijia dazu shulurt^ 22.-23. The history of the Sun rise to domination of the South and the family's metamoq>hosis from a military family to a ruline dynasty is described in de Crespigny's Generals of the South. Sec Table 5 of Appendix I for the Suns as the ruling house of Wu. For Sun Jian himself, de Crespigny has translated the biography from Records of the Three States in his The Biography of Sun Chien. De Crespigny, The Biography of Sun Chien^ 19-31, 55 n. z. Sh xi” y« 世 説 新 語 [A New Account of Tales of the World] says， “The four lineages of Wu used to be characterized as follows: ‘The Zhangs are

i 8i

26.

27. 18. 2.9. 30. 31. 32. 33.

34. 35. 36. 37.

38. 39. 40. 41.

Notes to Pages 50-53

cultured， the Zhus martial， the Lus loyal， and the Gus hospitable.，” The commentary quotes the uForest of Elites” {“Shi lin” 士 林 ） chapter of the CferomVrfc» o , 汾K . 49.1658. On Zhongcha^ Tong’s political ideas and his Fnm灸/y Speakings see Balazs, wPolitical Thought and Social Crisis at the End of the Han Dynastyw213-125. Sgz^ 2.80；Fang, The Chronicles of Three Kingdoms, 1:105-106,124. See also Mansvelt Beck, uThe Fall of Han,w^66. Records of the Three States docs say, howeveq that Empress Guo was a sf^rewd strategist and that she occasionally gave Cao Pi advice. See 5^ 5.164 (translated at Fascicle 5.164 below). SgZy 4.12^-130, Pei quoting Wei shu. Sgz94.118. See also Fang, The Chronicies of Three Kingdoms, 1:183-184. SgZj 4.130, Pci quoting Wei lüe. De Crespigny, Generals of the Souths 152. See the biography of Lady Wu at Fascicle 50.1195 below. See Fascicle 50 at commentary Lbelow. See Lady Bu*s biography at Fascicle 50.1198 below. Sec note 37 above and, on Sun Jian's younger sister the biography of Lady Xu at Fascicle 50.1197 below. On Lady Sun, see the preceding discussion and note 3 in this chapter, and Fascicle 34, note 13 below. See Lady Pan's biography in Fascicle 50.1199 below. See Fascicle 50.1200 below. SgZy 3.104-105, 5.159,14.686; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:487. See the Wei Epitome passage in Fascicle 5 at commentary Ebelow. Sec also SgZy 24.686; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:487. 扭 ，3.104-105. For another translation of the pertinent passage, see ! Fang, was The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:487. Hucker notes that:cairert a “ai designation occasionally awarded to an imperial consort; in in [the 【the period in question，it] ranked from 1,000 bushels down” （Hudcei; A Ôictiofury o. Official Titles in Imperial Chinay no. 6830). On the titles of women in the Wei harem, see Fascicle 5.155-156 and Table 1 of Appendix I. Shangbao may be a conflation of nü shangshu and baolitt rendered as Msoothing maidwby Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Ttmesy74. wSoothing

183

Notes to Pages 58-61

maid” was a low-ranking title in the harem of Former Han times (祕 97^3935» 393^ commentary). Fang, The Chronicle o f the Three Kingdoms^ 1:487; see Sgzy 24.^86.

，

6465* Sgz, 39 986 . 66. 3.73； 50.1203, commentary. 67. SgZy 50.1x03. On Duke Huan, see Fascicle 50, note 95 below. 68. ；s, 3.63, 3 1 -9 5 3 69. Sec Empress Zhen*s biography in Fascicle 5.159 below. i. z.

3. 4.

5.

Chapter 5: Records of the Three States All these dynastic periods, of course, suffered major disruptions at various times. Perhaps the era of the sagas for Icelanders and the semimythical age of King Arthur for the English are vaguely comparable. The Arthurian comparison has occurred to others. Sec, for example, de &espigny, MMan from the Margin.w Van Slyke, Yangtze^ 138. See also Kroll, aPortraits of Ts'ao Ts'ao," 1. This is true not only for China but Korea as well. The “Dong yi zhuan” 東 in the San guo zhi is an essential source for information on early Korean history. See Guk&a pyuncan yuwenhoi, Chungguk jungsa Chosunftm^ 201. Kim Pu-si(’s 金 富 W (1075-1151) • 三 國 免 記 【Records of Three Kingdoms], the earliest Korean official history, relies heavily on Chen's Records o f the Three States and Fan Ye's Later Han History for this period. Fan's account, it should be mentioned, derives from Chen shou*s. On Samguk sagiy see Kim, A Bibliographical Guide to Traditional Korean Sources^ 11-17. Leban, MTs,ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei," 30. See also de Crespigny, The Records o f the Three Kingdomsy 1. References to Records o f the Three States can crop up in surprising contexts. An essay by Stephen West mentions a late Yuan jù (1260-1368) text that contains a passage about the bickering between a singer and her madam. The singer sings, in part： I play four or five rounds of airon cavalry" at the theatei; Only to find six or seven scenes of warfare waiting for me at home. What I sing is ^Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms," preceded by ten Great Songs, But my mother [bésts me】with the “History of the Five Epochs,” with the wEight Yang Classic" stuck on for good measure.** The uChronicles of the Three Kingdoms" mentioned here is, of course, San guo zhi. The title had entered the popular vocabulary. As West goes on to write, uthe contextualization of Taoist and secular historical canons in such a metaphorical world, where they wind up meaning the unending and complex nagging of a money-grubbing madam, means that they are absorbed at quite a different level than in scholarly or religious debate. They are assimilated because of sound, not sense" (West, MHeart Sutra"). The Yuan text in question is Zfew客 客 zj/m 諸 宮 _ 風 月 紫 雲 亭 雜 劇 by Shi Junbao 石 肴 寶 • Tkis passage is also translated with differences in Idema and West, Chinese Theater noa-1400, 2.59.

184 6.

Notes to Pages 61-62

On the importance of Guan Yu, see Cai, Taiwan de siji yu zongjiaoy 107-112, and Duara, MSuperscribing Symbols." Sec also Schwartz, The World o f Thought m Ancient Chinay z$.

7.

8.

9*

10.

ii.

It is sometimes forgotten that the Later Han History postdates Records o f the Three States by more than a century. In other words, among the standard offkial histories (zheng shi iE i), Records o f the Three States is the immediate descendant of The Grand Scribe's Records and the Han History. Sec also Miao, San guo zhi daodu^ 1. For an account of other historiographical activity between the Han History and Records o f the Three Statesy see Bielenstein, The Restoration o f the Han Dynasty, 10-13. Fang, The Chronicle o f the Three Kingdoms. Rafe dc Crcspigny, who has written a great deal about the Three States period, deserves mention with Fang. His new book, To Establish Peacey appeared just as we were completing our work. Fang translates the Zi 伽 琴 /Û” passages in his text. In his notes， he indicates differences between the Zi zhi tong jian account and that of San guo zhiyusually translating the San guo zhi version there. When we note the existence of a Fang translation of a given passage, two sets of page numbers may be given. This is because it is sometimes necessary to check both his text and notes and engage in a certain amount of mental editing to see how he translates a given San guo zhi passage. For a somewhat dated list of translations from San guo zhiy see Frankel, Catalogue o f Translations from the Chinese Dynastic Histories, 11-55. Althou^i FrankePs more than thirty pages of listings may make it seem as though a great deal has been done, that is not the case, for he catalogues passages as short as twenty-five graphs, less than one full line on one page of the 1,510-page Zhonghua shuju edition, our base text. A complete Japanese translation of the text and commentary is Imataka, Inami, and Kominami, Sangoku shi. There are at least seven complete translations into modem Chinese. Six of these (Fang, San guo zhi zhu yi; Baihua San guo zhi； Wang, Baihua San guo zhi； Tian and Wu, San guo zhi jin yi; Liu, San guo zhi； and Su, San guo th i jin zhu jin yi) do not include a translation of Pei Songzhi's commentary. To our knowledge the only one that does is Cao, Baihua San guo zhu and it occasionally omits portions of the commentary. The translations into modem Chinese of selected portions of the text that comprise Lu and Hai's San guo zhi xuan yi and Tong, Zhang, and Zhang*s San guo zhi jinghua zhu yi also lack translations of the commentary. Anhan was in the vicinity of modem Nanchong ^ Æ, Sichuan. Chen Shou, whose appellative is Chengzuo 承 祚 ， has two early biographies. One is the official biography in/s, 82.2137-1138. The other is in HygZy 11.849-852. The biographical sketch that follows here draws on these two sources and is also much indebted to Miao Yue*s work on Chen's life published in various sources cited below. Qiao Zhou compiled a Hom H伽 // 後 漢 紀 [Later Han Annals】and a Gm 5/71 fajo 古 史 考 [Investigations in Ancient History] (Bielenstein， Restorafton o f the Han Dynasty^ 12). As Sima Biao points out in his preface to Xu Hart shu, Gu shi kao was a commentary to the pre-Han seaions of Sima Qian's Shi ji (Js^ 81.2142; Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises o f Later Han, 31). Other tides attributed to Qiao are a S/w /ï 蜀 本 紀 ^ ß j /ï 三 巴 紀 , and YfeAoM 益 州 志 （see 扭 ，38.975 n; Sui, 33.983; Wx, 4.ub; Mansvelt Beck，了心 Treatises o f Later Han^ 30). He was also noted for his knowledge of the prophetic-apocryphal textual tradition and for his ability to predia the future.

185

12.

13.

N o te s to Pages 6 2 -6 3

Sec Js, 91.2347, and Lü, ttHcavcn,s Mandate and Man*$ Destiny in Early Medieval China," 117. Hygz, 11.849; Miao, MChen Shou yu San guo zhi,n 315；Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 3. Hy£zf 11.849. Jsy 82.2137 says that Chen Shou was a guan*ge lingshi 令 x . Miao Vue thinks 炉 simply refers to the Dongguan, or Eastern Lodge, the main library of the Later Han and the location of the archivists' offices. This would mean Chen was a foreman clerk (/i>i炉 W) of the Eastern Lodge. Miao conjectures that perhaps Chen was first a foreman clerk and later rose to be a gentleman (lang) in the library (Miao, San guo zhi daodu^ 12). On the asyndiesized tidewsanji Huangmen shilangysee Rogers, The Chronicle

of Fu Chien， 101 •

15.

16. 17.

Jsy 82.2137; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 1；de Crespigny, The Records o f the Three Kingdoms^ 3. Jsy 81.Z137；Miao, San guo zhi daoduy z; de Crespigny, The Records o f the Three Kmgdomsy 3, 32. De Crespigny thinks Chen was criticized Mboth for

his unfilial concern with his own comfort and also for his casual relationship with the woman.” On “filially pious and incorrupt” sec Chapter 3, note 35. Chen may have had to take an examination to gain office. H e re w e a d o p t Q ia n D a x in ’s 錢 大 昕 （ I 72*8-1804> e m e n d a tio n o f th e History text of Chen Shou*s biography. See Jsy 82.2160, and Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 2. Miao also thinks that while serving as assistant gentleman editor and gentleman editor Chen was named an impartial and just (zhongzheng ili) from Baxi commandery (Miao, San guo zhi daodu^ z y 12, 13). Holders of the office impartial and just (“rectifier” in Hucker’s translation) nominated and classified candidates for government service from their home areas. On this system, see Holzman, uLes débuts du système médiéval de choix et de classement des fonctionnaires," 387-414; Hucken A Dictionary o f Official Titles in Imperial Chitta^ z z and no. 1534; and Miyazaki, Kyübin hartjin hö no kenkyti.

18.

19.

zo.

SgZy 35.929, 931; Miao, MChen Shou yu San guo z h i^ 313; Miao, San guo Wen Xuchu 聞旭 初 ，“Bian jiao süuoming” f if e 説 明 [Editorial Explanation], in Duan and Wen, Zhuge Liang ji. Chen's edition was lost by Song 宋 times (960-1279). Records o f the Three States was not Chen*s only historical work. He also authored Ytbu qijiu zhuan VfV [Accounts of the Elders of Yi Region] in ten juart and Gu guo zhi [Records of Ancient States] in fifty sections, both now lost (HygZy 11.849; Jsy 8z.zi 38; Miao, MChen Shou yu San guo z h i^ 315; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 3). The/m History states that when the Jin general Wang Jun ï } # captured Jianyc 建 Hi on the day renyi« 壬 寅 in the third month of Taikang 太康 I ( I May 280), he seized the charts and records of the Wu government (/s, 3.71 ). If Chen utilized these materials in writing his history, it would probably have been a year or more after the fall of Wu before he was able to complete the work. The wPreface" to the Harvard-Yenching index to the San guo zhi concludes that Chen must have begun writing the Records after the fail of Wu (280) and completed it no later than 189, the year Xun Xu died (San guo zhi Pei zhu zonghe yinde, ii-iii).

186

Notes to Pages 63-65

Jsy 82.2138; Miao, ^Chen Shou yu San guo zhiyn 316；Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 4. 1 Z. /s, 8z.2i37；Miao, ^wo zhi daodu^ 4； ; Miao, ^Chen Shou yu San guo zhiyn 315-316. )Gahou Zhan was from an imp[portant family that had had close des with the Caos. He was noted for his literary talent and was sometimes entioncd together with the famous poet Pan Yue 潘 岳 （247-300). See /s, ^491. Two hundred years latei; the great literary critic and dieorist Liu Xie M (ca. 46 5-ca. çii) also praised Chen Shou's San m o zhi highly (Fan, Wertxin diaoiJong zhuy 4.185). Cf. Luo, Wei Jm Nartbeichao wenhua sniy433Hygz, 11.849. ^3 子 y f ， 11.849. Changguang was a comnumdery that lay in the region of 2.4 [lo^em Shandong that includes Qingdao 靑 岛 . ^5 Jsy 82.1138. /s, 8Z.Z138; cf. H y g Z y 11.849；Zztjy 80.2543-2.545；Han, Wei Jin Nanbeichao 16 shigartgy 111；Rogers, The Chronicle of Pu C%ieny 171 n. Js9 82.2138. ^7 28 /s, 82.2138; HygZy 11.849. /s, 82.2138；HygZy 11.849-850; Miao, San guo zhi daodu9 2-3. See Leban，“Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei，” 3-19; Miao, “Chen Shou yu 3〇 San guo zhi9n 315; Miao, San guo zhi daodu9 3. 31 Miao, San guo zhi daodu^ 3；Js, 39.1143. 32 See Shen9San guo zhi zhu suo yin shu muy 1.16b; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 3; Leban，“Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei,” 11; Kroll， “Portraits of Ts’ao Ts*ao>w 120-121. Miao, 山〇办 ，3-4. Wei Zhao i$ called Wei Yao 韋 V in his 33. biography in Sgzy65.1460-1464. Pei Songzhi notes that the change was made in jin times to avoid a tabooed personal name (取 , *fhc name to be avoided would have been that of Sima Zhao (Leban, uTs*ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei," 11). But Qian Daxin shows that Records of the Three States is not at all rigorous in its avoidance of rulers' names and lists a number of people named Zhao who appear with their names unaltered in the history. His conclusion is that Wei must have had two names (Sgz jijiey 65.9a). Yu Huan was a g e n tk m a n ~ o f-th e -h o u s e h o ld 震 中 郎 }under the Wei34. S/, 12.13a indicates that the Wei Epitome stopped with the reign of Emperor Ming, but this is an erroi; for Zhang Pengyi shows that events of the rime of Cao Huan are included (Sgz jijie^ 1.86a; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 4; Leban, **Ts*ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei,w 15). 35. Leban, ttTs*ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei," 11; Sgz9J 3.901. The assertion that 44no one was in charge of note-taking and record-keepingM(zhu ji tvu guan may be a reference to the diaries of activity and repose (qiju zhu 起居注). 人t any rate, the celebrated Tang 唐 dynasty (6i8«9〇7Î historian and historiographer Liu Zhiji M知 幾 （661-711} and others Save asserted that Chen Shou is lying here. Chen's putative motive was a desire to defame Zhuge Liang. Qjnvincinearguments by scholars such as He Zhuo (1661-1722), Liu ^ianxin 劉咸Af, Lu Bi， Miao Yue, and Carl Leban, however demonstrate that Chen was simply stating the facts about the poor condition of Shu*s records (Sty 7.9a, 11.7b; Sgz jijiey 33.21b; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 4, i4n ；Lebany “Ts*aoTs’aoandtheRiseofW ei ，” i2r»i4). 21.

187

36. 37. 38.

39. 4 〇.

Notes to Pages 6$-66

Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, uSan guo zhi chuban shuoming,w 2. Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 4. Miao, MChen Shou yu San guo zhi^ 311, suggests that the absence of the treatises was due to insufficient data. Although this may well be true, Leban suggests that a further reason for Chen’s format is that at the time Chen wrote Records of the Three States^ the great histories of Sima Qian and Ban Gu notwithstanding, athe forms of historical writing were still in a state of experimental flux" (Leban, ttTs*ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei,w 19-20). See also Qian, M21onglun Dong Han dao Sui de shixue yanjin.** Many Qing dynasty works attempt to supply zhi and biao for Records of the Three States. Such works include those round in volumes 2 and 3 of Eswsbb. Yang, MA Theory about the Titles of the Twenty-Four Dynasdc Histories,w41. Sgiy 1471 -

lÀMy Jiu Tang shuy 46.1989, 1992. See also Zhonghua shuiu bianji bu, uSan I*chuban shuoming^” 2. Note that the Xin s/tm 薪 唐 書 [New Tang History] lists all three sections of Chen's work consecutively under the tides Wei guo zhi, Shu guo zhiyand Wu guo zhi. Here mention of Pei's commentary comes under the Wu guo zhi (Ouyang, Xin Tang shuy 58.1455). 33-955* entry also mentions a ttXu Iuwf t î t in one chaptei; but this 42. has apparendy been lost since Tang times (21honghua shuju bianji bu, uSan guo Jhi chuban shuoming,n 3； Sgz jiaogu^ 5 n). For additional, earlier evidence that Records of the Three States was from the beginning one work, see Sgz jiaogUy 298-300. 4 V See Fang, uMiao Yue yu guji zhengii," 84. Ts*ao 4 4 . Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, uSan guo zhi chuban shuoming,** 2; Leban, M Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei,w4^. There arc purported Eastern Jin (317-4^0) manuscrijn fragments of z知 •Two fragments of /im” 57 were unearthed between 1902 and 1904 atTuyugou in Xinjiang jûiogu^ 351；cf. dc Crespigny, The Records of the Three Kingdoms^ z8; Leban, MTs'ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei,w41; and Guo,tfXinjiang xin chutu de Jin ren xieben 也o can juan，” 2, all of which give 192^ and simply Shanshan xû” as the date and place of discovery). This manuscript has sometimes ^ 1 used as an illustration in various works, as in the first edition of the »nghua shuju San guo zhi and, more recendy, the San guo zhi cidian H sP A (Sgz cidtan). It was reproduced in the 1926 edition of Luo Zhenyu's I 玉 （1866-1940) f/an /in 5/7M_ 客 漢 晉 會 影 [Reproductions of Han through Jin Manuscripts]. A photo reprint of the manuscript, with contributions by Wang Sfiu’nan 王樹栴 （ I 8丄 1-1936)， Luo Zhenyii) and Naitö Torajirô 內 藤 虎 次 郎 （Naitö Konan 肉 藤 勒 南 ，i 866-i934)， was published in under the tide Gm 办 挪 sa” 卜 /f 古本 三 IB志殘存三卷 (the title on the case is Gm «Sût» " o z/;/ aw /«j« 古本 三國志殘卷 }• Doubts about the authenticity of this manuscript have been expressed (see de Crespigny, The Records of the Three Kingdoms^ 26^x9, and Leban, MTs*ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wd,w41-424 cf. Guo, ttXinjiang xin chutu dc Jin ren xieben San guo zhi can juan." 2). Two other Eastern Jin fragments were discovered in TtL*fan (Tulufan 吐 魯 畚 } in Xinjiang in 1965, anâ there is one from Dunhuang (Sgz jiaoguy 350-351; GuoyuXinjiang xin chutu de Jin ren xieben San guo zhi can juann). " o 咖 chuban shuoming，” 2, 4. 4 5 . Zhonghua shuju bianji bu， 4i-

供〇 从

188

Notes to Pages 66-68

Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, MSart guo zhi chuban shuoming^ 4. Tliis Bona edition is the one included in Sock. Bona means something like wmany patches," ^patchwork," or ^pastiche." The title derives from the fact that the series was pieced together from what were considered to be the best Song and Yuan editions. The Bona ben histories were first published in installments between 1930 and 1937 by the Commercial Press of Shanghai. 47- A set of dynastic histones was published by the Wuying dian, the imperial printing office and bindery, during the Qianlong era (1736-1796). This edition is known as the Wuying dian, or Palace, edition of the historiesMt has been the basis for a number of other editions^ including £rs办 is/ 5办 I 二十四 史 （ Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1894}; sAi 二 十 五 史 （Shanghai: Kaiming shudian，1935); and 5/71’《 Taibei: Yhvcn yinshu guan, 1956}， chuban shuomin^” 4. S^pcifying it 48. Zhonghua shuju bianji bu， as published by the Directorate of Education at Beijing (Bei jian J 匕Ê) suggests that this Ming edition dates from 1421 or latei; for it was in that year that a Directorate of Education at Nanjing (Nan jian 南 1^1 was established. See Huckei; A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, no. 3541. 49- Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, uSart guo zhi chuban shuoming,n 4. Feng Mengzhen was chancellor of the Directorate and oversaw the production of new editions of dynastic histories. See Goodrich and Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biographyy 1:343, 2:1559. 50. Zhonghua shuju bianji bu，“&7» gyo 咖 chuban shuomingy” 4. On Mao Jin’s activities as a bibliophile and publishci; see Hummel, Eminent Chbtese of the Cb'ing Period, 565-566. For a list of other editions of Records of the States^ see Sgz jiaogu, 350-3 51. 51- This biographical sketch of Pei Songzhi is based on Ss, 64.1698-1701, and Miau, San guu zhi dauduy 15-16. Wcnxi was in the area of the modem place of the same name in Shanxi. Si- Those whose families had fled south to escape incursions of nomadic peoples from the steppe maintained the fiction of being natives of their family's place of origin in the North. See Crowell, wNorthem Émigrés and the Problems of Census Registration under the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties.w south of modem Waxing, 53. Wuxing commandery had its seat at Wucheng Jiangsu. 54- Sizhou was a province created by Liu Yu when he captured modem He'nan from the Later Qin 後 秦 • It eventually was occupied Sy the Later Wei 後 魏 . Jiankang, of course, was at modem Nanjing. Lingling was a commandery with 55. its seat located at modem Lingling, Hunan. 56. Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 16. Pei Songzhi's designation as marquis is not mentioned in his biograpfîies in Shen Yue’s 沈 約 T44卜 513) Son客s/w 宋 窨 [Song History丨 and Li Yanshou’s 李 延 壽 （fl. 6巧 ） Aflfi sW 南 史 [History of the South), but Marquis of Xi Distria is one of the titles he uses in signing his 44Memorial Presenting the Commentary to Records of the Three States. ^ See Sgz，1471. 57- Leban，“Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei,” 30. 58. See SgZj 1.14, 16.489. See also Crowell, ttGovemmcnt Land Policies and Systems in Early Imperial China/ 144-171; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy zo21. 4^.

189

Notes to Pages 68-71

Only 60 to 70 percent of the works quoted by Pei are listed in the bibliographical treatise of the Sut History. Less than 10 percent appear to have vived as independent works past the Song (Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 15). survr dflodw，15. Miao cites Yang Yixiang 播 翼 I I ， who says 60. Miao, &2« gwo there are on the order of ioo,cxx> graphs in the text itself and around 540,000 in the commentary (Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 30). This is wildly inaccurate. The notion that Pei's commentary is longereoes back to Chao Gongwu's Ä 公武（ fl. I z f c i 郡 齋 SWT志丨 Notices on Books from the Prefea's Studio]. See Chao^ Junzhai dushu zhiy 5.4b. For a more reliable count, see Appendix II. 61. Ssy 64.1701. See also Miao, ttChen Shou yu San guo zhi^n 321；Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 16. 62. SgZy 1471; cf. Leban, MTs*ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 31. 63. Miao Yuc (San guo zhi daoduy 17) observes that glossarial commentary comprises quite a bit of the total. But it is not much in evidence in the sections translated here. For a list of some examples of this type of note, sec Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 18-19. Our impression is that Pci's glossarial and explanatory notes make up a relatively smaU percentage of the commentary. Wu Jinhua 吳 金 華 suggests that this is because Pei an3 his readers were not that far removed from Chen's period and thus had less trouble with his language (Wu Jinhua，“Qianyan” 前 言 [“Foreword”l，1， in Sgz /也〇^«>. The spotty nature of such notes led the editors of the Siku quanshu zongmu P9 乘 全 書 總 目 [Genera丨 Bibliography of the Complete 访 ritings of the Four Treasuries】to sgçculate that Pei may have set out to write a work similar to Ying Shao's üBnft (d. ca. a.d . 2.04) commentary to the Han History. Unable to complete it, he was loath to take out the glossarial and explanatory notes and simply left them (Skqszmy 45.17-18). Miao argues that this is needless conjecture and clearly believes that it detracts from Pei’s very real accomplishments (Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 17). 64. See Cuttei; ttThe Incident at the Gate,** 135-237. 65. ]sy 81.2137. Sec also Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 5；de Crcspigny, The Records of the Three Kingdomsj 12-13. 66 . See a丨so Miao, 识 〇 从 / 山〇血 ， 6 quoting Zhu Yizun 朱 鏵 尊 （ 1619-1709). 67. Dc Crespigny, The Records o f the Three Kingdoms^ 13. 68 . Jsy 82.2137-2138. See also de Crespigny, The Records of the Three Kingdoms^ ix; Miao, MChen Shou yu San guo zhiyn 316. Despite his stature in popular lore, Zhuge Liang has not escaped criticism by famous figures in Chinese history. For example, he is taken to task by the later Sichuan native Su Shi 蘇 K (1036-1101) in his “Zhuge Liang lun” 諸 葛 亮 篇 [On Zhuge Liang]. Sec Kong, Su Shi wen jiy 1:112-113；Tiilman, ttOne Significant Rise in Chuko Liang's Popularity," 6-9. 69. Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 7; Miao, **Chen Shou yu San guo zhi^ 316. Chcn Shou yu San guo zhiyn 317. See 7〇. Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 7; Miao, M also Luo, Wei]in Nanbeichao wenhua shif 433. Cf. Leban, MTs*ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei,w 21-22. 71. See Miao, 识 〇 咖 diww/«，5-11; Miao, “Chen Shou yu San 识 〇 成 ” 316320; de Crespigny, The Records of the Three Kingdoms, 7-14; Leban, MTs,ao and the Rise of Wei," 19-2.9. 59.

i9 〇

71.

Notes to Pages 71-77

Skqszniy 45.17. Cf. Leban, MTs*ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei,w24; Qian, MFan Ye Hou Han shu he Chen Shou San guo zhi.n 73. Pstjy 59.696; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 8. 74. See also P$tjy 59.696; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 8. 75. Sec Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 8-9. 76. Zhao, Nianer shi zhajiy 8.96. 77. It should be noted that elsewhere Chen does use the title Duke of Shanyang to refer to Emperor Xian. See Fascicle 5.160 below, just before commen­ tary *. 78. See SgZy 4.128, 130-131；Zhao, Nianer shi zhajiy 8.96; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 9. On Cao Fang, see Chapter 2, note 70 and Fascicle 5 below, notes 31 and 84. 79. 4-i43i 144； Zhao, Nianer shi zhajiy 8.96-97; Miao, San guo zhi daoduy 9. On Cao Mao, sec Fascicle 5 below, note 31. 80. Miao, San guo zhi daodu^ 9. 81• On the lore surrounding Empress Zhen’s death, see also Cutteq “The Death of Empress Zhen.wThe present treatment attempts to account more fully for the forces working on éhen Shou a$ he wrote his account. 82. See Fascicle 5 at commentary J below. 83. See Fascicle 5 at commentary 1below. It is quite possible that the encounter occurred much as Yu Huan described it, for a surviving fragment of Cao Pi's Dû» /m” 典 論 [Exemplary Essays】, which has been preserved in Wei Zheng*s 魏 徽 （ 580-643) 群 會 治 要 [Essentials of Governing from Divers Books], mentions his stay in Yuan Shao's house: wWhen the emperor pacified Ji province and garrisoned Ye, I put up at Shao^ mansion. I personally strolled his courtyards, ascended his halls, roamed his pavilions, ancl lay down in his rooms. The buildings had not yet collapsed and the stairs were intact*9 (Wei, Qunshu zhiyaoy 46.30b). See also Zhang^San Cao nianpuy 86. There is a similar account in rfle sAi y« 魏 晉 丨 Conversations of the Eras of Wei and Jin], by Guo Ban 杯 頒 cited in Pei’s commentary， Fascicle 5.160, commentary *. 84. See Fascicle 5, commentary p below. 85. See Empress Zhen's biography in Fascicle 5 below, just before commen­ tary *. 86. See the biography of Empress Guo at the end of Fascicle 5.164 below. 87. Sec Fascicle 5, commentary p below. 88. Leban, MTs*ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 15; Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, uSan guo zhi chuban shuoming,n 1. 89. Sgz jijiey 5.11a. 90. /s, 36.1070, 40.1169-1170. 91. Jia Chong's wife's maiden name was Guo, and she was the niece of one of Cao Cao*s trusted supporters, Guo Huai. There is no evidence of a direct tic to the family of Empress Guo, though the possibility cannot be ruled out. Liu 21enggui apparently did not consider them to be related, since the table of the lineage of Jia Chong's wife's family in Han dai hunyin zhiduy 239 shows no link to Empress Guo.

i9 i

N o te s to Pages 7 7 - 7 8

/s, 39.1152,40.1167-1168. The reason for Xun Xu*s recommendation sheds some light on the factionalism at court. Jia Chong, who was at the time prefect of the masters of writing, had been ordered to the Northwest to deal with rebellions of the Di & and Qiang non-Chinese peoples active in the region. This appointment was proposed by Éalacc Attendant (sfcizfcow客侍中 >Ren Kai 任 1É, an “upright” offirial who greatly disliked Jia. Jia’s confederate Xun saw that if Jia were removed from the capital, their influence would decline. Xun thus proposed that Jia's daughter be married to the heir apparent, and Xun's father and the Empress Yan^ who was apparendy bribed^ supported the idea. The emperor agreed, and when a heavy snowfall prevented the army from setting out, he ordered Jia to remain in his original posts (/s, 39.1153,40.11671168). 9 3 . Concerned by Jia Nanfeng's extreme jealousy. Emperor Wu wanted to remove her as wife to the heir apparent. Empress Yang argued for retaining her (as did Xun Xu), citing her father Jia Chong’s contributions to the state. Empress Yang did, however chastise Jia Nanfeng, who, not being aware of Empress Yang's support, hated her. When Emperor Wu died, the newly installed Empress Jia resented the power held by Empress Dowager Yang's father; Yang Jun Ä K (d. 291), accused him of plotting a revolt, and fabricated a decree to have him executed. When she then charged Empress Yang with complicity in the plot, Zhang Hua rose to the latter's defense (/s, 31.955-956, 963). See 9^

also Pease, MKuo P'u's Life and Five-Colored Rhymes,M17 and Fascicle 5, note

94 below. 94- Later, however, Zhang Hua rose to high position through the auspices of Empress Jia and served the state loyally under her direaion. This shift cost him his life when Sima Lun 司 馬 倫 （ d. 301) overthrew Empress Jia in 300. See de Crespigny, “The Three Kingdoms and Western Jin，” 154-155, and Fairbank, ''Kingdom and Province in the Western Chin,** 118-129. Zhang's relations with Empress Jia and the chances in his personality that led to his willingness to serve hci; see Straughaii; Ö?ang Huay 3-11. 9 5 - Ban Gu faced an analogous problem in writing about Emperor Ming's Empress Ma, whose ancestors had been implicated in a plot to assassinate Emperor Wu of the Former Han. Sec Bielcnstein, MThe Restoration of the Han Dynasty," 4:122. 扣 ， Hygz, 11.849. 9 7 . The correlation of events taking place at the Jin court and Chen's writing of the different sections of Records of the Three States is impossible to determine with any precision. The Wei section was surely written after Chen came to Luoyang tollowing the fall of Shu in 265, and it may have been put into final form as late as after the conquest of Wu in 280, as is suggested by Chang Qu 常 璩 （吻 供 ，11.849). See note 20 above. Given the chained atmosphere at the Jin court, howcvei; it probably would not have mattered if Chen's history had been written before Jia Nanfeng was wed to the heir apparent. Xun Xu and others would still have sensed an implied criticism in the text. 98. /s ，39.1143. 9 9 . The Tang historiographer Liu Zhiji cited Wang Chen's wfalse recounting of the decree dismissing [Empress] Zhcn" as the first in his list of examples of historians covering up or falsifying events for their own purposes (St, 7.94). Liu gives Wei Cfcrowcfe (Wei 魏 錄 卜 ather than Hisfory as the tide of Wang's work.

192

100. 101. 102. 103.

104. 105. 106. 107.

Notes to Pages 78-89

Qian， “Zonglun Dong Han dao Sui de shixue yanjin，” 123-140. See Fascicle 5, commentary J below. 75,39.1143. 1ne phrase pnrase yin Ji 讲 "you 》 you 茵 囚 I t 提 油 is cransiarca persons or The translated nere here as “persons of distinction, A ti you was an orange oilcloth fender or mudguard1installed on g a person's ................ carriage as a mark of virtue (/fc, 89.3629; HHs,石 19.3651-3653 F3, Xue Zong’s [d. 243] … commentary). Since an .yin is a carriage _ seat cushion (5 /, m 3 1 3 5 -3 136, Sima Zhen’s 司馬貞 [fl 745I commentary), the phrase seems to mean “cusîiions thick and orange mudguards” as mark^ of disiinedon. The phrase is, therefore, a metonymical usage referring to distinguished personages. /s, 52.2159. The Eastern Lodge was the imperial library in which Ban Gu and others, using archival records^ compiled the Dongguj» // 柬觀漢紀丨 Han Record of Ae Eastern Lodge]. Sec Chapter z, wPalace Women and Han Historiography" above. Sgz, 50.1201. On the term wdamew(;i t6), sec Fascicle 50, note 77 below. Sgz, i 〇.5 7 9 - 5 9 5 PART TWO：TRANSLATION

2.

3*

The Book of Wei: Fascicle 5 These lines are quoted from the Classic of Changes^ Hexagram 37, MTuan zhuan” 象 傅 [Commentary on the Decision】.Cf• 如丨 helm, / Cfeiwg，570. See also Wilhelm, Heaven, Earth, and Man in the Book of Changes^ 86; Klöpsch, “•Bird in a Cag、 ‘Jade in the Mire，’” 138. Wè discuss “inner and outer” spheres of aaivity in Chapter 1 above. A good discussion of the concept as it existed in later times is Ebrcy, The Inner Quarter$y 23-29. Yu is the culture hero Shun, who lived near the stream Gui：MA11 (giving =) to the emperor said: There is an unmarried man (below =) in a low position, called Shun of Yu. The emperor said：Yes, I have heard (of him)：wnat is he like? (Si) Yuc said: He is the son of a blind man; his father was stupid, his mother was deceitful, (his brother) Xiang was arrogant; he has been able to be concordant and to be grandly filial；he has controlled himself and has not come to wickedness. The emperor said：I will try him；I will wive him, and observe his behaviour towards my two daughters. He (regulated, arranged s) direaed and sent down his two daughters to the nook of the Gui rivet; to be wives in the Yu (house). The emperor said：Be reverent!" (Karlgren, ^The Book of Documents,” 4 Sec also Karlgren， “Glosses on the Booit 6^-71. For more on the lore surrounding Yao*s daughters, see note 98 below and Yuan, Zhongguo sherthua chmnshuo cidian%149. Ji was the surname of the Zhou ruling house. Ren was the name of the mother of King Wen of Zhou, and Si was the name of the mother of King Wu of Zhou. Lu Bi notes that Bâ〇扣 m tu 春 秋 保 乾 ■ [Apocryphon to the Spring and Autumn Annals: Schema for Preserving says that “only the SÔn of Heaven takes twelve wives” (Sg? /— ，5.1 b). See also Tjan， Po 1:251152^ 349n. 466. The latter indicates that both the Son of Heaven and me nobles might take nine wives at a dme but also points out that some held the emperor might take twelve. On the number of wives the Son of Heaven should have, see Chapter 3, note 40. That Syang in Later Han timeSj” 89^90; Crespigny，Tb EstoWisife 1:42•-43; l^cban，“Ts’ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei," 155-156). On 22 May 192, Dong Zhuo was assassinated in Chang'an by his adopted son and confederate Lii Bu as part of a plot organized fiy Wang Yun 主 允 （Hffs，72.13 3 卜 13 31; Sgz，6.179; Leban, ^Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wci,w 186). The literature of ùie Jian'an Period often refers to the hardships and destruction that attended the end of the Han. Two of Cao Cao’s most famouj poems， “Xie lu xing” _ 露 行 [Dew on the Shallot] and “Hao li xing” Ä 里 行 [Wormwood Village】, deal with the fall of the Han and the failure of the alliance against Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao*s half brother^ had been involved in the slaughter of the eunuchs (HHs, 8.358,69.2252). He emerged as one of eight powerful satraps of the 190s and even tried, to no avail, to establish his own dynasty in 197 (Mansvelt Beck, wThe Fall of Han,w342, 349, 351). He is mentioned several times in Fascicle 50 on the empresses and consorts of Wu below. On he ku , translated here as W what misery," see Sgz jiaogu^ 39. Empress Bian herself gave birth to four sons：Cao Pi, Cao Zhang # 4^ (d. 2.23), Cao Zhi, and Cao Xiong 曹 熊 ， who died young. These brothers eventuaïly had at least twenty-one half brothers (Sgz, 20.579). The eldest brother, Cao Ang 曹昂 preferred to below by his appellative Zixiu 于 脩 ， was the son of Lady Liu W (see also Sgzt 114). He was killed in battle in 197, at which time he must have been at least twenty. Thus he would have been bom no later than 178. Cao Pi» bom in 187* was the next eldest, followed by Cao Zhang, whose birthdate is not known. Cao Zhi may have been the next son bom, bur this is not an absolute certainty, for Cao Ang's younger brother Cao Shuo 曹 練 ， who seems to have died in his teens, conceivably was older (Xu, uCao Zhi wei Cao Cao diji erzi," 36-38). See also Appendix I, Table 9Cao Pi was named Cao Cao's heir in the winter of Jian'an 22 (a.d . 217; see 5^ , 1.49, 19.557)- He was general of the Kntlemen-of-the-household for all purposes 餅 於 zn容 知 级 五 官 中 都 將 》 at the time. y»長御， here translated as "chief attendants," was the name of a Han office» but it is not entirely clear that it was a formal tcrmJSa cidian9230). Drawing on Wei Hong’s 振 宏 （fl. a.d . 15-^7) /fa” /ïm _ 鲁 儀 [Old Han Cereiponiesl， Ru Chun notes tlîat “a female chief attendant 女 長 御 ） was comparable to a [male] palace attendant" (Hsy 63.2744). Qi commandery was in modem Shandong. There seems to be a mistake in the date given here, for there was no yisi day in that month. Imataka, Inami, and Kominami, Sangoku shi^ 1:149, question this date. Note that Leban, “Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei,” 57, reads second month for twelfth month and thus gives the Western equivalent 4 April 160. Yanxi 3 ran from 27 December 159 to 13 January 161. Empress Bian's father is referred to by his later tide here. This quotation from the Wei History also appears in the commentary to Shi shuo xin yu. See Xu, Shishuo xinyu jiao jian%19.364-365; Mathei; Shih-shuo Hsin-yiiy 342. In the Shi shuo xin yu version, the diviner is called Wang Yue 王越. In 196, following the advice of Xun Yu 荀 或 （163-212)，Cao Cao took Emperor Xian under his protection and installed him at Xu (or Xucheng),

196

19.

20. 21.

Notes to Pages 92-93

also called Xuchang 許 昌 ， which was located in the vicinity of modem Xuchang in He'nan. Cao Cao died early in Jian'an 25 (on 15 March 220) in Luoyang. Cao Pi succeeded him as chancellor and long of Wei and, latei; on 10 or 11 December 220, became emperor of the new Wei dynasty (Zhang, San Cao nianpuy 168, 177; Fang, The Chronicle o f the Three Kingdoms^ 1:10, 38-39; Leban, ^Managing Heaven's Mandate," 32z, 325). See note 58 below. Zhou Xuan was noted for Kis skill at dream interpretation. The story related here by Pei Songzhi is found in Zhou's biography in Sgz^ 29.810-811. It has been translated as follows: The emperor also asked， “I dreamed that I was rubbing away at the design on a coin, trying to make it disappear. But the design only became brighten What docs this mean?" Xuan was distraught, and he hesitated to answer. The emperor pressed him with the question again, and Xuan said, uThis derives from a problem in Your Majesty's own household. Although you are wishing for something, the imperial mother does not concun This is the reason the pattern only brightens, although you would like to rub it away.” At that time, it was true that the emperor wanted to inflict a unishment on his younger brother Cao ZKi, and he was pressuring is mother to permit it. But the imperial mother was willing only to reduce Cao Zhi in rank. (DeWoskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient Chinay 139)

E

22.

i 3. M-

It is unclear what offense is referred to here and difficult to reconcile Empress Bian's response with the very different one to an event recorded in Cao Zhi's biograp^r: aIn the year Huangchu 1 [221/222], Regent-Receptionist (jianguo yeAe k 國 辑 者 ） Guan Jun 灌 均 ， catering to the emperor’s wishes, memorialized that uWhile drunk, Cao Zhi was disrespectful and coerced and intimidated Your envoy.wAll the officials concerned wanted the emperor to punish this offense, but because of the empress dowager he only demoted Cao Zhi to marquis of An district (Anxiang 办 〇M安 鄉 侯 广 (5^ 19.561 >• The most detailed investigation of Cao's demotion to marquis of An district is found in Xu, MCao Zhi shengping ba kao,w204-212. Xu pulls the fragmentary evidence together into a convincing sequence of events. See also zUiang, San Cao nianpuy 189-190. For another translation of this Wei History entry, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:106, 114-126. Chen Qun's biography is in Sgzy 22.633-638. He was an important official, first under Liu Bei, then under Cao Cao and Cao Pi. He is often credited with establishing the nine-rank system of official recruitment in 220, but is perhaps better charaaerized as the person who formalized its use in the government (Holzman, wLes neuf catégories," 393; Ch*en, Confucian Magnate's Idea of Political Violence^ 79; Fairbank, MlGng and Province in the Western Chin,n 10). For another translation of Chen Qun*s memorial and the emperor's response, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:11-11, 41.

197

2*5.

26.

27. 28. 29.

30. 31.

32.

Notes to Pages 93-94

As Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:41, points out, there is a pertinent passage in the Record of Rites, In Legge's translation it says, aHence while the wife had (herself) no rank, she was held to be of the rank of her husband, and she took her seat according to the position belonging to him9* (Legge, LsKty 1:441; Ljy 26.19b). The term aimperial secretariat" is a reference to the masters of writing (shang shu). Well before the Wei, the notion that a person who had no rank during his or her lifetime should not receive a posthumous name was no longer striedy observed. Sec Ch*ü» Han Social Structure^ 78. Although Cao Pi accepted—and even praised~Chen Qun's argument, ultimately Cao Rui conferred titles on Empress Bian's parents, and her grandparents as well. On Empress Bian's family, sec Appendix I, Table 3. Note that Sgz, 3.97 gives the precise date of death as 9 July 130 rather than the May/June date given here. This sentence is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:328. Gao Tumulus lay west of Yc; that is, to the west of modem Linzhang BSîft, Hebei. To judge from two surviving orders he composed, Cao Cao seems to have personally chosen this site, which was visible from the famous Bronze Bird Terrace (Tong que tai 銅 雀 臺 }， for his tomb. He said he wished to have a thrifty burial there (see Cao Cao /i, ^.51, 57-58; Anhui Boxian, Cao Cao ji yi zhuy 176-177, 187-188). As early as 205, Cao Cao prohibited lavish burials (Sgz^ 1.17). On lavish versus thrifty burial and the numerous calls for the latter near the close of the Han>see Poo, wIdeas Concerning Death and Burial in Pre-Han and Han China." Qian Daxin says that a du xiartg was a distria near the capital and that a du xiang hou^ or the marquis of such a district, ranked above a regular xiang houy or district marquis (5^ jijiey 5.7a). Duke of Gaogui District was a title held by Cao Mao, a nephew of Emperor Ming. In Jingchu Ätö 3(2.39), Emperor Ming died and was succeeded by his adopted son Cao Fang, a seven- or eight-year-old. Cao Fang's regents were Cao Shuang and Sima Ÿi 司 馬 懿 （I79-251}• A decade latei; Sima Ÿ1 launched a coup, and the Sima family took control of the Wei dynasty. After Sima Yi’s death， his eldest son Sima Shi 司 馬 師 ， also known as King Jin多of the Sima family (Sima Jing wang 司 馬 景 王 )， beéame the de facto ruler ofWei. In 154, he and his younger brother Sima Zhao, also known as King Wen X, removed Cao Fang as emperor and replaced him with Cao Mao, who was then fourteen years old. In 160, Cao Mao attempted to do away with Sinia Zliao but was himself killed. He was replaced by Ôao Huang 曹 璜 ， whose name was changed to Cao Huan because rulers* personal names were taboo, and Huang was thought difficult to avoid (Sgz94.147；see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 2:354). Cao Huan was a grandson of Cao Cao and son of Cao Yu B 宇 （king Yu of Yan 燕 王 宇 ）• Known to history as Emperor Yuan 元 帝 （ r. 2*60-265}， or the Young Emperor (Shaodi 少 帝 >， he was just a teenager at the time (Sgzy4.117-147；Zhang, San Cao niartpu, 23 3；Fu, Zhongguo tong sfci，1:152—i54k It is because Cao Mao did serve as empcroi; even though he is not so referred to here, that Bian Lx>ng9s daughter is called empress. King of Chenliu refers to Cao Huan, who is also referred to as Duke of Changdao District (Changdao xiang^ong 常道鄉 公 ). After a five-year stint as emperoi; he abdicated in 266 to Sima Yan (r. 2.66-290), the first ruler of the Jin dynasty. Cao Huan's biography is in Sgzy 4.147-154.

198

Notes to Pages 94-96

The Chronicle of the Three KmgaomSy 2:42^-430. 34- Bielenstein notes that ^majors might command entire regiments in exceptional cascsM(Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Tîntes^ no). That seems to be what is meant here. Wuqiu Shouwanj ing (ca. 156-110 b.c .) is sometimes referred to as Yuqiu 35Shouwane * 丘 爹a 王 ， as in Xiao Tong’s Ht統 （5〇i_5$i) MWen xwan xu” 文 邇序丨 Pre&ce to Selections of Refined Literature], During the reign of the Han Emperor Wu, a bronze tripod cauldron (ding J0 I) was unearthed. All the other officials saw this objea as a numinous Zhou relic, but Wuqiu dissented. When the emperor asked why, he said it was a gift from Heaven in approbation of the Han. Emperor Wu was gready pleased (Hs, 64A.1798). Hs, 30.1747 credits Wuqiu with fifteen fuy or rhapsodies, all of which arc lost (Knechtges, Wen xuany i ： 95n). During the reign of the Han Emperor Xuan % (c. 74-49 b.c.), Wang Xiang 王 I I who was inspector of Yi province 益 州 （in the region of modem Sichuan), had Wang Bao T.Ä (d. ca. 61 b.c.) compose a eulogy on the virtue of the Han, which He Wu and others learned to sing. Wang, He, and others were rewarded by Emperor Xuan (Hs, 86.3481). The “external difficulties” would have been Wu and Shu. The emperor seems 36. to have been more interested in the ladies of the palace, as indicated near the end of Chapter 4 above. 37- Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdomsy 1:70-71, makes much of some confusion about the date of birth of Cao Rui (Emperor Ming). Howevcc; it seems likely that he was bom later than Fang allows, probably sometime in 206. See Zhang, San Cao nianpuy 94. Wuji, in the Han kingdom of Zhonphan, was in the vicinity of the modem county by the same name in Hebei. Zhen Han1was ^ the son-in-law of Minister ,a supporter of Wang Mang. over the Masses («扣 司 徒 ） Kong Guang 孔 光 ， Both Zhen and Kong played ai role in Wang's consolidation of his power; and co Zhen became a member of his circle of advisers and one of his most important officials. See Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty^ 3:137-138,140, I41-T45, 了67, t 8 ï ，i 〇o, 115, 134, 13^137, 163, 319. 38. This places Empress Zhen^s family in the level just below the highest officials in the bureaucracy. See Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Tintes^ 4-5; Hucker; A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial Chinay 16. 39- Shangcai, in the Han commandery of Ru’nan 汝 南 ， was located near modem Shangcai in He’nan. Liu Jun’s 劉 峻 (461-511} commentary to of Tales of the World quotes the Wei Epitome^ which calls her father Zhen hiui S 會 （Xu, SWsfcMO jc/wyw /ûo 35.489; Mathei;从 ifc-sfcwo 484). Howevei; the sentence in which Zhen Yivs name is given as Zhen Hui is missing from the Wei Epitome as that text has been preserved in Peifs commentaiy. According to Lu Bi, the Wei Epitome text has probably been garbled in the commentary to Shi shuo xirt yu (Sgz iijiey 5.1 ia). 4 〇. This is apparently a reference to the disintegration of the Han in the 190s and the concomitant rise of various military leaders, rebels, and powerful regional administrators. See Mansvelt Beck, MThe Fall of Han," 349. This is a proverb found in Zuo zhuan^ Huan 10. 4 iChangshan was a Han commandery with its seat located in modem Yuanshi 4 i33.

T h is p a r a g ra p h is a lso tr a n s la te d in F a n g ,

，

199

43. 44. 45. 46. 47.

Notes to Pages 96-99

元氏 county，Hebei. Its name was changed from Henghan 恒山 to avoid the personal name of Emperor Wen of Han， Liu HengW 恆 . Quliang was a Han prefecture in the area of modem Yongnian Hebei. On hao mu 5ÆÂ (ukeening and wailing"), sec Sgz jiaoguy 40. See Chapter 3, note 89. You province was to the northeast, in the region of modem northern Hebei and Liaoning. Cf. Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1 ： 68. Ye was the seat of Ji province and was the base of power of Yuan Shao and his son Yuan Shang 袁 尚 （ d.2»〇7>. Cao Cao captured the city in i 〇4. It located in Hebei in the vicinity of modem Yezfien 和 鎮 and Santai cun 三 臺 村 in the southwest of Linzhang county. See note 19 above for the date Cao Pi became emperor. This actually marked the beginning of the Huangchu reign period, but the name was applied retroactively to the whole calendar year. These two sentences are also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:40. Duke of Shanyang is the title that was bestowed on Emperor Xian, the last Han emperor after he abdicated. The abdication took place on either 19 or 25 November 2^0 《Fang^ TAe CfcrowVrfe 〇 "知 1:10, 36-37；Leban, ^Managing Heaven's Mandate,** 314-325). The new title was given on 13 December 2.2.0 (Sgz^ 2..j6\ Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:10, 39). Honorable Lady Li was the mother of Cao Pi’s son Cao Xie 曹 協 ，the lamented King of Zan , who died at a relatively young age (Sgzy 20.590). Empress Zhen*s suicide was ordered on 6 August 211 (Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:48, 71). Sec Chapter 5, note 83. Cf. Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1169; Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin484Cf. Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:69-70; Mathci; Shih-shuo Hsin-yüy 484-485. Rear palace (hougong f t S ) is a commonly used term that refers to the section of a palace complex where the consorts dwell. Guanzhong (Within the Passes) is the name that was commonly applied to the area of modem Shaanxi. The campaign mentioned here brought virtually all of the area under Cao Cao*s control (see SgZy 1.34-36). Both Cao Zhi and Cao Pi refer to it in rhapsodies. The preface to Cao 之Hi’s “Li si fu” 離 思 陚 [Rhapsody on Thoughts of Parting] says, uIn the sixteenth year of Jian'an, a great force went west to quell Ma Chao [176-212]. The heir apparent stayed behind in the capital while I went along." Cao Pi*s preface to his uGan Ü f i ” 感 離 賦 【Rhapsody on Being Moved by Parting】likewise notes, “In the sixteenth year of Jian*an, the emperor went on a military expedition west. I stayed behind in charge. My elderly mother and all my younger brothers went along" (Zhao, Cao Zhi ji jiao zhuy 1.40；Wei Wertdi fiy 1.2b). See also Cuttei; uOn Reading Cao Zhi's 'Three Good Men,*w8. Mengjin (Meng Ford) was south of modem Meng county, He*nan. This was an expedition against Sun Quan. See Sgzy 1.49. ，

48. 49.

50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.

57.

200 58.

59.

Notes to Pages 99-100

Palace of Prolonged Autumn (Changqiu gong 長秋宮） refers to the empress 解 ，5.12b; iÏHs，10A.409, commentary}. The usage is like that of referring to Empress Dowager Bian as Palace of Eternal Longevity* Prolonged Autumn was the tide of an official responsible for matters pertaining to the empresses during the Former Han (Hs, 19A.734). The Palace of Prolonged Autumn was established during the Later Han and was occupied by the empress (DHhy^ 38.405). There are at least two explanations of the name. One holds that autumn was adopted because it refers to the season when everything begins to ripen (HHs, ioa.4〇9, commentary). Another says that autumn was used because an empress is yin (as opposed to yartg)yand autumn is when yin begins to wax (Wei Zkao, ß ü ” miwg 辯 釋 名 [Debating Expii/wng 丨， cited in Sghyy 9.163). See also Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Ttmesy 69. The term Six Palaces (liu gong A S ) generally refers to the quarters of the empress and lesser consorts within the imperial palace. The Rites of Zhou says, “ffhe administrator of the interior (««• zw， • 內 宰 teaches the rites of y/« to the Six Palaces." The commentary explains： Zheng Sinong 鄭 司 雇 [Zheng Zhoi^g 鄭眾 ，d. 83j says, “The rites of yin are the rites of the women. Six Palaces: five in the reai; one in front___w [Zheng] Xuan says,44lSix Palaces* refers to the queen. The wives refer to the boudoir as 'palace/ 'Palace* is a euphemism for the aucen. Just as the king puts up six palaces and occupies a primaxy lx)udoii; there are also a primary boudoir and five pleasure boudoirs. The instruaor dares not rebuke hei; so he refers to her as 4Six Palaces.* This is similar to the current wav of referring to the emperor as *Central Palace.* w (Zfcy, 13.12a; et. Biot» Le Tcheou-li^ 1:141 n.3)

60.

61.

62.

The Sùrmg and Autumn Armak^ one of the canonical texts of Confucianism, is said to be by Confucius himself. It is an extremely terse chronicle, but due to the importance that Confucius and others placed on itYit has traditionally been held to be made up of carefully nuanced judgments on events of the time. More recently, howevei; the existence of such praise and blame messages in the text has been called into question. Sec Durrant, uChmg^ 313. We follow Wu Jinhua 吳金華 in considêring the negative 〜 不 in this sentence to be an interpolation and have omitted it (5|gz 41}. The term translated here as “Wei historians” could be taken as 职 ?1 as in Miao, 5 a” guo dbcxfM, n In any case, it means the Wh s/m or those who wrote it. See also SgZy 13.41z; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdomsy 1:234; Ss, 16.444. Wang Lang was an important official and scholar who was close to Cao Pi. He was the recipient of a famous letter from Cao Pi in which Cao subordinates literature to “establishing virtue and making a name” as a means to immortal fame. See Holzman, MLiterary Critidsin in China in the Early Third and Cuttei; Century A .D .," 121-122； Cuttci;, uThe Incident at the Gate," 249； MTo the Manner Bom?w To be commissioned with a verge (shi chi jie conferred gr&at pres：ovcmmcnt dge on the recipient and granted him extraordinary powers over gove ~ "" 0 / Official Titles in Imperial Chitta^ no. agencies. See Huckei; A Dictionar y^of 一involved ! acrificing an ox, a goat, and 5U 3 . Ä Great S a c r i f i c e 太牟)

2〇 i

63.

64.

Notes to Pages I o o -i 〇 3

a pig. Great Sacrifices were offered on only the most important occasions, for example, as offerings to the aitars, to Soil and Millet, who were the protective deities of the empire. The precise date of Empress Zhen*s canonization is in doubt. See Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:203, 21 5 * For another translation of Empress Zhen*s biography thix>ugh the preceding sentence, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:68-69. See SgZj 3.91; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:223,134. Weichang prefecture in Zhongshan commandery was in the vicinity of modem Wuji county in Hebei. A Han cun (inch) was about 2.3 cm. Three States period cun were a bit longer~about 2.4 cm. For convenient tables of Han weights and measures, see Nienhausei; The Grand Scribe's Records^ i:xxxi-xxxiv9and Twitchett and Loewe, The Cambridge History of China^ i:xxxviii. For more detailed information, see Qiu, Zhongguo lidai duliangheng kaoy 12-69. See especially pp. 68-69 on the Three States period.

65.

The reburial of Empress Zhen took place on 17 February 231 (5,gz, 3.97; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:320, 333).

66 .

Dongxiang probably refers to one of the prefectures of Pei. It was located in the northeastern part of modem Anhui province. Anxi prefecture was in the vicinity of modem Ding Æ county, Hebei. The memorial is also mentioned in Ss9 16.444. This is an allusion to the “Ganying ” 感 應 [Sympathetic Responses] section of the Xiao 孝 經 [Classic of 爸 ilial Piety]. Sêe Xiao /in客从 m 8.ia. The first two groups of poems in the uAirs of the States'* section of the Classic o/Toe” are “Zhou nan” 周南 and “Shao nan” 召南， referred to collectively as the “Ér nan” 二 南 [Two Nanj. The “Two Nan,” as shown by the “Minor Preface** to the Classic of Poetryf have traditionally and allegorically been read as depictions of the virtues of rulers9 consorts and other women. See Legge, 177e &知 C^xssics，4:36-41, and the discussion in Chapter 3 above. It is unclear whether shi fa 3 & here refers to an actual work. Su Xun^ work of the same title contains virtually the same explanation of z/^o, citing the Eastern Han scholar Liu Xi (Sf^ 1.7b). Sec also Wang, Shi fa yanjiu^ 367-368. Lord Millet was a legendary ancestor of the Zhou ruling house, and Jiang Yuan was his mother (see also Chapter i Ynote 4 above). She was the wife of Di Ku, said to be a great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and she became pregnant by treading on the footprint of a giant. See S/, 4.11 i - i 1z; Chavanncs, Mémoires historiques^ 1:109-210；and Nienhauser, The Grand Scribed Records^ 1:55. These are the same terms used by the Hallowed Documents in describing Yao. Cf. the opening of “Yao dian” 堯 典 [Canons of Yao】of the Documents. Sec Legge, The Chinese Classics^ 3:15. This memorial also appears, with some textual differences, in Ssy 16.444. The “Wang zhi” 王制[Ruler’s Institutions】section of the says that the emperor has seven mtao Jft (temples) for seven generations of ancestors (L;, 11.13b). See also Zhongguo wenhuashi gongju shuy 222, and the subcommentary in Zfey, 42.19b. Gaoxin shi is another name for Di Ku (sec note 71 above). Gaoxin is said to have been a toponym, perhaps the name of his benefice. Di Ku divined that his four sons would become rulers. The four sons were: Di Zhi, who succeeded

67. 68. 69.

70. 71.

72. 73. 74.

75.

202

76.

77 .

78. 79 -

80. 81.

82.

S3 84.

85. 86 .

87. 88 .

89.

Notes to Pages 103-105

him as ruler; Tao Tang shi 陶唐氏，i.c” the legendary sagc-rulcr Yao; Qi 契， reputed ancestor of the ruling house of the Yin or Shang, dynasty; and Hou Ji. Sec 5/, 1.13-14, 45, 3.91, 4.111; Chavannes, Mémoires historiques^ 1:39-41,93-94,173-174,2.09-110； Nienhausei; The Grand Scribed Records^ 1:5-^, 17,41, 55. Sec also Yuan, Zhongguo shenhua chuanshuo ddiany 195296. See Zfey, 4:1.19b. VY议 夷則 and zAongfc (called by its name x&o/tt 小呂 in the Rites of Zhou) arc two of the notes of the classical Qiincsc scale of twelve notes (Needham, Science and Civilisation in Cfcmj, 4.1:165-176；Zhongguo wenhuashi gong/u shuy 175-176). The grand huo was music firom the time of the Shang founder Tang. See Zlzyy4 X.8a. The ancestral mother is Jiang Yuan (see note 71 above). Karlgren, The Book of Odesy 263. See Mao shi 2.45. Karlgren, The Book of Odesy 259-261. See Mao shi 300. Youyu shi 有虞氏 is the legendary sage-ruler Shun. The main point here is that, like Cao Pi, Shun became emperor through the abdication of his predecessor. On other references to this similarity, see Leban， “Managing Heaven's Mandate," 330, 333-334. This refers to the three generations of the Wei: Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui. This is an allusion to the poem ttWciyang,* [North of the Wei] in the Classic of Poetry (Mao shi 134). The traditional interpretation says it is about Duke lôing of Qin's longing for his mothei: See LeggeYThe Chinese Classtcsy 4 :58 , i 〇3 . This section on the death of Cao Shu and the subsequent désignaidon of Guo umous offspring is also translated in Fang, Fane, The C De as her posthumous Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:388. See also SgZy 12.636,25.707; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kirtgdomsy 1:373-374, 388-390. Pingyuan is the name of a commandery that had its seat in the modem county by the same name in northwest Shandong. This sentence is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:665. King of Qi here refers to Cao Fang. She became empress on 19 May 243, while Cao Fane was still titular emperor (Sgzt 4.120; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:655, 665). Yang Fu has a biography in 扭 ，15.700-708. Sec also Zhuo, renu/w lurt xu //, 77-80. Zhuo deems him one of the few people to offer honest criticisms to Emperor Wen. Mao shi 191. The translation is from Legge, The Chinese Classics^ 4:309. This poem is traditionally read as a criricism of die reign of King You of Zhou and of his minister Yin who did not take steps to improve the situation. See Legge, The Chinese Classics^ 4:67. On King You, sec Chapter 1 above. The author of ow fAe 0/7/” is Fu Chang 傅幅• See Zhao, Nianer shi zhajiy 6.106. General-in-chief who supports the state was an honorific designation used but occasionally (Hong, San guo zhiguan biao $7). The office of general-in-chief of the subduing army originated under Emperor Wen (Lii, Zhongguo lidai guartzhi da cidiany 848; Rogers, The Chronicle of Fu Chieriy 21511).

2. 3 〇

9 〇, 9 i9 ^.

93-

94.

Notes to Pages 105-106

The reign title was retroactively changed from Xianxi to Taishi in the twelfth month of the year (January/February 266). See also note 32 above. Shizu 世 祖 《Succèdent Progenitor} refers to Sima Yan, the first emperor of the Jin dynasty. You, King of Qi, was noted for his virtue. At the advice of ministers who disliked You, Emperor Wu ordered him to leave the capital and proceed to Kis fief. As it says here, this wasprotested by Zhcn De, Wang Ji, and others (Zztjy 81.2581-2582). Yuan Bo S f t misconstrues these two sentences, taking them to mean Sima Yan (the Succèdent Progenitor) was pleased by Zhen Dc*s actions (Cao, 识 〇 zfei, 1:106). But» as riu Sanxing 胡 三 省 （ 11301287) points out, Zhen*s new offices involved a shift out of the inner court, with its proximity to the throne, to the outer court, or general bureaucracy (Zztjy 81.2582). See also Jsy 42.1205. Jy to protect In 188, a special defense force of eight units was organized, pardy the capital and the emperor and partly to offset the power of Genei ncral-in-Chicf _ commandants; of the West He Jin. The force was led by tne eight W< Garden Huckei; A of/*O/j Official Titles (Xiyuan fra jrâoM/CT 西 圍 八 《 尉 ; sec*Huckeq >4 Dictionary 〇 in Imperial Chinaynos. 1185,4368, 6568; Lebanf MTs*ao Ts*ao and the Rise of Wei，” 114一127; Mansvelt 6eck, “The Fall of Han，” 326). When first organized， its head was the eunuch Jian Shi 蹇 碩 ， who was in command of the Upper Army (Shang jun 上 軍 The other seven commandants included Yuan Shao, who commanded the Middle Army fZhong jun 屮 軍 )， and Cao Cao, commandant of the Control Army (Dian jun xiaowei ; see HHs, 8.356 n，69.1147,7411374; 1.5; Lcbaii，“Ts’ao Ts’ao and the Rise of Wei,w 126; Ch*ü, Hart Social Structure^ 495-496.) This sentence refers to two of the Icings involved in the turbulent events of 2.90-306, especially that segment known to history as the Ba wang zhi luan A ï2 1 IL (Eight Kings Insurrection；300-306). Brief accounts of this period appear, for instance, in Zhao, Niatter shi zhajiy8.1Z5-126, and Fu, Zhongguo tong shiy 1:2.60-2.64. Much more thorough is Fairbank, ttKingdom and Province in the Western Chin.** The following summary is based on these sources. Kings were very powerful in early Jin times, in contrast to the case under the Wei. Not long after Emperor Wu (Sima Yan) took the throne in z66, he made twenty-seven male relatives kings, some of them with very large incomes and considerable military poweL At first these kings resided in the capital. In 277, they were sent to their benefices. Some were placed in charge of the military affairs of the provinces (zhou M) into which Jin territory was divided. yeai; Emperor Wu further reduced the military apparatus of the That same ycai; ommanderies. This resulted in virtually all military power provinces and coi residing in the kiingdoms. In 290, Emperor Wu died, and the heir apparent Sima Zhong, known to history as Emperor Hui» ascended the throne at nine years of age. During Emperor Hui*s reign^ the empire suffered from facdonalism at court, incursions by non-Chinese peoples in the North and West, armed struggle among members of the imperial family, as well as famine and local rebellion. In the x9〇s, Sima Zhong's consort Empress Jia and her faction held sway at court. The heir apparent was Sima Yu who was not her own son. In Z97, when Sima Yu was twenty, the empress and her adherents hatched a plot to get rid of him and the threat he posed to their hold on power. The

2. 4 〇

95*

96.

97. 98.

99.

100. 101. 102. 103.

104.

Notes to Pages 106-107

heir was deposed and his mother executed. Sima Lun (Lun, King of Zhao), menrioned here in the Encomia on the Dukes ofJinythen cricked the empress into having Sima Yu murdered. By charging her with this crime, he was able to remove her and take control of the whole central government. Sima Lun had been assisted in his machinations by a number of people, including Sima Jiong 司 馬 冏 （ Jiong, King of % d. 303). Sima Lun and his senior advisor Sun kiu 孫 秀 were not popular among the Jin elite, and their program of increasing Sima Lun*s authority led to the Eight Kings Insurrection. An initial attempt to overthrow Sima Lun was made by Sima Ÿun 司 馬 允 in September of the year 300 and failed， at the cost of many lives. Early in 301, Sima Lun forced the abdication of Emperor Hui, assumed the throne himself, and changed the reign tide to Jianshi S in. Sima Jiong and others then rose up and defeated and killed Sima Lun and his supporters. Although Sima Jiong then became the dominant figure in Jin government, it was not long before he drew the criticism of other kings. He was overthrown and killed in 303. Guangzong prefecture in Anping commandcry was east of modem Wei Ä county, Hebei. Tongdi was a prefecture with its seat south of that of modem Qin county, Shanxi. Eastern Palace (Dong gong IKK ) is the term for the residence of an heir apparent. Lcizu 嫘 祖 ， the daughter of Xiling shi 西 陵 氏 ， is said to have been the principal wife of the Yellow Emperoc; as well as the first sericulturalist. See Yuan, Zhongmto shenhua chuattshuo ddiany 423-424. Cui is another name for the legeriSiry sage-ruler Shun， whose wives Éhuang 嫌皇 and Nüying 女 35 were the daughters of Shun's benefactor Yao. 5 /, 6.248 says of the First Emperor of Qin: ^Traveling in a southwesterly direction be crossed over the R[iver] Huai and came at îéngth to Hen炉 han. At Nanjun [ 南 都 ] he took boat and was sailing down the river to the Xiangshan shrine when a great wind arose and nearly prevented his getting to land. The emperor inquired of his wise men who Xiangjun was. They replied, 'According to our information, Xiangjun are the daughters of Yao and the wives of Shun who arc buried in this pbice1w(Hawkey aThc Quest of the Goddess,9156). See also Karlgren,44Legends and Cults in Ancient China»" 2.96; O^Hara, The Position of Woman in Early China^ 13-17. Jie was the last ruler of the Xia dynasty, banished by the Shang founder Cheng Tang 成 湯 to Nanchao (modem Chao 巢 coun% Anhui). Moxi, Jie’s consort， is mentioned in a variety of books and is traditionally treated as a beautiful but utterly depraved woman who contributed to the downfall of the dynasty. See Gy, 7.25 s; Legge, The Chinese Classics, 3:177; S;, 2.88-89,19*1967；Yuan, Zhongguo shenhua chmnshuo cidian9159. On Daji， sec Chapter 3, “Texts Devoted to Women” above. Hexagram 37, “Tuan zhuan•” Cf. Wilhelm, J Cfci”客， 570. This is a part of the same passage that Chen Shou used to open this juan. Cf. Zuo zhuarty Ai 24. Mertgziy 6B.7. This is an allusion to Zuo zhuan^ Zhao 18. For another translation of Empress Guo's biography through the following sentence, see Fang, The Chronicle of

2 5 〇

105.

106.

107. 108.

109. 110.

h

i

.

112.

113.

114.

115.

Notes to Pages 107-110

the Three Kingdoms^ 1:106-107, 125-126. She was made empress on 1 November 222 (SgZy 2.80；Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:106, 126). References are to Yao’s daughter^ Ehuanç and Nüying^ who married the lowly Shun, and Tai Jiang 太姜 and Tai Ren 太了壬， grancGnotiier and mother of King Wen of Zhou. In the year a.d . 77, then Empress Dowager Ma issued a long edia in which she decried, and claimed to eschew, an unduly extravagant way of life. The statement was possibly part of a piece of special pleading in which she was hoping to deflea criticism from herself and her family. She claimed that her thrift was intended to set a good example and to bring moral pressure to bear where it was most needed (Locwe, wTTic Condua of Govcmmcnt and the Issues at Stake [a.d . 57-167]," 295). See also Chapters 2 and 3 above. On the pepper rooms (jiao fang ÄJ^), where the empresses lived, see Knechtges, Wert xuany i ：izm . The expedition in question was an abortive move against Wu and seems to have begun in the seventh month (August of 224). See Zhang, San Cao ntanpuy 105-106. The Terrace of Perpetual Beginning (Yongshi tai 永 始 臺 j is mentioned as a feature of Xuchang in He Yan’s 何 晏 （ d. 149} “Jingfu dian fu” 景 福 殿 賦 [Rhapsody on the Hall of Great Blessings!， a work ordered by Emperor Ming. See Wx, 11.31b; Knechtges, Wen xuany 2:294 n* 29 5 Sec O'Hara, The Position of Woman in Early Chirtay 116-117. Guangling commandery had its seat in the vicinity of modem Yangzhou Cao Pi set out from Xuchang in the third month (March/April 225) and reached Qiao in the fifth month (June/)uly). He reached Guangling in the tenth month (November/Decembcr), but cold weather forced him to withdraw. See Sgz^ 2.84-85; Zhang, San Cao nianpuy 209. Probably this is a reference to the Guo River 祸 河 . This sentence and the next one are also translated in Fang, Tfce C^rowVrfe o, the Three Kingdoms^ 1:485. Empress Guo apparently died on 14 March 23 5. See SgZy 3.104; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:465,483,484485. This refers to Empress Zhen's having been buried hastily and without proper ceremony. Neither was her body properly clothed and coffined for burial nor was her hair appropriately coifred. On burial preparations in general, see volume I of de Groot, The Religious System of China. Da lian refers to the coffining of the deceased, including the final stage in the dressing of the corpse (de Groot, The Religious System ofChmay 1:36, 331-342). The passage is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:483-484. Emperor Ming was bom in Jian*an 11 (206), so he would have been about sixteen or seventeen by the time of Empress Zhen*s death in Huangchu 2 (221). As Lu Bi notes, it seems odd that he was so much in the dark as to the circumstances of her death and burial, if these were, in faa, as they are reported by Wei liie (Sgz jijiey 5.21a). Sec also Sgz9 3.91 (Wei liie); Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ I ：2II-2I2.

116. The passage is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:483.

zo6

Notes to Pages 11 - 112» 〇

117. Some texts have the Wei shu say Qinglong z, a mistake. Sec Sgz partgzhengy Sgzjijiey 5.21b. 118. The day rfwsfcpn 壬申 was actually in the second month of Qinglongmaking the date 29 March 135 (Sgz pangzheng^ 7.6a；Sgz jijie^ 5.11b). The interment of Empress Guo took place on 16 April. 119. The Three Luminaries (sart guang E.ft) are the sun, moon, and stars. I io. The Yellow Earth /m 黄 墟 } is another name for the Ye丨丨ow Springs (办 Mifig 黄 泉 ）， that is, the subterranean abode of the dead See, for example, Lx>ewc, Chinese Ideas of Life and Deathy 34. 121. See notes 2 and 98 above. izz. The three mothers (sari mu arc the women referred to as Tai Jiang, Tai Ren, and Tai Si; that is, the mothers of Hou Ji and kings Wen and Wu, respectively. 113. The Purple Bourne (zi /ï 紫 極 } refers to imperial status. 124. Henei was a Han commandery roughly encompassing the area along both banks of the Yellow River within modem Henan. Dao (uMoumedw) was a posthumous name given to royal personages who died young, but it could also imply an inabiliry to cultivate virtue. See Sfy 3b-4-4a; LXSfy B.6b-7a. 125. Empress Mao was made empress in the eleventh month (27 November/25 December 227；Sgzy 3.92). 126. Boping M T was a prefecture northeast of modem Liaocheng W tt county, Shandong. 127. We are not certain just what Mao Jia did. Dianyu A S seems to be an abbreviation for shuiheng diattyu tKA A tt, which in turn is equivalent to shuiheng dtdwei 水 衡 都 辑 A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, nos. 5496, 5497; Bielenstein, The Bureaucracy of Han Ttmes%82-83). Among other responsibilities, this office oversaw the manufacture of various items. Perhaps vehicles were among them. 128. A symposium, of course, was originally a drinking party, and that is the sense o f the word here. O n th e H a n - Wei p e n c h a n t fo r such activities a n d its effext on literature, see, for example, Cuttei; ttCao Zhi's Symposium Poems.w 129. For another translation of Empress Mao*s biography through the following sentence, see Fang, Tfee Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:229, As Fang Bcichen 芳 北 辰 notes^ a noble of the time would not refer to himself in such an overblown way. See Fang, San guo zhi zhu yi, 301 n.8. 130. According to the traditional interpretation as represented by the MMinor Preface," aGuan \un (Mao shi 1, see Chapter 3 above, in the aHan Philosophers” section} and “Lin zhi” 麟 趾 11) arc related. The topic of the lattei; said to be the ruler's good offspring and family, is seen as a natural outcome of the topic of the formet; said to be the acquisition of a virtuous mate (or mates) and the moral transforming influence exerted on the world thereby. Sec Legge, The Chinese Classicsy 4:36-37, 38-39. 131. Illustrious Ancestor (Liezu Rlfi) refers to Emperor Ming. 132. The lines are from Mao shi 27, a poem traditionally interpreted as the complaint of a neglected wife, a woman who has been replaced by a concubine and herself demoted. See Legge, The Chinese Classics^ 4:41 (prolegomena), 4L

2〇 7

Notes to Pages 113-115

133. The dates of Empress Mao's death and interment, z i September and zs October 137, arc given in Sgzy3.110. Fang notes that the word zu (Mdiedw) is used at Sgz 3.110 instead of the hong M one would normally expect for one of her rank, and speculates that Chen Shou's intention may have been to indicate44that she died under an infamous circumstance" (Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdomsy 1:549). 134. For another translation of the paragraph to this point, sec Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:518-519, 549-550. 135. Zeng, must have been a diannong xiaowei or colonel director of agriculture, in charge of one of the agricultural garrisons established by the government at the direction of Cao Cao. The agricultural garrison at Yuanwu 武 prefecture was in the vicinity of modem Yuanyang 原 睹 ，He’nan. The rank of colonel director of agriculture was equivalent to a commandery administrator See Crowell, wGovemnient Land Policies and Systems in Early Imperial China," 158-162；Tan, Zhongguo lishi ditujiy vol. 3, map 5-6. 136. Xiping was a commandery in the vicinity of modem Xining 西 寧 county， Gansu. 137. Heyou refers to the region to the ttright,* (west) of the Yellow River, as the name implies. It roughly corresponds to modem Gansu and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. 138. Empress Guo was made empress on 16 January 239 (%z, 3.113; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdomsy 1:580, 606). 139. These two sentences are also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 2:44. 140. Guanqiu Jian has a biography in Sgzy 28.761-768. See also Zhuo, San guo renwu lurt xu //, 121-127. Guanqiu was a loyal Wei official who had some success as a military leader Howeveq when he tried to use his military power to oppose the Simas, he ultimately failed. Zhong Hui (225-264) has a biography in Sgz^ 28.784-795. He was a Wei general and a leading supporter of the Sima family in their struggles against Cao Shuang and his followers for control of the Wei government. After Sima Zhao gained control of the government^ Zhong Hui and Deng Ai 鄭艾 led the Wei campaign against Shu in 263^x64. They defeated Shu, and Zhong was rewarded with die position of minister over the masses. He apparently had more grandiose ambitions, howevei; and mounted a rebellion in Shu in an attempt to overthrow Sima Zhao. He failed and was killed (Sgz74.149, 28.787-793; Wan, Wei]m Nanbeichao shi lungaoy90-91; Fu, Zhongguo tong shiy 1:251-251). i.

The Book o f Shu: Fasddc 34 Xiao Pei or 44Lesser Pciwwas another name for Pei prefecture, administrative seat of the kingdom of Pei9located at the modem city of Pei in the northern part of modem Jiangsu. Liu Bei, the Former Sovereign (Xian zhu 9c î.)ywas at this time (194- 195} shepherd (mM 牧 ）of Yu province. The Sfci yi /，拾 遣 ^ [Record of Collected Remnants] contains the following tale about Einpress Gan： Empress Gan of the Former Sovereign was a native of Pei. She was bom of lowly origins in a small village. A physiognomist said of hei;

2〇 8

Notes to Page 115

wThis girl shall occupy a high place in the side apartments of the uldmate palace《" gong Ik 歡 , When the empress was grown， her appearance was especially striking. When she reached eighteen， she had a beautiful body and soft flesh, and she was seductive and bewitching. The Former Sovereign summoned her within the silken curtains. To anyone who gazed upon her from outside the window, she was like drifted snow beneath the moon. Hc*nan presented a jade figure that was three feet tall. The Former Sovereign placed the jade figure in the empress's side apartments. During the day he discussed military strategy and at night he embraced the empress and amused himself with the jade figure. He often exclaimed, uThe nobility and virtue of jade is equal to that of a gendeman (junzi How could it be made into the shape of a person and one not amuse oneself with it?n The empress and the jade figure were equally white and sleek, and people looking at them nearly confused them. The favorites were not onlv envious of Empress Gan but also of the jade fieure. The empress orten wanted to grind it up and destroy it. She admonished the Former Sovereign, ^In the past, Zihan did not consider jade precious, and the Spring and Autumn Annuals praised him. Now, Wu and Wei have not yet been exterminated; how can you continue to cherish a bewitchine trifle? Infatuation always gives rise to suspicion. Do not repeatedly ^11 into it.” The Former Sovereign thereupon got rid of the jade figure. The favorites all withdrew and remained distant from her. At the time superior men spoke of Empress Gan as though she were a woman of supernatural understancling. (Syjy 8.7b-8a; cf. Fostei; MThc Shihi chi and Its Relationship to the Genre Known as Chih-kuai hsiaoshuo^ 163-264)

2.

3.

4.

The reference to Zihan comes from Zuo zhuany Xian 15：MA man of Song found a gem, and presented it to Zihan, who would not receive it. The man said, i showed it to a lapidary, who considered it to be valuable, and therefore I ventured to offer it to you.* Zihan said, *What I consider valuable is not to be covetous; what you consider valuable is your gem. If you give it to me, we shall both lose what we consider to be valuable; we had better each keep his own’” {Legge，丁Ae Ctw5ic5, 5:470). Being married to Liu Bei seems to have been a risky proposition. On two occasions his wife of the moment was captured^ once by Lü Bu and another time by Cao Cao, and on this third occasion he was forced to abandon his wife while fleeing Cao Cao*s armies (Sgzy 9.277, 31.874, 875, 878, 38.969; HygZy 6.511-512, 515, 519). See also Chapter 4 above, in the section MMarriage Patterns. " Readers of this passage almost inevitably recall Xiang Yu’s 項 对 capture of Liu Bang’s family. See S/，8.371; Watson， Äecordi 〇/ 7 心 Grand Historian：Han Dynasty^ 1:68. Dangyang was in the vicinity of the county by the same name in modem Hubei. Changban has been identined as a site northeast of the modem county seat, perhaps Mount Tianzhu See Su, San guo zhi jin zhu jin yiy z ： iS6i; Sgz cidiart^ 230. Zhao Yun originally served Gongsun Zan 公 孫 瓏 • When Gongsun ordered Liu Bei to help Tian Kai 田措 stop Yuan Shao, Zhao Yun accompanied him

z〇 9

5*

6.

8. 9-

10.

Notes to Pages 115-116

and was in charge of the cavalry. After his rescue of the future empress and Liu Shan, Zhao became one of Liu Bei's generals and served him faithfully until death (Sgz^ 36.948-950). Nanjun refers to the administrative seat of Nan commandery, also the seat of Jing province. It was located on the Yangtze in the vicinity of modem Jianglmg ttR , just south of where Liu abandoned Empress Gan. During his struggles with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, Liu's activities were often centered in this region. See Wang, Shi fa yanjiuy 370-371; cf. Sfy 2.9a. Cf. L/，47.10b， which has 陸 (“harmony”) rather than the xûo 孝 （“filial pietyn) that appears here. Furthermore, nave more, the redaction in Shisan appears to have an error here»-/ûo 敎 （“teach”） instead of the orthograpica丨丨y similar /•"极 敬 tw). For another translation of the passage, sec Legge, U Kiy 2:217. (“respect”) The quotation is from the Gongyang Commentary under the year Yin 1. Sec Chunqiu jingzhuan yindey 1. In faa it was not Emperor Gao who bestowed this tide on his mothei; but Empress Lii. Emperor Gao posthumously gave her the ride Lady of Illustrious Spirit after he became emperoc. Empress Lii added the ride wempresswin the seventh year of her reign (Hs, 1B.52, 3.9^-100; Sgz jijiey 34.ia). See HHsy4.184. It is interesting that Zhuge Liang uses this example, for Lady Liang had recently been stripped of the title empress, in 190, by Emperor Xian.

12.

13

.

14. 15 . 16. 17 .

Sec Chapter 3, note 50. Emperor Min refers to Emperor Xian (Liu Xie) of the Later Han. Min, which means something like ^beleaguered," was a posthumous title bestowed by Liu Bei on Liu Xie after he was deposed by Cao Pi. Liu Bei adopted mourning and treated the event as though the emperor had actually died (5,gz, 32.887; Wang, Shi fa yanjiu^ 53, 430-431). Following his death in 234, the Wei bestowed on Liu Xie the title of Emperor Xian the Filial {HHsy 9.391), by which title he was subsequently known. Zhuge Liang uses Min here in order to deny the legitimacy of tne Wei regime (Qian, San guo zhi biatryi^ 2.2b). After the title of Empress of Spiritual Recoilecdon was bestowed, the empress was reburied at Wenzhao Tumulus (Wenzhao ling 文 昭 陵 } with Emperor Ling (HHs, 9.375, 10B.450). “Cold springs” 寒 泉 ） comes from the Ctissic o,Poefry sW 32), a poem that is traditionally interpreted as having to do with the appreciation due a mother. Sec Legge, The Chinese Classicsy 4:42 (prole­ gomena), 50-51. Liu Bei's posthumous title was Emperor of Illustrious Achievements. Mao shi 73. See L/，6.4a. Ji Wuzi 季 武 子 of Lu 魯 permitted a joint burial, but he pointed out that it had not been the pracnce in nigh antiquity and this had not changed since the Duke of Zhou. Empress Wu*s biography is also translated in Fang, The Chronicle of the Three KmgdomSy 1:67. Chenliu occupied a portion of modem He'nan province. Wu Yi, originally from Chenliu, went with Liu Yan to Shu, and he served as leader of the gendemen-of-thc-household under Liu Zhang. He commanded troops against Liu Bei at Fu fp and surrendered to him. Once Liu Bei had eined Yi province, he made Wu Yi commissioner over the army (hu jurt SI }and general for punishing rebels (too m* 討 逆 將 軍 )• Subsequently,

S

2 io

18.

19. 20. 21. iz. 13.

M.

Notes to Pages 116-117

he held a number of increasingly important positions under Liu Bei and Iju Shan until his death in 237/238 (SgZj 45.1083-1084; Hygzy6.536). Yi*s name was originally written Û but seems to have been changed by Chen Shou to avoid the taboo on Sima Yi's name (Hygzy 5.48911; Zztjy 69.2188; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:67-68). Fa Zheng's home was in Fufeng but at the beginning of the Jian'an period he went to Shu to escape famine. He held several minor positions under Liu Zhang, who sent him as an emissary to Liu Bei to persuade him to join in attacking the religious rebel Zhang Lu in order to forestall Cao Cao's launching a campaign into Yi province against Zhang. After Fa Zheng delivered the message, he secredy advised Liu on how to displace Liu Zhang and take control of Yi province. Subsequently, Fa became one of Liu Bei's supporters and strategists in the struggle against Cao Cao. After Liu Bei became king of Hanzfong 漢 中 ， he made Fa Zheng his prefect of the masters of writing and commissioner of the army. On Ziyu and Duke Wen (Chong’er重 耳 }， see note 24 below. Œ f/ygz，6.524. The Palace of Enduring Joy (Changle gong 長 樂 宮 } was occupied by the empresses dowagci; who were commonly referred to by the name of the palace as a means of respect. Wu Yi was made marquis of Jiyang ftl®, whose location is uncertain (Sgzy 45.1083). The location of Hui Tumulus is unknown. Lady Sun was Sun Quan's younger sistei^ whom he pve in marriage to Liu Bei when Liu was shepherd of Jing province, and wno was apparently very formidable (see also the discussion and note 3 in Chapter 4 above). She is said to have been tough and to have had over a hundred female attendants who went about armed. Every time Liu Bei saw hci; Mhis heart turned cold.MSo daunting was she that Fa Zheng advised Liu Bei to send her back, and Zhuge Liang considered her capable of instigating an uprising in support of her brother. When Sun Quan learned of Liu Bei's western campaign in 211, he sent a boat to fetch her back. She tried to take Liu Shan with her but was stopped by Zhao Yun and Zhanß Fei (Yitm 雲 別 傅 [Alternative Biography of Zhao Yun], quoted in Sgzy 36.949, commentary; Sgz, 37.960； 6.510, 525; Zz//， i i i i ; de Crespiçny，丁〇 EitoWisfc 2:407, 431, 475; dc Crespigny, Generals of the Souths z^4, z«^4-zy5n, 371). Significantly, neither Chen Shou nor Chang Qu, author of Hygz, wrote a biography for her. This is a reference to an incident in the seventh century b.c. When the heir apparent to the Jin throne, Ziyu, went to Qin as a hostage, the earl of Qin gave him a wife named Ying m. Five years latci; Ziyu fled tojin, leaving the wife behind. The following yeai; his father Duke Hui of Jin 杳 本 公 died， and Ziyu succeeded Kim as Diike Huai 懷 公 . Chong’ei; who was Ziyu’s unde (he was a half brother of Duke Hui, his mother being a sister of Duke Hui's mother) and a rival for the throne, fled to Qin. There the earl presented him with five women, one of whom was this very Ying, who had been Ziyu*s wife. ChongVr was reluaant to accept her because he and Ziyu were of the same lineage. One of his followers said to him, wYou are going to attack his state. Why worry about his former wife? If you accept her in order to cement relations with Qin, then you can ask 【Qin’s Kelp】in entering [Jin]. Would you insist on adhering to a minor point of etiquette and forgetting a major shame?!" (5 /, 39.1660;

211

Notes to Pages 117-118

cf. Gy, 9.329, 10-355-35^ ；Thatchei; uMarriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,w 51-520). 25 ‘ A non-Chinese of Cong ff origins, Li Xiong was the ruler of a peny stare, Cheng Han , in what is now modem Sichuan. He declared himself emperor in 304 and ruled for thirty years (/s, 121.3035-3040; Hygz^ 9.661701; Wang, Wei Jin Nanbeicbao $hiy 1:224-128). z6. Sec Chapter 4, note 21 above. 17. The location of Nan Tumulus is unknown. Sgz^ 3^.897 gives the date of the death of the Attentive and Lamented Empress Znang as summer, the sixth month (10 July-7 August) of Jianxing 15. For another rendering of her biography, see Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:548. 28. These were sacrifices normally offered by the Han emperors. The sacrifices at the suburban altars (jiao ?¥) were performed seasonally. Originally offered to the Five Di, following the reforms of 31 b.cmthey were done in honor of Heaven and Earth. The Later Han continued to offer the sacrifices based on the reforms. After the breakup of the Han into the Three States, each of the three instituted its own altars for conducting suburban sacrifices. Altars to Soil and Millet could be established not only at the national level but also in kingdoms and marquisates. It was not necessary to set up both types of altars, and the altar to Soil appears to have been more common, especially outside the capital. The term Maltars to Soil and Millet" was sometimes synonymous with the state (Xu, Xi Han huigao 10:81-86^11:92-93; DHbyy 3:27, 4:33, — Wei zhidu congkaoy 394-395; 5:41; Sghyy 11.202-206, 209; Yan Yang, Han Locwe, Crisis and Conflict in Han Chitta^ 167, 170, 174-175, 179, 183). ^9 - Xiang Lang was a prcfecrural magistrate in Jing province under Liu Biao. Following Liu Biao*s death, Xiang became one of Liu Bei's supporters, and after Liu gained control of Shu, Xiang was successively administrator of several commanderies. After Liu Bei died, Xiang held several offices under the Laner Sovereign until he had a falling out with Zhuge Liang, after which he was dismissed for a time. Following ä e death of Zhuge Liang, he was made general of the left and appointed marquis of Xianming commune (Xianming tinghou 顯 明 亭 侯 ). He died in Yanxi 10 (247/148; sec Sgz，41.1010). 30. SgZy 33.897 says, MLi spring, the fifth month of Yanxi 1 (February 138), [the letter Sovereign] made Zhang empress. He declared a general amnesty and changed the reign title. I le made his son Xuan 41 heir apparent and his son Yao 运 king of Anding 安 定 •” Cf. Fang^ 丁心 Cfcromcfe o , Tfcr從 Kingdoms^ 1:571, 588. 31 Following the Wei conquest of Shu, Liu Shan, his sons, and many of his supporters were moved to Luoyang, where they were given sinecures (Sgzy 33.901-902). 32- Nothing else is known of Brilliant Companion Li. 33. Xu Jing, a native of Ru'nan, held office under Dong Zhuo when the latter took control of the government following the death of Emperor Ling. Xu was involved in recommending a number of persons for office, and once they had assumed their posts, they began to oppose Dong. Xu was forced to flee for his life. Because of Xu*s ability, Liu Zhang invited him to Shu and appointed him administrator of Ba and Guanghan. After Liu Bei conquered Shu, he appointed Xu to a series of offices culminating, after Liu assumed the imperial title, in grand tutor (5^z, 38.963-967).

2 i2

Notes to Pages 118-122

Green was the color associated with the East, where Lu was located. At the time, the region was under control of the Wei. By nominally appointing Liu Yong to a benefice there, Liu Bei was asserting his legidmacy over all the empire. Sun Quan also followed this practice (/s, 14.414; Zztj9 69.2189). Mt. Gui and Mt. Meng were synonymous with the Lu state. Mt. Gui is in 35northeastern Sishui 洒 永 county and Mt. Meng is in southern Mengyin 蒙 1$ county, both in Shandong province. Both are part of the Mengshan range. This line is an allusion to the C la ssic o f P o e tr y (M a o sh i 300). 36. This, too, is an allusion to M a o sh i ^ o o . Our rendering of the sentence follows Imataka, Inami, and Kominami, S a n g o k u sh iy 2:351 n. 5. 37- Ganling straddled the border between present-day Shandong and Hebei, and at the time was under the control of Wei. 38. Huang Hao was a eunuch who became a favorite of Liu Shan. His baleful influence over Liu and the government from about 258 on is credited with contributing to Shu's decline (5,gz, 33.899, 39.987, 44.1066; Wang, W ei Jin N a n b e tc h a o sh i, 1:96). 39- This is another case of appointing a scion of the Liu house to a kingdom that was under the control of the Wei. Liang was in modem eastern He9nan near Shangqiu 商丘: city. 40. Anping was in eastern Hebei in the vicinity of modem Anping, Hengshui I t a n d n eig h b o rin g co u n ties. It, to o , w as u n d e r Wei c o n tro l. On Zhong Hui, see Fascicle 5, note 140 above. Liu Xuan's biography is also in Fang, T h e C h ro n ic le o f th e T h r e e K in gdom s^ 1:589. Li Shi became ruler of the Cheng Han in 338, following the death of his father Li Shou 李 壽 , who had emerged as ruler of the Cheng Han after the struggles over the throne following the death of Li Xiong in 334. In 346/347, Huan Wen fêîfi (312-373), then commandcr-in-chicf and provincial inspeaor of Jing province, took advantage of the internal political struggle and chaos in Cheng Han and launched an expedition into Southwest China, destroying the Cheng Han and forcing Li Shi to surrender (/s, 8.191, 98.2569, 12.1.30473048; Wang, W ei ] i n N a n b e ic h a o sh ig a n g , 1:227-218). Sun says that Li Mspuriously appointedn Xuan because he did not consider Li to be the legitimate ruJer. Sec Chapter 3 above, in the section “Women in Pre-Qin Thought•” 43. 34-

Book ofWu: Fascicle 50 Sun Jian is thus referred to because he held the post of caitiff-smashing general (po /m 破虜將軍 Wu, capital of Wu commandery, was near present-day Suzhou 蘇 州 . Qiantang, afso in Wu commandery, was near modem Hangzhou 杭 州 . On b u y u translated as Munlucky" here, see S g z jû to g u y 144. The motif of the woman who sacrifices herself for the good of the family by marrying a powerful but uncouth man is found elsewhere in R e c o rd s o f th e T h ree S tates. Lü Fan 呂 範 ， a minor prefectural official, sought to marry a beautiful young woman named Liu W, who came from a very wealthy family. Her mother was adamantly opposed, but the young woman replied that Lii did not look like someone who would remain poor for long, and she married him. Subsequently he became one of Sun Ce*s most crusted supporters and rose to grand minister of war under Sun Quan (Sgz, 56.1309-1311). The

2. 3.

z i3

N o te s to Page 112

Sun Jian apparendy had more than a single daughter since Records of the Three States refers separately to three sisters of Sun Quan. One was the younger sister whom Sun Quan married off to Liu Bei (see Fascicle 34, note 13 above). A second was an elder sister married to one Hong Zi 弘吞 of Qu’e f t 阿 ， a man who is otherwise virtually unknown (Sgz, 52.1231; Wm lu cited in Sgzy 48.1165). The daughter of another elder sistec; sumamed Chen H!, was married off by Sun Quan to Pan Mi 潘 泌 ， who was the son of Pan Jun 潘 iff, one of Quan*s loyal and high-ranking officials；Pan Jun*s daughter was married to Sun Lu 揉 慮 ，Quan’s second son 《Wm 4 mcited in 61.1399). De Crespigny assumes that this last sister was actually a half sister bom of a mother sumamed Chen (de Crespigny, Generals of the South, 86 n. 18), but Chen was the woman's married name (Sgz cidian^ 467). Given that Lady Wu bore but one daughter, two of the three must have been half sisters. De Crespigny is probably correa in concluding that the youngest of the three was Sun Quan's full sister. Chen Shou describes her as being like wall hcr brothers" (%z, 37.960). The elder sisters were married to relative unknowns, while the youngest was used by Sun in an effort to cement an alliance against the Wei. See Gan, Sou shen ;ï, 122. The incident is found in a number of ocher works. Unusual dreams presaging the birth of an important person are a common motif in Chinese literature. See, for example, me accounts of the pregnancies of Bo, mother of Emperor Wen, and 访 ang Zang’er 王 威 兒 ， empress to Emperor Jing and mother of Emperor Wu of the Han (5 /, 49.1971, 1975; Watson，Äeo>rd!s GronJ Historic«: H j” 1:3 330)，an/2〇i). Following Ce*s death, Li was unwilling to serve Sun Quan, and he took in many of those who had rebelled against Quan. When Quan wrote to ask the reason, Li replied,44Those with virtue have people submit to them, while those without virtue experience rebellion. I shall not submit." Quan was incensed and sent a report to Cao Cao in which he was extremely critical of Li. He attacked Li at Wan (northeast of modem Anqing). Li fortified the city and defended himselfyseeking assistance from Cao Cao. Cao, howevei; did not respond. When the supplies of grain in the city were exhausted, some of the women made pellets from mud and ingested these. In the end, Quan was viaoriou^ and ne slaughtered those in the city, displayed Li*s decapitated head, and exiled over thirty thousand of his personal troops 棘 曲 ； see 5炉 ， 10.312；46.1108; 47.1116, Pei quoting Jiang biao zhuan；51.1214, Pei quoting Wu shu). Huang Zu served under Liu Biao in the fighting with the Sun family. In 193 35. Sun Jian was killed by Huang's troops in an ambush. Huang in turn was kiUed

ii8

36. 37.

38.

Notes to Pages 125-126

by Sun Quan in Jian*an 13 (208/109；see HHs, 74.2.42.3；Sgz^ 46.1100, 47.1117；Dian lüe Ä ■& [Institutional Epitome), quoted in Sgz^ 46.1100I iQi 1, commentary). It was in this last campaign that Kun was killed. Huang Zu is also known to history as the man who ordered the death of Mi Heng MU (ca. 173-198), the audacious young wit best known for goading Cao Cao and as the author of “Yingwu fu” A A 賦 [Rhapsody on a Parrot】. See HHsy 8 o b . 2657-2658 . See also Graham, MMi Hcng*s Rhapsody on a Parrot^ and Cutter, uMi Heng.w The reconstruaion is based on Ting, Chinese Phonology of the Wei-Chirt Period. Cf. Coblin, A Handbook of Eastern Han Sound Glosses^ 101, 162. Sun Quan was appointed king of Wu in the second month of Huangchu 18 (Scptembcr/Octoéer m ) by Cao Pi (Emperor Wen of the Wei)， and Deng was made his heir apparent. Then in Huanglong Kfll 1 (229, a Wu reign date), Quan declared himself emperor and made Deng heir apparent to the imperial throne (Sgzy 2.78, 47.1121-1123, 48.1133-1135). Sgzy 59.1365 has the following： Deng was bom of a base mother. Lady Xu deserved his gratitude for having raised him as though she were mother when he was young. Latei; when Lady Xu was abandoned in Wu because of jealousy， Lady Bu was favored most. Whenever Lady Bu gave him something【Dengl dared not refuse but simply accepted it respectfully. A messenger came from Lady Xu and told him that any clothing that he might be given he must wash before wearing. When Deng was made heir apparent， he declined, saying, U4When the foundation is established, the Way is bom.* If you wish to install an heir apparent, you must first establish the empress•” Quan enquired， “Where is your mother?” “In Wu.” Quan was silent, (cf. Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdomsy 1:600-601)

39.

40. 4I•

In this exchange, Deng employs an allusion to the Conversations：MMaster You said, i t is rare that there is someone who is filial toward his parents and fraternal toward his brothers but disposed to be disobedient toward his ruler. And never has there been a person ill^lisposed to disobey his ruler who was disposed to rebellion. The gendeman devotes himself to the foundation. When the foundation is established, the Way is bom. Filial piety and fraternal feeling arc the foundation of bencvolcnce, w(Lun yuy i.i). Linhuai commandery was in modem Anhui, north of the Yangtze, during the Former Han. During the Later Han, this commandery became the kingdom of Xiapei. The use of Linhuai here and in 5z. 1236 seems to be anachronistic. Cf. Sgz jijiey 52.29a. Another translation of the entry on Lady Bu can be pieced together from Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ i： 6oi-6oz, 690. Bu Zhi was one of Sun Quan's closest supporters. He was made chancellor in Chiwu 赤烏 9 (246/247; see Sgz，52>•Ii4o}• Zhou Xun was a commandant of the cavalry and died young. Quan Cong was one of Sun Quan's closest and brightest military commanders. His father had been commandant of the Eastern Region of Guiji (Guiji dongbu jiang/wn 會 稽 柬 部 將 軍 ） and was the first to sufmit to Sun Cc when Sun took Wu (Sgz^ 60.1381-1382). Quan Cong's biography states, ttIn Huanglong 1, Quan

219

41

43.

44.

45-

46. 47.

48.

Notes to Pages n 6 - i i 8

was promoted to be general of the guards, left commissioner over the army (zuo hu jun and shepherd of Xu province. He married a princess" (5gz, 60.1382; cf. Fang? The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:690). Zhu Ju was appointed to office by Sun Quan because he combined literary and martial talent. Ouring the strudle between Lady Wang and Princess Quan, he sided with Sun He. Sun H o n g ^ ^ slandered him and, taking advantage of Sun Quan*s illness, had a decree fabricated and sent to Zhu ordering him to commit suicide (Sgz, 57.1340). SgZi 47.1142 says, under Chiwu 1, uLady Bu died. She was posthumously granted the tide of empress^ Cf. Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:600. Gu Yong was one of Quan's most trusted officials；he served as chancellor for nineteen years. Characteristically， he did not say much, so that when he did speak, Quan attached great weight to his words. He also did not drink, and during banquets and celebrations those about Quan were afraid that if they drank too much and lost control, Gu would see them. This prompted Sun Quan to comment, wWhen Duke Gu is present, people are unable to enjoy themselves" (Sgz^ 52.1225-122.8). The Jiankang shi lu says: ttIn the second month [of Chiwu 1 (March 138), Sun Quan] posthumously made Lady Bu empress. The empress's taboo name was Lianshi and her home of record was Huaiyin prefecture in Linhuai commandery. She accompanied her mother to Lujiang. Lujiang was overrun by King Huan fi [Sun Ce], so they crossed to south [of the Yangtze]. Because of her beauty she obtained the emperor's favor and bore two daughters, Luban and Luyu. By nature she was not jealous and she often advanced others. As a result she was long beloved and he made her the favorite of the rear apartments. When the emperor acceded to the throne, on numerous occasions he wanted to establish her as empress, but his senior ministers had their minds set on the mother of the heir apparent. Madam Xu. So the emperor had no choice but to put it off for more than ten years. She passed away, and he mourned her. It was in this year that he posthumously made her empress. Later they were buried together at Jiang Tumulus" (Jksl[^]y 2.32-33). Sun Quan was also buried at Jiang Tumulus, as were Lady Pan (see below) and Quan's eldest son Sun Deng. For another translation of this paragraph， see Fang, TA浐 C/?ro«iWé»s o, 如 Three Kingdoms^ 1:690-691. The Huangwu reign title was actually adopted in the tenth month of the year (November/December 122), and was changed to Huanglong in the founh month of the year (May/June 2x9). The biography of the unfortunate Sun He appears in Sgzy 59.1367-1371. Sun He's biography says: MAfter this. Lady Wang and Princess Quan harbored ill feelings toward each other. Sun Quan was bedridden with illness, and Sun He offered sacrifices at the temple. Zhang Xiu, the younger paternal uncle of He's concubine, dwelled near the temple, and he invited He to suy with him. Princess Quan sent someone to spy. Conseauently, she said that the heir apparent was not in the temple but had gone solely to plot with the concubine's family. She further said that when Lady Wang had seen the emperor in bed, she had looked happy. Sun Quan was furious about this. The lady died of anxiety, while Sun He's favor declined, and he feared demotion and dismissal** (Sgz9 59.1369; cf. Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:683-684,

220

49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.

N o te s to Page 128

690). Zztj 74.2362 says that Sun Quan sent Sun He t〇£hc Temple of King Huan of Changsha (Changsha Huan wang miao 長 沙 桓 王 廟 }• King Huan of Changsha is the posthumous title bestowed on Sun Ce by Sun Quan when he assumed the imperial title in 229 (Sgzy 47.1134). Hao ascended the throne in 2.64, and despite the display of filial piety at the beginning of his reign, he proved an arrogant and cruel ruler. Nothing else is known about Lady Wang*s father and there is nothing to suggest that he may have been one of the Langye Wangs who were to become so prominent in the South during a somewhat later period. The reign title was changed to Chiwu in the ninth month of the latter year (August/Scptcmber 238). Sun Xiu was bom in 235 or 236. He acceded to the throne in 2.58, when Sun Liang was set aside. Xiu's reign was somewhat rocky, and there were attempts to topple him. He died in 265 at the age of thirty (Sgzy 48.1155-1163). Gongan was a remote town of some strategic importance on the Yangtze in vince, not far from the city of the same name in present-day southern The location of Jing Tumulus is unknown. Cf. Zztjy 75.^385-1387; Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 1:114. Juzhang was near present-day Ningbo 寧 波 • The Weaving Chamber was within the palace and supplied woven goods for imperial needs, including the imperial ancestral temple (Hs, 27A. 13 30-1331). The Qin created an Eastern Weaving Chamber and a Western Weaving Chambet In z8 b.c., the Former Han abolished the Eastern Weaving Chamber and called the Western Weaving Chamber simply the Weaving Chamber (H$y 19A.732). Women could be sent to the Weaving Chamber as a form of punisK^nent. For example， Bo Ji 薄 姬 （Dame Bo), a member of the harem of Wei Bao 魏 豹 ，king of Wei 魏 ，was sent to the 切 èaving Chamber following Bao’s capture by â o Shen 曹 參 during the fighting that attended the fall of the Qin and the rise of the Han, She was discovcrcdl by the then king of Han, Liu Bang, who had her transferred to the Inner Palace, where she was eventually favored and became the mother of the future Empçror Wçn (H5, 4.105, 97A.3941).

Lady Pan was sent to the Weaving Chamber because of her father's crime, and her discovery there is described here in terms similar to those used to describe the fate of Bo Ji. Wang Jia's Record of Collected Remnants contains a somewhat embellished description of this incident: The father of Lady Pan, wife of the Sovereign of Wu, had been conviaed, and she had been brought to the Weaving Chamber. Her appearance was uncommon, and in the region east of the Yangtze her beauty was unsurpassed. More than a hundred of those who were confined with her referred to the lady as a goddess. They showed her respect and maintained their distance from her. Some officers reported this to the lord of Wu， who ordered that a portrait be drawn of her. The consort was melancholy and would not eat. She grew thin, altering her appearance. The artist drew her as she was and submitted it. The Sovereign of Wu saw it and was pleased. Rubbing an agate scepter (rwyi 如 意 >until it broke, he signed， “This is a çoddcss! If a sorrowful appearance can so move men, how more so if she were

22i

Notes to Page 128

happy!** He ordered an engraved carriage to go to the Weaving Chamber to take her to the rear palace. IÏ1 the end, because of her abU - she L wa$ favored. r J >Uity Whenever ------ ----he took the lady j _____^ strolling 一 through. the th Terrace of Brilliant Proclamation, wicn they 'oclamation, he was happy and content, content. ^Clien t were completely intoxicated, she would spit into a jade vase. She would have the serving girls pour this on the ground beneath the terrace and it would bum. She hung all her rings on a pomegranate branch， so [the Sovereign of Wu] had built on that spot a terrace, which he named the Ringed Pomegranate Terrace (Huanliu tai 環 檐 臺 }• At the time there were remonstrators who said, uNow Wu and Shu are struggling for supremacy. The name chuan Liu9will become an omen!n Sun Quan then reversed the name to ^Pomegranate Ring Terrace^ (Liuhuan tai). Another time he went strolling with the consort at the Angling Terrace (Diao tai 釣 臺 ） and caught a large fish. The sovereign of Wu was gready pleased. Lady Pan said, MIn the past I have heard of 'crying over a fish.* Now it makes you happy. If there is happiness, certainly it will make the sadness deepenw In later years, others slandered hei^ and they gradually withdrew from hen People at the time said of the consort, ttHcr understanding of portents is divine.wThe sovereign of Wu presently ended the feasts, anä the consort was finally sent away. (S>7’, 8.3b~4a; cf. Fosteq “The Shih-i chi and Its Relationship to the Genre Known as Chih-kuai hsiaoshuo^ 2.58-259) This account is obviously fictionalized. It does not agree with the account of th e re la tio n sh ip betw een Sun Quan and Lady Pan in Records of the Three States^ and Lu Bi has pointed out its unreliability (Sgz jijiey50.7b). The anecdote about the Ringed Pomegranate Terrace involves a pun. Liu W was the surname of the ruling family of the Han dynasty, of which the ruler of Shu, Liu Bei, was a distant member (the putative descendant of one of the sons of Emperor Jing of the Former Han [r. 156-141 b.c.]). Huan liu (ringed pomegranate) is nearly homophonous with Uhuan Liun ÄW (Mbring back the Liu"). “Crying over a fish” is a reference to a story in tüe Zhm 识 〇 泛 戦 國 策 [Intrigues of the Warring States]: The king of Wei was fishing with his lover; the G rd of Longyang (Longyang /m” 龍 • 君 }• When the Lord of Longyang had caught ten or more fish, tears began streaming down his cheeks. The king asked why he was crying. The lord replied chat when he had caught the first fish, he had been extremely happy. But then he caught others that were even larger; and he wanted to get rid of those he had cau^it earlier. This made him think：If he displeased the king, the king would no longer sleep with him. There were lots of pretty boys in the world, and when they heard that he had been favored by the king, they too would pick up their skirts and come running. The Lord of Longyang compared himself to the first fish, saying that he too would be abandoned, so he could not help but cry (Zhan guo cey 25.917；cf. Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleevey 32-33). It is interesting that in Wang Jia's story Madam Pan sees nothing amiss in comparing her situation with that of the homosexual lover of an ancient ruler. By this time Lord Longyang was already an 44icon" of homosexual love (Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleevey 71 ).

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N o tes to Pages 12 8 -1 2 9

uHcr understanding of portents is divine" is an allusion to the Classic of Changes: The Master said：ttTo know the seeds [i.e., the portents], that is divine indeed. In his association with those above him, the superior man does not flattée. In his association with those beneath him, he is not arrogant. For he knows the seeds. The seeds are the first imperceptible beginning of movement, the first trace of good fortune (or misfortune) that shows itself. The superior man perceives the seeds and immediately takes action. He does not wait even a whole day.n (Wilhelm, / Chingy 342) 57. 58. 59.

60.

61.

Lady Pan is being credited with having foreseen her fate. The dragon is, of course, a symbol of imperial rule. Sun Liang replaced Sun HeYwho was set aside. From Guiji, Sun Hong apparently was unrelated to the ruling family. He was instrumental in eliminating some of Sun He's supporters through false decrees that he was able to issue because of Quan*s illness. He was appointed junior tutor of the heir apparent (to^i 太 子 少 傅 ） by the dying Sun Quan. Hong was on poor terms with Zhuge Ke9whom Quan had appointed grand tutor (toäi 太 子 大 傅 ) to the heir apparent and made regent to Sun Uang. Sun Hong arranged to be notified the moment Quan expired $0 that he could issue a forged decree eliminating Zhuge Ke. Ke learned of this, interrogated Hong, and had him executed (S,g2, 52.1225,57.1340, 59.1369,1370,61.1402, 64.1433, 1434). Sima Guang 司 馬 光 （1019-1086) says that Lady Pan was killed 处 」1er attendants, who could not bear her tyrannical manner. Hu Sanxing (1230-1287), howevei; thinks this ludicrous. He writes that such people would have encouraged her for their own benefit and believes that it was high-ranking officials who did her in. Hu suggests that Sima Guang was misled by embellished histories of Wu. Sec Zzth 75-2-394-2.395；Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms^ 2:104, 114. Luling was in southeastern Jiangxi province near Ji*an city. The account in the True Record of Jiankang says, [Taiyuan 太 元 1】， fifth month [June/July 2>51], Madam Pan was established as empress__ [Taiyuan 2], second month [February/ March Z 5 3 ] , a great amnesty was granted throughout the empire, and the year was changed to Shenfeng ttfll 1. Empress Pan died violently in the inner halls. The empress was respectful and virtuous, and she had her home of record in Juzhang in Guiji commandery. She was summoned into the palace from the Weaving Room and obtained favor. She often said she dreamed that she was presented with a dragon’s head and that she received it with an apron. Subsequently she bore the Young Emperor. The empress by nature was secredy jealous and was skilled at cnarm. From beginning to end, she slandered without cease. When she became ill, the people of the palace attended to her illness and could not bear the fatigue. Taking advantage of her being in a deep sleep, they together strangled her and said she died of a sudden illness.

22.3

Notes to Page 12.9

There was an investigation and the matter leaked. Six or seven persons were sentenced to death. (/fo/[a], 2 .4 5 )

6z.

The accounts in the Records of the Three States and the True Record ofjiartdivei^e significantly， and it is likely the latter is corrupt. Cf. /ib/ (bj，1.68 nn. 67 and 68. The connections between the Suns and the Yuan family, whose members had held high office since the reign of Emperor Zhang, were close. Sun Jian had commanded an army under Yuan Shu in the wars against Dong Zhuo and Liu Biao. Following Sun Jian*s death, his nephew Sun Ben took command of his troops and was appointed inspeaor of Yu province by Yuan Shu. A couple of years later, Sun Jian's son Sun Ce entered Yuan Shu*s service and took command of his father's troops, Sun Ben having returned south. Relations between Sun Ce and Yuan Shu do not appear to have been particularly warm, and in 197, when Yuan Shu declared hiiAself emperor of the Zhong 仲 dynasty, Sun Ce broke with him. Yuan found himself opposed from all sides, and when he died in 199, his power had been greatly reduced. His wife and children took refuge with Liu Xun 劉 動 ， administrator of Lujiang commandery and a former official under Yuan. Sun Ce defeated Liu Xun, and Yuan Shu's daughter was taken into Sun Quan's harem. Yuan*s son Yuan Yao ÄW was madé gendeman-of-the-palace， and his daughter was wed to Sun Quan’s son Sun Fen I f (HHsy 75.^439-2444 ；Sgz 6.zoy-zio ；de Crespigny, Generals of the Southj 146-180, 18^). Since Sun Quan did not attempt to make Lady Yuan principal wife until after the death of Lady Bu in 238, Lady Yuan must have been at least forty years of age and may have been much older. Sun's desire to elevate her to principal wife may have been modvated by a desire to bring order to his harem, and her reasons for declining~aside from the faa that she had no children— may have stemmed from a desire to remain aloof from harem machinations. She may have understood the impact of such machinations. In his commentary, Pci Songzhi includes the following cxccrpt from the Jiu zhou cburtqiu 春 秋 [Spring and Autumn Annals df the Nine Provinces】 ： The daughter of Director of Retainers . In ZAofigwo /iViw’ sfewmM congfci« //•}【 Col­ lectanea of Historical Catalogues of Books】 ，edited by Xu Yimin 許逸民 and Chang Zhenguo 常 振 國 . Beijing: Xiandai chubanshe，1987. ^9

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