Chinese Women

Wu Zetian, The Only Woman Emperor

Wu Zetian was only one woman emperor of ancient Central Nation. She was born in A.D. 624 in Bing Zhou where was in modern-days Shanxi Province. At the age of 14, she was selected to be a Cairen which was a title of a lower concubine in the period of Tang Tai-Zong who was the second emperor. After the death of Tai-Zong, she became a Buddhist nun according to court rituals. One day Tang Gao-Zong, the son of Tai-Zong, met her in the temple and became enamored of her beauty. So he recalled Wu Zetian and let her be a Zhaoyi. This title was higher than Cairen.

Mulan in Legends

The Song of Mulan is a famous ballad about a heroine of the Northern Dynasties. In this ballad, this heroine is called Mulan. But people always call her Hua Mulan. And in 1998 Hollywood made an animated cartoon Hua Mulan. Of course, this cartoon shows a Mulan of America, not a Mulan from ancient China. I have seen a movie Joan of Arc which directed by Luc Besson, and this movie hurted seriously the image of a herine that I have known about Joan of Arc since my childhood. The movie of Luc Besson can be called a drama creation. Is Mulan just a drama creation or a literary creation?

A Dutiful Daughter and A Faithful Wife

This story took place in the Western Han Dynasty. A man who lived in Chang’an had an enemy. This enemy wanted to avenge but he couldn’t get near the man. He heard the man’s wife was dutiful and benevolent. So he abducted her father and caused him to demand his daughter to be a contact. The woman thought if she refused, her father would be killed and she was not a dutiful daughter, but if she obeyed, her husband would be killed and she was not a faithful wife. If a person was not dutiful and faithful, this person had no face to live in the world.

The Wife of Yue Yangzi

Yue Yangzi (乐羊子) lived in the Henan (河南) Jun (郡) (where was in modern-day Henan Province) of the Eastern Han Dynasty. One day, he walked outside and saw a piece of gold on the road. He thought that someone lost it, but since no other one saw it, so he pocketed it with an overjoyed and nervous mind.

A Faithful Stepmother

In the times of Qi Xuan-King (齐宣王), the king of Qi (齐) State who was on the throne from 319 B.C. to 301 B.C., there was such a story about a woman of iron will, two loyal brothers, conscientious officials and the judiciary of presumption of innocence. This story was really the excellent qualities' embodiment of a great people of the far times.

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