Virtue for Women! | Learn English through stories
This story is about women who respected virtues. Let's watch how they behave and think in critical moments...
Virtue for Women
Ban Zhao was a very talented lady in the Eastern Han period. She was born in a prominent Confucian family. Both her father Ban and her elder brother Ban Gu were renowned scholars and historians. Ban Zhao was always the loving and caring little sister in the household. She married at the age of 14, but her husband died when she was still young. She never remarried and devoted her life to literature and the education of her son.
Her other brother Ban Chao served as an envoy to the far-away western regions for many years. When he asked the court to allow him to return in his senior years, Ban Zhao wrote to the emperor to plead for her brother’s request. Her heartfelt words made a strong impact and her brother’s wish was soon granted.
Due to the implication of an internal power struggle in the court, her brother Ban Gu was imprisoned and died before he could finish the history book Han Shu (Book of Han). The emperor then commissioned Ban Zhao to complete the remaining work, and the finished Han Shu turned out to be one of the best-known histories ever written and served as a model for the future dynastic history books in China.
Ban Zhao was extremely talented and had high morals. She was often called into the imperial palace by the emperor to tutor the empress and his concubines to enrich their knowledge and virtuous character.
In her later years, Ban Zhao wrote seven chapters of Commandments for Women to enhance women’s virtue. She believed that women should regard humbleness and self-restraint as a virtue, and they should handle well all family relationships in the husband’s household.
Ban Zhao also put forward specific requirements for women’s morality, speech, appearance, and needlework. The book became the textbook for women’s moral education in ancient China and had a profound impact on morality for women in traditional Chinese culture.
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The story reference:
https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2023/4/27/208234.html
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Music by Yan Jingfen, Erhu by Mei Xuan, and piano by Yan Jingfen