What books did women read in ancient China?

Generally read the "Women's Four Books", that is, "Women's Commandments", "Inner Training", "Women's Discourse", "Women's Fan Jie Lu" four books, the specific content is as follows:

1, "Inner Training" is the Empress Xu of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty for the education of the women of the palace, the collection of the "Ancient Sages" on the women's feudal virtues of the teachings of the two years of Yongle (1404) compiled. It was compiled in the second year of the Yongle reign (1404). The version that has been handed down to date *** have virtue, cultivate oneself, prudent speech, careful behavior, diligence, thrift, vigilance, accumulation of goodness, move good, Chong Sheng training, Jing Xian Fan, parents, the gentleman, the aunt and uncle, the sacrificial offerings, motherhood, good relations, charity, young, caught the next, to treat the relatives, and so on, 20 chapters.

2, "female Analects", also known as "Song Ruozhao female Analects", is the women's education textbook of Chinese feudal society. According to "the old tangshu. According to the "old tang book. female scholar Shanggong Song's biography", the Tang dynasty beizhou (now qinghe county, hebei province) people Song Ruoxin imitation of the "Analects" for the "female Analects" ten, take the form of questions and answers. His sister Ruozhao commented on them. Wang Xiang of Qing Dynasty compiled it into the Four Books of Women.

3, "female Fan Jie Lu" for the end of the Ming dynasty Confucian scholar Wang Xiang's mother Liu. This book is divided into a unified theory, after Germany, motherhood, filial piety, chastity, loyalty, love, Bingli, wisdom, hard work and thrift, talent and virtue 11. It preaches the ancient deeds of "chaste women and martyrs" and "virtuous wives and mothers", praises the books of "Women's Commandments" and "Internal Discipline", and expounds the women's studies of feudal ethics.

4. The Women's Commandments was written by Ban Zhao, a female historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, to educate her daughters on feudal ethics, such as the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues". The whole book is divided into weak, couples, respect and obedience, women's behavior, focus, from and uncle sister, *** counted 7 articles. It has a far-reaching influence in Chinese history as a teaching material for women to implement the way of obedience.

The above four women's teaching books, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the end of the Ming Dynasty, were published and disseminated one after another, and were annotated one by one by Wang Xiang, and in the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty (1624), they were engraved by the DuoWenTang into the Four Books of the Women of the Lady's Chamber of Departments (闺阁女四書集注), which became a set of teaching materials for women's education in the feudal system.

Subsequently, the book was reprinted and called "The Four Books of Women" for short, and was widely circulated. In the book, there are still some significance in the teaching of family harmony, diligence and thrift, and compassion for the young, as well as in the educational method of infecting people with moral examples, and the use of easy-to-read rhyming words to prepare the teaching materials.

Reference:

Baidu Encyclopedia - The Four Books of Women

.