The Empress in the Pepper Chamber: Zhao Feiyan in History and Fiction

Zhao Feiyan (45-1 BCE), the second empress appointed by Emperor Cheng of the Han dynasty (207 BCE-220 CE), was born in slavery and trained in the performing arts, a background that made her appointment as empress highly controversial. Subsequent persecution by her political enemies eventually led to her being forced to commit suicide. After her death, her reputation was marred by accusations of vicious scheming, murder of other consorts and their offspring, and relentless promiscuity, punctuated by bouts of extravagant shopping. This first book-length study of Zhao Feiyan and her literary legacy includes a complete translation of The Scandalous Tale of Zhao Feiyan (Zhao Feiyan waizhuan), a Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) erotic novella that describes in great detail the decadent lifestyle enjoyed by imperial favorites in the harem of Emperor Cheng. This landmark text was crucial for establishing writings about palace women as the accepted forum for discussing sexual matters, including fetishism, obsession, jealousy, incompatibility in marriage, and so on. Using historical documentation, Olivia Milburn reconstructs the evolution of Zhao Feiyan's story and illuminates the broader context of palace life for women and the novella's social influence.

Literature & Fiction

Milburn, Olivia

History & Criticism

University of Washington Press

Review\nMilburn has written an erudite and extremely well-researched study that will fascinate anyone interested in the history of Chinese erotic fiction from Song to Qing and beyond. -- Keith McMahon, University of Kansas\nBeautifully written. Zhao Feiyan is important not only for what she can tell us about palace life for women, but also because of the role that stories about women?s uncontained sexuality, jealousy, and greed perform throughout history. -- Louise Edwards, author of Citizens of Beauty: Drawing Democratic Dreams in Republic China\nA marvellous book on Zhao Feiyan, the 'Flying Swallow', one of the most captivating and often cited female figures in Chinese history and literature. -- Tan Tian Yuan, author of Passion, Romance, and Qing: The World of Emotions and States of Mind in Peony Pavilion\nZhao Feiyan (45–1 BCE), the second empress appointed by Emperor Cheng of the Han dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE), was born in slavery and trained in the performing arts, a background that made her appointment as empress highly controversial. Subsequent persecution by her political enemies eventually led to her being forced to commit suicide. After her death, her reputation was marred by accusations of vicious scheming, murder of other consorts and their offspring, and relentless promiscuity, punctuated by bouts of extravagant shopping.\nThis first book-length study of Zhao Feiyan and her literary legacy includes a complete translation of The Scandalous Tale of Zhao Feiyan (Zhao Feiyan waizhuan), a Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) erotic novella that describes in great detail the decadent lifestyle enjoyed by imperial favorites in the harem of Emperor Cheng. This landmark text was crucial for establishing writings about palace women as the accepted forum for discussing sexual matters, including fetishism, obsession, jealousy, incompatibility in marriage, and so on. Using historical documentation, Olivia Milburn reconstructs the evolution of Zhao Feiyan's story and illuminates the broader context of palace life for women and the novella's social influence.\nBook Description\nAn infamous Chinese femme fatale, in history and fiction

Kingdoms in Peril, Volume 1: The Curse of the Bao Lords (Kingdoms in Peril, 1)

Menglong, Feng

Genre Fiction

University of California Press

Kingdoms in Peril, Volume 2: The Exile Returns (Kingdoms in Peril, 2)

Cherishing Antiquity describes the commemoration within Chinese literature and culture of the southern kingdom of Wu, which collapsed in 473 BCE. The sudden rise and tragic fall of Wu within the space of just over one century would inspire numerous memorials in and around the city of Suzhou, once the capital of this ancient kingdom. A variety of physical structures, including temples, shrines, steles, and other monuments, were erected in memory of key figures in the kingdom's history. These sites inspired further literary representations in poetry and prose--musings on the exoticism, glamour, great wealth, and hideous end of the last king of Wu. Through an analysis first of the history of Wu as recorded in ancient Chinese texts and then of its literary legacy, Olivia Milburn illuminates the remarkable cultural endurance of this powerful but short-lived kingdom.

Cherishing Antiquity: The Cultural Construction of an Ancient Chinese Kingdom (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)

Harvard University Asia Center

Khitan and Mongol Imperial Women in the Chinese Imagination: Ming Fantasies About Conquest Dynasty Harems (Women in Ancient Cultures)

Liverpool University Press

The Glory of Yue is the first translation into any Western language of the Yuejue shu, a collection of essays on history, literature, religion, architecture, economic thought, military science, and philosophy related to the ancient kingdoms of Wu and Yue, in present day eastern China. This book consists of sixteen chapters, together with three additional chapters of explanation written by the compilers in approximately 25 CE. This translation is presented with copious annotations and explanations, linking the concepts discussed with the development of the mainstream Chinese cultural tradition, and draws on both modern Western and Chinese exegesis, as well as archeological discoveries, to elucidate this highly complex and unjustly neglected text.

The Glory of Yue: An Annotated Translation of the Yuejue Shi (Sinica Leidensia, 93)

History

Asia

Brill Academic Pub

The "Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan" is one of the most important works concerning statecraft to survive from ancient China, here made accessible to English-language readers for the first time.

The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan (Sinica Leidensia, 128)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

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