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Guifan 閨範

Jun 20, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Guifan 閨範 "Rules for the boudoir" is an educational book for women written by the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) writer Lü Kun 呂坤 (1536-1618). The book is 3-juan long, each juan corresponding to one chapter.

In the first part Lü Kun explains in the theoretical framework how excellent women should behave to fit into the Confucian concept of society. The two other chapters imitate the Han-period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) book Lienüzhuan 烈女傳 and present biographies of outstanding women to highlight each aspect of female conduct with the help of examples of the "wise women of the past" (xianzhe 先哲). Each biography is accompanied by an illustration and an explanative paragraph.

A personal yet representative standpoint of the author is that women should learn how to behave, but texts like the Guifan could make it easier for women to learn what was important. To read other books was, in a Confucian's eyes, not necessary. The Guifan was very widespread during the Ming period.

Sources:
Kornicki, Peter & Nguyễn Thị Oanh (2009). "The Lesser Learning for Women and Other Texts for Vietnamese Women: A Bibliographical and Comparative Study", International Journal of Asian Studies, 6 (2): 147–169.
Liu Chen 劉忱 (2015). "Mingdai Lü Kun daode jiaoyu zhi zuo Guifan kaolüe 明代呂坤道德教育之作《閨范》考略", Lantai shijie 蘭台世界, 2015 (6).
Liu Shuying 劉淑英 (1997). "Guifan 閨范", in Men Kui 門巋, Zhang Yanjin 張燕瑾, ed. Zhonghua guocui da cidian 中華國粹大辭典 (Xianggang: Guoji wenhua chuban gongsi), 283.
Su Guoxia 蘇國霞 (1995). "Guifan 閨範", in Lu Leshan 盧樂山, ed. Zhongguo nüxing baike quanshu 中國女性百科全書, Vol. Hunyin jiating 婚姻家庭 (Shenyang: Dongbei daxue chubanshe), 72.
Xi Lifang 奚麗芳, Wu Yanhong 吳艷紅 (2017). "Guifan yu qi zhi gouxiang: Mingdai zhong-houqi fufu guanxi de lishi jiexi 《閨范》與“妻”之構想:明代中後期夫妻關係的歷史解析", Qiushi xuekan 求是學刊, 2017 (5).
Zhang Xiuchun 張秀春 (2005). "Shilun Guifan yu guoben zhi zheng 試論《閨范》與國本之爭", Zhongguo dianji yu wenhua 中國典籍與文化, 2005 (6).