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Gujin lienü zhuan 古今列女傳

Jul 18, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Gujin lienü zhuan 古今列女傳 "Stories of outstanding women from past and present" is a collection of biographies of eminent women compiled under the supervision of the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) writer Xie Jin 解縉 (1369-1415), courtesy name Dashen 大紳, style Chunyu 春雨, posthumous title Wenyi 文毅.

The 3-juan long book was compiled on imperial order in remembrance of Empress Dowager Gao, called Xiaoci 孝慈高皇后 (1332-1382). It was produced by a team of historians like Huang Huai 黄淮 (1367-1449), Hu Yan 胡儼 (1361-1443), Yang Rong 楊榮 (1371-1440), Jin Youzi 金幼孜 (1368-1432), Yang Shiqi 楊士奇 (1365-1444), Tian Hong 天洪, Jiang Ji 蔣及驥 and Shen Du 沈度 (1357-1434), and is introduced by a preface of the Yongle Emperor 永樂帝 (r. 1403-1424).

The first part is decicated to empresses, the second to wives of high officials, and the third part to common people. It covers the whole range of Chinese history and ends in the early Ming period. The biographies of early persons are partially identical with those of Liu Xiang's 劉向 (79-8 or 77-6 BCE) famous Lienüzhuan 列女傳 from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE).

The earliest suriving print dates from the Yongle reign-period. Its text served as the base for the version in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

Another biographical collection of outstanding females through history is Shao Zhengkui's 邵正魁 Xu lienüzhuan 續列女傳, with a length of 9 juan.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 984.
Su Guoxia 蘇國霞 (1995). "Gujin lienüzhuan 古今列女傳", in Lu Leshan 盧樂山, ed. Zhongguo funü baike quanshu 中國女性百科全書, Vol. Hunyin jiating 婚姻家庭卷 (Shenyang : Dongbei daxue chubanshe), 75.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 191.
Zhu Taiyan 朱太巖 (1988). "Gujin lienüzhuan 古今列女傳", in Zhao Jihui 趙吉惠, Guo Hou'an 郭厚安 , ed. Zhongguo ruxue cidian 中國儒學辭典 (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe), 456.