Character Catalog

A treatise in seven chapters on Confucian feminine virtues: humility, deference, diligence, and respect for parents-in-law. A foundational text of female didactic literature in China, studied for over a thousand years.

Ban Zhao completed the eight chronological tables and the Treatise on Astronomy of the Hanshu, China's first dynastic history. This collective work, begun by her father and brother, remains a major historical reference.

A prose poem (fu) describing a journey and expressing the melancholy of family separation. It reveals the poetic and personal dimension of Ban Zhao, beyond her role as a historian.

A collection of lyrical compositions, partly lost, mentioned in dynastic sources. These texts attest to Ban Zhao's mastery of all literary genres of her era.

Humility means being respectful and reserved, putting others first and keeping oneself in the background, doing what one must even when one feels incapable, and enduring insult without complaint.

Ban Zhao completed the eight tables and the Treatise on Astronomy, sections that her brother Ban Gu had been unable to finish before his death.

Lady Cao was deeply learned; the empress dowager summoned her to the palace and sought her advice on matters of state. The ladies of the court called her 'Great Mistress'.

I journey eastward, far from my loved ones; my heart aches with the separation. The plains stretch as far as the eye can see, the wind blows over the yellowed grasses.

Ban Zhao's hometown, in present-day northwestern China, and the cradle of the Ban family. It was here that her father Ban Biao and her brothers grew up in a family culture oriented toward letters and history.

The political and intellectual heart of China in the 1st and 2nd centuries, Luoyang was home to the imperial court, the archives, and the royal library where Ban Zhao worked throughout her adult life.

The place where the archives and official texts of the Han dynasty were kept. It was in this building in Luoyang that Ban Zhao consulted sources and wrote the missing sections of the Hanshu.

Residence of the Eastern Han court, where Ban Zhao taught the palace ladies under the patronage of Empress Deng Sui. She enjoyed a prestige there unmatched by any other woman of her era.

The primary tool of the Chinese scholar, the brush was used both for calligraphy and the composition of historical texts. Ban Zhao mastered this instrument with a skill widely recognized at court.

Writing materials of the Han period, silk scrolls (bóshu) coexisted with lacquered bamboo tablets. It was on these supports that Ban Zhao composed and consulted the imperial archives.

A fine stone slab on which the ink stick was ground with a few drops of water. A central object on the historian's desk, it symbolized intellectual work and rigor of thought.

An astronomical instrument composed of metal rings representing the celestial circles. Ban Zhao was versed in astronomy and contributed to the astronomical treatise of the Hanshu, which involved the use of such instruments.

Ladies of high birth wore silk robes in colors codified according to their rank. As an imperial preceptress, Ban Zhao wore court attire that reflected her exceptional status.

A small block of jade or bronze engraved with the characters of her name, used to authenticate official documents and correspondence. Such a seal conferred authority and legitimacy upon Ban Zhao's writings.