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Ban Zhao

Eastern Han Female Historian, the First Woman Historian Clearly Recorded in Chinese History

Those Who Set the World Down in Writing · Scholars & Explorers

Continuing the Book of HanLessons for WomenThe Education of Court Women

Who they are

Ban Zhao (c. 45–c. 117) was the daughter of the Eastern Han historian Ban Biao and sister of Ban Gu; her brother Ban Gu spent his life’s energy compiling the annals-biography history the Book of Han, but died in prison for involvement in a political case before it was finished, and Ban Zhao, at the command of Emperor He of Han, continued and completed the unfinished "Eight Tables" and "Treatise on Astronomy" of the Book of Han, the first woman historian clearly recorded by name to take part in the compilation of an official history in China. She was also summoned to the palace to teach the classics and history to the imperial consorts and members of the imperial house, honored as "Lady Cao" ("Lady" being an honorific for a learned woman), and in her later years wrote Lessons for Women, systematically expounding the norms of female moral cultivation within the Confucian ethical framework — a work that long served as an important text of traditional Chinese women’s education, though its rather conservative gender ethics is also a historical text often discussed by modern scholars reexamining traditional gender norms.

Primary sourcesBan Gu and Ban Zhao, Book of HanBook of the Later Han, "Biographies of Exemplary Women"

Key stories

Continuing the Book of Han

Ban Zhao’s father Ban Biao and brother Ban Gu spent decades of effort compiling the Book of Han, and when Ban Gu died in prison for involvement in a political case the history still had many unfinished chapters; Emperor He of Han specially summoned Ban Zhao to the palace and commanded her to continue and complete the "Eight Tables" and "Treatise on Astronomy" from the materials her brother had left — this annals-biography dynastic history thereafter became one of the most complete in form of the "Twenty-Four Histories."

The Court Lectures of "Lady Cao"

Ban Zhao, for her deep learning, was summoned to the court to teach the classics and history to the imperial consorts and members of the imperial house, honored as "Lady Cao" (as she had married into the Cao family); "Lady" in this title was an exceedingly rare honorific of esteem for a learned and talented woman, reflecting the lofty standing she enjoyed in the scholarly life of the Eastern Han court.

Version differences

Ban Zhao’s late work Lessons for Women systematically expounds the norms of female virtue within the Confucian ethical framework, and modern scholars are markedly divided on this work: some stress its historical progressive significance as a female-education text (establishing a female voice in a male-dominated scholarly field), while others criticize its content as quite conservative, reinforcing moral restraint on women.

Relationships

Mentor

📖Sima Qian　The annals-biography form of history Sima Qian founded provided an important formal model for Ban Zhao’s family in later compiling the Book of Han

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

The "first woman historian of China"Ban Zhao was the first woman historian in Chinese history recorded by an exact name to take part formally in the compilation of an official history, and this "first person" identity makes her the most-mentioned representative figure in modern discussion of the historical standing of ancient Chinese women intellectuals.

Appears in

The Roman Peace and the Two Ends of the Silk RoadThe Han Woman Historian and Inventor

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