The Empress in the Pepper Chamber
eBook - ePub

The Empress in the Pepper Chamber

Zhao Feiyan in History and Fiction

  1. 234 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Empress in the Pepper Chamber

Zhao Feiyan in History and Fiction

Book details
Table of contents
Citations

About This Book

An infamous Chinese femme fatale, 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.

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Information

Publisher
University of Washington Press
Year
2021
ISBN
9780295748764
Topic
History
Subtopic
Chinese History
Index
History

Table of contents

  1. The Empress in the Pepper Chamber
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Chronology of Chinese Dynasties
  7. Introduction
  8. Chapter One. The Empress in the Pepper Chamber
  9. Chapter Two. The Scandalous Tale of Zhao Feiyan
  10. Chapter Three. Zhao Feiyan’s Biography in Historical Sources
  11. Chapter Four. Interpreting The Scandalous Tale
  12. Chapter Five. Gendering Empress Zhao
  13. Concluding Remarks
  14. Appendix One. Offices in the Han Dynasty Rear Palace
  15. Appendix Two. Chinese Text of The Scandalous Tale of Zhao Feiyan
  16. Glossary of Chinese Characters
  17. Notes
  18. Bibliography
  19. Index