The Confucian Four Books for Women: A New Translation of the Nü Sishu and the Commentary of Wang Xiang($29.51Value)

Description

This volume presents the first English translation of the Confucian classics, Four Books for Women , with extensive commentary by the compiler, Wang Xiang, and introductions and annotations by translator Ann A. Pang-White. Written by women for women's education, the Confucian Four Books for Women spanned the 1st to the 16th centuries, and encompass Ban Zhao's Lessons for Women , Song Ruoxin's and Song Ruozhao's Analects for Women , Empress Renxiaowen's Teachings for the Inner Court , and Madame Liu's (Chaste Widow Wang's) Short Records of Models for Women . A female counterpart to the famous Sishu (Four Books) compiled by Zhu Xi, Wang Xiang's Nü sishu provides an invaluable look at the long-standing history and evolution of Chinese women's writing, education, identity, and philosophical discourse, along with their struggles and triumphs, across the millennia and numerous Chinese dynasties. Pang-White's new translation brings the authors of the Four Books for Women to life as real, living people, and illustrates why they wrote and how their work empowered women. "With this complete translation of the Four Books for Women , Ann A. Pang-White fills a longstanding and embarrassing gap in Western literature on traditional China. Her decision to include the commentary by the late-Ming literatus Wang Xiang adds immensely to the collection by affording a glimpse of its reception at the turn of the seventeenth century. The texts are preceded by Pang-White's thoughtful and evenhanded discussion of not only their historical value, but also their place in contemporary feminist discourse." -- Paul R. Goldin, Professor of Chinese Thought, University of Pennsylvania, author of Confucianism "Pang-White has truly done a superb job here. This first complete translation of the Nǚ sìshū is not to be missed in any serious collection on Confucianism and premodern East Asian/Chinese culture." -- Religious Studies Review (Lukas Pokorny, University of Vienna) "Pang-White's new translation is an admirable achievement. It is significant to the field because of its historical value as well as the value to contemporary feminist discourse suggested by Pang-White." -- Journal of Chinese Religions (Guotong Li, California State University - Long Beach) "Ann Pang-White's recent work, The Confucian Four Books for Women: A New Translation of the Nü Sishu and the Commentary of Wang Xiang , is a gift for Anglophone scholarship on Chinese philosophy and religion. It is also a major step for feminist reclamation...As it stands, the text is an incredible resource to both scholars and teachers, and I hope to see many using it to reread and reappropriate Confucian canons in new and interesting ways." -- Reading Religion (Sarah Mattice, University of North Florida) "Pang-White's translation is a must read for anyone who has interest in studying the compatibility between Confucianism and feminist philosophy. It also provides valuable resources for scholars working in both feminism and Chinese philosophy." -- Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (Lili Zhang) Ann A. Pang-White is Professor of Philosophy and Founding Director of Asian Studies at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania. She is the editor of Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy and Gender (2016) and the author of over a dozen articles on Chinese and comparative philosophy as well as medieval philosophy.