The Biographies of Exemplary Women in Mair, Steinhardt, and Goldin's Hawai'i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture [2005] (here after referred to as the Reader) are pithy stories highlighting the often shortened lives of ‘virtuous women' and their commendable actions and roles as wives, fiancées, and daughters (in-law) [Mair, Steinhardt, and Goldin, 607]. The original stories, Lienu zhuan, written by Liu Xiang in Han times were tremendously popular, and had a significant impact on dynastic culture several centuries afterwards. Their original purposes may have been to prevent further damage done by court women who lacked classical Confucian educations. These women were in close proximity to the emperor, which negatively influenced the imperial court. Liu Xiang's stories served as educational basis to counter their influence by offering them an ideal to aspire to [Ebrey, 58]. These stories correspond to the turn of the government's support from Huang-Lao Daoism to Confucianism as......
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