Olivia Milburn - Böcker

An infamous Chinese femme fatale, in history and fictionZhao 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.

An infamous Chinese femme fatale, in history and fictionZhao 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.

Cherishing Antiquity describes the commemoration within Chinese literature and culture of the southern kingdom of Wu, which collapsed in 473 BCE. The sudden rise and tragic fall of Wu within the space of just over one century would inspire numerous memorials in and around the city of Suzhou, once the capital of this ancient kingdom. A variety of physical structures, including temples, shrines, steles, and other monuments, were erected in memory of key figures in the kingdom's history. These sites inspired further literary representations in poetry and prose—musings on the exoticism, glamour, great wealth, and hideous end of the last king of Wu. Through an analysis first of the history of Wu as recorded in ancient Chinese texts and then of its literary legacy, Olivia Milburn illuminates the remarkable cultural endurance of this powerful but short-lived kingdom.

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open intiative.Khitan and Mongol Imperial Women in the Chinese Imagination is a study and translation of two classic Chinese texts about the lives of Khitan and Mongol empresses and imperial consorts, never before translated into English. In 1075, Empress Xuanyi of the Liao dynasty was accused of adultery and forced to commit suicide. An Account of Burned Pepper (Fenjiao lu) purports to be an eyewitness account penned by a Liao government official of the conspiracy against the lovely and talented empress, who became tragically embroiled in a vicious court intrigue. Meanwhile, Yuan Dynasty Records of the Lateral Courts (Yuanshi yeting ji) claims to tell the true story of life in the imperial harem in the final years of Emperor Shun (r. 1333-1368), as he ceased participating in the government of the country, preferring instead to spend his time enjoying louche pleasures in the luxurious surroundings of his Beijing palace. Both these highly influential accounts have shaped understandings of the role of women in conquest dynasty courts for centuries, yet both can be shown to be forgeries, dating to the late Ming dynasty. This book offers a groundbreaking new assessment of the history of the Liao and Yuan dynasties, and the way in which our understanding of these regimes has been defined by early seventeenth century literary forgeries.