China has had many influential and ambitious Empresses in its history, such as Empress Wu, but Zhao Feiyan certainly gives them all a run for their money. Zhao Feiyan was born into a relatively poor family, but due to her talent as a dancer, she was able to get the attention of the emperor, and from there, hijinx ensued. Join me on today’s episode to learn about China’s most underrated and controversial Empress.
Bibliography Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “Emperor Cheng of Han.” Wikipedia, March 21, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Cheng_of_Han. ———. “Imperial Chinese Harem System.” Wikipedia, March 4, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Chinese_harem_system. ———. “Zhao Feiyan.” Wikipedia, March 8, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Feiyan. ———. “Zhao Hede.” Wikipedia, March 21, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Hede. Encyclopedia Britannica. “Han Dynasty,” July 20, 1998. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Han-dynasty/Cultural-achievements-of-the-Han-dynasty. Jacks, Lauralee. “Zhao Feiyan - Her Notorious Reputation as a Wanton Empress.” History of Royal Women, January 21, 2022. https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/zhao-feiyan/zhao-feiyan-her-notorious-reputation-as-a-wanton-empress/#google_vignette. Keats School. “The Dancing of the Han Dynasty.” Accessed March 30, 2024. https://keatschinese.com/china-culture-resources/the-dancing-of-the-han-dynasty/. ChinaFetching.com. “Zhao Feiyan - From Dancer to Queen of Han.” Accessed March 30, 2024. https://www.chinafetching.com/zhao-feiyan. Schottenhammer, Angela (1 August 2003). "Slaves and Forms of Slavery in Late Imperial China (Seventeenth to Early Twentieth Centuries)." Slavery & Abolition. 24 (2): 143–154. doi:10.1080/01440390308559161. ISSN 0144-039X. S2CID 143643161. Fairbank, John King and Merle Goldman 1992. China: a new history. 2nd enlarged edition 2006. Cambridge, MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01828-1 MacMahon, Keith (2013), Women Shall Not Rule: Imperial Wives and Concubines in China from Han to Liao, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 11, ISBN 9781442222908 Book of Han, vol. 97, part 2. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. Lee, Lily Xiao Hong & Stefanowska, A.D. (2007). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity through Sui, 1600 B.C.E-618 C.E. M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Milburn, Olivia, and Xuan Ling. 2021. The Empress in the Pepper Chamber: Zhao Feiyan in History and Fiction. Seattle: University of Washington Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctv1p2gjd6
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