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Aristocratic Daughters and Family Pride in the Tang Dynasty: A Study over the Epitaph of Chen Zhao

  • Author:

    Ya-ju Cheng

  • Page Number:

    87.1:1-65

  • Date:

    2016/03

  • Cite Download

Abstract

The epitaph of Chen Zhao, inscribed in 745 AD or the fourth year of Tianbao of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756), is a rare epitaph asserting that a daughter could also honor her natal family. Chen Zhao was a descendant of the royal family of the Chen dynasty, and the social status of her family among the aristocrats in the early Tang was arguably ambiguous. In the epitaph of Chen Zhao, her deeds—particularly marrying off her younger sisters and saving her older brother from execution—were accentuated and interpreted as confirmation of her uncles’ prediction: this girl “is bound to honor our family.” Although Chen Zhao’s case has been cited in many previous studies, former understanding about her story focused mostly on the surface narratives of the epitaph inscriptions.
This article will answer the question about how a daughter like Chen Zhao could contribute to the glory of her natal family in the Tang aristocratic society. This article not only reconstructs how the descendants of the Chen royal family lived in the early Tang period and discusses their social status, but also digs out the identities of Chen Zhao’s two husbands and the social backgrounds of her husbands’ families by examining epitaph materials and a variety of documents. My research reveals that the way in which Chen Zhao helped and protected her natal family was probably supported by her first husband, which corresponds to the common mode of family management—marrying daughter into the purple and drawing support from the husband’s family. Furthermore, Chen Zhao’s remarriage with a person from one of the most prestigious clans and the fine etiquette that she performed in her second husband’s family both aided in promoting the social status and prestige of her natal family. In other words, the case of Chen Zhao is a concrete evidence to show that a daughter could honor natal family through marriage and aristocratic cultivation in the Tang aristocratic society.

Keywords

Tang dynasty, aristocracy, daughter, family pride, descendants of the Chen royal family

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Citation Text

Footnote
Ya-ju Cheng, “Aristocratic Daughters and Family Pride in the Tang Dynasty: A Study over the Epitaph of Chen Zhao,” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 87.1 (2016): 1-65.

Bibliography
Cheng, Ya-ju
2016 “Aristocratic Daughters and Family Pride in the Tang Dynasty: A Study over the Epitaph of Chen Zhao.” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 87.1: 1-65.
Cheng, Ya-ju. (2016). Aristocratic Daughters and Family Pride in the Tang Dynasty: A Study over the Epitaph of Chen Zhao. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 87(1), 1-65.
Cheng, Ya-ju. “Aristocratic Daughters and Family Pride in the Tang Dynasty: A Study over the Epitaph of Chen Zhao.” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica 87, no. 1 (2016): 1-65.
Cheng, Ya-ju. “Aristocratic Daughters and Family Pride in the Tang Dynasty: A Study over the Epitaph of Chen Zhao.” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, vol. 87, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-65.
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