Person
Ban Zhao
Ban Zhao was a Chinese historian, philosopher and politician of the Han dynasty and the first known female Chinese historian. Daughter of the historian Ban Biao and sister of the historian Ban Gu and the general Ban Chao, she was widowed young and devoted her life to scholarship. After Ban Gu died in prison in 92, she completed his Book of Han, the history of the Western Han, supplying the missing Eight Tables. She also wrote Lessons for Women, a guide to women's conduct that was popular for centuries. She taught Empress Deng Sui and the court, advised the empress during her regency, and as a court librarian enlarged the Biographies of Eminent Women by Liu Xiang.
See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ban Zhao. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ban-zhao
- MLA
- “Ban Zhao.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ban-zhao. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Ban Zhao.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ban-zhao.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ban Zhao’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/ban-zhao (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻