| This paper argues that the appearance of women in pre-Han to Han dynasty literature should not be used as a source of gender portrayal of the era. Due to the prescriptive nature of the records, the women were most often used as intellectual virtue characters rather than depictions of women during the time. Even though there is a small amount of gender portrayal and relationship in the literature, the records can be used to study the social and historical context and the most urgent concerns during the era. |
