Research On The Allusions To Women In The Epitaphs Of The Tang Dynasty

On the basis of studying a large number of Tang Dynasty epitaphs,Selecting allusions which related to women to make textual criticisms and explanations,and sortting through the literature provenance of each allusion by combining relevant content in the handed down documents,then analyzing the deep meaning of allusions cited in Tang Dynasty epitaphs.Classifying these literary quotation according to its similar characteristics and functions,because the epitaph of hostess is mostly married,so the allusions which be used to modify the women are nearly fixed,nothing more than the skillful in teaching of Mencius’ s mother and Tao Kan’s mother;the meek of lai’s wife and Hong’s wife;the proverbs of Zhang and precepts of Xun.On the one hand,the allusions to women quoted by Tang Dynasty epitaphs reflecting the idealized female image expected by the society at that time,that is,brilliant and charming;knowledged and reasonable;virtue outstanding and helping her family;prolific and laborious and so on.On the other hand,the allusions can reflect that women in the society at that time were always submissiveness,they always adhere to the social concept " wife for husband ",that is: women should not be jealous and should be singleminded when her husband alive;when her husband died,the woman should be chaste and undefiled,then never marry again.Although some studies have shown that the status of women in the Tang Dynasty was improved compared with that of the previous generations,through the analysis of the female allusions which cited in the Tang Dynasty epitaphs,it can be seen that the social status of women at that time was "inferior" and "dependent".The content of female allusions quoted by Tang Dynasty epitaphs is positive and having a good guiding in the society at that time.Most of the allusions to women have rich meanings,the same allusion represents different meanings in different epitaph regulations.In addition,when the writers of Tang Dynasty epitaphs chose the female allusions related to beauty,they pursued the standard of "virtue and appearance are both remarkable".