Research On The Gifted Chinese Lady In The Early20th Century, Yao Yiyun

Yao Yiyun, a renowned poetess in the poetic circles of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces inthe transitional period of from the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to the early Republic ofChina(1912-1949), grew up in the Yao Family, a well-known cultural and noble family inTongcheng, and then married famous poet Fan Dangshi, a poetic family in Nantong. In herlife, she had acted as a graceful daughter, a virtuous wife, a new-style stepmother, aprestigious poetess, a pioneering female educator and many other social roles. Boastinghigh gifts, rich knowledge, sharp insight, sincere affection and lofty virtues, Yao expressedher thoughts, experience and understandings, recorded the rises and falls in the historicalevolutions and her personal life in poems and prose, showcasing her eminenttransformation from traditionalism to modernism and offering a clear roadmap of atraditional Chinese women’s active response to social changes.With Yao as the focus, the thesis elaborates the lady’s family influences, happymarriage, pioneering education, social relations, personal charm and literatureaccomplishments, which are seemingly separate but interconnected and integrated in fact.Based on these sections, the life of Yao is generally delineated to present a complete andvivid image of the gifted Chinese lady in the early20thcentury.