Xue Tao (, ),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Hongdu () was a

courtesan A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. She was regarded as one of "the four great female poets of the Tang Dynasty" along with

Yu Xuanji Yu Xuanji (, ), courtesy names Youwei () and Huilan (), was a Chinese female poet, courtesan, and Daoist nun during the late Tang dynasty that was born in Chang'an. Along with Xue Tao, she was one of the foremost poets of the Tang dynasty. Bio ...

, Li Ye and Liu Caichun.

Life

Xue Tao was born in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and migrated with her parents to the

State of Shu Shu ( zh, t=蜀, s=蜀; Pinyin: ''Shǔ''; former romanization: Shuh), also known as Ancient Shu ( zh, p=Gǔ Shǔ, t=古蜀, s=古蜀, links=no) in historiography, was an ancient kingdom in what is now Sichuan Province. It was based on the Che ...

in her youth. The daughter of a minor government official named Xue Yun (), her father died while she was young. After Xue Tao's father passed away, her mother became a widow, and they lived in poverty. Xue Tao was registered with the guild of courtesans and entertainers in Chengdu and in time became well known for her wit and her poetic talent. Her poetry attracted the attention of Wei Gao, the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (, headquartered in modern

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

) and she was made his official hostess. In this position she met poets like

Yuan Zhen Yuan Zhen (; 779 – September 2, 831), courtesy name Weizhi (), was a Chinese novelist, poet, and politician of the middle Tang dynasty. In prose literature, Yuan Zhen is particularly known for his work '' Yingying's Biography'', which has oft ...

, to whom she was said to have become close. When Wu Yuanheng became governor in 807, she presented him with two poems. Wu was so impressed that he asked the Emperor to appoint Xue as an editor (''jiaoshu'') in his office. This was an unusual request as Xue Tao was both a woman and a government courtesan. Although Xue Tao was never given the position, she became known as the "female Jiaoshu(女校书)". Later "female Jiaoshu" used to refer to a talented courtesan. In later years, Xue was able to live independently in a site outside the city associated with the great poet of an earlier generation,

Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Together with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai, Du is often considered one of the greatest Chinese poets of his time. His greatest ambition was to serve ...

. Some sources record that she supported herself as a maker of artisanal paper used for writing poems. The letterheads made by Xue Tao also facilitate the timely storage of poetic inspiration. In the past, large letterheads were not easy to carry, but Xue Tao's letterheads were compact and could be taken anywhere and anytime. The letter paper made by Xue Tao was later called "Xue Tao Jian(薛涛笺)". In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the letter paper she made was already an item on the desks of literati. By the Ming Dynasty, Xue Taojian's production technology was almost lost, and the annual output was very small. The King of Shu in the Ming Dynasty once used it as a tribute and handed it over to the Ming Dynasty court. Xue Tao was also a calligrapher, and her calligraphy inherited Wei Zhi(韦陟)'s "Wuyun(五云)" style running script in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. "Xuanhe Calligraphy(宣和书谱)" of the Northern Song Dynasty commented on Xue Tao's calligraphy, saying that her calligraphy was unfeminine and her writing was powerful. The beauty of her calligraphy is quite similar to that of

Wang Xizhi Wang Xizhi ( zh, c=王羲之; courtesy name: Yishao ( zh, labels=no, c=逸少); ) was a Chinese politician, general and calligrapher from the Jin dynasty (266–420) known for his mastery of Chinese calligraphy. He is often regarded as the great ...

. Xue Tao was the first female innovator in the history of Chinese calligraphy, she is also a female innovator in the history of Chinese papermaking. A contemporary wrote that she took on the garments of a

Daoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

adept, signaling a relatively autonomous status within Tang society. Hsueh Tao, a Venusian crater, is named after her.

Poems

Some 5000 poems by Xue were gathered in ''The Brocade River Collection'' that survived until the 14th century. Around 90 of her poems are still extant today, which is more than of any other Tang dynasty woman.

References

Sources

* * * Larsen, Jeanne (1983). The Chinese Poet Xue Tao: The Life and Works of a Mid-Tang Woman. (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa) * Larsen, Jeanne, translator (1987). Brocade River Poems: Selected Works of the Tang Dynasty Courtesan Xue Tao. Princeton University Press. (with introduction and notes) * Larsen, Jeanne, translator (2005). Willow, Wine, Mirror, Moon: Women's Poems from Tang China. BOA Editions, Ltd. (contains translations of seven more poems by Xue, with notes) * * Ma, Maoyuan
"Xue Tao"
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, be ...

'' (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed. *
"Xue Tao" from Other Women's voices, Translations of women's writing before 1700, last accessed June 4, 2007

External links

Translation of poetry by Xue Tao
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xue, Tao 770s births 831 deaths 8th-century Chinese poets 8th-century Chinese women writers 9th-century Chinese poets 9th-century Chinese women writers Chinese Gējìs Chinese women poets Poets from Shaanxi Tang dynasty poets Writers from Xi'an Chinese nuns Taoist nuns