There is often only one line about them in history books.
"Dayu married Tushan's daughter Jiao, and left in four days to control the floods."
"The Yin Shang Dynasty died at the hands of Daji."
"If you don't smile when you praise Si, King You of Zhou plays with the princes with beacon fire."
One line is a lifetime.
This is a million-word group portrait of women in the Spring and Autumn Period. From Nvjiao, the wife of Dayu, to the last woman whose name was left in the late Spring and Autumn Period. More than thirty women, more than thirty forgotten lives.
Among them are those who have conquered the country—Daji, Bao Si, Xi Shi, and Mrs. Peach Blossom.
Among them were Zhuang Jiang and Mrs. Xu Mu who wrote poems, the earliest female poets in Chinese history.
Some of them have been scolded for three thousand years - Yu Xi's "disaster to the country" and Xia Ji's "lewdness". They just needed a woman to bear the blame after the country fell.
Among them, there is also Zhong Lichun, who is ugly but is respected as the queen, and there is also Wen Jiang, a brother and sister who is extremely in love with the widowed husband.
There is the literary Wei Ji who can write poems to call for salvation when the country is in crisis, and the princess Fuhao who can quell the war with military force. There is beauty and there is ugliness. Some are let down by their lovers, and some are let down by their lovers. There are those who wait for a person to be turned into stone, and there are those who are unwilling to rewrite history with their own hands.
They are not the bane of beauty, nor the arch of chastity.
They are just women, just like you and me.
If you have ever been curious - what kind of life is hidden behind those names that have been mentioned in history books?
This book is the answer.
