Bo Ji Song

Background

Bo Ji was the daughter of Duke Xuan (Xuan Gong, r. 608-591 B.C.E.) and Mu Jiang of the small state of Lu (in present-day Shandong Province) and a younger sister of Duke Cheng (Cheng Gong, r. 590-573).

Career

The first instance of Bo Ji devotion to propriety related to her marriage in 582 to Duke Gong (Gong Gong, r. 588-575) of Song, a state that was slightly larger than and just to the south of Lu. Her intended husband did not come personally to welcome her when she arrived as a bride. As a result, Bo Ji refused to attend the ancestral temple for the completion of the marriage rites, because her husband made a breach of protocol.

The second, fatal, instance took place in 543. The house in which she was staying caught fire one night, but she refused to leave until the matron and the governess arrived to accompany her out of the building, as required by the rules of righteousness. The matron arrived in time, but the governess did not and Bo Ji chose to remain and die in the fire.

Achievements

• Bo Ji is known as one of the most outstanding characters of Chinese folklore. The fact that Bo Ji died in the fire as a result of a desire to respect the rules of righteousness must have contributed to the appearance in late imperial China of the chastity cult.

Personality

Bo Ji was credited with unwavering obedience to the rules of propriety for women.

Bo Ji’s death in the fire is also recorded in the Zuo zhuan, where the comment is made that in insisting on waiting for instructions at a time of crisis she had behaved more like a young girl than a married woman.

Connections

Bo Ji was married to Duke Gong (Gong Gong, r. 588-575) of Song. Her intended husband did not come personally to welcome her when she arrived as a bride and, perceiving this to be a slight and a breach of protocol, she later refused to attend the ancestral temple for the completion of the marriage rites. Only after her widowed mother intervened did she comply.

Father:

Xuan Gong

Duke Xuan Gong was the ruler of Lu from 608 B.C. to 591 B.C.

Mother:

Mu Jiang

husband:

Gong Gong

Duke Gong was the ruler of Lu from 588 B.C. to 575 B.C.

Brother:

Cheng Gong

Duke Cheng was the son of Duke Xuan of Lu and the 21st ruler of the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period. He held office for 18 years, from 590 B.C. to 573 B.C.

References

• The Chinese Classics Volume V: The Ch'un Ts'ew with the Tso Chuen
  1970
• The Position of Woman in Early China According to the Lieh Nu Chuan, The Biographies of Chinese Women.
  1971
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998