Nu Fumu Qi

Background

There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.

Career

Qi Nu Fumu was the instructress for the Zhuang Jiang, the wife of Duke Zhuang of Wei. As Zhuang Jiang behavior was considered lewd and, concerned as much for the honor of the ruler of Wei as for the disgrace to her mistress’s ancestors, Qi Nu Fumu tried to teach Zhuang Jiang how to act in a proper manner.

In an ode that Qi Nu Fumu composed she called her mistress “a woman, splendid and upstanding” who should be a model for others and advised her to refine her “womanly heart” in order to raise her standards. Zhuang Jiang heeded her instructress’s advice.

Achievements

• Qi Nu Fumu was known as a poet. Her ode was included in The Book of Songs.
  
  

Connections

Qi Nu Fumu was clearly highly literate and knew the acceptable forms of ritual.

References

• 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
• The Position of Woman in Early China According to the Lieh Nu Chuan, The Biographies of Chinese Women.
  1971
• The Book of Songs
  1937