Features of the Poetics of “Exemplary women of early China”by Liu Xiang as Portrayed in the Biography “Wife of Yang from Jin Shu Ji” 51Luneva A.I. The Image of the Javanese Goddess of the Southern Sea in IntanParamaditha’s Short Story “The Queen” (2005)
This article focuses on one of the earliest literature pieces of biographical prose in Ancient China - “Exemplary women of early China”, depicting her life path, her role in state and family. The main goal of this compilation is didactic, and this is the reason of Liu Xiang providing examples of the virtuous women who can serve as the Confucian values and moral embodiment. The character of the woman is described rather by depiction of her actions than directly. The women are represented as60mothers, wives, concubines, or tutors. There are characters in the last chapter which deserve a separate mention - the “depraved beauties”, responsible for tremendous changes in the state or even for the falls of dynasties.The “Wife of Yang from Jin Shu Ji” stands out of the rest of the translated biographies, bringing up the core traits, inherent to the heroines of the Exemplary Women, and consequently the iconic examples of the perfect wife or mother. Yet another speci c feature of the story is its rhetoric, seen through various rhetorical tools in the course of the story.