Ban Zhao

01Ban Zhao completed the Han Shu (Book of Han) after her brother Ban Gu was executed in 92 CE — becoming China's first known female historian.
02Her Nüjie (Lessons for Women) prescribed that wives must address their husbands as 'lord' and never contradict them publicly.
03Ban Zhao was also a court astronomer who calculated calendrical corrections — her mathematical work circulated separately from her domestic ethics texts.

Ban Zhao completed her brother's history of the Han dynasty — then wrote Lessons for Women, a manual demanding female silence and submission. China's first female historian handed patriarchy its instruction manual.