(China Daily) As a legendary figure in Chinese literature, poet Li Qingzhao's early life was dazzling. At the young age of 16, she rose to prominence as a literary star in the male-dominated Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). She was only 18 when she married scholar Zhao Mingcheng. Together, they shared a mutual passion for epigraphy and art in a harmonious marriage that lasted nearly three decades.Tragically, the dynasty collapsed due to the invasion of the Jurchen troops from the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) in the north, which forced Li to flee amid wartime turbulence. She struggled to preserve the couple's art collections, endured the pain of her husband's death and suffered from a severe illness that nearly claimed her life.
Amid harsh times, 48-year-old Li got remarried to Zhang Ruzhou, a low-ranking military officer who coveted Li's valuable collections. They divorced just over 100 days after Li refused to endure her second husband's abuse due to her refusal to satisfy his greed.
When film director Wang Xin delved deeper into historical materials for the documentary Phoenix: The Story of Her, she was surprised to find that Li's brief second marriage had been regarded as a "stain" by some scholars in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) who adored her literary talent, claiming that such records during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) were fabricated.
"It's interesting that those who believed in Li's remarriage and those who didn't formed two schools of thought," Wang tells China Daily during a telephone interview.
Wang says such academic arguments were created by gender inequality, as a widow's chastity was cherished to an unprecedented degree due to historical reasons.
Hardship and struggle
In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was normal for women to remarry, but this changed after the dynasty's darkest chapter. Emperor Qinzong and his father Emperor Huizong were captured and forced to send thousands of royal and aristocratic women to the Jin capital as war "compensation". Many of these women endured torture and a few chose suicide for defending their reputation. Their being abused was regarded as a humiliation by later generations of historians in ancient China. This resulted in the strengthened advocacy of the value of virtue.
"The history was written by and for men, a view I heard in a speech delivered by historian Mao Liping several years ago. Even the ancient biographies with women as protagonists were written for men, as these works encourage and praise fidelity and chastity," says Wang.
Driven by a strong interest in revisiting ancient Chinese female celebrities from a more modern perspective, Wang and her fellow creators spent four years preparing for and producing the documentary.
With each of the four episodes featuring one famous woman, the documentary recounts the stories of Li, as well as Wu Zetian, China's first and only empress; Princess Jieyou, whose political marriage to a ruler of the Wusun Kingdom and later marriages to his successors benefited the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24);and Shen Shou (1874-1921), a Suzhou embroidery legend who earned recognition in the West.
Wang says it's the rising popularity of female-centered movies and TV shows that inspired them to produce the documentary.
However, the creative team soon encountered their biggest challenge — historical records of women are far less comprehensive than those of men, with some women only mentioned by surname and a few lines of text.
Additionally, demonstrating the lives of these historical figures within a condensed span of 45 minutes per episode presented another challenge, says Zhu Lexian, the executive producer and head of the documentary production sector at Tencent Video, the show's financier.
Zhu reveals that the team ultimately decided to focus on a special period in each protagonist's life, examining how they fought against adversity with resilience and intelligence.
"We don't want to just revisit the four women's most glorious moments. Instead, we aim to explore the hardships and struggles they endured behind the scenes," adds Wang.
Unconventional storytelling
Yang Le, chief executive officer of Huanyu Entertainment Co Ltd, the show's production company, reveals that the idea benefits from the company's years of experience in producing costume dramas, providing the month-long shoot with an abundant supply of exquisite clothing and jewelry.
With an unconventional approach to storytelling, the documentary includes a voice-over that acts as an invisible second person, engaging with the protagonists as they navigate their inner struggles.
Actress Tao Xinran, who plays poet Li in the first episode, says it felt like a dream coming true when she was asked to portray the literary legend.
After much preparation, Tao gained a comprehensive understanding of Li, a free-spirited genius who strived for free will, even at a painful cost.
During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the law did not allow women to file for divorce. Li came up with a drastic way to end her suffering in her second marriage. After discovering Zhang had forged documents to obtain an official position, she exposed him. As a result, Zhang was punished with exile, dissolving their marriage. However, Li was also sentenced to jail for violating the law prohibiting wives from suing their husbands.
"Despite Li's poems being known for their gentle, restrained and soft tones, she was a woman of remarkable courage and determination," comments Tao.
Wu Zetian's story illustrates that even the most powerful woman couldn't act on her desires. Rising from Tang Dynasty (618-907) Emperor Gaozong's queen to founding the Zhou Dynasty (690-705), she faced the difficult decision of choosing a crown prince in her later years.
Whether Wu chose her son or nephew, she risked her posthumous title being replaced by her husband or brother, jeopardizing the fate of the Zhou Dynasty. In China's patriarchal society, which adhered to a father-to-son inheritance norm, this became an unsolvable dilemma for Wu.
The Zhou Dynasty ultimately ended with Wu as its only ruler. "From a modern perspective, it was also caused by gender inequality. That has interested me most," says Wang.
When speaking of Princess Jieyou, who was sent by Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty to marry the ruler of the Wusun Kingdom for heqin, the director recalls that they found fewer than 1,000 characters documenting her turbulent life in historical archives.
Heqin, or marriage alliance, was a strategic policy used to stabilize border peace across regimes. This required princesses to take on roles more complex than just being wives; they had to be capable diplomats, says Wang.
Probably the least known among the four, Shen Shou, a talented embroiderer during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and early Republican period (1912-1949), is depicted as sort of a "China's Nora Helmer" (the main protagonist of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House) by the director.
With her lifelike embroidery skills, Shen received praise from Empress Dowager Cixi, which provided her with opportunities to travel to Japan and Europe to refine her artistic creations.
Her most famous works combine Western painting techniques with traditional Chinese embroidery, including a portrait of Elena of Montenegro — the Queen of Italy — and a portrait of Jesus Christ.
Despite her artistic success, Shen's marriage was marred by sorrow. Unable to bear children, her husband took two concubines. Under the patronage of entrepreneur Zhang Jian, she lived a solitary life in Nantong, Jiangsu province, teaching students at an embroidery school.
In her will, she specified to be buried independently in Nantong, refusing to be laid to rest in her husband's family tomb in Suzhou. This choice embodied her Nora-like declaration of independence and departure in her final moments, explains Wang.
Throughout ancient China's history, each dynasty imposed restrictions on women, notes Li Qian, vice-president of Huanyu and the producer of Phoenix: The Story of Her.
"Although these constraints have dissipated, we hope the documentary can showcase the remarkable bravery, resilience and determination of Chinese women in their refusal to succumb to their destinies," she adds.
Empress Wu Zetian in the documentary
Princess Jieyou in the documentary
Embroidery artist Shen Shou in the documentary
Poster for the documentary Phoenix: The Story of Her, which features four legendary womenSource: By Xu Fan | China Daily Global | Updated: 2024-12-05 08:59
