Early Women Writers

Zhang yaotiao

Chendu (modern Sichuan province)

9th c

Zhang Yaotiao became a courtesan after fleeing from her northern home to Chengdu, where she crafted emotive poetry well beyond the tones and attitudes generally expected of courtesan-poets.

Poem Sent to Someone from My Past, What I did wehn I got to Chengdu

Mandarin

Poetry

Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy. Women Writers of Traditional China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.