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Duji 妒記

Sep 12, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Duji 妒記 "On jealousy", also called Dufuji 妒婦記 "On jealous women", is an early collection of stories about women compiled during the Liu-Song period 劉宋 (420-479) by Yu Tongzhi 虞通之, who hailed from Yuyao 余姚, modern Zhejiang, and was a commentator of the Confucian Classic Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes". He served as gentleman attendant of the palace gate (huangmen shilang 黄門侍郎) and commandant of infantry (bubing xiaowei 步兵校尉). He wrote many essays and poems.

His 2-juan-long book Duji included stories about court women. It criticised their envious and conniving behaviour towards each other, as opposed to the appropriate respectful and modest conduct expected in a Confucian society. The stories are narrated in a very vivid and colourful language. According to the collective biography of empresses and consorts in the official dynastic history Songshu 宋書, Yu Tongzhi compiled this book at imperial order.

The original text has only survived in fragments that are included in Lu Xun's 魯迅 (1881-1936) collection Gu xiaoshuo gouchen 古小說鉤沉.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, and Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. 1996. Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典, vol. 2, 2171. Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe.
Liang Huangyi 梁煌儀. 2013. "Yu Tongzhi Duji yinyi yu xingbie fansi 虞通之《妒記》引義與性别反思." Mingzuo xinshang 名作欣賞 2013 (7): 18-25.
Gu Nong 顧農. 2008. "Gudai fan chuantong de nü yingxiong ji qi juxian: Yi Lu Xun jiben Duji wei zhongxin de zai tantao 古代反傳統的女英雄及其局限——以魯迅編本《妒記》為中心的再探討." Bolan qunshu 博覽群書 2008 (9): 111-114.