Song Ruoshen (; 768–820), sometimes misspelled Song Ruoxin, was a Chinese
Confucian scholar and poet. She was the eldest of five sisters, who all became employed as official poets at the Imperial court:
Song Ruozhao,
Song Ruoxian (, 772–835),
Song Ruolun () and
Song Ruoxun ().
[https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=0093349]
She was the daughter of the scholar Song Tingfen in
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
and was given advanced education by her father. In 788, she and her sisters were all taken to court to be tested about their knowledge within Confucianism, History and the Classics. They excelled and each were given an office at court. They were employed as official court poets, performing their poetry at court festivities. Song and her sisters were highly respected at court, referred to by the emperor as teacher-scholars and never treated as concubines. In 791, Song was given charge of the office of accounts and books. She also wrote a book about female morality.
References
* Lily Xiao Hong Lee, Sue Wiles: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming 618–1644
{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Ruoshen
768 births
820 deaths
8th-century Chinese poets
9th-century Chinese poets
Chinese courtiers
8th-century Chinese women writers
9th-century Chinese women writers
Chinese women poets
8th-century Chinese women
8th-century Chinese people
9th-century Chinese women
9th-century Chinese people