Yunxian's grandparents are doctors. Male doctors are not allowed to physically examine women but question them from behind an opaque screen. Female doctors, like her grandmother, have no such restrictions except when blood is involved. They can assist at a birth but only a midwife can deliver a child or have anything to do with blood. Yunxian begins to learn about medicine from her grandmother.
When observing a birth Yunxian meets Meiling, the daughter of the midwife, and the girls become friends although they are from different backgrounds and obstacles to their remaining friends are often put in their way. At the age of eight, Yunxian is betrothed to the son of a merchant family. At fifteen she will be married, will move to a new home and will be expected to produce a male heir for her husband's family.
Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See is a story of female friendship and trust in a world dominated by men. The women have to rely upon each other for support in this class structured environment. Meiling and Yunxian begin to realise that over the years they have formed and relied on a circle of women who help each other.
The section by the author at the end of the book explains that the novel is based on the life of Yunxian Tan who was a female doctor in China in the fifteenth century and published a book about some of her cases. After locating a copy of a translation of the book and researching about life for women in fifteenth century China, this novel of historical fiction was written.
Useful information about some of the issues in the book and general background can be found on the author's website at LisaSee.com
Lady Tan's Circle of Women is the book read by the Monash Alumni Book Club in October.
No comments:
Post a Comment