Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
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\nAccording to Confucius\, &ldqu o\;an educated woman is a worthless woman\,&rdquo\; but Tan Yunxian-born i nto an elite family\, yet haunted by death\, separations\, and loneliness- is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one o f only a handful of female doctors in China\, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine\, the Four Examinations-looking\, listening\, touching\, and asking-something a man can never do with a female patient. From a young age\, Yunxian learns about women&rsquo\;s illnesses\, many of which relate to childbearing\, alongside a young midwife-in-training\, Me iling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose-despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it-and they vow to be forever friends\, sharing i n each other&rsquo\;s joys and struggles. No mud\, no lotus\, they tell th emselves: from adversity beauty can bloom. But when Yunxian is sent into a n arranged marriage\, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling an d from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act lik e a proper wife-embroider bound-foot slippers\, pluck instruments\, recite poetry\, give birth to sons\, and stay forever within the walls of the fa mily compound\, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.
\n\nhttps://tol edo.libnet.info/event/11796392 URL;VALUE=URI:https://toledo.libnet.info/event/11796392 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/toledo/ladytan.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR