@article{1483050,
      recid = {1483050},
      author = {See, Lisa,},
      title = {Lady Tan's circle of women : a novel /},
      pages = {352 pages ;},
      abstract = {"According to Confucius, "an educated woman is a worthless  woman," but Tan Yunxian--born into an elite family, yet  haunted by death, separations, and loneliness--is being  raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is  one of 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's illnesses,  many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young  midwife-in-training, Meiling. 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 in each other's joys and  struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from  adversity beauty can bloom. But when Yunxian is sent into  an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from  seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the  household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife--embroider  bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give  birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the  family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. How might  a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on  to treat women and girls from every level of society, and  lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies  are still used five centuries later? How might the power of  friendship support or complicate these efforts?" --},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1483050},
}