Ambivalence in Poetry: Zhu Shuzhen a Classical Chinese Poetess

The contributions of women poets have seemed much less significant in the history of traditional Chinese literature. Among the relatively small number of famous women poets in China Zhu Shuzhen ??? (1135?-1180?) is certainly worthy of discussion but she has not received much critical attention in part because of the lack of reliable biographical information. Although some of Zhu Shuzhen’s poems have been seen by some scholars as disgraceful it is nevertheless valuable to explore the inner world and poetic indications of the voice projected from the poems in an objective way. However as the number of poems attributed to Zhu Shuzhen is large despite living under an atmosphere that discouraged the writing of poetry by women her name is undoubtedly significant in the development of female poetry. The aesthetic values in Zhu Shuzhen’s original verse have been retained through the author's translations by selecting the best appropriate original versions in different editions.