ABSTRACT
According to historical sources from Han times, there were numerous palace women who used the meidao 媚道 ‘art of charming’, charms to seduce and seek the favour of the emperor. Shiji 史記 (Record of the Historian), Hanshu 漢書 (History of the Former Han), 後漢書 Houhanshu (History of the Later Han), and other historical documents record several cases. 1 However, all of these cases give only a general account of how a certain woman was found guilty of a crime because of jia furen meidao 挾婦 人媚道 ‘taking up the female way of charming’, and completely fail to mention the more concrete ideas and practical procedures of the art.
