By Mira Crane ’27
Contributing Writer
With “Lady Tan’s Circle of Women,” Lisa See has written a fictional book that also sheds light on a real historical figure: Lady Tan, a 15th-century doctor from China who wrote a book on medicine for women whose title is sometimes translated as “Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor.”
The main character, Tan Yunxian, is See’s fictionalized reimagining of the real Lady Tan. See is a historical fiction writer who generally centers her books around Chinese and Chinese-American history. Her books are almost all centered around female characters, so writing a book about Tan Yunxian seems like a perfect fit for See.
“Lady Tan’s Circle of Women” follows Yunxian on her path to becoming a doctor despite the traditional societal structures that limit her opportunities. Yunxian struggles to manage her medical career with the challenges of her husband’s home, as well as challenges such as tough pregnancies and conflict with her mother-in-law.
Within the book itself, See does a great job in highlighting Yunxian’s motivation to be a doctor and its connection to her mother’s death at the beginning of the book due to an infection in her bound feet. Footbinding was an aesthetic cultural practice in China until 1949 that involved tightly binding women’s feet starting when they were as young as four. Yunxian believes that her mother’s death might have been prevented if she had access to a doctor who understood the implications of her condition.
According to the book, male doctors in China at the time were forced to stand outside of the room or behind a screen when examining female patients. Yunxian wants to become a doctor not just because the condition that killed her mother runs in her family but because she has a personal mission to protect other women from her mother’s fate.
See often puts female relationships, whether with a parent, sister or friend, at the center of her books. “Lady Tan’s Circle of Women” is no exception. The women in Yunxian’s life are very important to her development, including her father’s concubine, who watches over her after her mother’s death, her grandmother and her midwife friend Meiling.
Yunxian’s grandmother is a female doctor herself who encourages Yunxian to go into medicine and serves as an example to her of what a female doctor should be. Aside from teaching medicine to Yunxian, her grandmother also teaches her the importance of caring for the other women around her.
Yunxian and Meiling are brought together by Yunxian’s grandmother and Meiling’s mother, a doctor and a midwife, respectively. They quickly form a connection, and Yunxian teaches Meiling how to write, a skill she would not otherwise possess, given that Meiling is not part of the elite. Meiling, in turn, tells Yunxian stories of life outside the compounds that Yunxian has been confined to. Their class difference is an important aspect of her friendship, even though their connection largely transcends it. Their friendship extends into adulthood.
See’s focus in this book is on how the women around Yunxian have supported her and promoted her success as a doctor. She uses Miss Zhao, Yunxian’s father’s concubine who befriends her after her mother’s death, to convey this message, with Zhao describing herself as part of “the circle of good that surrounds [Yunxian].” Yunxian is without a mother, so Zhao and Yunxian’s other female supporters intend to help her and guide her throughout her life.
While there is a murder mystery subplot that feels slightly tacked on, “Lady Tan’s Circle of Women” is overall a well-written book that demonstrates the power of female solidarity.