3. Accessories refer to unmarried women who obey their fathers, married women who obey their husbands, and husbands who obey their sons.

The word "Four Virtues" is found in Zhou Li Tianguan, which is the official position of teaching harem women, and is responsible for teaching them "Li Yin" and "husband's life" step by step. Among them, "Jin Jiu", who has a higher position, is "in charge of women's studies to teach her nine virtues, nine words, nine looks and nine virtues".

Originally a category of court women's education, it was later called "three obedience" and became the standard of women's morality, behavior, ability and cultivation, that is, "three obedience and four virtues".

In "Li Zhou Tian Guan Yi", the so-called "four virtues" refer to: virtue, speech, tolerance and work, that is to say, being a woman is first of all moral character, and she must be upright;

Then "speak", with knowledge, with the right words and the right language; Secondly, "capacity", that is, appearance, points out that entry should be dignified and steady, not frivolous and casual; Finally, "work", that is, the way to run a family. The way to run a family includes the details of life, such as taking care of your husband and educating your children, respecting the old and loving the young, and being diligent and frugal.

Extended data:

The evolution of four virtues:

The "Four Virtues" were originally the cultivation and accomplishment of the four necessary qualities of court women-virtue, speech, tolerance and skill, which included the four traditional educational contents of "women's studies", so Confucianism called it "four teachings" and also called "four lines".

It originated from women's education in the court, and belongs to "Li Yin" (the etiquette that women abide by) and "Yin duty" (the responsibility that women undertake), and soon expanded to the upper-class families to undertake the cultivation of women's roles.

When the girl was ten years old, she was educated by a female teacher at home-teaching "gentle delivery and obedience" (morality, speech, tolerance, pliancy and obedience), holding hemp (spinning hemp thread, ancient clothes were mostly made of hemp, kudzu and silk), treating silkworm cocoons, weaving and making clothes, and learning a series of jobs (working, weaving, sewing and preparing).

Three months before marriage, the clan asked female teachers to train women, "teaching them virtue, character, appearance and merit"; After the training is completed, a sacrificial ceremony will be held to make the woman obedient.

It can be seen that "four virtues" serve the morality of "three obedience". The "four virtues" were later summarized as requirements for all women. According to Zheng Xuan's explanation, "women's virtue is chastity and obedience, women's words are rhetoric, women's capacity is gentle delivery, and women's work is diaosi." Later generations have been making new explanations.