Han dynasty intellectuals such as Liu Xiang (c. 77-6 BCE) advocated "fetal instruction" [taijiao] as a means to influence the moral development of the child at the earliest possible opportunity. Fetal instruction demands that the pregnant mother take care in what she allows herself to see, eat, hear, and say, and requires her to be ritually correct in her deportment. This prescription was based on the principle of "simulative transformation" [xiaohua]. Liu believed that, "People's resemblance to various things at birth is due to their mothers' being moved by these things." He further claimed that if a woman is affected by good things, her child will be good, if she is affected by bad things, the child will be bad. Simulative transformation is a radical view of the environment's effect on both the spiritual and corporeal constitution of human beings. In this case, the environment is the womb, and the sensory stimuli that affect the mother simultaneously affect the fetus. Purely physical transformations were also thought to occur. For example, a birth defect, such as a harelip, was thought to be the result of the pregnant mother's eating hare. We can surmise that fetal instruction was an accepted element of prenatal care among early Han aristocrats since a manual addressing this art was discovered in 1973 in the tomb of the son of the Marquis of Dai (d. 168 BCE). This approach to fetal care gave the pregnant mother some degree of control over, but at the same time, a heavy responsibility for the health and well-being of her child.

This biography details the childhood of Empress Deng of the Later Han dynasty. Here she is noted for her precocious intelligence, beauty, and filial piety. She was named empress to Emperor He in 102 CE. The emperor died four years later and Empress Deng served as virtual regent for one infant emperor who died in 106 CE. She dominated the government through the reign of another boy who came to the throne at age twelve and even after he had come of age in 109 CE. Her biographer relates the omens to similar signs that presaged the reigns of sage kings of antiquity in order to justify her unusual non-conformance to traditional gender roles. The narrative also tries to naturalize her active political involvement by suggesting that it was a Heavenly reward bestowed on her through the merit of her male relatives. Her filial piety is noted through her forbearance of her grandmother's painful haircut and her deep mourning for her father.

It is important to note that the relationship between actual children and the virtue of filial piety is not as clear as it might seem. Throughout the Han dynasty, the concept of filial piety was primarily associated with the duties and attitudes of adult offspring toward their parents. This is not to say that young children were not expected to obey and revere their parents. Children were clearly taught about filial piety, but they were normally not in a position to practice it. What is emphasized in the concept of xiao: that offspring cheerfully provide financial support to aged parents, produce offspring to carry on ancestral sacrifices, and preserve and bring honors (through public recognition) to the good name of the family--duties small children normally cannot perform.

These two images from the Later Han dynasty (2nd century CE) depict the most famous child in early Chinese literature, Xiang Tuo (pronounced She-Ang Too-o). In both stone carvings, which decorated the outer walls of shrines or funerary monuments, the artists indicated Xiang Tuo's tender age by his relatively smaller size with toys in his hands. The great philosophers Confucius and Laozi stand beside him, each man focused on the words of the boy prodigy. Although his image frequently appears on funerary structures, early textual references tell us only that Xiang Tuo was a much younger contemporary of Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE), who at age 7 was able to instruct the Master.

The earliest reference to Xiang Tuo, or any child prodigy, occurs in the 3rd century BCE. From the 2nd century BCE onward, the image of the precocious child begins to figure with some prominence not only in legend but also in biographical portraits of historical figures. The increasing number of Later Han (25-220 CE) references to juvenile achievements also reflect new opportunities created specifically for boys.

According to one set of criteria, boys and girls in the Han reached the age of majority at age 16, at which time they were required to pay the taxes levied on adults; other criteria suggest that boys were not regarded as men until they reached age 21. Still, Han records show that as the dynasty progressed, boys ages 11 to 14 were recommended for government service with greater frequency. In such cases, the selection process demanded a review of a candidate's childhood in order to assess his suitability for recommendation. Boys who assumed official posts at age 13, for example, would have been forced to exhibit a potential for government service at a fairly early age.

Xiang Tuo, continued to serve as an exemplar of precocious wisdom and a model for elite and upwardly mobile boys throughout China's imperial period.