Women as Writing Subjects in High Qing China

Reconfiguring the Poetics of Feminine Propriety

Series: 

Author:
Chengjuan Sun
In what ways did Qing gentry women’s concern for gender and social propriety shape their assertions of female subjectivity and agency? How did they exploit the state promotion of female virtue and Confucian morality for self-fulfillment?
With a focus on three of the most widely acclaimed mid-Qing women authors, this book uses both synchronic and diachronic approaches to analyze writings on conjugal love, widowhood, women’s education, maternal teaching, boudoir objects, and history, illustrating their vibrant, gendered revision of literati poetic convention, thus proposing an alternative analytical framework that goes beyond the rigid dichotomy of compliance versus resistance.
Copyright Year:
2024
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-70698-9
Publication:
29 Jul 2024
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-69515-3
Publication:
01 Aug 2024
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Chengjuan Sun, Ph.D. (2008), Harvard University, is Professor of Chinese at Kenyon College. She has published articles and translations on Chinese literature and Asian women’s writings and gender studies, including “From Amused Indulgence to Serious Instruction: Two Poetic Subgenres on Girlhood” (Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, and Reviews, 2014) and “The Hidden Blessing of Being a Last Ruler: Anecdotes and the Song Dynasty Interpretation of Li Yu (937-978) lyrics” (Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, and Reviews, 2012).
Acknowledgments
List of Figures

Introduction
 1 From the Feat of Preservation to Moral Packaging
 2 The Xingling Ideal and the Innovative Reinscription of Female Experience
 3 Exploiting the Mid-Qing Conditions of Wifehood, Widowhood, and Motherhood for Self-Empowerment
 4 Conjugal Love and the Assertion of Wifely Admonitions
 5 Chaste Widowhood and the Celebration of Self-Reliance and Autonomy
 6 Veneration of Maternal Teaching and Promotion of Girls’ Education
 7 Moral Agency, Female Virtue, and Historical Justice: Wang Duan’s Scholarly and Historical Writings
 8 An Overview: Structure, Sources, and Disclaimers

Part 1: Xi Peilan (1762–c.1831)


1 Xi Peilan’s Remedy to Yuan Mei’s Xingling Poetics and Refashioning of Conjugal Poetry
 1 Xi Peilan’s Critical Acceptance of Xingling Aesthetics
 2 Moral Scrutiny in Xi’s Evaluations of Female Characters
 3 The Xingling-Inspired Conjugal Poetry and the Problem of Conveying Marital Love
 4 Blending Conjugal Love with Wifely Admonition: Xingling Refashioned
 5 Conjugal Love and Romantic/Erotic Poetry: Two Contrasting Approaches
 6 Zhen (Admonitions) and Two Different Understandings of Qing
 7 Conclusion

Part 2: Luo Qilan (1756–c.1813)


2 Poking Holes and Reclaiming the Boudoir: Luo Qilan’s Playful Poems in the Perfumed Cosmetic Case Style
 1 Reconciling Xianglian with Women’s Writing
 2 Poking Holes in the Imagined Femininity: Luo’s Xianglian Verse Done in Jest
 3 Reinscribing Boudoir and Femininity: Pride in Perseverance, Self-Reliance, and Productivity
 4 Conclusion

3 The Song of a Lone Crane: Luo Qilan’s Exaltation of Widowhood and Female Agency
 1 Widowhood, Leisure, and Women’s Writing
 2 From a Widowed Swan to a Transcendental Crane: Reinscribing Solitude
 3 The Emotional Arc of a Happily Married Wife and Faithful Widow: Luo’s Imitation of “Yan Terrace”
 4 Conclusion

4 From Amused Indulgence to Serious Instruction: Maternal Teaching and Girls’ Education
 1 Celebrating “My Cherished Daughter”: Its Origin and Evolution
 2 “Tutoring My Daughter”: A Matter of Pride and Anxiety
 3 Poems on the Paintings of Tutoring the Daughter: The Case of Luo Qilan
 4 An Interlude: The Choice of Adopting a Daughter and Its Potential Benefits
 5 One Painting, Varied Responses
 6 Conclusion

Part 3: Wang Duan (1793–1839)


5 Transposing Chunqiu into Poetry: Wang Duan’s Writing on History
 1 Putting It in Perspective: Wang Duan and Historical Scholarship in the Reigns of Qianlong and Jiaqing
 2 A Lifelong Fascination with History and Recurring Anxiety
 3 At a Crossroads: Juxtaposing Comparable Moments in History
 4 The Repurposed Prefaces: A New Form of Historical Writing
 5 Conclusion

6 Female Martyrdom, Historical Justice, and Local Memory: Wang Duan’s Poems on the Zhangwu
 1 Setting the Stage: The First Poem
 2 The Revisionist and the Localist Perspective
 3 Exemplars of Loyalty: Redeeming the Vilified Zhangwu Men
 4 The Murky Matter of Female Martyrdom
 5 Eulogizing Exemplary Women: A Remedy for the Suppression of Local History
 6 Conclusion

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Scholars and graduate students interested in gender, family, and women’s literature of late imperial China.
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