Abstract
During the mid-late Qing period, China underwent the transformation from traditionality to modernity, and in this transformation, the modern features co-existed with the traditional ones. This co-existence was also embodied in the writings and lives of the women in that historical period. In five chapters, this dissertation explores the traditional and modern elements in the mid-late Qing women’s writings and lives from five aspects.The first chapter studies the women’s travels from their inner boudoir to the outer world. Mid-late Qing women’s travels inherited the women’s tradition of travel in imperial China, yet they extended to much further places and even foreign countries. The traveling women had their horizons and minds largely broadened, and embraced the western civilization, and objectively review the traditional Chinese culture. They also emphasized the importance of female education to the nation, and introduced the western culture to their compatriots. All of these features are the modern elements embodied in the traveling women’s views and writings. However, they still hold some traditional thoughts, for example, they insisted that the aim of traveling for women was to educate themselves as wise wives and good mothers, who could serve the family well, other than to educate them as qualified citizens who could directly contribute to the nation.
The second chapter studies the extension of the themes of the women’s writings from the inner boudoir subjects to the outer social events. The Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars in the mid-late Qing time greatly disturbed the women’s quiet lives. These talented women were involved in the unrest, and recorded the wars and disorders in their poems. On one hand, they inherited the literature tradition of recording history in poetry, which was mainly held by the men of letters. On the other hand, they no longer passively expressed their sufferings caused by the disorder in their poems, but also actively wrote down the details of the events. Their attention to, participation into and writings of the social events acted as the prelude of women’s entry into society and carrying on social occupation, and even participation into politics in the following decades. All of these actions reflect the modernity of the women’s writings, yet there are still some traditional elements. For instance, their minds were filled with the traditional loyalty to the Emperor and Court; they never had the modern concept of nationalism and democracy in mind; and because of the limitation of their knowledge, they tended to be overly subjective and sometimes distorted the historical events in their records.
The first two chapters focus on women’s transition from the interior boudoir to the outer world. The first chapter studies the spatial traveling, and the second chapter studies the transfer of the themes of their writings from boudoir subjects to social events. Then, chapter three and four explore the transformation of their inner world: their concepts from familyism to nationalism.
The third chapter studies women’s Views on Chastity and Martyrdom. In traditional China, the highest virtue of the women was their chastity and loyalty to their husbands, and the chaste women were highly praised by the government and men of letters. The appreciation of chastity and martyrdom lasted till the late Qing time. Anyway, new explanation of chastity came up and changed the general views. The new views advocated that the women’s chastity and loyalty to one person and one family should develop into their contribution and loyalty to the whole nation and the people. The fourth chapter studies and analyzes the women-composed drama and tanci works with the heroines in men’s dress. These heroines, in fact representing the writers themselves, went through a process in their minds from familyism to nationalism. In traditional drama and tanci works, the heroines dressed as men succeeded in the Imperial Examination and participated in the officialdom. They pursued honor and wealth for themselves and their families – this is familyism. On the contrary, in the late Qing time, some drama works were adapted from the experience of the female revolutionist Qiu Jin, whose striving was for the liberation of the women and the prosperity of the nation – this is nationalism. These dramas spoke highly of Qiu Jin’s sacrifice for the nation and intended to enlighten and educate the public with Qiu Jin’s story.
The fifth chapter studies the issue of female education during the late Qing dynasty. There were different views on female education, and the general process is from traditionality to modernity. The analysis is taken from three aspects: the place of education, the content of education and the purpose of education. Traditional views argued that women should be educated at home, because the Confucian orthodoxy taught that women should not frivolously get out of their boudoirs. Modern views believed women should be educated at public female schools. The fact was that new public female schools were widely built and more and more women participated in the school education system. The traditional views insisted that women should be taught the inner subjects, such as literature, embroidery, and cooking; while modern views advocated that women should also be taught the outer subjects of specific and useful working skills. Traditional views insisted that the purpose of female education was to cultivate women as wise wives and good mothers, in order to serve the husbands and family.
Modern views proposed that the purpose of female education should be educate women as qualified citizens, who could enter society, take up social occupations, and make direct profits and contribution to the nation. For a period of time, the traditional and modern views co- existed and argue against each other, but as time passed by, the modern views eventually won and female education underwent from traditionality to modernity.
To sum it up, in the above mentioned five aspects, the traditionality and modernity were both embodied and reflected in the writings of women in the late Qing China. The general process was from the inner to the outer, from the home to society, and from tradition to modern.
| Date of Award | 6 Aug 2015 |
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| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Che Bun CHENG (Supervisor) & Wanmin ZHANG (Supervisor) |