Women As Writing Subjects in High Qing China : : Reconfiguring the Poetics of Feminine Propriety.

• Superior document: Women and Gender in China Studies ; v.14
• Author: Sun, Chengjuan.
• Place / Publishing House: Boston : : BRILL,, 2024.; ©2024.
• Year of Publication: 2024
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Women and Gender in China Studies
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (233 pages)

This study investigates how mid-Qing gentry women exploited prevailing literary and intellectual thought and state ideology for self-expression and self-empowerment. It aims to go beyond a rigid dichotomy between compliance and resistance and examines their gendered revision of literary convention.

Table of Contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Ttile Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 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)
• Chapter 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)
• Chapter 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
• Chapter 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
• Chapter 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)
• Chapter 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 Preface: A New Form of Historical Writing
• 5 Conclusion
• Chapter 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
• Back Cover.