Women and literature in the early Qing fiction Lin Lan Xiang = 《林蘭香》中的女性與文學

Abstract

The early Qing fiction Lin Lan Xiang tells a story about the destinies of a number of women who live in a noble family. The fiction aims to portray several different kinds of women, among whom Yan Mengqing is the heroine. She is virtuous, artistic and beautiful, while her husband Geng Lang is very inferior to her. Lin Lan Xiang explores the women’s life, fate, talents and abilities. It also shows how the women meet and develop a love for each other through literature. It is the love between the women that brings them into the same family, and not their affection for their husband.

Even though the author appreciates the outstanding literary talent of the women, the fiction implies that their literary talent is defined as a good thing only under certain circumstances. If a woman behaves inappropriately, her talent might bring her to harm. If a stranger sees a woman’s poems or paintings, the social gender rules may be broke, and she may be molested. If her talent overrides her morality, she would not be considered as a competent wife and mother any more, and could become estranged from her husband. The description of Yan Mengqing’s illness and her death at an early age reflects the historical obsession with “sickly beauties” and “talented women dying young”, an obsession that derived from the negative attitude towards women’s talent in traditional society.

The relationship between women and literature is complicated. The author not only describes upper-class women writing and painting, but considers lower-class women, such as maids and elderly female servants. The impact of literature is different when it comes to these lower-class women, which is revealed in the stories of Hongyu and Lipo. These two are based on some real traditional Chinese opera women writers and Tanci women writers/performers.