Historical narration of women writers in Qing dynasty = 清代女性歷史敘事

Abstract

The Ming-Qing period is a vital era as far as women’s writings and publications in Chinese history. The Qing Dynasty surpassed the previous Ming both in quantity and quality of women’s writings. Women’s writing during late imperial China has become a hot research area during the past three decades. Chinese scholars and oversea researchers have published a significant number of inspiring work about the writing women in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Among all kinds of firsthand material, poetry is especially worth studying because it is the tool for women authors to voice their ambitions, emotions and dissatisfactions. Many biographical materials of Ming and Qing women poets have survived. It is worth noticing that the description of talented women’s knowledge and interest in history was quite common and fashionable. Studying history, even though on a voluntary basis (not for writing or public civic examinations), was viewed as a hobby as well as an important accomplishment for Qing women poets. The thesis studies the Qing women writers’ writings on the theme of history. Qing women authors’ comments on the historical events and figures. By examining these poetic works, I intend to demonstrate in what way and to what extent the Qing women authors studied history. I also intend to analyze the women authors’ narrative strategies when they wrote about the major events in their times and their reflections on the contemporary society they lived in. The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter two investigate an important Qiantang women writer and historian Wang Duan. She was a precocious and prolific writer and a renowned editor. Her poems on past history and her Ming poetry collection anthology won her literary and social fame among her contemporizes. This chapter proceeds to discuss Wang’s self-representation and self-empowerment through writing under historical themes, as well as the conflict between moral obiligations (mainly motherhood and filial piety) and literary talent she constantly encountered. Chapter three analyzes another famous Changshu poet Ji Lanyun and the large amount of her poignant poetic works. I will make examination on the characteristic style of her poems and conclude the general tendency of her expression of anxiety by examining her rhetorical and narrative strategies. Ji also wrote a lot about the past historical events and important figures. Her female perspective of reading history made her poems on history unique and thought-provoking. Chapter four investigate several women writers who lived in the time of Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion. During the era of chaos, women writers made bold comments on state political and military affairs through poetic works. Apart from commenting on history, the women poets also witness and recorded the major events from their perspective. In this part of my discussion, I will examine how the women writers during this period changed their world view and how their words went beyond the boundary of the inner quarters. The chapter five draws a comparison of two women poets and political figure Xue Shaohui and Qiu Jin. They were born in the time when Western ideologies and knowledge entered China so their poems demonstrated the effect of Western concepts. Both of them were outstanding poets and advocated for women’s right in late Qing. Xue was a constitutional reformist while Qiu was a revolutionary and actively engaged in anti-Qing movements. To sum up, inspired by the resource of Chinese history, both Xue and Qiu developed a rich variety of literary metaphors which demonstrated their political views and their ideal political system. The chapter six digs into two women poets who were born in Qing Dynasty but were active in the Republican China. Both of them were Southern Society members. The poet Zhang Mojun from Xiangxiang was famous for her poetic excellence and calligraphy. Her poems on current events of Republican China vividly portrayed the unstable political situation. Another feminist poet Lu Bicheng was renowned for her delicate song lyrics as well as her achievements in the area of female education. She had been living overseas for a long period in her life, therefore her observation of Western society and social norms revealed her reflection on the Chinese cultural identity during the globalization process. （687 words）

摘要 清代女性文學的研究已是目前學術界的一大热点，海內外學者關於女性詩詞、戲曲、小說的研究成果顯著。清代才女是一個龐大的群體，面對這樣一个不可忽視的群體和她们傳世的大量文本，我們渴望有更深入的了解。詩歌是清代才女著作中的重要一類。在詠史詩中，清代才女們憑藉自己的文史修養大膽地地指點政治得失，这使人不得不注意到她们的博學，以及明顯有別於其他朝代的思想波動。 除了歌詠過去的歷史，女性也成為歷史的見證者和記錄者。近代中國危機四伏，內憂與外患交織的時局對精英知識分子原有的世界觀造成了極大的衝擊，女性詩人在書寫時，不免也受到時局的影響。婦女詩歌題材由傳統意義上的閨閣生活延伸到了严肃的公共政治領域。對她們來說，詩歌不僅僅是用來治愈戰爭帶給她們創傷的良藥，更是她們見證歷史、記錄歷史、針砭時弊的工具。本文還會涉及鴉片戰爭至義和團期間女詩人的戰亂文本（其中包括敘事類（避亂、避兵、感事、感時）和詠史懷古類），從文學的角度切入，重點分析她們在面臨世變時於寫作中展露的歷史意識、家國意識與性別焦慮。通過檢視女詩人在戰爭時期書寫的文本，我們可以深入討論近代中國面臨的軍事和政治危機對女性的國家觀念的影響，女性通過詩歌記錄歷史、保存歷史的自覺，和在內外交困的背景下「詠史」產生的全新內涵。本研究重點關注晚清女性对內外戰爭的記錄和对時局的分析，還涉及女性对晚清政治改革的看法和对中西文化冲突的評論，運用女性主义視角，著重挖掘女性在動蕩時局中关于自我身份的思索和性别意識，从而重新定義女性知識分子在中國近代史上的地位。本文的研究時間範圍上至明末清初,下至民國30年代，期待能够发掘清代女性歷史敘事背后所蕴涵的深刻內涵。

(694字)