Women lives in the Song dynasty as revealed in excavated epitaphs = 從出土墓誌看宋代婦女的生活

Abstract

Women’s virtues have always played a huge role in Chinese culture. To provide deeper insight into women’s lives in the Song dynasty, this thesis examines over 2000 excavated epitaphs. Women’s lives in the Song dynasty are discussed with respect to the three roles that they played in a family, namely being “a daughter”, “a wife” and “a mother”. Throughout the three stages of their lives, the ways in which they demonstrated the women’s “four virtues” as defined at the time— “feminine conduct”, “feminine speech”, “feminine comportment” and “feminine works” are discussed. This thesis attempts to address the following questions: To what extent can excavated epitaphs shed light on women’s lives in the Song dynasty (especially women living in middle- and lower-class families)? How did the four virtues vary with respect to a woman’s role in a family? What kind of behaviors did Song literati expect from women in the Song period? What are the differences between Song literati’s expectations and the actual lives of women? The seven chapters in this thesis begin with an introduction on the current situations of excavated epitaphs and an overview of relevant scholarship. The second chapter investigates women’s four virtues as a daughter with respect to their relationships with their elders, their educational background, and their criteria for choosing a spouse. Chapter three focuses on married women’s four virtues by examining their age when marrying, fertility status and family status. The fourth chapter explores the marital relationships of married women in connection to their lives with their husbands, their status as a widow, their remarriages, and their lives as a second wife. Chapter five looks into women’s four virtues in their role as a mother, with a particular focus on mother-child relationships, and the way that they educated their children. The sixth chapter investigates women’s religious beliefs including Buddhism and Taoism and their attitudes towards death. The last chapter summarises the findings as well as explains the value, challenges and limitations of this study. In conclusion, compared with the epitaphs in the collected works of Song literati, excavated epitaphs give more information on the lives of women in the middle- and lower-class families during the Song period and provide new perspectives for the study of women’s history.