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Competing Narratives of Female Martyrdom

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Competing Narratives of Female Martyrdom FLESH AND STONE: COMPETING NARRATIVES OF FEMALE MARTYRDOM FROM LATE IMPERIAL TO CONTEMPORARY CHINA by XIAN WANG A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2018 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Xian Wang Title: Flesh and Stone: Competing Narratives of Female Martyrdom from Late Imperial to Contemporary China This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures by: Maram Epstein Chairperson Wendy Larson Core Member Roy Chan Core Member Bryna Goodman Institutional Representative and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded March 2018 ii © 2018 Xian Wang iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Xian Wang Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures March 2018 Title: Flesh and Stone: Competing Narratives of Female Martyrdom from Late Imperial to Contemporary China My dissertation focuses on the making of Chinese female martyrs to explore how representations serve as a strategy to either justify or question the normalization of the horrors of untimely death. It examines the narratives of female martyrdom in Chinese literature from late imperial to modern China in particular, explores the shift from female chaste martyrs to revolutionary female martyrs, and considers how the advocacy of female martyrdom shapes and problematizes state ideologies. Female martyrdom has been promoted in the process of the cultivation of loyalty throughout Chinese history. The traditional chastity cult continues to shape the contemporary meanings and conceptions of martyrdom, a value that is still promoted by the Chinese state. My dissertation explores the reasons that female martyrdom has remained a constant value and discuss how the state and print culture have cultivated it and adapted it to construct notions of gender, self, and identity in different time periods. I argue that female chaste martyrdom functions as a bonding agent that holds male community together and consolidates the patriarchal system. The literary narratives of female martyrs simultaneously grant women agency while presenting female martyrs as objects of consumption, which reveals the instability in the role of women as iv agents/objects. I analyze flesh and stone as metaphors for two different discourses on female martyrdom. Flesh refers to the literary representations of flesh and blood bodies of female martyrs that work to disrupt the state discourse on martyrdom by introducing the embodied individual. From a larger socio-political perspective, the state attempts to lock in the meaning of the sacrifice as enhancing the power of the state by fixing the meaning of female martyrdom in stone monuments. The state-sponsored monuments work to erase the individual in service to an ideology of martyrdom that reduces the messiness of history to myth. This dissertation includes previously published material. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Xian Wang GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Duke University, Durham Nanjing University, Nanjing Jianghan University, Wuhan DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, East Asian Languages and Literatures, 2018, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Liberal Studies, 2010, Duke University Master of Arts, Chinese Language and Literature, 2008, Nanjing University Bachelor of Arts, Chinese Language and Literature, 2004, Jianghan University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature Late Imperial Chinese Literature Cultural Studies Gender Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Notre Dame, 2018- Visiting Instructor, College of East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University, 2016- 2017 Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Oregon, 2010-2018 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Dissertation Fellowship, Oregon Humanities Center, University of Oregon, 2015 vi PUBLICATIONS: Wang, Xian. “Langxian’s Dilemma over the Cult of Martyrdom and Filial Piety: A World of Emptiness in ‘The Siege of Yangzhou.’” Ming Studies, 72 (2015): 46-68. Wang, Xian. “The Construction of the Image/Myth of a Martyr in the Cultural Revolution: An Interpretation/Demythicization of The Song of Ouyang Hai.” Comparative Literature Studies, 52.1 (2015): 145-159. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS During this long journey of writing my dissertation and searching for the meaning of martyrdom, I have incurred innumerable debts of gratitude. I want to first extend my deepest gratitude to my advisor Professor Maram Epstein for her guidance and encouragement over the years. I benefited from her class discussion on the question of “whether there is something natural in this world.” This discussion, which I encountered at the beginning of my graduate studies, opened my mind and encouraged me to stay curious about and be critical of the concepts I have known since childhood, including martyrdom. Professor Maram Epstein is not only a model scholar and teacher, she is also an excellent mentor who constantly lends her time and energy to support me and offer me valuable advice. I am forever indebted to her kindness. My special thanks also go to Professor Wendy Larson, Professor Bryna Goodman and Professor Roy Chan, who have inspired me in different ways. Professor Wendy Larson has shared her wisdom with an open heart and generous spirit, teaching me how to be a better scholar and a strong woman. Professor Bryna Goodman has taught me how to treat research materials with an even-handed and historical approach, and has encouraged me to form my own academic writing style. Professor Roy Chan’s constructive criticism has helped me hammer my dissertation project into reasonable shape. I was fortunate to study and work with Professor Stephen Durrant, who introduced me to the world of early Chinese literature in a refreshing way with his sense of humor. I sincerely thank Denise Huang Gigliotti, who has taught me how to appreciate and approach language teaching. Her passion for teaching is contagious. I also wish to thank the Chinese Studies Specialist Xiaotong Wang, who helped me to locate and find viii some rare primary materials for my research. I am thankful for the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures for the generous support, the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies for the travel funding, and the Oregon Humanities Center for its Dissertation Fellowship. I am grateful to Professor Louise Edwards, who generously shared relevant chapters from her book manuscript with me before her inspiring work Women Warriors and Wartime Spies of China was published. I also want to extend my gratitude to my friends and former colleagues at Wesleyan University. Despite my short stay there as a Visiting Instructor, they were very supportive and helped me to thrive in my first academic appointment. Special thanks go to Ying Jia Tan, Long Bui, Xiaomiao Zhu, Mengjun Liu, Mary Alice Haddad, Joan Cho and Takeshi Watanabe. I could not have survived graduate school and completed my dissertation without support from my friends and family. I want to thank Hsin-Chin Hsieh, Clay Chou, Lindsey Waldrop, Xiucai Zheng, Meian Chen, Qianyu Sui and Calvin Hui for their friendship. Special thanks to Katherine Thompson for her friendship and professional editing. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family. I thank my American family, the Moseleys, for their unconditional love and care since the moment they picked me up at Eugene airport about eight years ago. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to my beloved parents in China who always encourage me to pursue my dreams. I thank my husband Qing for always supporting me and being my biggest cheerleader in the world. I thank my lovely daughter Melody for bringing me immense joy and happiness. My family has deepened my understanding of the meaning of everyday sacrifice. They have made my dissertation on martyrdom meaningful. ix To my husband Qing and my daughter Melody x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION: REPRODUCING GENDER IDEOLOGY UNDER REGIME CHANGES ................................................................................................................ 1 A Confucian Martyr or a Revolutionary Martyr: The Suicide of Zhao Wuzhen ... 1 From Sacrificial Animals to Human Sacrifice: The Transformations of Xisheng and Lie ................................................................................................. 7 Female Martyrdom from the Ming-Qing to Contemporary China ........................ 17 II. CONTRADICTIONS IN LATE-IMPERIAL FEMALE CHASTE MARTYRDOM ...................................................................................................... 28 The Deaths of General Zhang Xun and His Concubine in Double Loyalty ........... 30 Langxian’s Dilemma over the Cult of Martyrdom and Filial Piety: A World of Emptiness in “The Siege of Yangzhou” ............................................. 47 Conclusion: Negotiating Confucian Female Martyrdom in Late Imperial China ...................................................................................................................... 81 III. THE ESTABLISHMENT
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