International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts
December 18-19, 2015 (Fri to Sat)
國際學術研討會：性別與中國宗教—文本與處境的對話 2015 年 12 月 18 日至 19 日 (五至六)
Venue: Room 220, Faculty Board Room, Fung King Hey Building, Faculty of Arts, the Chinese University of Hong Kong 地點：香港中文大學文學院 馮景禧樓二樓學術會議室
The Conference will be conducted in English 會議將以英文進行
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 1 Forum Schedule
Day 1 : 18 December, 2015 (Friday)
09:00-9:30 Registration 09:30-9:35 Opening Remarks Session 1: State, Women and Religion
Moderator and discussant: Prof. Wai Ching Angela WONG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
1.1 Women’s rights, Nationalism and Religion in Republican China (20 mins) 09:35-10:35 Elena VALUSSI, Loyola University Chicago
1.2 Female Sexuality in Communist Anti-Superstition Propaganda, 1944 - 1945 (20 mins) Xiaofei KANG, George Washington University
Discussant (5 mins) Open Discussion (15 mins)
10:35-11:00 ~~~ TEA BREAK ~~~ Session 2: Women’s Sphere/Space & Agency
Moderator and discussant: Dr. CHOW Wai Yin, Chinese University of Hong Kong
2.1 Beyond the Boundary of Home: Religion, Space and Women in Hong Kong (20 mins) 11:00~12: 00 Wai Ching Angela WONG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
2.2 The Silent Hat: Islam, Female Labour, and the Political Economy of the “Headscarf Debate” (20 mins) Guangtian HA, University of London
Discussant (5 mins) Open Discussion (15 mins)
12:00-12:25 Photo-taking (Entrance of Fung King Hey Building) ~~~ LUNCH ~~~ 12:30-13:40 Venue: Benjamin Franklin Centre Staff Canteen 范克廉樓教職員餐廳 Session 3: Marriage and Family
Moderator and discussant: Prof. CHOI Po King, Chinese University of Hong Kong 13:45~14:45 3.1 Rethinking the Religious Reproduction of Mothering (20 mins) Weishan HUANG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 2 3.2 Practicing Religion in Marriage: Cases from the Qing (20 mins) Weijing LU, University of California, San Diego / Hong Kong Baptist University
Discussant (5 mins) Open Discussion (10 mins)
14:45-14:55 ~~~ BREAK ~~~ Session 4: Women’s Leadership in Religious Organization
Moderator and discussant: Prof. CHEUNG Tak Ching, Neky, University of Macau
4.1 From Miserable Patient to Ambitious Organizers --- The role of Women in the Birth of a New Religion (20 mins) 14:55-15:55 Lizhu FAN, Fudan University
4.2 Catholic Women in the Hong Kong Church: Negotiating their Roles as Leaders and Faithful Believers (20 mins) Mary Mee-Yin YUEN, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Discussant (5 mins) Open Discussion (15 mins)
15:55-16:20 ~~~ TEA BREAK ~~~ Session 5: Women and Spiritual Practices
Moderator and discussant: Dr. TONG Sau Lin, Chinese University of Hong Kong
5.1 Women in Prayer: Praying for Blessed Happiness in Contemporary Shanghai (20 mins) 16:20-17:20 Anna SUN, Kenyon College
5.2 Home or Monasticism: Reconsidering the Religious Practice and Praxis of Minnan Caigu (20 mins) Presented in Chinese LIN Mei-rong, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica
Discussant (5 mins) Open Discussion (15 mins)
17:30-19:00 ~~~CONFERENCE DINNER~~~ At The Harmony 和聲滬軒 (Lee Woo Sing College )
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 3 Day 2 : 19 December, 2015 (Saturday)
Session 6: Women in Ritual
Moderator and Discussant: Prof. LAI Chi Tim, Chinese University of Hong Kong
6.1 The Blood Lake Complex: A Research Proposal (20 mins) YANG Der-Ruey, Nanjing University 09:00-10:00
6.2 Cáo É, the Filial Water Goddess: Gender and Text in the Promotion of a Two- Thousand-Year-Old Cult (20 mins) Robin D.S. YATES, McGill University
Discussant (5 mins) Open Discussion (15 mins)
10:00-10:15 ~~~ TEA BREAK ~~~ Session 7: Gender in Chinese Religious Classics
Moderator and Discussant: Prof. MAN Kit Wah, Eva, Baptist University of Hong Kong
7.1 Women and Gender in the Book of Changes (20 mins) Jinhua JIA, University of Macau
7.2 Inner Sage Outer Sex: 10:15-11:45 Genuine Pretending and Gender Neutrality in the Zhuangzi (20 mins) Hans-Georg MOELLER, University of Macau Paul J. D'AMBROSIO, East China Normal University
7.3 Gendering Biographies: Epitaphs for Tang State Masters Ruyuan and Huiguo (20 mins) Ping YAO, California State University, Los Angeles
Discussant (8 mins) Open Discussion (22 mins)
11:45-12:00 ~~~ TEA BREAK ~~~ 12:00-12:30 Plenary Session ~~~ LUNCH ~~~ 12:45-13:45 Venue: Chung Chi College Staff Club Restaurant 崇基學院教職員聯誼會會所
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 4 Abstracts
Session 1: State, Women and Religion
Moderator and discussant: Prof. Wai Ching Angela WONG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
1.1 Women’s rights, Nationalism and Religion in Republican China Elena VALUSSI, Loyola University Chicago, US
In this paper I wish to discuss the relationship between gender and religion in the Republican Period, through the analysis of newspapers articles, written by men and women. Other scholars have successfully shown that the discourse on women’s equality and women’s rights, that had been introduced mainly from Western and Japanese sources, was utilized in China to support a nationalist response to outside threats. Strong and independent women were seen as the symbol of a strong and independent China. Less analyzed is how religious discourse also used this nationalistic representation of women in its assessment and discussion of female ability to reach transcendence, spiritual liberation, or nirvana. My findings will bring a new, religious perspective to the debate over women’s rights and nationalism in Republican China.
1.2 Female Sexuality in Communist Anti-Superstition Propaganda, 1944 - 1945 (20 mins) Xiaofei KANG, George Washington University, US
Part of a larger project on gender and religion in the Chinese Communist Revolution, this paper explores the changing narratives of female sexuality in Communist anti-superstition propaganda in 1944-1945. In particular, it examines popular plays and stories created by Communist cultural workers, propaganda troupes and reformed folk storytellers in Yan’an. The paper addresses the following questions: What kind of gender vocabularies and imageries do the narratives of these stories and plays use and for what purposes? How do we contextualize the gender-laden narratives of these plays and stories in the overall party propaganda agenda of this time, in the aftermath of the Rectification Movement, when the party-state implemented a wide range of ideological, institutional, and cultural programs for the sake of a total transformation of Chinese society? In what ways does a gendered understanding of these narratives shed new light on the Communist reconstruction of Chinese religion in the twentieth-century revolution? The paper argues for a critical transformation in CCP’s approach to “superstitions” in late Yan’an years: while these anti-superstition plays and stories still followed the May Fourth iconoclastic rhetoric and aimed at reforming old customs with science, their popularity still relied heavily on traditional narratives of female sexuality, which were intrinsically connected with “feudal superstition.” The importance of these stories soon faded in the party propaganda, as female body and female sexuality became more useful propaganda tools to establish a new national myth about the party and the cult of Mao. Gendered representations of superstition in the propaganda stories of this period offer important insights into this transformation.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 5 Session 2: Women’s Sphere/Space & Agency
Moderator and discussant: Dr. CHOW Wai Yin, Chinese University of Hong Kong
2.1 Beyond the Boundary of Home: Religion, Space and Women in Hong Kong Wai Ching Angela WONG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
According to Mircea Eliade, religion is primarily structured on a sacred time and space set aside from that of the profane. Such religious space is constituted not only psychologically but also physically. Some of the most conspicuous visual representatives include the Greco-Roman Parthenon, the Byzantine Basilicas, the Islam Mosques, the Chinese temples and local ancestral halls, etc. Unfortunately, despite the transcendent quality of the religious spaces, many of them are also gender segregated. Women have either been confined to secluded quarters of worship halls or have been inhibited from admission completely. Recently, increased academic attention has been made to engender space not only in the division between the private and the public but also that women have utilized their everyday life space for religious appeal. Caroline Bynum’s study of women’s use of the kitchen and food preparation room in the medieval times has successfully made the case. Studies of the life of religious women in abbeys and nunneries, in history as well as the contemporary, have also suggested that women religious, whether of the East or the West, have turned the originally gender secluded space of many religious institutions into an alternative space of relative autonomy.
Built on the self-narratives of women in Christianity, Buddhism, Daoism and Islam in Hong Kong, I shall examine the various forms of spatial recreation by religious women across the four traditions and in/out of their highly urbanized homes. Due to the much constrained gender roles and place in the Chinese family, I shall argue that religion, both in terms of Lefebvre’s representation of space (spiritually and ideologically) and representational space (institution and architecture), has been one of the major sites for the production of women’s space as a legitimate and “safe” alternative to explore them-selves. As one woman interviewee reports, it is only in the religious space that “I find my ‘real’ life.”
2.2 The Silent Hat: Islam, Female Labour, and the Political Economy of the “Headscarf Debate” Guangtian HA, University of London, UK
From Turkey to France, from Tunisia to Germany, the issue of Muslim women’s “veil” has provoked an enormous amount of political debate and academic discussion. In this presentation, I focus on a particular kind of head cover worn by rural Hui Muslim women in northwest China, namely the maozi (lit. “hat”). I return the maozi back into the shifting contexts of female labour from the socialist period to the present, in order to examine the specific transnational politico- economic network that integrates these rural Muslim women into the West-oriented “headscarf debate”. The maozi forms a counterpoint to the conventional headscarf in numerous ways: compared to the multiple significations and indications of the headscarf, particularly its function in figuring social distance and expressing religious piety, maozi remains consistent in its style across history and social space. Rather than a proliferation of meaning, it is marked by a conspicuous lack of interpretation. In the course of grounding the maozi ethnographically and historically, I will also provide reflections on the limits and possibilities of certain strains of contemporary “post-secular” feminism in addressing the issue of the Muslim women in the global South. International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 6
Session 3: Marriage and Family
Moderator and discussant: Prof. CHOI Po King, Chinese University of Hong Kong
3.1 Rethinking the Religious Reproduction of Mothering Weishan HUANG, Chinese University of Hong Kong
In this article, I am interested in the study of the cultural reproduction of mothering in the practice of Buddhist groups in urban Shanghai. My research will explore the female development that is produced and reinvented in a Buddhist practice outside of Buddhist monastery life. How does the religious discourse nurture gender differentiation in the modern Buddhist cultivation for the Buddhist lay practice in contemporary China? What is the gendered leadership in the group? How do the “new” religious practices recreate, reinforce, or transform the traditional characteristics of mothering? How are the roles of gender and ethnic variation in the process of formation for the religious identity of local female practitioners? I will use a reformed Buddhist group, Tzu Chi Foundation, in Shanghai as a case study to look at the restored and interactive formation of gender differentiation in the group based on the transnationally introduced Buddhist practices.
3.2 Practicing Religion in Marriage: Cases from the Qing Weijing LU, University of California, San Diego, US Hong Kong Baptist University
In historical inquiry, practicing religion for married women in late imperial China has been primarily framed in terms of their personal intellectual and spiritual fulfillment. Building on this scholarship, my paper will place the issue in a different context, seeking to locate connections between marriage and women’s pursuit of spiritual life. It seeks to understand how marriage shaped women’s interest in religions (Buddhism and Daoism), and what their passions for religion reveal about their marriage. More specifically, I ask what roles marital relationship played in women’s (and men’s) religious practices and how their religious interest affected their marital relationship.
My paper will examine circumstances under which women (and to a less extent, men) turned to religion, during their marriage and after they lost their spouses. For example, it has been argued that women took interest in religion typically later in their lives, when they had fulfilled their family duties and had passed on the managerial responsibilities to the next generation of women (i.e., daughters-in-law). Evidence from the Qing period, however, indicates that their decisions to practice religion sometimes coincided with the acquisition of concubines by their husbands. While the causality between the two was not always clear (that is, if a wife’s interest in Buddhism led her husband to purchase concubines, or the other way around), one thing seems certain: the spiritual sphere she created by practicing religion freed her from wifely duties and helped reduce potential conflict in marriage. Drawing sources from biographies and poetry, the paper seeks to shed light on the complexity of women’s religious aspirations and the underlying gendered meanings.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 7 Session 4: Women’s Leadership in Religious Organization
Moderator and discussant: Prof. CHEUNG Tak Ching, Neky, University of Macau
4.1From Patient to Ambitious Organizers --- The role of Women in the Birth of a New Religion Lizhu FAN, Fudan University, China
This is an ethnographic report on the role of women in an emerging religious group in China. Specifically this is a part of preliminary study of the newly established Confucian Congregation 儒 教道坛 in Mintong County ( The name of the county is fictitious ), Fujian Province. “Confucian Congregation”, initially a folk religion providing shamanistic healing services, in past couple years, this Confucian Congregation achieved legal status as the “practice base” of the Research Council of Confucianism, which was officially registered in the county government as a civil organization. This research will focus on the personal spiritual journey of a woman named Wan Aiping (万爱平) ---- suffered from severe mental and physical problems in the beginning, after she recovered she became empowered with supernatural capacity ---- as an ambitious religious leader. This case tries to present that religious charismatic potential is encouraged for whose women who suffer from miseries either emotionally or mentally or physically; and their active involvement of providing healing services to cure patients or relieve miseries is an important approach for the development of the religious organization.
4.2 Catholic Women in the Hong Kong Church: Negotiating their Roles as Leaders and Faithful Believers Mary Mee-Yin YUEN, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Christianity has been considered legitimizing women’s suppression through its hegemonic codes and exploiting women’s religious inclinations to its advantage. However, at the same time, women are claiming their religious agency through playing important roles in the Church. It is true that women’s ordination is often employed as an importance factor when assessing women’s leadership role in the Roman Catholic Church, but it should not be the sole indicator, especially in other non-Western countries or places where women are still struggling for survival and striving for equality in many other areas. Lay women in positions of responsibility in the Church can be a force for change in society and of the institutional church and theology. Recently, Pope Francis stated that it is important for women become leaders and decision makers in the Catholic Church. Such dialogical approach is considered an opportunity for a greater recognition of women in the Catholic Church. In this paper, based on the narratives of a few Hong Kong Catholic women who resume leadership role in religious school, social service organization, and church organization, I shall discuss women’s role in the Hong Kong Catholic Church and how they negotiate their roles as leaders and faithful believers in a male-dominant hierarchical church. In the Hong Kong Catholic Church, religious and lay women, take leadership role in developing ministries or services in serving the marginalized women and men, advocating rights of workers and the poor, and teaching theology and coordinating administration in educational institutes. The comparative liberal and mixed cultural environment of both the Church and society, the need of Hong Kong society, the lack of Catholic priests, and the commitment of Catholic women contribute to the phenomenon. I shall argue that through their commitment in church ministries and their grasp of opportunities, Catholic women have expanded the space of women in the Church, and reinterpreted the features of leaders.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 8 Session 5: Women and Spiritual Practices
Moderator and discussant: Dr. TONG Sau Lin, Chinese University of Hong Kong
5.1 Women in Prayer: Praying for Blessed Happiness in Contemporary Shanghai Anna SUN, Kenyon College, US
This paper examines the gendered nature of the social life of prayer. What do people pray for when they pray for fu 福, blessed happiness, in contemporary urban China? Are there gender differences in prayers offered by men and woman? Do they pray for different things when they seek blessed happiness (求福)? Do they have different embodied prayer experience? Do they pray in different social contexts? Based on observations and interviews conducted in sacred sites of different religious traditions in Shanghai (such as Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian sites), I argue that the gendered dimension of prayers is an essential aspect of the social life of prayer, and it is something that reflects as well as reproduces the gendered nature of everyday life in contemporary Chinese society.
5.2 Home or Monasticism: Reconsidering the Religious Practice and Praxis of Minnan Caigu LIN Mei-rong, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Believers of Zhaijiao in Taiwan, whether they belong to Longhua, Jinzhuang or Xiantian sect, all proclaim themselves “home practitioner”, which means that they are Zhaijiao believers who practice at home. That is why Zhaijiao is also called “home Buddhism”, which makes a point that home practitioners may also practice, preach, hold conversion ceremonies, take disciples and confer Buddhist names. They build Zhai monasteries themselves, practising, going vegan and becoming monastic leaders themselves. This kind of “home Buddhism” is indeed very different from the orthodox Buddhism, in which monastics play the major role, while home practitioners are responsible for the observing of the “three treasures”. There is no doubt that we may see traditional Zhaijiao in Taiwan as a kind of “home Buddhism” or “home-centred Buddhism ”.
In recent years, I have begun to survey and study Minnan Caigu, realizing that the Zhai- nuns from Minnan and Taiwan share a lot of similarities. My earlier paper titled “Home-centred Buddhist Thoughts and Praxis: Minnan Caigu and Taiwan Zhaijiao as a Point of Departure” (Lin Mei-rong, Shi Xiu Ding, 2014) also tried to make sense of Minnan Caigu from the perspective of “home-centred Buddhism”. But on a second thought, I cannot but recognize the fact that, when it comes to the self-identity of Minnan Caigu, they have clearly stated that they are monastics, strictly observing abstinence. A year prior to the founding of the PRC, almost 500 Caigu in Minnan also attended such a rite of ordination of Upasampadā as Santan Dajie. Despite the lack of such an opportunity after the PRC came to power, most of them have made a Bodhisattva vow. They wear “Caigu” clothes, have a “Caigu” hairstyle, wear Buddhist shoes and practice in monastries, living a life of farming and practising. Some of their female relatives live with them, and they also adopt and bring up some homeless girls or abandoned baby girls. Many of these girls grew up influenced by the atmosphere of monastic nuns, which is `why they also became Caigu later, and together they give rise to a female family without men. The monastic life of these Minnan Caigu consists of family relationship, but in terms of practice, they are certainly monastics. This paper reconsiders the religious characteristics of Minnan Caigu , hoping to clarify the meaning of “home” and “monasticism” by analyzing the respective literature and ethnographic findings. Keywords: Minnan Caigu, Zhaijiao, Home Buddhism, Monasticism
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 9 Session 6: Women in Ritual
Moderator and Discussant: Prof. LAI Chi Tim, Chinese University of Hong Kong
6.1 The Blood Lake Complex: A Research Proposal YANG Der-Ruey, Nanjing University
The “Blood Lake Hell” or “Blood Bowl Hell” is a folk tale about how women are predestined to be punished in a special hell after their death because they cannot avoid polluting water and earth with their menstruation blood and lochia. The exact origin of the tale cannot be located, but it can be sure that it began to appear in Buddhist and Daoist texts at the turn of the 12th century and the 13th century. Afterward, it soon became a significant element in both Buddhist and Daoist death ritual for women. At least in the southern half of China, relevant rituals have for centuries been a common ingredient of women’s funeral rites everywhere despite the remarkable local diversities. Furthermore, its Buddhist form was transmitted to Japan and prevailed there for several centuries since the later part of Edo era till the end of the Second World War. This paper suggests viewing the tale and a massive amount of religious discourses and practices derived from it as the “Blood Lake complex” and then to investigate its evolution process. Through this brief historical survey, the author attempts to discern some meaningful questions the evolution process of this complex may pose to the more general history of Chinese culture. More importantly, this case is hoped to cast new light on the research about the terms and conditions of the transmission of religious idea/practice in Chinese folk society. Consequently, the paper draws out from the evolution of “Blood Lake complex” three big questions for the general history of Chinese folk culture. Firstly, what is the huge ideological shift that makes Chinese people became prone to a newly invented range of myths/rituals which imposes the stigma of “pollutant” or “sinner” upon women and why it happened? Secondly, why Buddhism and Daoism took very different approaches to the same mythic motif in a time when “the unification of the three teachings” has long been widely alleged as the main orientation of Chinese culture? Thirdly, despite the efforts of some 13th century elite Daoist priests to dilute the sense of “women’s sin” contained in the complex by pathologizing its target population and medicalizing the ritual procedure, average Chinese people, both men and women, seem to be still sticking on the old notion that stigmatizes women as polluting sinners. Why the more emancipating interpretation cannot make appeal to Chinese people including Chinese women?
6.2 Cáo É, the Filial Water Goddess: Gender and Text in the Promotion of a Two-Thousand-Year-Old Cult Robin D.S. YATES, McGill University, Canada
Decades ago, Wolfram Eberhard identified the story of Cao E as belonging to a cycle of myths centred on Shanyin concerning drowned persons who later became objects of cult. These myths, and related ones concerning drowned corpses that floated upstream and became worshipped, were typical of a broad swathe of cultures throughout central and southern China from Sichuan to the south and east coast. The cult of Cao E, one of the few local cults that survived from antiquity to the present, commemorates the suicide of a young girl whose shaman father drowned while greeting the spirit of the Hangzhou Bay tide, Wu Zixu. How and why did it survive so long? Cao E was promoted by officials and literati from the Later Han dynasty to the end of the nineteenth century as an example of supreme filial piety, thus linking a local water (tide) deity with one of the central virtues of the Confucian
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 10 tradition. This paper will draw on the extensive records preserved in two Qing-dynasty gazetteers, the Cao jiang xiaonü miaozhi, edited by Shen Zhili, preserved in the Shanghai Library (Kangxi 27, 1688) and reprinted in the Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, and the Cao E jiangzhi, compiled by Hu Fengdan (1823-1894) and reprinted in the Shuilizhi congshu, to delineate how the cult was animated and popularized by generations of calligraphers and poets, primarily male, but including some females through their textual productions, and how the cults of two later filial daughters were joined to the Cao E cult. Among the texts include writings by some of the more famous names in Chinese literature and art, such as the calligrapher Handan Chun whose text was claimed to have been copied by Wang Xizhi (321-379), the monk poet Guan Xiu (832-912), Lu You (1125-1210), the loyalist Chen Zilong (1608-1647), painter Chen Hongshou (1598-1642), and Zhu Yizun (1620-1709).
Session 7: Gender in Chinese Religious Classics
Moderator and Discussant: Prof. MAN Kit Wah, Eva, Baptist University of Hong Kong
7.1 Women and Gender in the Book of Changes Jinhua JIA, University of Macau
Based on a new interpretation of the Xian 咸 hexagram in the Book of Changes as well as its classical commentaries, this paper explores the ideas concerning the significance of gender relation and women’s role in the construction of social relations and cosmological scheme implied in this classic.
The Xian hexagram describes a process of the mutual contact and resonance between the male and the female, which leads to the formation of the husband-wife relation. Both the Xunzi 荀子 and the classical commentaries to the Book of Changes define the character xian as an early form of the character gan 感 (resonance, interaction) and interpret the Xian hexagram as a display of the relation between husband and wife. The mutual contacts of husband and wife result in not only physical senses but also psychological feelings of joy, love, harmony, and resonance. The harmonious, resonant relation of husband and wife is further regarded as “the beginning of human relations” 人倫之始 and “the root source for the relations between lord and minister or father and son” 君臣父子之本. If the Way of the relation between husband and wife is correct, all other human relations will follow suit and become correct as well. Modelled on the resonant relation of husband and wife, the classical commentaries further describe the myriad things as being generated from the resonant interaction between yin and yang or heaven and earth.
From the Xian hexagram and its commentaries, we see that the gender relation of husband and wife is regarded as the root of other human relations and the pattern for cosmological structure. It is also important to notice that in the husband-wife relation, the mutual resonance, not the inferiority of the wife to the husband, is emphasized.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 11
7.2 Inner Sage Outer Sex: Genuine Pretending and Gender Neutrality in the Zhuangzi Hans-Georg MOELLER, University of Macau
Paul J. D'AMBROSIO, East China Normal University, China
Ever since Sima Qian’s coupling of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi as “Daoist,” similarities between the two texts have been underscored. But while many of the general arguments and specific concepts in the Daodejing are echoed in the Zhuangzi, there are some important disparities between these classics. Perhaps one of the most glaring differences relates to the Daodejing’s evaluation of the value of women. It is the only major pre-Qin work to constantly point to traditionally “female” traits as superior to their male counterparts. The Daodejing’s attitude can be broadly described as upholding yin over yang, and has often been seen as proof for the existence of feminist trends in the Chinese tradition.
Perhaps surprisingly the Zhuangzi does not develop this feature of the Daodejing. “Female” characteristics are rarely explicitly addressed in this text. However, the Zhuangzi’s approach to the relationship between the individual and society, or the person and social roles, provides a foundation for rethinking the dynamics of gender and sex. According to what we call the “Genuine Pretending” model, the Zhuangzi can be interpreted as a resource for questioning the validity of gender roles. Indeed, “Genuine Pretending” does not support a definite commitment to what it means to be male or female, man or woman. Instead it allows the individual, regardless of sex or gender, to resist external definitions as having bearing on one’s identity, and thus to be free to either reject or comply with them in action. This approach lets the individual exist within social expectations–including not only broad designations such as “male” and “female, but also more nuanced ones such as “powerful woman” (nü qiangren) or “left-over woman” (sheng nü)–without being limited by them.
7.3 Gendering Biographies: Epitaphs for Tang State Masters Ruyuan and Huiguo Ping YAO, California State University, Los Angeles, US
This paper presents a comparative analysis of two Tang epitaphs, one for nun Ruyuan 如願 (700-775) and the other monk Huiguo 惠果 (746-805), both were conferred the title of State Master (guoshi 國師), the highest title within Buddhist order. Ruyuan entered the order at the age of 9, was fully ordained at the age of 19, and was later appointed as one of the ten lintans 臨壇 (Altar Presiding) of the capital Chang’ an with the privilege to ordain novices. During her life time, Master Ruyuan traveled, lectured, organized various religious events, and had a large group of followers who worshiped her as their religious leader. Master Huiguo, also entered the order at age of 9, would eventually became the seventh patriarch of the Vajrayana lineage and the teacher of Kukai, founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. The life experiences of Ruyuan and Huiguo as well as the commemoratory texts dedicated to them provided us with excellent sources in exploring the intermingling and intricacy of religion, power, and gender in Tang China.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 12
Free half-day Local Tour (19 Dec)
(Opt ional) Free half-day Local Tour: Visiting Chi Lin Nunnery, Nan Lian Garden & Wong Tai Sin Temple
Coach from CUHK to Chi Lin Nunnery (志蓮淨苑) & Nan Lian Garden (南蓮 13:45 -14:30 苑池) Visiting Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden with English Guided tour 14:30 -16:30 (Volunteer of Chi Nin Nunnery) 16:30 -16:45 Coach to Wong Tai Sin Temple (黃大仙廟) 16:45 -17:45 Visiting Wong Tai Sin Temple 17:45 -18:00 Coach to Nan Lian Garden for dinner
18:00 -19:30 Dinner at Chi Lin Vegetarian (志蓮素齋) 19:30 -20:00 Coach from Nan Lian Garden to University Guest House
Chi Lin Nunnery(志蓮淨苑)
Chi Lin Nunnery is a large Buddhist temple complex located in Diamond Hill, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Covering a space of more than 33,000 square metres (360,000 sq ft), the temple complex includes a nunnery, temple halls, Chinese gardens, visitor's hostels and a vegetarian restaurant. The temple halls have statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha, the goddess of mercy Guanyin and other bodhisattvas. These statues are made from gold, clay, wood and stone.
The Chi Lin Nunnery was founded in 1934 but was rebuilt in the 1990s following the style of Tang Dynasty traditional Chinese architecture. The present-day buildings are wood frame buildings built without the use of any iron nails. This construction is based on traditional Chinese architectural techniques dating from the Tang Dynasty that uses special interlocking systems cut into the wood to hold them in place. The Chi Lin Nunnery buildings are the only buildings to be built in this style in modern-day Hong Kong.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 13 Scenery 天王殿
天王殿
萬佛塔
大雄殿
萬佛塔
[Source] Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Lin_Nunnery 東門 Official website of Chi Lin Nunnery http://www.chilin.org/ International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 14 Nan Lian Garden (南蓮苑池)
About Nan Lian Garden
The Garden is a designated public park, with an area of 35,000 square metres. It was designed and built by the Chi Lin Nunnery, entrusted by the Government, and is opened to the public in November 2006. It is currently managed by the Chi Lin Nunnery, also entrusted by the Government.
The Garden is built in the classical style of the Tang Dynasty (618 AD to 907 AD), on the blue print of Jiangshouju, the only Tang landscape garden the original layout of which can still be placed and traced today, and the shape of which bears a significant resemblance to the Garden site. Hills and rocks, waters, plants and timber structures are built and arranged according to classical Tang style and rules, accommodating the local environment, and the best view of the sprawling mountain range to the north is taken as the seamless backdrop.
Garden Scenery
Octagonal pavilion Long Man Lou (Dragon Gate To wer)
Wisdom Pavilion Song Cha Xie
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Blue Po nd Chi Lin Vegetarian
Garden Route
Nan Lian Garden is built in the classical style of Tang Dynasty. Hillocks, rocks, waters, plants and timber structures are built and placed according to rules and methods of Tang style. The design of the Garden is based on the classical one-way circular route. The Garden route will take one through the best views of the Garden. Visitors will be able to enjoy and appreciate the changing scenes as they amble along.
The Garden Route sets off from the Main Gate, passing the Forecourt, turning north into Myrtle Path, en-route Pine Path South and, via Lunar Reflection Terrace, Pine Path East to reach Lotus Terrace along Pine Path North. Visitors will leave the Garden at North Gate East.
Visitors are advised to follow the indications and walk along the one-way circular route starting from the Main Gate, ending at North Gate East. Touring the Garden with attention to specific scenic points will take about two hours. A leisurely walk along the route will last approximately an hour.
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 16 Chi Lin Vegetarian (志蓮 素齋)
Chi Lin Nunnery which operates Chi Lin Vegetarian the vegetarian restaurant in the Long Men Lou of Nan Lian Garden has a long history in its association with vegetarian food culture. As a charitable organization, it started with providing wholesome vegetarian meals to the needed in post war Hong Kong more than fifty years ago. With the progressing of society in the last few decades, the Chi Lin kitchen has developed a unique school of contemporary vegetarian food culture which churns out healthy and tasty food for the discerning diner. It does so by combining quality natural ingredients with innovative preparation methods – creating simplicity out of sophistication. And by complementing nutrition and flavour with serving elegance, the eye, the body and the palate are satisfied at the same time.
The Chi Lin kitchen team spares no effort in sourcing timely seasonal freshes and turn out classic dishes as well as innovations out of rare fungus and precious mushrooms, vegetables in variety, seasonal fruits, tofus – all prepared in the highest standards with matching fine herbs and sauces, under the strict supervision of the Chi Lin master chefs.
[Source] Official website of Nan Lian Garden http://www.nanliangarden.org/information.php?ss=30
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 17 Wong Tai Sin Temple (黃大仙廟)
The Wong Tai Sin Temple’s claim to ‘make every wish come true upon request’ might have something to do with its popularity. Home to three religions (Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism) its natural setting and beautifully ornamented buildings make it as much a scenic attraction as an important religious centre.
The temple commemorates the famous monk of yore, Wong Tai Sin (also known as Huang Chu-ping), who was born in the 4th century and became a deity at Heng Shan (Red Pine Hill). In 1915, Taoist priest Liang Ren-an carried a sacred portrait of Wong Tai Sin from Guangdong in southern China to Hong Kong. Now housing this precious portrait, the Wong Tai Sin Temple is where worshippers pray for good fortune through offerings, divine guidance and fortune telling.
Feng Shui enthusiasts may notice structures representing the five geomantic elements: the Bronze Pavilion (metal); the Archives Hall (wood); the Yuk Yik Fountain (water); the Yue Heung Shrine (fire), where the Buddha of the Lighting Lamp is worshipped; and the Earth Wall (earth). Other areas of the complex include the Three Saints Hall, the Confucian Hall and the extravagantly colourful Good Wish Garden that is lavishly decorated with chinoiserie.
Scen er y
The Main Altar
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 18 Yue Heung Shrine
Taisui Yuenchen Hall Bronze Pavilion
Statue of Yuelao and Couples
Yuk Yik Fountain
[Source] Discovery Hong Kong http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/highlight-attractions/top-10/sik-sik-yuen-wong-tai-sin- temple.jsp#ixzz3rolRCUuq The official website of Sik Sik Yuen http://www1.siksikyuen.org.hk/en/wong-tai-sin-temple/visiting-wts-temple
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Acknowledgement
Institute of Chinese Studies
Faculty of Arts, CUHK
Chung Chi College, CUHK
Gender Research Centre, CUHK
Department of Philosophy
Conference Organising Committee Members
Chair
Prof. Wai Ching, Angela WONG (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Members (in alphabetical order)
Prof. Weishan HUANG (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Prof. Jinhua JIA (University of Macau)
Dr. Xiaofei KANG (George Washington University)
Dr. Yao PING (California State University, Los Angeles)
Dr. Elena VALUSSI (Loyola University Chicago)
International Forum on Gender and Religion in China: A Dialogue between Texts and Contexts 2015, CUHK P. 20 List of Participants Surname Name Department Institution Country
D'AMBROSI Paul Department of Philosophy East China Normal University China O
Fudan University China FAN Lizhu Department of Sociology
HA Guangtian Department of Music University of London UK
Department of Cultural The Chinese University of Hong HUANG Weishan HK and Religious Studies Kong
Philosophy and Religious University of Macau JIA Jinhua Macau Studies Program
USA KANG Xiaofei Department of Religion George Washington University
LIN Mei-rong Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica Taiwan
University of California, San USA / LU Weijing Department of History Diego / HK Baptist University of Hong Kong Philosophy and Religious University of Macau Macau MOELLER Hans-Georg Studies Program
USA SUN Anna Sociology Kenyon College
Elena USA VALUSSI Department of History Loyola University Chicago
The Chinese University of Hong Wai Ching Department of Cultural WONG Kong HK Angela and Religious Studies
Institute of Social / Nanjing University China YANG Der-Ruey Cultural Anthropology
California State University, USA YAO Ping Department of History Los Angeles East Asian Studies & YATES Robin D.S. History and Classical McGill University Canada Studies Department of Cultural and Religious Studies / The Chinese University of Hong YUEN Mee-Yin Mary HK Centre for Catholic Kong Studies
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Conference Secretariat
Department of Cultural and Religious Studies (CRS)
Faculty of Arts Room 309, Tsang Shiu Tim Bldg, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, HONG KONG
Contact Person: HUI Pui Lam, Jodie Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.crs.cuhk.edu.hk/en/genderandreligion.html Tel: (852) 3943-7659 / (852) 9689-1089
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