THE TANCI FICTION JING ZHONG ZHUAN by YU ZHANG A
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THE FEMALE REWRITING OF GRAND HISTORY: THE TANCI FICTION JING ZHONG ZHUAN by YU ZHANG 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 June 2013 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Yu Zhang Title: The Female Rewriting of Grand History: The Tanci Fiction Jing zhong zhuan 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 Tze-lan Sang Core Member Yugen Wang Core Member Bryna Goodman Institutional Representative and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research and Innovation; Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2013 ii © 2013 Yu Zhang iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Yu Zhang Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures June 2013 Title: The Female Rewriting of Grand History: The Tanci Fiction Jing zhong zhuan This dissertation has examined the tanci fiction Jing zhong zhuan, or A Biography of Dedication and Loyalty, authored by a gentry woman writer Zhou Yingfang in the late nineteenth century. I argue that by adapting the well-known patriotic story of General Yue Fei in Chinese history, Zhou Yingfang suggests new directions in grand historical narrative in her own voice and from her own perspective. Negotiating the writing conventions of earlier legends, she turns the stereotyped masculine image of Yue Fei into a hero in both public and domestic settings. In addition, she adds many detailed episodes from Yue Fei’s family life and portrays virtuous women in a chaotic historical period, paralleling the conventional narration of wars and politics. Although often (mis)read as a text that inspires nationalism, Jing zhong zhuan actually redefines significant values in late imperial China, including the importance of family and the complex relation between filial piety and political loyalty. The tanci also enriches the notions of female virtues, expanding them from chastity to beauty, learning and management skills. Employing tanci, a unique genre that is closely associated with and quite dominated by women, Zhou Yingfang demonstrates her gendered consciousness in relationship to late nineteenth- century Confucian family dynamics and her self-representation and literary engagement within grand historical narratives. My dissertation sheds light on the dynamics between iv women’s writing and historiography, as well as on the discourses of patriotism and emerging nationalism at the turn of the twentieth-century in China. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Yu Zhang GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, East Asian Languages and Literatures, 2013, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Chinese Literature, 2004, Shaanxi Normal University Bachelor of Arts, Chinese Language and Literature, 2001, Shaanxi Normal University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Chinese Literature Gender Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, University of North Dakota, 2012-2013 Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, 2007-2012 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Dissertation Fellowship, Oregon Humanities Center, University of Oregon, 2011-12 Graduate Research Grant, Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon, 2011-12 vi Travel Grant, Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon, 2011-12 Small Professional Grant, Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Oregon, 2010-11 Provincial Graduate Student Excellence Award, Shaanxi Province, China, 2004 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I cannot express enough thanks to my committee for their ongoing assistance and encouragement. Dr. Maram Epstein, my committee chair, provides strict academic training and careful advising, also shows great patience and tremendous support during my years at the University of Oregon. I am forever indebted for her mentoring and kindness. Dr. Bryna Goodman plays a crucial role in helping me feel more positive and confident about my graduate study in the US. She also opens up my vision of literature from a historian’s perspective. Dr. Tze-lan Deborah Sang and Dr. Yugen Wang, who decided to admit me into the program six years ago, are wonderful models for me as scholars and professors. I offer my sincere appreciations for the learning opportunities they provided. My completion of this project could not have been accomplished without the continued support from other professors: Steven W. Durrant, Kaori Idemaru, Ian McNeely, Judith Raiskin, Ellen Scott, Jason Webb, Lisa Wolverton, and Jean Yuanpeng Wu. The dissertation also receives generous funding from the following organizations at the University of Oregon: the Oregon Humanities Center, the Center for the Study of Women in Society, and the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies. Thanks to my friends and colleagues at the University of Oregon, the University of North Dakota, and Shanghai, especially Lenore Szekely and Victor Li. Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my parents and family in Shanghai, who never hold me back, and always encourage me to take new adventures in life. viii To my beloved parents. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Exploring Women’s Writing in Late Nineteenth-century China ........................... 2 Tanci and Women-authored Tanci Fiction ............................................................ 9 ZhouYingfang: A Gentry Woman Writer ............................................................. 24 In Her Own Image: The Construction of Self-Representation in Jing zhong zhuan ................................................................................................................... 39 The Chapters .......................................................................................................... 46 II. FROM TIANXIA TO TIANSHANG: THE STRUCTURAL REVISIONS OF JING ZHONG ZHUAN ........................................................................................... 50 General Yue Fei: Circulation as the Symbol of Dedication and Loyalty .............. 51 The Tanci Fiction Jing zhong zhuan ...................................................................... 59 From Tianxia to Tianshang: The Immortal Request of Jing zhong zhuan ............ 65 Language Innovation in Jing zhong zhuan ............................................................ 79 1. Verse and Prose.................................................................................... 79 2. The Performative Features ................................................................... 84 3. Unrefined Language............................................................................. 86 Conclusion: Jing zhong zhuan as a Sequel ............................................................ 88 III. CELEBRATION OF WOMEN’S VIRTUES IN DETAIL ................................... 95 Beauty and Learning ............................................................................................ 99 Women’s Management Skills .............................................................................. 105 1. Women in a Time of Family Calamity ................................................ 105 2. The Utopia of Domestic Details: Banquets, Weddings, and Childbirths ....................................................................................... 108 Womanhood, Power, and Authority .................................................................... 124 Cross-boundary and Martyred Women ................................................................ 130 Women in the Public Sphere................................................................................ 134 1. The Sword and the Needle: Liang Hongyu and Miss Yao .................. 134 2. Lady Wang: The Opposite of a Virtuous Woman ............................... 140 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 142 IV. THE REORIENTING OF MASCULINE HEROES: CONVENTION AND RENOVATION ..................................................................................................... 144 The New Yue Fei: A Hero Both in the Court and in the Family ......................... 145 1. The Martial Hero with Scholarly Charm ............................................. 146 2. The Sentimental Hero .......................................................................... 153 3. The Family-Bond Hero ........................................................................ 159 3.1. Yue Fei as a Kind Father .................................................................. 160 x Chapter Page 3.2. Yue Fei as a Loyal Husband ............................................................... 162 3.3. Yue Fei as a Filial Son (-in-Law) ...................................................... 170 3.4. Filial Piety and Loyalty: The Management of Moral Competition .... 177 Other Military Heroes with Tender Hearts .......................................................... 182 1. Yue Yun ..............................................................................................