Flowers in the Mirror: an exploration into the 19th century Chinese psyche regarding women in power through the novel Jinghua yuan. By Wan-hsuan Cheng A Sub-thesis for the Degree of Master of Arts (Asian Studies) The Australian National University March 2007 This sub-thesis is my own work and that all sources used have been acknowledged. Ö V Wan-hsuan Cheng Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................................... I INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1 THE NOVEL - JINGHUA YUAN...................................................................................................... 5 A Synopsis of the novel.................................................................................................................7 THE PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE NOVEL............................................................................11 Socio/politico/economic background when novel was written.......................................17 Domestic......................................................................................................................................17 Foreign......................................................................................................................................... 19 LIRUZHEN.........................................................................................................................................23 The scholarly life of Li Ruzhen...............................................................................................24 Socio-cultural background Li Ruzhen lived in ...................................................................30 THE ISSUE OF POWER AND THE ISSUE OF GENDER.......................................................33 A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF POWER.................................................................................................33 The type ofpower projection.......................................................................................................34 Power and gender........................................................................................................................ 38 A NINETEENTH CENTURY CHINESE FRAMEWORK OF WOMANHOOD................... 43 The Ideal Role of Women in Jinghua yuan.............................................................................. 43 With Talent...................................................................................................................................43 With Confucian value.................................................................................................................. 50 A Framework of Womanhood................................................................................................... 53 Education.....................................................................................................................................53 Politics......................................................................................................................................... 56 Welfare......................................................................................................................................... 61 DISCUSSION: CHINESE WOMEN IN POWER: JUST FLOWERS IN A MIRROR?.......69 Role of Xiwang mu (Queen Mother of the West)................................................................69 Historical Background o f the Queen Mother o f the West..........................................................70 Role of Empress Wu Zetian.........................................................................................................80 Wu Zetian as a historical figure................................................................................................. 80 The Portrayal o f Wu Zetian in Jinghua yuan............................................................................ 86 Role of the King of the Kingdom of Women....................,................................................. 104 Background o f the Kingdom o f Women....................................................................................104 Role of Baihua xianzi (Fairy of a Hundred Flowers) .........................................................110 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................ 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................120 Acknowledgments Thank God. In writing this sub-thesis, I would like to express my deep appreciation to Dr. Colin Jeffcott for his enthusiastic encouragement, advice, patience, understanding and assistance in the editorial work throughout my sub-thesis. Thanks also to Dr. Louise Edwards for her helpful and assistance comments on the early stage of my sub-thesis even thought she had a very hectic schedule at that time. Finally, not the least, I am indebted to my family for their support and guidance. This sub-thesis is affectionately dedicated to my father, Mr. Hung-kuang Cheng. I Introduction Women play a key role in our society today. They make up approximately half of every society. As such, the notion of the status of women gradually began to be scrutinised in the past few decades.1 2 Many observations have shown that in most patriarchal societies, women are subconsciously influenced to accept the disadvantaged, “lower” positions and statuses that they possess in the social, 2 economic and political sphere. Since the Emperor Han Wudi 141-87 BC), the Chinese held the Confucian doctrine as a rather influential reference point for the needs of daily socialising patterns and also as a yardstick for social ordering, which became the fundamental guidelines for both men and women regarding daily lifestyles and behaviours as well.3 The Confucian concept of men and women - though not homogeneously practiced through time and space in the Chinese societies4 and even less frequently practiced in modem Chinese societies - is a mode of complementing each other. Men “rule” the “outside”; and woman, the “inside”, 1 Cal Clark and Rose J Lee, "Women's Status in East Asia," in Democracy and the Status o f Women in East Asia, ed. Rose J Lee and C Clark (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publisher, 2000), p. 1. 2 Ibid. 3 William Theodore De Bary, Nobility and Civility: Asian ideals o f leaderships and the common good (Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press, 2004), p.7. 4 J. Holmgren, "Myth, Fantasy or Scholarship: Images of the Status of Women in Traditional China," The Australian Journal o f Chinese Affairs, no. 6 (July 1981). 1 with respect to domestic living. However, men have a greater entitlement, allowing them to access both the “inside” and the “outside” of the household whereas women were presumed to satisfy their role while being confined within the household.3 *5 The novel Jinghua yuan is considered to be one of the best known, and is also the most representative scholarly novels by far.6 The storyline is set in the seventh century, which is under the leadership of Empress Wu Zetian (^M’J who was the one and only Chinese female leader in Chinese history. Li Ruzhen (^ ty) uses this character to display the awareness of the women’s issues that he had come to discover. Empress Wu undertook the key initiatives to promote women position in the story.7 Empress Wu Zetian8 was the only high profile leader who was also rather widely acknowledged as a capable Chinese female leader in history. She was involved in governing the empire in both direct and indirect ways. Interestingly 3 Wendy Larson, Women and Writing in Modern China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), p.2. 6 Lin Lian-hsiang "Jinghua yuan jiegou tansuo ifc jt ," Chung-wai wen-hsueh 9, no. 8 (1981): pp. 189-190. Frederick P. Brandauer, "Women in the Ching-hua yuan: Emancipation toward a Confucian Ideal," Journal of Asian Studies 36, no. 4 (August 1977): p.648. 8 Empress Wu Zetian (AD 624-705) usurped the throne of Tang Dynasty and changed the name of the dynasty to Zhou (AD 690-705) for fifteen years. 2 though, throughout the last few decades, there have been a variety of perspectives amongst critics and academic papers with respect to events happening during her reign.9 Many novels in the late imperial era do explore the issue of women’s status in society. Interestingly, Jinghua yuan, is perhaps the first novel to explore the notion of women in position in public life. Moreover, the novel reflects the restrictions that the traditional women faced daily and showed the author’s advocacies on women’s emancipation through education and imperial examinations. Fiction usually defines a type of literature that describes imaginary events and people. However, fiction may not purely be a pretence narrative under the perception of an author. The author somehow indicates his opinions towards his “reality world” either directly or indirectly in the novel.10 As a result, Jinghua yuan become a source that helps one to understand the society of mid-Qing and the author’s possible state of mind. The intention of this paper is to explore the novel Jinghua yuan as some sort 9 Wang Shuanghuai "Lidai dui Wu Zetian de pingjia t f d f Renwen Zazhi, no. 3 (1996): pp.69-74. 10 Y.W. Ma, "Fiction," in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. William H. Jr. Nienhauser (Bloomington: Indiana