Chastity, State and Local Society: A Study on Shrines to the Chaste and Filial (Jiexiao Ci) in the Qing Dynasty

Based on the official reward system of female chastity, shrines to the Chaste and Filial (Jiexiao Ci節孝祠) had occupied a part of local society through the establishment on the basic level of society by the system of state ritual, and had become a junction of power of state, local society and discourse on chastity. This essay attempts to observe how the three different powers had interacted with each other in the Qing dynasty on research of the development of shrines to the Chaste and Filial. The birth of shrines to the Chaste and Filial represented the systemization, normalization and centralization of building shrines for chaste and heroic women by the state. Even in the Ming dynasty, when the official reward system (jingbiao旌表) of female chastity has achieved a new high level, the central government only used enshrining (cisi祠祀) as a supplement to the official reward system, while local officers were more positive in enshrining. Until the Qing dynasty, chaste and heroic women had become an important piece of the construction of the system of state ritual under the forceful sense of purpose of Yongzheng Emperor, whose personal will was delivered to people on the basic level of society through this system, and therefore had increased power of state in local society as well as shortened the distance between the authority and the basic level of society. The greatest distinction between the Ming and the Qing dynasty was that the Qing government had instituted shrines to the Chaste and Filial into the official reward system of female chastity, and had therefore created a regular way for ordinary women to fit in state rituals. With constituted official reward system of female chastity, enshrining chaste and heroic women by the state had become a regular collective ritual other than random individual case. The position of shrines to the Chaste and Filial had been adjusted in response to the evolvement of the official reward system of female chastity during the Qing dynasty. Although the official reward system of female chastity in the Qing dynasty had mostly inherited the system of Ming, concerning extensive realm and the ethnic diversity of the empire, the Qing government had deliberately extended the scope of application and political function of the system in order to satisfy different governing needs in varying situations. When the influence of the official reward system of female chastity had been increased, it had been hierarchized to maintain political and social order as well. Chaste and heroic women of the Qing Empire were distinguished and sequenced deliberately according to the two standards of status of women and of chaste and heroic behavior. This hierarchization program of female morality had reached its peak during the governance of Qianlong Emperor, and therefore, shrines to the Chaste and Filial had gradually ranked highest among the official reward system of female chastity. This is a new product of combination of worship of chastity and strategy of governance. However, the inflation and increased population since Qianlong Emperor had greatly raised the administrative cost of local governance while local financial system remain stagnant, thus influenced shrines to the Chaste and Filial that were not protected by government budget. The civil financial resource had gradually replaced the official one to become the primary funds of the shrines. The frequent wars during nineteenth century increased the reliance on civil resource of state. Not only the operation of shrines but the leadership of the official reward system of female chastity was transferred into the hands of local elite, especially in Jiangnan, the core of economy and culture of the Qing Empire. The dense population of Confucian scholars and superior economic condition had become fertile soil on which the worship of chastity grew flourishing. Under increased social transformation and turmoil, practice of female chastity could particularly satisfy the desire and motive of different people, hence the social network of worship of chastity had reached a unprecedented scale. The loose of the official reward system of female chastity had expanded the base of practitioners of shrines to the Chaste and Filial. Increased descendants of the Chaste and Filial improved systemization and organization inside the shrines, and the legitimacy of state enshrining ritual guaranteed that the practitioners could gather resource and consensus legitimately. It helped the practitioners to expand larger space of development and then laid a foundation which was sufficient to protect their own rights against unfair intervention of state. The development of shrines to the Chaste and Filial of Jingjiang had clearly displayed how state institution was diverted by local society, and had reflected the rise and fall of state power from the mid Qing to the late Qing dynasty. When official finance could not afford funds of shrines stably, this platform established by state would possibly become a tool of helping local development and serving local interest, not a vassal of government. However, the consensus and advocacy of gender order also stroke a balance between state and local society. It shows that how far discourse on chastity had penetrated and spread in Qing society, even became a supporting pillar of social order.