Revisiting "the Kingdom of Daughters": Gender Discourse on Flowers in the Mirror from the Middle Qing
Resource
臺大歷史學報, 28, 127-156
Journal
臺大歷史學報
Journal Issue
28
Pages
127-156
Date Issued
2001-12
Date
2001-12
Author(s)
Li, R.Y.
Abstract
Because of Hu Shi’s interpretation during the May-fourth era, Li Ruzhen’s novel, Flowers in the Mirror (Jing-hua Yuan), has been regarded as a forerunner of the advocacy of women’s rights in classical literature and as having discovered the problems of women’s plight in traditional China. This article attempts to look over the various readings of Flowers in the Mirror from the readers of different eras and positions, in order to realize how this gender discourse was constructed on the basis of the interpretation of classical texts with contemporary concerns, and has kept its effectiveness even now.
The main question the author intends to pursue in this article is: how do the two assumptions, the essentialist “western” and the essentialist “tradition”, underlying the construction of feminist discourse from late Qing to May-fourth era, impinge on our evaluation of historical documents. This kind of discourse, derived from their contemporary concern, has great effectiveness, and causes the subsequent readers, not only to face the text itself, but also to converse with the readers of May-fourth era and late Qing.
The main question the author intends to pursue in this article is: how do the two assumptions, the essentialist “western” and the essentialist “tradition”, underlying the construction of feminist discourse from late Qing to May-fourth era, impinge on our evaluation of historical documents. This kind of discourse, derived from their contemporary concern, has great effectiveness, and causes the subsequent readers, not only to face the text itself, but also to converse with the readers of May-fourth era and late Qing.
Subjects
鏡花緣
性別論述
五四時期
反傳統
Flowers in the Mirrors (Jing-hua Yuan)
gender discourse
May-fourth era
anti-traditionalism
Type
journal article