The American Sinologist Dorothy Ko' Studies On Chinese Women Of The South Of The Yangtze At The Transitional Period Of Ming And Qing Dynasty

As one representative member of American sinologists, Dorothy Ko has made great efforts to study Chinese women of the south of the Yangtze at the transitional period of Ming and Qing Dynasty by gender theory and has produced abundant research results, which directly leads the author to start this paper.First of all, the part of introduction helps to explain several basic problems for the avoidance of doubt. Secondly, Chapter One of this paper concludes the influence on the women studies of the modern times by the May 4th view and presents the Chinese scholars' current researches of this field. In the next place, Chapter One also reveals the changes of gender study when applied to China's study and displays the main research results brought forward by Dorothy Ko. Thirdly, Chapter Two of this paper is intended to analyze the view of courtesan poets from outer quarters and lady poets from inner quarters raised by Dorothy Ko. On the basis of this, this part explores her view on the relationship between courtesan and lady poets. In the end, Chapter Three of this paper displays her creative points of view on footbinding at the transitional period of Ming and Qing Dynasty, which is carried out at the aspects of men's imagination in writing and women's practice in body. Throughout the analysis mentioned above, we find a lot of differences in the researches between Dorothy Ko and Chinese scholars. Although some of her points of view need to be corrected, Dorothy Ko's tolerance of low-ranked women poets and special understanding of foot bound women deserve our consideration and learning.