Historical Changes And Cultural Implications Of Female Characters In Chinese Mermaid Stories

The story of "Mermaid" has long been one of the most romantic and mysterious literary and artistic narrative works.It plays a significant role in myths and legends since the pre Qin period,the strange stories since the Han Dynasty,as well as the note novels starting from the Ming and Qing dynasties.From the evolution of the mermaid’s image,we can roughly see the evolution of ancient Chinese religious beliefs and gender relations.Moreover,it can be compared as a combination of the complex social and cultural system,which embraces religion,political and social background as well as gender relations.Therefore,it is of positive significance to study the interaction between literary activities and social reality based on the relevant literature about the mermaid image’s evolution.This paper is divided into five parts.The first part is the introduction,which takes the intention of the author’s research as the starting point,explains the research motivation.On the basis of reviewing the current academic research related to Mermaid,it introduces the research orientation and theoretical methods adopted.At last,it briefly describes the main viewpoints of each chapter and other research methods.In the first chapter,the author discusses relevant literary works based on different times.It starts from the Classic of Mountains and Rivers,introduces the earliest written records of the mermaid image.Later,it analyzes and summarizes the living conditions,thinking modes and thoughts together with feelings of the primitive people reflected in the image of mermaid,thus explaining it and the natural "mythological apperception" of women.What’s more,it points out the image of mermaid and its prototype in the Classic of Mountains and Rivers,so as to emphasize the importance and basic function of mermaid image in later generations.As for the second chapter,it is based on the mermaid stories of Han,Wei and Six Dynasties,supplemented by historical records,literati poems and other mermaid relatedmaterials.Starting from the text itself,it demonstrates that as patriarchal society develops,the theory of yin and Yang(five elements)and the theory of heaven and earth of Yi school are gradually mixed into one.Meanwhile,the female personality of mermaid becomes stronger,and it is able to weave and transform tears into pearls.As a result,mermaid completed a significant beautification and female personification at that moment.The third chapter is still based on the traditional literature collation,showing that since the Tang Dynasty,the image of mermaid has been influenced by both Buddhist narrative literature and Taoist thought.The image of mermaid presents a completely different two-line development trend in the strange stories.On the one hand,the mermaid image develops along a gentle but not aggressive way,which can not only transform tears into pearls but also spin,thus becoming the "South mermaid" who is omnipotent and merely satisfying bachelors’ sexual desires.The other one develops along the direction of Taoism.On the basis of mixing with the image of Snake Girl in the Buddhist story,combined with the concepts of "getting old and proficient" and "art in the room",the horrible image of "North mermaid" is achieved.This paper discusses why the image of mermaid in Tang Dynasty appears unprecedented and unique,and reflects the diversity of fashion at that time.The fourth chapter discusses that mermaid image has evolved into a kind of weak mermaid,which bears the nature of sexual immorality after the Song Dynasty.It proves that the transformation of this image is actually symbolizing the weakening of women in Song Dynasty,and reflects the integration of Confucian Female Ethics and the value of Chinese Buddhism "men are superior than women".At present,when the academic circles trace back to the origin of the mermaid narrative,discuss the mythical archetype of the mermaid image,and analyze the psychological elements contained in it from the perspective of religion and folk custom,they seldom discuss the complicated and diverse sexual relations in the mermaid literature narrative.Therefore,this paper takes the three main topics in Foucault’s Philosophy--the view of discourse / power / body,which also serve as the three most closely related points of Foucault’s postmodern thoughts and feminist criticism,revealing the perfect and delicate discourse / power / body structure of "Mermaid" in its gender and image formation.On the other hand,"gender" is not only the basic element of gender relations,but also the convergence point of other related topics.Meanwhile,the rise and development of feminist theory happen to provide us with a new perspective.Moreover,based on the archetypal analysis theory,there aremany entanglements of consciousness / subconsciousness,rationality / irrationality hidden behind the discussion of mermaid stories,and we are allowed to develop a deeper understanding of human life.Therefore,according to the feminist standpoint,this paper adopts Foucault’s theory and archetypal theory to analyze and criticize the image of mermaid,focuses on the interaction between literary texts and cultural connotations against different social,historical,cultural and religious backgrounds.Consequently,it strives to link and explain the relationship between male gaze power,female social status and mermaid image in mermaid stories.