Female Imagination In The Novels Of Late Qing Dynasty (1902-1911)

The beginning of 20th century is an important period for the Chinese literature to turn to the modern norm from the traditional norm, as well as an important period for Chinese men of letters to become modern intellectuals from the traditional literary men. The New Novel began in 1902 is an endeavor to realize the modernization of literature and of literary men, which is carried out by the modern men of letters through endowing literary imagination a new function of national subject, it is also an endeavor to centralize the once marginalized men of letters and literature. What is worth noting is that the marginalized female at that time also tried to centralize their position, through the import of western feminist theory, the abolishing of foot binding, as well as women's schooling movement. The particularly spacious space of imagination at this time provides the New Novel with an ideal direction to explore new political imagination. Female images in literature is surpassed and endowed with multiple modern significances through the New Novel.However, modern transformation of literature and intellectual's identity change are not realized through New Novel. With such a pragmatic political dimension, New Novel fails to realize its literary achievement. The playfulness and commercial tendency appeared in the modernization of literature develop with it another direction of literary modernization, which after the a short period of political tendency gets the upper-hand and turns the New Novel into the unpolitical popular romance, winding up at last with the Literary School of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly. The process of the New Novel's politicalization and depoliticalization greatly stimulates the female imagination of that time period. The experimental nature of the New Novel can also tolerate the multiple imagination of the new woman and thus add to the gallery of female images in modern literature some fresh and multiple faces. The question of woman's liberation lasting for a century thereafter was also raised at that time, although the New Novel was not capable of providing satisfactory solutions yet.The immature development of gender consciousness and gender discourse of late Qing Dynasty pitifully ended at the novel of mandarin duck and butterfly with romance as its major characteristic and failed to realize its modern transformation. In the history of late and modern history of Chinese literature, the novel of mandarin duck and butterfly occupies a time that is most aloof from politics and nearest to commerce. Romantic novel of late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China initiated the tradition of popular urban literature. Earlier than the country populace reached by the May Fourth literature, such romantic novels moved toward the urban populace. The significance of romantic novels is that it established the minor tradition of modern literature. In terms of gender discourse, however, romantic novels write off many progressive elements in the feminist movement in late Qing Dynasty and replace fullness with singularity. What is positive in regards of feminist movement in late Qing Dynasty centers on women's affirmation of freedom in love and marriage, which is also what is most successful of the localization of feminist movement. Apart from that, the narrow imagination of gender in such Romantic novels is disappointing. The New Novel of late Qing Dynasty winded up with romantic novels, therefore, is but a transitional period toward modern women imagination.Through a close study of the female imagination and relevant questions revealed in the New Novel of late Qing Dynasty at the beginning of 20th century, this dissertation aims at a preliminary exploration of the formation of modern female images and the tradition of women's liberation in the Chinese history of literature of the 20th century, and at a preparation both in research resources and frame for the evolution of modern female images.The first chapter focuses on the new female images arising from the boom of political novels, which combine women with the new state imagination. The most innovative female images in modern literature is a series of female citizens and female elites, the creation of them complying with the proposition of the New Novel--to endow literature with an mission of imaging new national state subject--female elites and female citizens being the product of such imagination. Female images most relevant to the construction of nation state are female revolutionary heroes as well as the female enlighteners related to the female schooling movement. Such female elites are not imitation of reality, rather, they surpass female images in reality. Thus they are role models that is enlightening to women in reality and are covered with a certain illusive or utopian color. To make such figures acceptable to the common readers, the writers always relate them with female heroes in traditional novels. The similarity between the female elites and female heroes, however, is only superficial. In novels about the female schooling movement, although the writers advocate that women should receive education, their understanding of education is not much different from the traditional understanding of female education, whose object is not directly aimed at women and the nurturing of female consciousness is also ignored. Thus women's social development is not sufficiently encouraged. Such novels fail to confront the hardships occurred in female schooling movement and only gives illusive answers to the problems arising from the movement.In such patriotic novels, the female protagonists consciously take the responsibility of female citizens and stress the importance of collective consciousness at the cost of the individual. Such women who take the fate of the state as that of common people thus pave the way for women who come after them. During the 20th century, women in late Qing Dynasty set the precious examples for women to take part in the construction of nation state, which also become the most important direction for female movement later onThe second chapter mainly focuses on the modern female elements developed from the tradition of courtesan novels. In late Qing Dynasty, there arise not only new female images of female elites and female citizens that have never appeared before in the history of literature, there are also new female images developed from tradition. The prostitutes in the courtesan novels is a good case in point, who are not only the result of the old society but also carry with them energy to destroy the old system. These people are not tolerated by the old society, nor are they accepted by the new society. At that time those who are negatively called new women are actually compared with the whores and prostitutes. The derogative"new woman"carries with it the denotation of being a wicked prostitute. Such prostitutes are away from the control of men and therefore cause in men anxiety and fear. In these women we see a bright color of individual liberty which advocates the importance of their own feelings, the independence of economy as well as the cultivation of social ability, such characters being ahead of their era. These active elements, however, are not accepted and understood by people at that time and such women often appear in the novels as negative figures that are belittled and defamed. These images are made contrasts to the positive image of female elites, between them there exist an innate conflict. These two groups of people are often mixed together as female elites often take brothels as places to carry out their plans, taking the identity of prostitute as a cover. In late Qing Dynasty, prostitutes are the most active female group to take part in social works, some of them even engage themselves in political activities. Prostitutes and female elites both are significant in the liberation of women. In the following 20th literature, the process of female liberation is closely related to the conformity and conflict between female notational liberation and individual liberation, which is actually already raised in late Qing Dynasty.The courtesan novel is also the beginning of the romantic novels in late Qing and early Ming Dynasty. The decline of courtesan novel and the rise of romantic novel is also an overlapping process. The relationship between the two sexes and the imagination of emotion become more sentimental from what used to be intrigue against each other. To cater to the citizens, romantic novels purify female subjects and the relationship between men and women, the writing of the relationship between men and women thus finishes the transition and opens up to the popular commercial tradition of romantic novels.The above two chapters focus on the particular group of the female in late Qing Dynasty. Among them, female elites are an imagination of the ideal women by the literary person, in real life, however, female revolutionary like Qiu Jin is rarely seen. Being a real group in the society, prostitutes are women with particular identities that is remote from ordinary women. None of them can represent women on the whole. Women on the whole are not identical with each other, for there are city women and country women, upper and middle class women and lower class women, whose different social status determine that they have different reaction and understanding of the social changes. Female rights advocated by the reformists at the beginning of 20th century has more of its influence on the upper and middle class city women, new way of life and thoughts are more represented in this group of women. This study, therefore, in its exploration of the modern female elements, also pays more attention to such a group of women.Women of late Qing Dynasty on the one hand is in a situation that they have to be face the new, on the other, factors preventing them from being new also exist. Women at this period of time are actually in a process of relooking and relocating themselves. From without and within, behavioral mode of traditional women are redefined all over. They have more hereditary burdens than those prostitutes who can at will experiment the new way of life and behavior. Because such women are more pertinent to reality, their process of becoming new from the old is more difficult and trivial compared with the fictional female elites'straightforwardness, during which the old and the new mingle with and outdo each other. In spite of the difficulties that have chopped one after another, they begin their new experiments and reconstruction of their appearance, temperament, way of life, even their idea of culture. Such reconstruction develops the social gender of women and delineate the preliminary framework of the formation of modern female images. The third chapter studies the role of female imagination in the new female social identity, moral standards, cultural ideas as well as marriage ideas.Chapter Four discusses women's fight for social identity in the early 20th century embodied in fiction. Women began to be socialized as a major way of reconstruction of women's image. Women in late Qing Dynasty made great progress in social communication, independent expression and thinking and career consciousness, which left traces in fiction though distortions and far-fetched assumptions were unavoidable in the fiction mainly written from the perspective of male writers. The chapter is also to study the fiction written by women authors to explore their thought at the beginning of women liberation, trace the formation of feminist consciousness and reveal the limitation the age put on women writers.