The Role Of Qing:A Study Of Gender And Marital Relations In The Mid-late Ming

The mid-late Ming dynasty witnessed unprecedented.Handicrafts and business developed,printing and publishing flourished,and female education became popular.In gender and marital relations,"companionate marriage" emerged,the qing between husbands and concubines seemed often stronger than that between husbands and wives.This dissertation attempts to focus on qing in gender and marriage relations in this period.It will examine the conception of the ideal marriage,the relationship between female education and marriage,the contradiction in marriage,marriage disintegration,and the spread of the qing to find out some changes in gender and marriage relations in the mid-late Ming dynasty and to discuss the role of qing in these changes.During the mid-late Ming dynasty,"Talented women" were presented as an independent category in the female teaching books,and "women's talent" was looked as one of the qualities to build ideal wives by scholars.This meant that scholars showed great expectations for women's and wives' talent.This work argues that women's talent and expression of qing had been displayed and discussed in history books and literary works to varing degrees.Although scholar-officials still showed great enthusiasm for"virtue and filial piety" and "chastity and virginity" on wives,qing in conjugal relations did receive attention,which was a significant new social phenomenon.In addition,"the way of husband and wife" was regarded as an independent category for interpretation,and provided a broader space for the spread of husband-wife qing theory.Female education took the idea of qing into marriage,and exerted a variety of effects on women's attitude toward marriage,including marriage model they chose.On one hand,female education did not help them get rid of the plight of marriage,but highlighted the impasse of marriage.On the other hand,they were influenced by family and social education so that they had a broader vision to think and take action to explore a more diverse model of gender relations.Moreover,marriage and family structure of "one wife more concubines" was the basis of the marriage relations,and became one of the reasons for the marriage conflicts.The judge can use qing to look on conflicts such as disorder of wivies and concubines,pawning and selling wife,adultery and so on.In addition,qing between husbands and wivies was one of the factors that influence judicial decision of marriage.In some law cases concerning marriage,some judicial officials could give a certain degree of consideration on qing between men and women.Finally,in the mid-late Ming dynasty,the theory of qing prevails,in the wake of the flourishing of publishing,the popularization of civic literature,and the development of civic culture,qing played more important role in gender and marriage relations than before.In general,qing had a certain impact on gender and marriage relatoins,and also brought vitality to these relationships.Although the influence of qing did not cause institutional changes on marriage,qing provided several ideas for the change of the gender and marriage relations.And it had caused more change and new construction on gender and marriage in the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China.