The Imagination Of "Qi Nu (Legendary Ladies)" In TheInner-chamber:A Brief Discussion On The Images Of Wang Zhaojun, Hua Mulan And Qin Liangyu In The Poems Written By Female Writers In Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty witnessed the prosperity of women’s writing, with countless female writers and literary works being discovered. This phenomenon has attracted broad attention in academic circles both domestic and abroad. According to the materials I have collected at present, it was very common that women poets in Qing Dynasty composed various poems for historical women. These women were legendary figures because they were brilliant, possessed with courage and sight, or they usually experienced adventures. They were also called "qi nu"(the legendary women)in Qing Dynasty and the aesthetics of "qi nu" was gradually shaped in that age. In this regard, the thesis is going to take the images of "qi nu" created by women poets as the topic of analysis and compare them with that created by male writers. Therefore, the thesis will try to demonstrate how women poets created brand-new images of "qi nu" that had feminist consciousness and were totally different from before based on the traditional "qi nu" topics, and thus display the flourish cultural life of Qing women poets through this complicated process. Finally, the thesis will try to give primary deliberation on the relationship between these women poets and early "New Women" in the perspectives of the research on "qi nu".The thesis is composed of instruction, the main body and the conclusion. The instruction will explain the notion of "qi nu" and introduce the present study on the relative areas of female literature. The main body will be divied into three chapters. The first chapter will focus on the literature image of Cai Wenji created by Qing women poets, and state the complicated reconstruction process of image of "qi nu". While writing on this topic, quit a lot of women poets tended to follow the male-dominated discourse, yet a few of them still discovered new significance from it.The second chapter will focus on the breakthrough and innovation towards traditional images of "qi nu". When composing poems, Qing women poets questioned the traditional images of "qi nu" and denied sexism understanding towards "qi nu". Thus, they endured new features to "qi nu" from female-oriented perspective and reconstructed normal female figures into "qi nu" who were not used to be.The Third chapter will focus on the conflicts between reality and the imagination of "qi nu". By composing poems for "qi nu", women poets express their anxiety of being trapped in the inner-chamber and voice their dissatisfactions towards the stereotype of gender roles. These "qi nu" are usually heroines who has made great contribution to the state such as Hua Mulan, Qin Liangyu and etc,. The tradition of writing heroines was inherited by "New Women" in early time of ROC. Besides, for these early "New Women", heroines became the source of self-stimulation and the symbol of gender equality. Meanwhile, the images of "qi nii" they created have experienced subtle changes.In conclusion, the establishment of "qi nu" has filled the absence of female literary figure. It has also created ideal female idols and expressed Qing women’s anxiety of being trapped in the inner-chamber. Therefore, this long-lasting anxiety encouraged the early female prophets to dedicate themselves in the revolutions of civil rights and gender equality, and finally, the gentry women turned into early "New Women".