The Gender of Knowledge in Forensic Drama of Late Imperial China

In late imperial China practitioners of forensic investigation in legal cases were predominantly male. While crime literature frequently features female characters, the question of how this literature represents the gender dimension of forensic knowledge remains unanswered. This paper aims to answer this question with an examination of a number of late imperial era theatrical works that depict how forensic knowledge differed across the male and female divide. It argues court-case literature increasingly valorized male forensic knowledge and its relevance to the state legal system. At the same time, these theatrical pieces signify female forensic knowledge following two literary traditions, namely, the commendation of exemplary women and the condemnation of “wanton women.” Investigating these theatrical works at the interstices between court-case literature, women’s history, and forensic history, this paper suggests that the representations of forensic knowledge in Chinese drama accord with major developments in the history of women and gender in premodern China.