Place, Administration, and Territorial Cults in Late Imperial China: A Case Study from South Fujian

AbstractWang Yun’s (1749-1819) Fanhua meng (A Dream of Glory, 1769) is one of the very few extant chuanqi plays written by women in late imperial China. Its female protagonist, who is frustrated by social restrictions placed on women, transforms into a man in a dream. The dream content revolves around the protagonist’s romantic adventures, which feature many awkward and laughable moments. As a fantasy about transgender experience, Fanhua meng has been the subject of critique for its embrace of patriarchal values as well as praise for its reflection on patriarchal depravity. These conflicting views attest to the complexity of Wang Yun’s use of humor in the play. This article explores how and why Wang Yun depicts her protagonist’s journey of desire in a comic mode, and how Wang’s contemporary male readers responded to Wang’s humor. It argues that Wang’s use of humor provides a palatable coating for a provocative reflection on the male privilege of being a desiring subject. As a whole, Wang’s play challenges the vision of worldly success promoted by the long-established and male-dominated chuanqi drama tradition. As a case study, this article draws attention to humor as a mode of self-writing for women writers in late imperial China.

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Gender, Technical Innovation, and Gu Family Embroidery in Late-Ming Shangha

East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine ◽

10.1163/26669323-03601004 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 77-130

Author(s):

I-Fen Huang

Keyword(s):

Technical Innovation ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Late Ming ◽

Shanghai Museum ◽

The Feminine ◽

Art And Culture ◽

Technical Innovations ◽

Imperial China

This paper takes Gu Family embroidery as a case study to discuss the contribution of technical innovation to the construction of gender in late imperial China so as to better understand Guxiu in its technical, social, and artistic contexts. Focusing on the Flowers and Fishes album (dated 1641, Shanghai Museum) by Han Ximeng, I argue that Gu family ladies, such as Han Ximeng, used embroidery as a means to display their individual creativity; and, further, by means of technical innovations, contributed not only to their family finances but also to the art and culture of late Ming Shanghai. While some of the technical innovations that the Gu family ladies achieved were driven by the desire to meet the literati aesthetic of their time, eventually, in the case of Han Ximeng, she went beyond the literati taste for ‘painting-like’ embroidery to assert the special qualities of embroidery. By affirming her own authorship, drawing attention to the feminine medium in which she worked and claiming the significance of her work with a carefully chosen subject, Han subverted the conventions of male painting in subtle ways and demonstrated her subjectivity.

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The Dangers of ‘Warming and Replenishing’ (wenbu 溫補) during the Ming to Qing Epistemic Transition

Asian Medicine ◽

10.1163/15734218-12341347 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (1-2) ◽

pp. 90-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leslie de Vries

Keyword(s):

Medical Profession ◽

Song Learning ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Safety And Efficacy ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Epistemic Transition ◽

Medicinal Substances ◽

Imperial China ◽

Nature Of Medicine

Through a case study of Zhao Xianke’s 趙獻可One Principle through Medicine(Yiguan醫貫) (1617?) and Xu Dachun’s 徐大椿 (1693–1771) denouncements of this text, my article zooms in on divergent discourses on the safety and efficacy of medicinal substances and compounds in late imperial China. Although Xu Dachun’s fierce attacks on the popular ‘warming and replenishing’ (wenbu溫補) therapies can be situated in an epistemic shift from the cosmology of ‘Song learning’ (songxue宋學) towards the philology of ‘Han learning’ (hanxue漢學) and ‘evidential research’ (kaozheng考證), I argue that more complex issues were at stake as well. Changed political, social, ethical, and economic realities shaped new and multifaceted perceptions of the nature of medicine, the medical profession, and the usage of medicinals in the aftermath of the Ming to Qing transition.

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Daoist Philosophy and Literati Writings in Late Imperial China: A Case Study of The Story of the Stone, written by Zhou Zuyan, 2013

T oung Pao ◽

10.1163/15685322-10213p13 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 102 (1-3) ◽

pp. 253-257

Author(s):

Vincent Durand-Dastès

Keyword(s):

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Imperial China

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National Gods and Local Contexts: Distinguishing the Five Emperors and the Five Manifestations in Late Imperial China

Journal of the Canadian Historical Association ◽

10.7202/031088ar ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 59-79

Author(s):

Michael Szonyi

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Chinese Culture ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Local Contexts ◽

Imperial China ◽

Local Cultures

Abstract Many scholars of late imperial China have argued that the imperial state's sanctioning of certain cults was an important factor in the standardization of Chinese culture. This paper is a case study of the Five Emperors, a local cult which was not only not sanctioned, but actively suppressed by state officials. In response, worshippers of thecult concealed their deities behind the Five Manifestations, a cult which was state sanctioned. But the cult retained distinctive rituals, iconography, and representations in local popular culture. The conflation of the Five Emperors with other trans-local cultures demonstrates that the standardization of Chinese culture was often only illusory, concealing enduring local distinctiveness.

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