Women in Chinese Society and Literature

The course examines roles, images and writings of women in ancient and modern China. Integration of gender relations into cosmological and socio-political patterns sets the tone for the representation of women in Chinese literature, theatre, film, and religious texts, but the notion that women were oppressed and silenced throughout the imperial China needs to be re-examined and complicated. Our discussion will focus on three key themes: 1) the gap between Confucian ideals of womanhood and dynamic complexity of female social roles under actual circumstances, 2) the construction of female voices by both male authors (writing as a woman in the process of writing about her) and women writers, 3) varied forms of female agency within and beyond the domestic context. The course is conducted in Chinese and combines lecture, discussion, and students’ presentations. Readings include English and Chinese publications.