Sharing the Light
Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China
Published on 6. August 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
348 pages
978-0-7914-3856-5 (ISBN)
Description
Explores historical and philosophical shifts in the depiction of women and virtue in the early years of the Chinese state. Includes an examination of the history of yin-yang theories.
Sharing the Light explores historical and philosophical shifts in the depiction of women and virtue in the early centuries of the Chinese state. These changes had far-reaching effects on both the treatment of women in Chinese society and on the formation of Chinese philosophical discourse on ethics, cosmology, epistemology, and self-cultivation. Warring States and Han dynasty narratives frequently represented women as intellectually adroit, politically astute, and ethically virtuous; these histories, discourses, and life stories portray women as active participants within their own society, not inert victims of it. The women depicted resembled sages, ministers, and generals as the mainstays and destroyers of dynasties. These stories emphasized that sagacity, intellect, strategy, and statecraft were virtues proper to women, an emphasis that effectively disappeared from later collections and instruction texts by and for women. During the same period, there were also important changes in the understanding of two polarities that delineated what now is called gender. Han correlative cosmology included a range of hierarchical analogies between yin and yang and men and women, and the understanding of yin and yang shifted from complementarity toward hierarchy. Similarly, the doctrine of separate spheres (inner and outer, nei-wai) shifted from a notion of appropriate distinction between men and women toward physical, social, and intellectual separation and isolation.
Sharing the Light explores historical and philosophical shifts in the depiction of women and virtue in the early centuries of the Chinese state. These changes had far-reaching effects on both the treatment of women in Chinese society and on the formation of Chinese philosophical discourse on ethics, cosmology, epistemology, and self-cultivation. Warring States and Han dynasty narratives frequently represented women as intellectually adroit, politically astute, and ethically virtuous; these histories, discourses, and life stories portray women as active participants within their own society, not inert victims of it. The women depicted resembled sages, ministers, and generals as the mainstays and destroyers of dynasties. These stories emphasized that sagacity, intellect, strategy, and statecraft were virtues proper to women, an emphasis that effectively disappeared from later collections and instruction texts by and for women. During the same period, there were also important changes in the understanding of two polarities that delineated what now is called gender. Han correlative cosmology included a range of hierarchical analogies between yin and yang and men and women, and the understanding of yin and yang shifted from complementarity toward hierarchy. Similarly, the doctrine of separate spheres (inner and outer, nei-wai) shifted from a notion of appropriate distinction between men and women toward physical, social, and intellectual separation and isolation.
Reviews / Votes
"This book challenges several widely held paradigms concerning women in traditional China that are in dire need of the kind of nuanced and sustained reassessment present throughout the work. It is a fine piece of scholarship." - Sarah A. Queen, Connecticut CollegeMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
College/higher education
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
494 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-3856-5 (9780791438565)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/1998
State University of New York Press
€37.99
Available for download
Person
Lisa Raphals is Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Chair, Asian Studies Program, Bard College. She is the author of Knowing Words: Wisdom and Cunning in the Classical Traditions of China and Greece.
Content
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Note on Transcription
Abbreviations
Introduction: Gender and Virtue
Women As Intellectual and Moral Agents
The Differentiation of Men and Women
Contents
1. Women As Agents of Virtue and Destruction
Women and Ministers: Ties That Bind
Female Virtue and the Dynastic Cycle
The Lienue zhuan
The Intellectual Virtue Stories
Heroization
2. Women As Prescient Counselors
Instruction
Sage Intelligence
Benevolent Wisdom and Prescience
Skill in Argument and Admonition
Intellectual Virtue Stories in Other Warring States and Han Works
Biographical Formulae
Two Modes of Thinking?
Conclusions
3. Demonic Beauties and Usurpatious Regents
Warring States Legends of Destructive Women
Empress Lue
Virtuous and Vicious Consorts of Han Cheng Di
Conclusions
4. The Textual Matrix of the Lienue zhuan
Lienue zhuan Stories in Warring States Sources
The Lienue zhuan Text and Its Attribution to Liu Xiang
Conclusions
5. Talents Transformed in Ming Editions
Ming Publishing
Shifting Virtues
Illustrated Editions
Conclusions
6. Yin and Yang
Yin-Yang As Two of Six Qi
Yin-Yang As (Ultimate) Polarity
Correlative Cosmology
Conclusions
7. Yin-Yang in Medical Texts
The Fifty-two Ailments and Mawangdui Medical Literature
The Twenty-five Cases of Chunyu Yi
The Huang Di neijing
Conclusions
8. Nei-wai : Distinctions between Men and Women
Zhou Norms in the Changes and Odes
Correct Distinction between Men and Women Defines Civilization
Conclusions
9. Nei-wai in Ritual Texts and Social Practice
Subordination of Women
Monogamy and Marriage Choice
Physical Separation of Men and Women
Names, Ranks, Titles, and Social Identity
Intellectual Distinction between Men and Women
Conclusions
10. Instruction Texts
Ban Zhao's Admonitions for Women
The Decline of the "Learned Instructress" Motif
The Rise of Instruction Texts
Conclusions
Afterword
Appendix 1: The Lienue zhuan
Chapter Titles
Dateable Incidents in the Life Stories
Appendix 2: The Intellectual Virtue Stories
Synopsis of the Intellectual Virtue Stories
The Learned Instructress Motif
Appendix 3: Vicious and Depraved Women
The Destructive Women of Lienue zhuan 7
Biographies of Empress Lue
Biographical Formulae in the Lienue zhuan, Shi ji, and Han shu
Appendix 4: The Textual Matrix for the Lienue zhuan
Chronology of Lienue zhuan Editions
Provenance of the Lienue zhuan Intellectual Virtue Stories
Appendix 5: Ming Transformations
The Intellectual Virtue Stories in Ming Editions
The Gui fan Reclassification of the Lienue zhuan Intellectual Virtue Stories
Appendix 6: Yin-Yang in Warring States Texts
Appendix 7: The Medical Cases of Shi ji 105
Summary of the Twenty-five Cases
Treatment Methods and Outcomes of the Twenty-five Cases
Appendix 8: Occupations and Activities
Appendix 9: Traditional Reign Dates
Bibliography
Primary Sources and Collectanea
Secondary Sources
Index
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Note on Transcription
Abbreviations
Introduction: Gender and Virtue
Women As Intellectual and Moral Agents
The Differentiation of Men and Women
Contents
1. Women As Agents of Virtue and Destruction
Women and Ministers: Ties That Bind
Female Virtue and the Dynastic Cycle
The Lienue zhuan
The Intellectual Virtue Stories
Heroization
2. Women As Prescient Counselors
Instruction
Sage Intelligence
Benevolent Wisdom and Prescience
Skill in Argument and Admonition
Intellectual Virtue Stories in Other Warring States and Han Works
Biographical Formulae
Two Modes of Thinking?
Conclusions
3. Demonic Beauties and Usurpatious Regents
Warring States Legends of Destructive Women
Empress Lue
Virtuous and Vicious Consorts of Han Cheng Di
Conclusions
4. The Textual Matrix of the Lienue zhuan
Lienue zhuan Stories in Warring States Sources
The Lienue zhuan Text and Its Attribution to Liu Xiang
Conclusions
5. Talents Transformed in Ming Editions
Ming Publishing
Shifting Virtues
Illustrated Editions
Conclusions
6. Yin and Yang
Yin-Yang As Two of Six Qi
Yin-Yang As (Ultimate) Polarity
Correlative Cosmology
Conclusions
7. Yin-Yang in Medical Texts
The Fifty-two Ailments and Mawangdui Medical Literature
The Twenty-five Cases of Chunyu Yi
The Huang Di neijing
Conclusions
8. Nei-wai : Distinctions between Men and Women
Zhou Norms in the Changes and Odes
Correct Distinction between Men and Women Defines Civilization
Conclusions
9. Nei-wai in Ritual Texts and Social Practice
Subordination of Women
Monogamy and Marriage Choice
Physical Separation of Men and Women
Names, Ranks, Titles, and Social Identity
Intellectual Distinction between Men and Women
Conclusions
10. Instruction Texts
Ban Zhao's Admonitions for Women
The Decline of the "Learned Instructress" Motif
The Rise of Instruction Texts
Conclusions
Afterword
Appendix 1: The Lienue zhuan
Chapter Titles
Dateable Incidents in the Life Stories
Appendix 2: The Intellectual Virtue Stories
Synopsis of the Intellectual Virtue Stories
The Learned Instructress Motif
Appendix 3: Vicious and Depraved Women
The Destructive Women of Lienue zhuan 7
Biographies of Empress Lue
Biographical Formulae in the Lienue zhuan, Shi ji, and Han shu
Appendix 4: The Textual Matrix for the Lienue zhuan
Chronology of Lienue zhuan Editions
Provenance of the Lienue zhuan Intellectual Virtue Stories
Appendix 5: Ming Transformations
The Intellectual Virtue Stories in Ming Editions
The Gui fan Reclassification of the Lienue zhuan Intellectual Virtue Stories
Appendix 6: Yin-Yang in Warring States Texts
Appendix 7: The Medical Cases of Shi ji 105
Summary of the Twenty-five Cases
Treatment Methods and Outcomes of the Twenty-five Cases
Appendix 8: Occupations and Activities
Appendix 9: Traditional Reign Dates
Bibliography
Primary Sources and Collectanea
Secondary Sources
Index