Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, literary creations by female gradually became more prevalent. Many female excelled in writing, especially during the Qing dynasty. A total of nearly 4,000 literary works by female from the Qing dynasty are still in circulation today, outnumbersany dynasty. However, the majority of academic papers that discuss female’s writing focuses on famous female’s poetry societies or academic communities during the Qing dynasty, like the Jiaoyuan Poetry Society, Qingxi Poetry Society, Ten Poets of Wuzhong, Female Disciples of Suiyuan, Female Disciples of Bicheng, or on well-known female poets. Therefore, this paper hopes to perform a comprehensive study of female in the Qing dynasty who are seldom discussed. This study will use the thematic survey method to delve into the value of the female’s writings and thoughts.
This paper focuses on the female writers of the Jiangzhe area during the Qing dynasty and approaches the analysis of the female’s thoughts from three aspects： marriage, gender, and aesthetics. The first chapter describes the motive and method of the research and reviews the past academic literature. The second chapter examines the background of the era that the female writerswere living in i.e., the Jiangzhe area during the Qing dynasty–centering on the humanistic characteristics of the region, the growth of family learning, and the reward and promotion of the literati. The third chapter primarily discusses the thoughts that the female had, regarding marriage, the barrier of their boudoirs, and the pros and cons of their marriages. The fourth chapter explores the female’s thoughts on gender, mainly examining the shackles of traditional customs, as well as their impact on gender transgression, so as to discover the progression of their gender self-identification process. In the fifth chapter, the emotional and aesthetic thoughts of female in the Jiangzhe area during the Qing dynasty is revealed from the angles of their emotional expression, travel, and art. The sixth chapter is the conclusion of the entire paper.
Through the research of this paper, we get to know that there were a great number of female writers in the Jiangzhe area during the Qing dynasty due to the location, the families, and the flourishing academic communities. However, traditional customs were like shackles on the female’s thoughts, forcing them to abandon their writing upon marriage, lead overly frugal lives, or commit suicide when their husbands died. Yet, there were young ladies who broke through the barriers and turned their backs on these traditions. They did not give up on writing, campaigned against the practice of wives committing suicide when their husbands died, advocated for the abolishment of foot binding, fought for female education, and wrote journals. These female lived out their lives and used what they had learned to contribute to society. A number of female in Jiangzhe were able to travel to other areas with their relatives, spouses, or friends. The writing of these female differed from those written by female who traditionally stayed indoors. With their talent for writing and painting, female could be financially independent and contribute to their family’s livelihood. Writing poems for paintings, gifting others with poems, and visiting gardens were cultural mediums for the female to create and deepen their friendships. These further exhibited the aesthetical accomplishments of the young ladies.