Women's Life in the Ming Dynasty, written by Chen Baoliang, published by China Workers Publishing House.
Through the multi-faceted investigation of women's lives in the Ming Dynasty, the author clarifies the women's group personality formed by women in the closed world of traditional etiquette and religion. On the other hand, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, people were active in thought, had a wide range of interests, and had a broad vision.
Selected Readings: Laxity of Religion and the "Vitality" and "Diversity" of Women's Life (excerpt).
Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the intellectual world at that time was the most "dynamic" and "diverse" era. From this point of view, the people of the Ming Dynasty were unprecedentedly active in their thinking, their interests were broad, and their horizons were broad. The turn of society, and even the vitality of thought, all led to the life of women in the late Ming Dynasty to be more "vigorous" and "diverse".
The dynamism and even diversity of women's lives clearly stems from the laxity of traditional rituals. Women's emancipation is a natural measure of social emancipation. The germ of women's emancipation in the late Ming Dynasty was to be loosened by the rope of "rites", which was theoretically completed by Li Zhen.
From Wang Yangming to Li Zhen, and then from Li Zhen to Huang Zongxi, there is obviously an internal evolution of the "rational path" in the concept of etiquette, that is, the interpretation of etiquette is very different from the traditional view. It is precisely because of this theoretical basis that the "dynamism" and "diversity" of women's lives are possible. The "vitality" and "diversity" of women's life in the late Ming Dynasty can be examined from the following three levels: first, the change of women's consciousness among scholars, second, the strengthening of women's self-consciousness, and third, the beginning of women's life to break through the traditional hierarchical order of etiquette and religion.
In the late Ming Dynasty, when the idea of women's emancipation was gradually germinating, not only a group of Enlightenment thinkers had the idea of equality between men and women in theory, but also in practical action, women were gradually breaking through the defense line of etiquette and religion and pursuing equality between men and women, which was followed by the strengthening of women's self-consciousness. This kind of thinking and even behavior is not only reflected in a large number of historical facts, but also reflected in the literary and artistic works of the late Ming Dynasty.
As early as the Hongzhi and Zhengde years, women's consciousness of pursuing individual freedom has begun to emerge. In the article "I Am Towards Two Mulans", Jiao Hong recorded two women with different identities dressed as **. The latter historical fact is quite similar to the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai recited in traditional operas, except that the male protagonist has changed from a scholar to a businessman, and the heroine has changed from a woman to a woman dressed as ** to go out to do business. The love between the two is not like Liang Zhu, which is based on studying together for three years, but is established during the journey, day and night in the same boat. This trend of thought in women's pursuit of individual freedom has reached a climax after the Wanli years, and not only have thinkers from time to time revealed the idea of equality between men and women, but women themselves have also pursued equality to a certain extent, and they have the courage to not let women shave their eyebrows. For example, Wang Wei, a Taoist in grass clothes, "has a lot of talent, carries books in a flat boat, and travels between Wu Hui", and many poems have been handed down. Huang Jieling is also a beautiful sentence in Qingwen, with the true character of a Zen family. Their poems have a profound foundation and far-reaching artistic conception, and they have the spirit of "disobeying their husbands better than women". The women of the Ming Dynasty did not accept men in terms of talent, which was also reflected in the operas of the late Ming Dynasty. In "Green Peony", in addition to the sigh of "the pavilion is not as good as the boudoir", in the play "Meet the Sage", he sang a new voice of "Don't bully the children and daughters of Yajunxian".
The self-awakening of women's personality consciousness in the Ming Dynasty was profoundly reflected in literary works. This self-consciousness is embodied in the specific concept of love, which is the change in the criteria for choosing a husband and the concept of love between men and women. Ling Mengchu described the story of scholar Feng Laiyi and Miss Su Mei, whose parents died, breaking through the shackles of arranged marriage and freely uniting in an article. In this story, the heroine Su Mei has vowed to choose her husband since she was a child, and the criteria for choosing a husband are not family, wealth and official rank, but "as long as the person is good". The biggest feature of this change in the concept of love between men and women is that they do not use the orders of their parents and the words of matchmakers, but boldly pursue their lovers. For example, in another **, the combination of Wang Weihan and Xie Tianxiang and Zhou Guoneng and Miaoguan is that the two writers have become a pair, and the other is a pair of lovers who use Go to pass the complex, which is completely a kind of like-minded spouse. If it is said that the change from "women's boudoir guarding" to "skirt hairpin admission hall" is only the starting point of women's personality emancipation in the Ming Dynasty; Then "the civil and military practice becomes a man's business, and marriage is only self-negotiable", which is not only the idealistic good wish of literati and bachelors, but the best embodiment of the gradual deepening of women's self-consciousness based on objective reality.
Author: Text: Chen Baoliang Editor: Yuan Lulu Responsible Editor: Zhu Zifen.