published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

by Elaine Chiu-ling Yam. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-181). / Acknowledgments / Abstract / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction - On Literature and Public Sphere --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Cultural Communication and Chinese Writers in Deng Era --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- A Master of Irony - Wang Shuo's Wanzhu Literature --- p.42 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- A Race of Heroes - Mo Yan's Ideal Lifeworld --- p.77 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- In Search of the Self - Jia Pingwa's City of Decadence --- p.111 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Conclusion - The Generation of Alternative Values --- p.144 / Bibliography --- p.162

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Portuguese

This dissertation investigates Chinese women's rhetorical practices in the early twentieth century. Tracing the formation and development of a new rhetoric in China, I examine women's writings that were denigrated in the May Fourth period. I argue that as an important part of the new rhetoric, women's texts explored women's issues and created the modern self in the May Fourth period by critiquing a patriarchal tradition that excluded women's experiences from its articulation.I begin by challenging the assumptions that rhetoric is a Western male phenomenon. Situating my study in the area of comparative rhetoric, I critique the previous scholarship in the field and delineate the research methodologies used in this dissertation. In Chapter 2 I locate women's rhetorical practices within the specific social and historical contexts of the May Fourth period. I contend that the May Fourth women's literary texts are rhetorical, considering the different conception of rhetoric in the Chinese rhetorical tradition as well as the social impact these texts created at that historical juncture. In Chapter 3 I extrapolate Lu Yin's feminist rhetorical theory and practice from her sanwen (essays) and fiction. I argue that by emphasizing tongqing (sympathy) in her literary theory, Lu Yin's discourse offers an example of how gendered and culturally specific rhetorical concepts and strategies influence the reader and exert social changes. Chapter 4 provides a case study of Bing Xin, another well-known woman writer in the May Fourth period. I argue that by advocating a "philosophy of love" throughout her lyrical essays and fiction, Bing Xin injected a distinctive female voice in the male-dominated discourse in which women and children were either belittled or silenced. Bing Xin's view of writing as expressing the writer's individuality as well as her unique feminine prose style transformed this classical genre into a more vigorous rhetorical form. Using my case studies as reference, I conclude by drawing out the implications of Chinese women's rhetorical experiences for the studies of rhetoric and comparative rhetoric. I show how such a cross-cultural study of particular rhetorics can help further our exploration of human rhetorical practices in general.

The dissertation examines the close but overlooked relationship between male poetry societies and the sharp rise of literary courtesans in the late Ming. I attempt to identify a particular group of men who devoted exclusive efforts to the promotion of courtesan culture, that is, urban dwellers of prosperous Jiangnan, who fashioned themselves as retired literati, devoting themselves to art, recreation, and self-invention, instead of government office. I also offer a new interpretation for the decline of courtesan culture after the Ming-Qing transition. / Chapter 1 provides an overview of the social-cultural context in which late Ming courtesans flourished. I emphasize office-holding as losing its appeal for late Ming nonconformists who sought other alternative means of self-realization. Chapter 2 examines the importance of poetry by courtesans in literati culture as demonstrated by their visible inclusion in late Ming and early Qing anthologies of women's writings. Chapter 3 examines the life and poetry of individual courtesans through three case studies. Together, these three chapters illustrate the strong identification between nonconformist literati and the courtesans they extolled at both collective and individual levels. / In Chapter 4, by focusing on the context and texts of the poetry collection of the courtesan Chen Susu and on writings about her, I illustrate the efforts by both male and female literati in the early Qing to reproduce the cultural glory of late Ming courtesans. However, despite their cooperative efforts, courtesans became inevitably marginalized in literati culture as talented women of the gentry flourished. / This dissertation as a whole explores how male literati and courtesans responded to the social and literary milieu of late Ming Jiangnan to shed light on aspects of the intersection of self and society in this floating world. This courtesan culture was a counterculture in that: (1) it was deep-rooted in male poetry societies, a cultural space that was formed in opposition to government office; (2) in valuing romantic relationship and friendship, the promoters of this culture deliberately deemphasized the most primary human relations as defined in the Confucian tradition; (3) this culture conditioned, motivated, and promoted serious relationships between literati and courtesans, which fundamentally undermined orthodox values.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities / Department of Chinese

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x, 276 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The late-Qing tanci "A Pair of Male Phoenixes Flying Together" (Feng shuangfei ; preface dated 1899) is unusual for its depiction of a wide variety of gender issues and sexual relationships. Because the 52-chapter work is credibly attributed to the female poet Cheng Huiying, who is known to have written the poetry collection Beichuang yin 'gao , the tanci gives scholars a unique opportunity to see how a gentry woman thought of the gender roles and sexual politics of the late Qing. My dissertation contains two major sections. Chapters I and II look at Cheng Huiying and her work as part of the `talented women" ( cainü ) culture. These two chapters demonstrate how Cheng Huiying deliberately establishes herself as a unique female writing subject and advocates women's agency in determining their own marriage arrangements. one of women's biggest concerns in premodern China. Chapters III to VI put Feng shuangfei into the larger context of male-authored fiction and examine how it adopts and rewrites the conventions and motifs common to xiaoshuo fiction from a female writer's perspective. I first argue that Feng shuangfei can be considered a serious literary work due to its sophisticated structural design and characterization, although tanci are usually considered as more popular literature. I then evaluate how the female author of this tanci subtly reinvents three gendered motifs that commonly appear in male-authored xiaoshuo fiction. The three motifs are male same-sex eroticism and homosociality, female same-sex desires, and the stereotypes of shrew and ideal wife. Through subtle twists in the plot, the tanci suggests the possibility of the expression of female subjectivity and agency within patriarchal Confucian society even while it follows and supports the normative Confucian order. The perspectives on gender norms and sexual practices offered in this tanci both display how a gentry woman thought about these issues in late imperial China and suggest how the rapid and vast social and ideological changes occurring during the turn of the century opened new spaces for Cheng Huiying to imagine increased agency and autonomy for women within the domestic sphere. / Committee in charge: Maram Epstein, Chairperson, East Asian Languages & Literature; Yugen Wang, Member, East Asian Languages & Literature; Tze-lan Sang, Member, East Asian Languages & Literature; Ina Asim, Outside Member, History