"Crossing Gender Boundaries" of Talented Women, Competition for Reputation and the Running of Jiangnan Regional Society During Ming and Qing Dynasities
ZHANG Jie
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, Jiangsu Province, China
Abstract：During Ming and Qing dynasties, in Jiangnan regional society, groups of talented women and educated men traveled together defying the boundaries of gender space and becoming a phenomenon tolerated by the local society. This paper suggests that such behavior was encouraged because of the rising competition among families for prestige and reputation. The talent of individual women allowed them a chance to join the cultured network of their community, win cultural capital and social capital for their families, and to help their families and men in their families enhance their social status in the local society. However, upon marriage, the talented women resumed their respect of the traditional gender space and thus, helped continue the stable operation of the social order. Their brief defiance of the tradition was only accepted as a periodical event in their life cycle.
张杰. 才女“越界”、声望竞赛与明清江南社会运行*[J]. 妇女研究论丛, 2015, 0(2): 64-72.
ZHANG Jie. "Crossing Gender Boundaries" of Talented Women, Competition for Reputation and the Running of Jiangnan Regional Society During Ming and Qing Dynasities. , 2015, 0(2): 64-72.
2015, Vol. 0 
