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| Application of Masculinity in Western Studies of Ming-Qing:Centred on a Shift in Methodology |
| XUE Ying-jie |
| School of Chinese, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China |
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Abstract Under the influence of Gender Studies and Women's Studies in the West, western studies of Imperial China during the Ming-Qing dynasties have adopted masculinity as an important perspective in two stages. During the first stage from the late 1980s to 2001, the perspective of masculinity in western studies of Ming-Qing Imperial China took an anti-essentialist stand in analyzing the ambivalent relationships between certain male groups and conventional masculinity so as to challenge the essentialist understanding that gender was determined by sex. Since 2002 western studies of Ming-Qing Imperial China have adopted a view against homogeneity of masculinities, and attempted to confirm the plurality of Ming-Qing masculinities and to illuminate the strategies that existed to maintain patriarchal power. A main problem with applying masculinity in western studies of Ming-Qing lies in its neglect of gender-based power relationships. This paper argues that, in order to effectively question the legitimacy of patriarchal system, western studies of Ming-Qing Imperial China from a perspective of masculinity should examine gender-based power relationships and expose aspects of these relationships including men's access to women, female subjectivity and men's homosocial desire.
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| [1] |
. [J]. , 2019, 0(2): 90-. |
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