Three Ming Dynasty Martyrs and Their Monstrous Mothers-in-Law
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11206341 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katherine Carlitz (University of Pittsburgh, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 2013 |
| Issue | 68 |
| Pages | 5-32 |
| Publication date | 2013-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ming Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0147-037X • E-ISSN: 1759-7595 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1179/0147037x13z.00000000015 |
| OpenAlex | W2114704649 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 33 |
The Ming dynasty was the first to see widespread adoption of the cult of female chastity and fidelity, with its prevalence of suicide and martyrdom. This article uses three accounts of Ming dynasty chastity-martyrdom to explore contradictions and tensions in the social expression of the cult. In these three stories, young wives die resisting pressure from their licentious mothers-in-law to engage in adulterous acts. The mothers-in-law render their daughters-in-law unable to model the filial obedience that was a central feature of Ming gender ideology. The resulting tensions are analyzed to situate the Ming chastity cult culturally, by relating it to other late imperial discourses about women, such as the surge in erotic novellas, the idealization of the courtesan, the expansion of women’s devotional cults, and the increasingly irreverent tone of literati fiction
Adultery · Ancient history · Art · Cult · Idealization · Ideology · Legalism (Western philosophy · Literature · Obedience · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philippine History and Culture
Mothers and sons in Chinese Buddhism
True to Her Word
Falling in Love
Society and Culture in Early Modern France
The Confusions of Pleasure
The Economic Foundations of Virtue
Women of Property in China, 960–1368
Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500-1700
The Dramatic Oeuvre of Chu Yu-Tun (1379–1439)
Superfluous Things
Women, Property, and Confucian Reaction in Sung and Yüan China (960–1368)
Negotiating Masculinities in Late Imperial China
The Monstrous-Feminine
Signifying Bodies
Mourning, Personality, Display
The Daughter, the Singing-Girl, and the Seduction of Suicide
Venerating the Martyrs of the 1402 Usurpation
Ming Erotic Novellas
Confucian Sectarianism and the Compilation of the Ming History
Lives and Legends of Yang Shen — Creating a Man for All Seasons
Wang Shizhen and the Myth of Gui Youguang
The Chinese Vernacular Story
A Study in Appropriation
Female Virtue and the State in China
Shrines, Governing-Class Identity, and the Cult of Widow Fidelity in Mid-Ming Jiangnan
Writing for Justice
Women and Property in China, 960-1949
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |