Constructed Emotions

The Bond Between Mothers and Sons in Late Imperial China

Bibliographic Data

ID15028045
AuthorsPing-Chen Hsiung (corresponding author)
Year1994
Volume15
Issue1
Pages87-117
Publication date1994-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLate imperial China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0884-3236 • E-ISSN: 1086-3257
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/late.1994.0006
OpenAlexW2130744234
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited5

The relationship between mothers and sons has attracted much scholarly interest from historians, as well as from social scientists and psychologists, especially since Sigmund Freud put forth his theory of the Oedipus complex. This article will examine mother-son relations in the Ming-Ch'ing household, as well as the environment that nurtured this relationship, the particular expectations Chinese mothers came to have of sons, and the more general implications this bond had for gender issues in Ming-Ch'ing society as a whole. Sociologists and anthropologists studying Chinese families in modern times have observed that a woman in China needs to have sons to secure her position in the family and in society.1 Margery Wolf has explained the particular importance of the mother-son bond (clearly more important than father-son relations on a personal level) through her concept of the uterine family.2 According to Wolf, women's futures depend on the quality of their relations with their sons, for on these relations lie the mother's single hope for old-age care. Ensuring that this relationship works to the precise effect the mother wishes requires continuous effort—a deliberate process of identity building and emotional construction. It is useful, therefore, to draw upon historical records to investigate the emotional contours ofthe mother-son bond and how mothers achieved this particular style of relationship. If possible, moreover, such a process ought to be examined not only from the point of view of the mothers, who actively constructed these emotions and this relationship, but also that of the sons, who bore the stamp of this construction throughout their subsequent lives

Archaeology · Bond · China · Economics · History of China · Chinese history and philosophy · Finance · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · History of Emotions Research

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