Gender and Homeland (Discussions on Chu Ci in Han-Jin Ci Fu)

Author: Zheng Yuyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This book is part of the "Contemporary Women Scholars Series," written by the renowned scholar Zheng Yuyu from National Taiwan University. Using the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu as its source material, it explores the formation and development of the Chu-style fu series in the Han, Wei, and Jin periods through the diverse interpretations of these texts by scholars across different eras. This approach outlines the personality traits and composition of intellectuals under the traditional Chinese cultural and political system. The author examines the three major themes of traditional Chinese fu: the divine maiden, the journey, and the satire. Through the divine maiden symbol that resists class oppression with gender disguise, the clan and national imagination inspired by travel experiences, and the intellectual identity marked by the scholar's direct advice, the book discusses important cultural and intellectual historical events of the medieval period, such as the grand fu of the Western Han court, the political structure of the Eastern Han scholar-gentry, and the Lao-Zhuang Xuanxue philosophy. It raises the political and cultural issues of gender and the state, exile and counter-exile, thereby offering a contemporary exploration of the form and meaning of Chu-style fu.