明清以来的宝卷与女性文化 : 文本、历史与仪式实践的探索 = BAOJUAN (PRECIOUS SCROLLS) LITERATURE AND FEMALE CULTURE DURING THE MING-QING PERIODS : AN EXPLORATION OF TEXTS, HISTORY AND RITUAL PRACTICES

Abstract

This research explores the intricacies of gender dynamic as manifested in Chinese Baojuan (Precious Scrolls) texts and its corresponding religious practices and sacred space, to discuss the multifaceted and multidirectional contacts between female community and this specific genre. The approach to re-access and re-envision paradigms of Chinese vernacular literature in light of gender perspective will allow a comprehensive understanding on how often ignored female recipients and practitioners of textual culture demonstrated impactful relevance to the integration and transformation of the genre. Cases presented in this dissertation addressing the interconnected network of Baojuan texts and practices in terms of gendered symbol, gendered idea, gendered subjectivity and gendered space reflects critically on gender in its interpretative and imaginative dimensions. In the background, the historical trajectory of prominent themes in related to female religious cultivation such as merit-making and sowing good deeds has articulated efforts to indoctrinate female through orthodox moral codes, and yet in practice, females of different backgrounds have managed to negotiate their identity and mobility in a way engaging vivid manipulation of their assigned gender roles. From this perspective, this dissertation seeks to problematize issues related to Baojuan genre through its internal and external network of circulation of ideas as well as gendered religious models within a broader evolution of Chinese vernacular expression, from Ming-Qing periods to the contemporaries, from center to the peripheries.