Companionate Marriage: A Continued Confucian Construct
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The hierarchical relationship between husband and wife served as a cornerstone of Confucian society. The rise of companionate marriages— marital relationships rooted in romance during the Ming and Qing—supposedly signified the breakdown of the traditional family structure by emphasizing the conjugal couple and increasing elite women’s agency. Thus, some scholars posited that the changing ideals of female virtue driven by the concept of companionate marriage demonstrated the early decline of Confucian hegemony and the start of modernity during the late imperial era. This increase of female independence and influence also conflicted with the May Fourth’s dark depiction of Confucianism. This thesis was inspired by the academic debate over the shifts companionate marriages caused in the traditionally Confucian-prescribed family and social structures, as well as the implications these changes had on the conceptions of modernity in China. This thesis aims to add to this scholarly discourse by building upon the foundations laid by Dorothy Ko’s revisionist history, Teachers of the Inner Chambers. Women’s voices historically have been dismissed in discussions of dynastic China despite their importance in the maintenance of the traditional social order. Therefore, this thesis places women’s voices back into the academic discussion by primarily focusing on literary works authored by elite women within companionate marriages. Contrary to challenging traditional society, women’s words prove that companionate marriages perpetuated traditional Confucian constructs. As narrated by women’s works, the emotional bonds and shifting ideals of female virtue resulting from companionate marriage ideals resided within and reinforced classical values. Their pieces demonstrate the active commitment of elite women to upholding traditional proprieties, as evidenced by comparisons to traditional moral works for women. While elite women were inspired by the romantic ideals of companionate marriage depicted in fictional works such as The Peony Pavilion, they sought to balance traditional female virtues with their desire to fulfill their new roles as companionate wives. This thesis seeks to show that companionate marriages did not represent the early decline of traditional China but instead displayed the dynamic nature of Confucianism during the late imperial era.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Dinovitz, Grayson Baxter |
|---|---|
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Stanford Global Studies, Center for East Asian Studies |
| Primary advisor | Zhou, Yiqun |
Subjects
| Subject | Stanford Global Studies |
|---|---|
| Subject | East Asian Studies |
| Subject | China |
| Subject | Ming-Qing |
| Subject | Companionate Marriage |
| Subject | Gender |
| Subject | Confucianism |
| Genre | Thesis |
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- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Dinovitz, Grayson Baxter. (2021). Companionate Marriage: A Continued Confucian Construct. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/hx589hx3458
Collection
Stanford Center for East Asian Studies Thesis Collection
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- Contact
- gdinovitz@gmail.com
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