Generally, the women in the Ming-Qing period were supposed to live passive and pitiable lives dotted by suicide, chastity, etc. caught in Confucianism trap. Also, It was emphasized that the conditions became poor in all legal, social and economic aspe ...
Generally, the women in the Ming-Qing period were supposed to live passive and pitiable lives dotted by suicide, chastity, etc. caught in Confucianism trap. Also, It was emphasized that the conditions became poor in all legal, social and economic aspects, in comparison with the women in the Song period. It's fact that these aspects were increased but it's difficulty that they represent full account of the women in the Ming-Qing period. This study started with the critical mind that we must to cast away the prejudice about the women in the Ming-Qing period and restore the true nature of them.
For achieving this studying purpose, I studied for three years. In the first year, I understood the fact of the women in the Ming-Qing period through the settlement of litigation related with marriage・property rights. In the result of that, I could grasp the positivity of Ming period's women who were married other man after the death of original husband, managed the household with new husband, designated the proper successor and managed the property. In the second year, through the settlement of litigation related with property right, I analyzed the fact of Qing period's women. After analyzing the litigation documents of Qing period, the widow right of selecting successor in Qing period was expanded restrictively. So the Qing period's widows participated in the litigation positively for insisting their rights by receiving the helps from litigation masters. In the third year, I analyzed the fact of Qing period's women through the settlement of litigation related with marriage. Through the litigation document, I can see the lower class women organized their lives positively by the second marriage after the death of original husband in Qing period. On the other hand, there were many widows who lived lives of chastity for the rest of their life in Qing period but those were not forced by the Confucianism morals like the existed awareness. Some of them were self-selecting lives for maintaining the social・economic benefits, etc. gained by the chastity. Especially, the chastity of Manju women was influenced by Confucianism concept to some degree but it had different meaning from the chastity of Han women. It has to be evaluated by positive survival tactic for adapting to new social-cultural environments rather than just ‘becoming Han people’
In the result of analyzing litigation documents including the women's daily lives vividly for three years, I could examine the other lives of women which had not been exposed with being veiled by huge stream like the pressure of chastity and the increasement of chaste women, in the Ming-Qing period. Unlike the existed narrow awareness, I could grasp the concrete fact that the women of the Ming-Qing period had played their own roles with certain positions in their families or societies.