Femininity in Flux: Gendered Virtue and Social Conflict in the Mid–Qing Courtroom

Abstract

This chapter explores the significance of chastity-centered virtue in the definitions of femininity and, sometimes, masculinity by examining contentions over female virtue in social conflicts that resulted in criminal cases during the Qianlong reign (1736–95). Chastity discourse did not monopolize the construction of femininity in the Qing, but chastity lays at the heart of the paradigm of virtue that informed notions of gender difference and norms of proper behavior in mid-Qing China. It traces the theme of female virtue through some of the many variations of femininity manifested in vignettes of social practice: as a component of self-identity, as the fulfillment of a familial role-type, and as an attribute of reputation and source of social leverage. It also examines interpretations of unfemininity, or shrewishness, as a form of resistance to dominant gender norms and as a useful stereotype in social and legal discourse.