Women's travel in the Tang Dynasty: Gendered identity in a hierarchical society

Abstract

Women's travel writing has received increasing attention, with English literature being the focus of most studies. In contrast, Chinese women have been absent from historical travel narratives. The Tang Dynasty (618–907), a golden period in Chinese history, had a rare collection of women's travel poetry, a genre offering richness and insights on female travelers' experiences and perceptions of “other” places they had visited. Drawing on women's travel writings from All Tang Poetry, this study illustrates how travel narratives help formulate and reinforce, or downplay, gendered identities in the contexts of social hierarchy and patriarchal ideology. The research contributes to the gender, travel and identity literature from a Chinese language and culture perspective.