This module looks at the topic of gender and women in popular religious thought in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In late imperial China, Buddhist belief and practice was part and parcel of people’s everyday life. At the same time, Confucianism was enshrined as the state ideology and social moral code. We will explore the following questions:
1) Was there any tension between Confucian and Buddhist ideas on gender and women?
2) If so, how was the tension addressed and solved?
3) How did women express their Buddhist piety while complying with social mores?
4) How might Buddhist piety have conflicted with social expectations on women?
We will look at the social-religious tensions inherent in the roles of daughter, wife, daughter-in-law, mother and religious teacher in Qing China. We will also look at the theme of female suffering and sacrifice, which is portrayed as a virtue in both popular Buddhist and Confucian texts. Many popular Buddhist texts are translated to English. So knowledge of Chinese is not a requirement for this module. There is also plenty of secondary scholarship in English.