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Course Format, Requirements, and Grading Course Schedule: Discussion Issues, Readings, Papers, Topics, and Due Dates |
Women in
Chinese Religion Instructor Ding-hwa E. Hsieh Institution Dept. of Religion, Reed College Course Level and Type undergraduate/graduate seminar Hours of Instruction 39 hours, 3hrs/week Enrolment and Last Year Taught 15 students; Spring 1997 |
The course will study the images, roles, and experience of women, both lay and ordained, in Chinese religions: Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and popular religious sects. Discussion will focus on the following issues: gender concepts, norms, and roles defined in each religion; attitudes toward women and the feminine; the female body as a central theme in religious doctrine and practice; the biographies of women recorded in Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist literature; and female deities in Chinese religions. Readings will be taken from texts in translation and secondary studies.
Course Format, Requirements, and Grading
Meet one hour and 30 mins. every Tue. and Thur. The meetings will proceed mainly based on seminar format. Students will be asked to identify the main issues raised in the week's assigned reading and raise questions for class discussion. Therefore, class preparation, attendance, and participation for each meeting are both mandatory and important.
1. Class attendance and participation (30% of the grade).
2. Two short papers chosen from the assigned topics (double spaced, approximately 5-7 pages): summary and critique of the readings. (30%).
3. One term paper (double spaced, approximately 12-15 pages): focus on a specific issue or do some comparative studies. All the topics should be related to the discussion of this course. (40%)
***Please hand in the outline of the paper by March 18 (Tue.)
1). Course Reader
2). Cahill, Suzanne E. Transcendence & Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.
3). Cleary, Thomas, trans. Immortal Sisters: Secret of Taoist Women. Boston: Shambhala, 1989.
4). Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993.
5). Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Mahayana Tradition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.
6). Tsai, Kathryn Ann, trans. Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.
7). Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha. New York: Snow Lion Publications, Inc., 1988.
8). Young, Serinity. An Anthology of Sacred Texts by and about Women. New York: Crossroad, 1994.
Suggested Readings:
Cabezon, Jose Ignacio, ed. Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.
Falk, Nancy Auer and Rita M. Gross. Unspoken World: Women's Religious Lives in Non-Western Cultures. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980.
Gilmartin, Christina K., Gail Hershatter, Lisa Rofel, and White Tyrene, eds., Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994.
Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.
Watson, Rubie S. and Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed. Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society. eds. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991.
Wolf, Margery and Roxane Witke, ed. Women in Chinese Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975.
Course Schedule: Discussion Issues, Readings, Papers, Topics, and Due Dates
* in course reader
Week 1
1/28 Introduction
1). Course format, purposes, requirements, and readings.
2). Young, "Confucianism," in An Anthology of Sacred Texts by and about Women. 340-357.
1/30 Confucian Prescriptions for Women
1). Guisso, Richard W. "Thunder Over the Lake: The Five Classics and the Perception of Woman in Early China." In Women in China: Current Directions in Historical Scholarship, eds. Richard W. Guisso and Stanley Johannesen. ( 1981 Historical Reflections/Rflexions Historiques, Fall 1981, vol. 8, no. 3), pp. 47-61.
2). Ebrey, Inner Quarters, "Chapt. 1," pp. 21-44.
3). Young, Anthology, pp. 357-360.
Week 2
2/4 The Lieh-nu Tradition
1). Young, Anthology, pp. 360-363.
2).Sung, Marina H. "The Chinese Lieh-nu Tradition." In Women in China, pp. 63-74.
*3). Jennifer Holmgren "Widow Chastity in the Northern Dynasties: The Lie-nu Biographies in the Wei-shu," Paper on Far Eastern History 23 (March 1981): 165-186.
2/6 Female Virtues of Chastity and Fidelity
*1). Mark Elvin, "Female Virtue and the State in China" Past and Present 104 (August, 1984): 111-152.
*2). Carlitz, Katherine. "Desire, Danger, and the Body: Stories of Women's Virtue in Late Ming China," in Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), 101-124.
Paper #1: Discuss the Confucian view of female virtues and the role of female chastity in Confucian society on the basis of Sung, Holmgren, Elvin, and Carlitz. [due: 2/11, Tue.]
Week 3
2/11 Confucian Education for Women
1). Birge, Bettine. "Chu Hsi and Women's Education." In Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage, ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary and John W. Chaffee (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989).
2). Joanna F. Handlin. "Lu Kun's New Audience: The Influence of Women's Literacy on Sixteenth-Century Thought." Women in Chinese Society, eds. Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975. pp. 13-38.
2/13 Female Literacy
*1). Ko, Dorothy. "Pursuing Talent and Virtue: Education and Women's Culture in Seventeenth-and Eighteenth-Century China," in Late Imperial China 13.1 (June 1992): 9-39.
*2).Bruneau, Marie Florine. "Learned and Literary Women in Late Imperial China and Early Modern Europe," in Late Imperial China 13.1 (June 1992): 156-172.
Paper #2: Compare these four authors' (Birge, Handlin, Ko, and Bruneau) discussion about Confucian men's attitudes toward female literacy and virtues and the consequent impact on women. [due: 2/18, Tue.]
Week 4
2/18 Preparation for Marriage
1). Ebrey, Inner Quarters, Chapters 2-4 (pp. 45-98).
2). Mann, Susan. "Grooming a Daughter for Marriage: Bride and Wives in the Mid-Ch'ing Period," in Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, eds. Rubie S. Watson and Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991), 204-230.
2/20 Dowry
1). Ebrey, Inner Quarters, Chapter 5 (pp. 99-113).
2). Ebrey, "Shifts in Marriage Finance from the 6th to the 13th century," in Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, eds. Rubie S. Watson and Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991), pp. 97-132.
Week 5
2/25 Marriage Life
Ebrey, Inner Quarters, Chapts. 7-9 (pp. 131-187).
2/27 Widow in Confucian Society
*1). Jennifer Holmgren "The Economic Foundations of Virtue: Widow-Remarriage in Early and Modern China," The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 13 (1985): 1-27.
2). Ebrey. Inner Quarters, Chapts. 10-11 (pp. 188-216).
*3). Mann, Susan. "Widows in the Kinship, Class, and Community Structures of Qing Dynasty China." In Journal of Asian Studies 46.1 (Feb. 1987): 37-56.
Paper #3: Discuss women's property right and its impact on women's lives in traditional China on the basis of Ebrey, Holmgren, and Mann. [Due: 3/4. Tue.]
Week 6
3/4 Women as Commodities
1). Ebrey. Inner Quarters, Chapt. 12 (pp. 217-234).
*2). Gates, Hill. "The Commoditization of Chinese Women," in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 14.4 (1989): 799-832.
3/6 Assessment of the Roles of Women in Confucian China
1). Ebrey. Inner Quarters, Introduction and Chapts. 14-15 (pp. 1-20 and 250-271).
2). Chung, Priscilla Ching. "Power and Prestige: Palace Women in the Northern Sung (960-1127)," in Women in China, 99-112.
Highly Suggested Reading: Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of the Inner Chambers.
Paper #4: Evaluate the roles of women in Chinese Confucian society on the basis of Gates, Ebrey, and Chung. [due: 3/11, Tue.]
Week 7
3/11 Female Images and Symbols in Taoist Teaching
1). Young, Anthology, pp. 378-384.
2). Ortner, Sherry B. "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" in Women, Culture, and Society, ed. Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 67-87.
*3). Chen, Ellen Marie. "Tao as the Great Mother and the Influence of Motherly Love in the Shaping of Chinese Philosophy." History of Religions 14.1 (1974): 51-64.
3/13 Biographies of Women in Taoism
1). Young, Anthology, pp. 384-391.
*2). Cahill, Suzanne. "Practice Makes Perfect: Paths to Transcendence for Women in Medieval China," Taoist Resources 2.2 (1990): 23-42.
3). Cleary, Thomas, trans. Immortal Sisters: Secret of Taoist Women (Shambhala, 1989), pp. 1-18 (Introduction) and pp. 21-65 (Sun Bu-er).
Week 8
3/18 Queen Mother of the West
1). Young, Anthology, pp. 391-392.
2). Cahill, Suzanne E. Transcendence & Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China. Chapts. 1-2 (pp. 11-107).
3/20 Taoist Goddess
1. Young, Anthology, pp. 392-401.
2. Cahill, Suzanne E. Transcendence & Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China. Chapts. 3-4, and 6 (pp. 108-189 and pp. 213-242).
Paper #5: Regarding the images and roles of women in Taoist literature, any significant departure from those in Confucian literature? [due: 4/1, Tue.]
Week 9: Spring Break
Week 10
4/1 Attitudes toward Women and the Feminine in Early Indian Buddhism
1). Young. "The Biography of the Buddha," in Anthology, pp. 306-313.
2). Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism, Chapter 1, pp. 1-59.
*3). Falk, Nancy Auer . "An Image of Women in Old Buddhist Literature---The Daughter of Mara," in Women and Religion, eds. Judith Plaskow and Joan Arnold Romero (Missoula, Montana: Scholars' Press for the American Academy of Religion, 1974), pp. 105-112.
4/3 Buddhist Monastic Order for Women
1). Young, "The Ordination of the First Nuns" and "Poems of Buddhist Nuns," pp. 313-317.
2). Paul, Diana. Women in Buddhism, Chapters 3, pp. 76-105.
3). Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha. New York: Snow Lion Publications, Inc., 1988. pp. 53-78.
Week 11
4/8 Chinese Buddhist Nuns
1). Tsai, Kathryn A. "The Chinese Buddhist Monastic Order for Women: The First Two Centuries," Women in China, pp. 1-20.
2). Tsai, Kathryn Ann, trans. Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1972).
4/10 Lay women
1). Ebrey, Inner Quarters, Chapter 6, pp. 114-130.
2). Paul, Women in Buddhism, Chapter 4, pp. 106-165.
3). Paul, Diana Y. "Empress Wu and the Historians: A Tyrant and Saint of Classical China," in Unspoken World, pp. 191-206.
Paper #6: Discuss the roles of Buddhism for Chinese women, both lay and ordained, on the basis of Tsai, Ebrey, and Paul. [due: 4/15, Tue.]
Week 12
4/15 Views of Women's Spiritual Capacities and Achievements in Mahayana
Buddhism: The Theme of "Changing the Female Body"
1). Young, pp. 320-321.
2). Paul, Chapts. 5 and 6, pp. 166-243.
*3). Bynum, Caroline Walker. Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: Zoon Books, 1992), pp. 151-179.
4/17 Kuan-yin: Transformation from Male to Female
1). Young, pp. 321-322.
2). Paul, Chapter 7, pp. 247-280.
*3). Paul, Diana. "Kuan-yin: Savior and Savioress in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism," in The Book of the Goddess: Past and Present. ed. Carl Olsen (New York: Cross road, 1983), pp. 161-175.
4). Yu, Chun-fang. "Guanyin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteshvara," in Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850-1850, ed. Marsha Weidner (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994). pp. 151-181.
5). Video Tape: Yu, Chun-fang. "Kuan-yin Pilgrimage"
"Filmed on location in the People's Republic of China, this documentary records the pilgrimages of Chinese Buddhists to celebrate the birthday of Kuan-yin, one of the most significant yearly events for this divinity's devotees. Two principal pilgrimage sites in China---the Upper Tien-chu Monastery and P'u-t'o Island---provide the setting for the devotional practices depicted. Especially featured are pre-dawn rituals, distinctively all-night vigils, and the singing of devotional songs to Kuan-yin on her birthday amid bustling scenes of hundreds of worshippers performing age-old acts of devotion. This film provides vivid evidence of the revival of Buddhism in post-Mao China." (56 mins)
Paper #7: Discuss the female image of Kuan-yin---its implications and its impact on Chinese women, and how does Bynum's thesis help us in our assessment of Kuan-yin? [due: 4/22, Tue.]
Week 13
4/22 Ch'an: Rhetoric of Equality, Gender-linked Terms, and Images of Women
1). Paul, Chapt. 8 and Conclusion, pp. 281-311.
*2). Levering, "Lin-chi (Rinzai) Ch'an and Gender: The Rhetoric of Equality and the Rhetoric of Heroism," in Cabezn, Jose Ignacio, ed. Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), pp. 137-156.
*3). Hsieh, Ding-hwa. "Image of Women in Sung Ch'an Literature" Paper Presented to Conference on Sung Buddhism held in April, 1996, sponsored by Kuroda Institute. Included in Sung Buddhism, ed. Peter Gregory and Dan Getz (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, forthcoming).
Paper #8: Discuss the images and roles of women in Ch'an Buddhism on the basis of Levering and Hsieh. [due: 4/29, Tue.]
4/24 Popular Female Deities
*1). James L. Watson, "Standardizing the Gods: The Promotion of T'ien-hou ("Empress of Heaven") Along the South China Coast," in Popular Culture in Late Imperial China, edited by David Johnson, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evelyn Rawski (Berkeley: California University Press, 1985), pp. 292-324.
*2). Sangren, P. Steven. "Female Gender in Chinese Religious Symbols: Kuan-yin, Ma Tsu, and the 'Eternal Mother'" Signs 9 (Autumn 1983): 5-25.
Week 14
4/29 Conclusion: Women in Chinese Religions
*1). Overmyer, Daniel L. "Women in Chinese Religions: Submission, Struggle, Transcendence." In From Benares to Beijing: Essays on Buddhism and Chinese Religions in Honour of Professor Jan Yun-hua, edited by Koichi Shinohara and Gregory Schopen (Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1991), pp. 91-120.
2). Overmyer, Daniel L. "Alternatives: Popular Religious Sects in Chinese Society," in Modern China 7.2 (April 1981): 153-190. [C]
5/1 Comments and Suggestions; Individual Summary of the Term Paper
The purpose in teaching this course is to present a panorama of Chinese women's religious images, roles, and experiences through various angles drawn from both primary and secondary readings. It also aims to dispel some of the stereo-typed images of Chinese women and instead to explore Chinese women's energy for change and struggle for autonomy. The course does not cover contemporary Chinese religious women and is limited primarily to pre-modern period.
Most of the readings are appreciated specifically by more advanced students; for students with no background knowledge about China, they may find some of the materials difficult or complex to comprehend, but the fascinating issues addressed in primary texts or discussed by scholars serve well to keep them in this course. Mainly owing to these readings (such as The Inner Quarters by Professor Patricia Ebrey of University of Washington), class discussion always goes well and result is fruitful. I would suggest that more films like Professor Chun-fang Yu's "Kuan-yin Pilgrimage" and slides should be introduced to students.
For those who are interested in women in Chinese history and society (not just in religions), they may also find these readings and topics beneficial. The research project serves well for students to expand or connect what they have learned to their own disciplinary fields. Many of them take this opportunity to achieve a cross-cultural comparison regarding the issue of women.
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