Genteel Ladies, Socialite, Scholar
- Available Online: 2019-08-01
Abstract: Guixiu (" 闺秀”, genteel ladies), socialites and scholars are the three major groups of women’s poetry writing in the Republic of China. Guixiu show women’s adaptation and tolerance, lingering and looking back, resistance and innovation in the old and new mixed times. The Chinese Female Calligraphy and Painting Group (1934−1949) create fashionable and commercial poetry by presenting their western life, talents, love, friendship and paintings. They cater to the aesthetic taste of the citizens. The poetries of women scholars at the National Centre University minimized the boundaries of gender, formed the collective identity of scholars, inherited the literati spirit of " writing for conveying truth”, preaching knowledge and caring for the country, and emphasized the practical use of literature. All of this not only reflect the retrospect and watch of traditional boudoir poems, but also create a new situation for modern women’s poetry, which reflecting the radical transformation in the interior field of the classical literature and the evolution of the female classical poems. In addition, they are consistent with the path of gender liberation. The female poetries in the Republic of China made the latent modern female spirit in the classical literature emerge from the historical surface, which also makes up for the deficiencies of studying the changes of women’s ideology from the perspective of new literature.