Anecdotes and Vindication: Alternative Pathways and Effects in the Dissemination of Ancient Women's Ci Poetry

The dissemination of ancient women's Ci poetry operated within a highly complex social sphere. Among its varied mechanisms, anecdotes and vindications surrounding female poets—though not primary channels of transmission—served as a special literary phenomenon, offering a fresh perspective for examining the circulation of women's Ci poetry. Anecdotes were formed and disseminated through fragmented interpretations of poetic texts, hearsay in literary commentaries and scholar notes, or rumors in newspapers and magazines. The emergence of such anecdotes created opportunities for vindication by contemporaries or later generations, while vindication, in turn, amplified the circulation of these anecdotes. Although the manifestations of anecdotes and vindications in promoting women's Ci poetry varied across documentary materials, their trans-temporal interactions elevated controversies like the contentious debate over Li Qingzhao's remarriage and the "Lilac Flower Case" involving Gu Taiqing to classic issues in literary history. —As a result, the works of related female lyricists have received more attention from literary figures and spread to a wider social arena. This special dissemination mechanism not only expands the multidimensionality of the interpretation of women's Ci poetry, but also further shapes the multidimensional face of women lyricists, making them more three-dimensional and vivid.