Tang Dynasty: Strength and Independence of the Female Characters

Female characters are portrayed as males The short fictions written in the Tang Dynasty emphasize the strength and the independence of the female characters, specifically their male-like personalities and behaviors. In Chen Xuanyou’s “The Departed Spirit,” Shen Jiji’s “Miss Ren, or The Fox Lady,” and Yuan Zhen’s “The Story of Yingying,” the female protagonists are depicted as male characters in three ways. First, their external and internal intelligence make them different from conventional women. Second, they dominate in the relationships with the male characters. Third, they get rid of the conventional social etiquette by displaying untamed behaviors. The female characters are characterized as intelligent, both externally and internally. In other words, the female characters’ intelligence deviate them from conventional women who should be ignorant. Instead, they are depicted as closer to the image of males. In “Miss Ren, or The Fox Lady,” Miss Ren displays her external intelligence by making money for Zheng Liu. One day Miss Ren asked Zheng to borrow five or six thousand cash to buy “a horse with a mole on its left haunch” as she specified. (Minford and Lau, 1029) Zheng followed her instruction. Although the brothers of Zheng’s wife laughed at him since they thought the horse was not worth that much, in the end Zheng sold it for thirty thousand cash. (Minford and Lau, 1029) This plot demonstrates how Miss Ren behaved like a man. Conventionally, men should take the responsibility of making money. However, in the fiction it is Miss Ren who teaches Zheng the way to earn profit. Additionally, in “The Story of Yingying,” Cui Yingying shows her internal intelligence. She was able to write poems and to play the zither. And she had more talent than Zhang did. When Zhang fell in love with Yingying, he asked Yingying’s maid Crimson for advice. Crimson suggested to Zhang that writing a love poem to Yingying might be the only way to move her since she was an expert on writing. And in essence most of the communication in the story happened in the way of exchanging poems between Yingying and Zhang. (Minford and Lau, 1029) Nevertheless, the intelligence of writing poems and playing instruments was considered as the intelligence of males because women were supposed to be uneducated at that time. Yingying stands out from the perception of ignorant women by displaying her superior skills of writing poems and playing instruments. Her unconventional intelligence reveals her male-like characteristic. The female characters in the three pieces also show dominance in their relationships with male characters. In contrast to the convention that men usually made the important decisions in the relationships with women, women in these pieces became more powerful and male-like by confirming the relationships and making decisions about marriage. Miss Ren shows her dominance by her decision of accepting Zheng Liu. When they met each other again in a dress shop, Miss Ren escaped from Zheng in the first place. (Minford and Lau, 1026) She did not accept him because she thought Zheng knew that she was not a human being. Therefore she was concerned that Zheng might be afraid of her. Although Miss Ren loved Zheng, she was able to control her emotion when she met her beloved. That is how she takes control of her relationship with Zheng. Miss Ren’s dominance is also illustrated by the way she confronted Wei Yin who was a friend of Zheng. After Wei heard about Miss Ren’s incomparable beauty, he visited Miss Ren’s house and tried to rape her. It was obvious that Miss Ren was not strong enough to push Wei away. However, she did not yield to him either. Instead of using physical power to get rid of Wei, Miss Ren pretended to give up so that Wei would let his guard down. Although she failed to run away from Wei, she then strategically mentioned Zheng Liu’s poor situation as well as Wei’s affluence. This comparison evoked Wei’s guilt for what he did to Zheng and Miss Ren. By doing that, Miss Ren successfully persuaded Wei to stop his absurd behaviors. In addition, Wei apologized to her and they became friends. Thereafter, Wei gave Miss Ren everything she wanted even though they were just friends. (Minford and Lau, 1027-1028) Miss Ren’s unyielding attitude towards the authority figure Wei, which was opposite to the image of a conventional woman, brought her the dominance position in their friendship. Furthermore, in “The Departed Spirit,” the story contradicts the roles of an active female and a reluctant male. After Qianiang’s father decided to marry Qianniang to his best assistant, Wang Zhou did nothing to continue their relationship but left with sorrow. Compared to Wang’s inaction, Qianniang’s spirit left her body and followed Wang. (Minford and Lau, 1033) If Qianniang did not follow Wang, they would have been separated forever. Therefore Qianniang’s action saved her relationship with Zhang. Besides that, during their five years in Sichuan, Wang did nothing significant. In contrast, it was Qianniang who made the decision to go back to her parents with Wang and their two sons. Qiannang’s decision is a turning point in the story to bring the reunion of her departed spirit and her body. Thus it is obvious that Qianniang’s active personality and dominance in decision in the story make her male-like. The female characters’ untamed behaviors are depicted in details in the pieces. That is to say, women in the fictions are no longer restricted by the conventional social etiquette. As a result, the liberation from social norms makes them more male-like. When Yingying’s spirit departed from her body, she followed Wang without wearing her shoes on. (Minford and Lau, 1033) Conventionally, women walking barefoot symbolized the deviation from the social etiquette. Her wild action reveals how similar she is to a male. Miss Ren’s actions show her liberal personality like a man as well. After she agreed to accept Zheng, she did not go back with Zheng to his house. Instead, she decided to rent and to live in her own house in the east on a quiet street. (Minford and Lau, 1026-1027) Besides that, instead of making her own clothes, she bought her clothes elsewhere. (Minford and Lau, 1030) It was very unconventional that a woman did not sew clothes at that time because the major duty for a woman was to do housekeeping. Moreover, compared to the conventional women who sent their maids to do the shopping for them, Miss Ren went to the dress shop together with her maid. (Minford and Lau, 1026) These untamed behaviors all portray Miss Ren as less female-like. In addition, Yingying’s unruly personality is illustrated in the story. When Mrs. Cui invited Zhang to the banquet, she called her daughter Yingying to come out. However, Yingying did not show up in time. Mrs. Cui was angry and thus she called Yingying again. This time Yingying did show up but she was very much slovenly: she wore a casual dress and she did not put on her makeup. (Minford and Lau, 1048) It was considered very impolite if a woman met the guest without dressing up in convention. However, her untamed actions associate her with male-like personality. In conclusion, the female characters in the three pieces display their strong and male-like personalities by showing their talent, supremacy in their relationships with male characters, and their wild behaviors.