A Medieval Feminist Critique of the Chinese World Order: The Case of Wu Zhao (r. 690–705)

Medieval Chinese held that the circumscribed social space women might inhabit in life was encoded in the nature of their bodies. Gender conceptions common to China’s three religions—Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism—confirmed that women were allied to the passive and inner. Accounts of the only woma...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inReligion (London. 1971) Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 383 - 392
Main Author Bokenkamp, Stephen R.
Format Journal Article Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Kent Elsevier Ltd 01.10.1998
Taylor & Francis Group
Elsevier
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Asian religions
Buddhism
China
Confucianism
Cosmology
Feminism
Gender
History
History and sciences of religions
Human body
Medieval history
Middle Ages
Monarchy
Other religions (China, Japan, etc.)
Religion
Royalty
Taoism
Women
Wu Zhao
Zhao Wu
Early Middle Ages
China
Buddhism
Taoism
Confucianism
Woman
Femininity
Body
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Medieval Chinese held that the circumscribed social space women might inhabit in life was encoded in the nature of their bodies. Gender conceptions common to China’s three religions—Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism—confirmed that women were allied to the passive and inner. Accounts of the only woman in Chinese history to occupy the throne in her own name, Wu Zhao, follow Chinese historians in portraying her as contravening this cosmology. Drawing on recent studies of the religious history of the body, I argue instead that Wu Zhao constructed a legitimizing strategy that took seriously, in ways not contemplated before, these fundamental tenets of Chinese religion.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0048-721X
1096-1151
DOI:10.1006/reli.1998.0147