by Adrian Cook
edited by Emma Corso
The first decade of the 20th century was a time of significant upheaval and disruption in the cultural fabric of the Chinese Empire. As the threat of neighbouring states grew, the Chinese population retaliated against the failed modernization of the Qing Dynasty, foreshadowing its eventual downfall in 1911. Throughout this transitional period, the need for modernization in various aspects of life and culture was vocalized by many revolutionary women, demanding female mobility and education for the development and protection of the nation. With this came an expansion of the scope of women writers’ topics of interest and travels. One such woman was Shan Shili, a gentry woman (guixiu) of the Qing Dynasty who fulfilled many literary firsts for Chinese women.
Compared to her peers, Shan Shili is remembered as a reformist. Her written works have been interpreted as supporting women’s mobility and education in nationalistic pursuit, yet constantly reminding Chinese guixiu of their gendered role in society. In contrast, women such as Qiu Jin are remembered as feminist revolutionaries. However, explorations of Shan Shili’s works have remained limited to analyses of singular works, with no scholar examining the entirety of her compositions. In this paper, I am reconsidering her written works in their entirety, redefining their feminist intent throughout this transitional era. I will argue that while Shan Shili’s collected work has largely been deemed reformist and traditional in the feminist context, through a reexamination of the written form and authorial expression of her various works, the author emerges as a beacon of women’s literary freedom.
I will begin by analyzing Shan’s first publication Guimao lüxing ji (Travelogue in the Year 1903), incorporating poems from her posthumous collection, Shouzishi shigao (Poem drafts from Shouzi Studio), written throughout the 1903 journey accompanying her husband, as detailed in the Travelogue. I will then expand upon this analysis using Shan’s Guiqian Ji (Writings in Retirement) as evidence of emerging feminist motivations. Acknowledging various conservative claims Shan has made in her works, I will argue that they contradict other aspects of her writings and lifestyle. Finally, I will address Qing guixiu zhengshi zaixuji (A Continuation of the Correct Beginning of Gentlewomen of the Qing), asserting an alternative explanation for its traditional content. Through this extensive analysis of her works, I intend to redefine Shan’s legacy as one of feminist intent and authorial independence.
Prior to exploring Shan’s collection of writings, a summary of her background is necessary. Born in 1856 to a family of scholars from the Zhejiang province, Shan received an extensive literary and historical education due to the desire of her maternal uncle, Xu Renbo, to see her educated.[i] A traditional guixiu trained in classical poetry and prose, Shan was late to marry at the age of 26.[ii] Her husband, Qian Xun, was an ambassador and official for the Manchurian government of the Qing Dynasty.[iii] In his role as diplomat, Qian Xun travelled across the globe, eventually with the company of his wife. As such, Shan was “the first woman traveler who wrote extensively about her overseas journeys”.[iv] As stated, in contrast to other travelling women of her times, Shan Shili is considered more conservative and supportive of her traditional guixiu values, incorporating reforms to update their role in a modern context.[v] Her first foreign journey began in 1899, at the age of 43, when she wrote:
“I followed him [her husband] to Japan with our two sons. In the next few years, I went often, sometimes several times a year.” [vi]
Henceforth, Shan’s exposure to foreign cultures expanded, and her authorial voice grew.
Shan Shili’s first published work, Guimao lüxing ji (Travelogue in the Year 1903), was published in 1904, one year after her journey took place.[vii] The travel journal records her 70-day journey throughout China, Japan, Korea, and Manchuria, as she accompanied her husband to Moscow and Saint Petersburg from March to May 1903.[viii]Shan split her travelogue into four sections: the first detailing her time in Japan until April 5th; the second recording her train journey and observations of Vladivostok until the 17th; the third noting more travel details from Manzhouli to Moscow and Saint Petersburg; and finally, a detailed account of her time in Moscow.[ix] The first and last sections are noted for their detailed reports of culture, technology, and attractions in the respective cities, with meticulous descriptions of specific topics. For example, Shan writes:
“When it’s noon at Wolinskaya it’s 7:44am in Saint Petersburg. The two are off by 256 minutes, and the difference in longitude is 64 degrees.” [x]
In another example, Shan describes the work of the Red Cross.[xi] These educational passages straightforwardly educate readers on newfound topics. Through this writing format, Shan demonstrates her first leanings towards a scholarly narrative that rigorously transcribes knowledge with minor personal input.
This narrative is further evident within poems written by Shan throughout her 1903 travels, collected in Shouzishi shigao (Poem drafts from Shouzi Studio). One poem reads:
That ancient cloud carriage is fictional,
Unexpectedly this trolley never loses its way.
Driven by electricity and steam, it is safe and fast,
And one doesn’t bother to cross the creek by wheelbarrow. [xii]
As Wang notes, Shan takes the opportunity in this poem to focus on the enabling power of technology and the improvements it brings to quality of life.[xiii] She uses Chinese legendary imagery to convey the amazement caused by the trolley. In doing so, Shan intrigues the reader with foreign technology, and demonstrates the way foreign education could improve Chinese lives domestically. These excerpts contrast with the second and third sections of the journal, which primarily contain lush descriptions of scenery and surroundings, such as her impression of Kyoto and her experience traveling by train. These examples are closer to the traditional writings of Qing women with their “softness and honesty” in contrast to the emerging “powerfulness and boldness” of her informative sections. [xiv]
While the narrative form shows a trend towards an intentionally scholarly narrative, it must be acknowledged that the intended audience for her writings were fellow guixiu like herself. In fact, her writings detail “her strong support for a Japanese model of education for women, one that emphasized service to family and nation rather than learning for the sake of learning”.[xv] This approach is simultaneously held up as evidence of Shan’s more traditional intentions for women, as well as her advocacy for women’s increased mobility and freedom in Chinese society. As she states in her preface:
“Perhaps a longing for travel would also arise among my female compatriots who have read this. I hope so.”[xvi]
Shan Shili clearly expresses her intention to educate women for the betterment of society by empowering them to educate their children, continuing to fulfill their roles as mothers and wives in a modern context. However, by presenting the travelogue from her own perspective, Shan is subtly providing women with an aspiration of what they could become through their own actions. While her writings encourage women to travel for the betterment of their families, her travels and notes reveal her own innate curiosity of the outside world. Some may argue that Shan’s consistent referral to her husband when stating ideas demonstrates her wish “to exemplify modern wifeliness.”[xvii] I would argue that this is a lingering habit from her many years as a guixiu that signifies little, as the use of this rhetorical escort disappears in future writings.
Shan Shili’s Travelogue of 1903 portrays an initial foray into international travel writing. While she expresses her desire to educate women for the betterment of the Chinese empire, and to improve women’s roles in the family, aspects of her work show her emerging interest and prowess in concisely conveying knowledge to the benefit of her readers.
Shan’s next work, Guiqian Ji (Writings in Retirement), published in 1909, details her travels to Rome from July 1908 to November 1909 upon her husband’s retirement.[xviii] The work is “composed of 10 chapters (and two appendices), dedicated to various topics, historical and artistic,”[xix] rendering each section an in-depth recording of specific subject matters, meticulously described for an audience unfamiliar with European history. For example, Shan describes a mosaic at the entrance of Saint Paul Cathedral titled ‘The Boat’, and makes note that tourists typically miss it because of its placement.[xx] She then conveys the history that explains why the mosaic was placed there in the first place. Shan’s comprehensive and exhaustive exploration of each minute historical and cultural detail further defines her writing as intentionally scholarly.
As stated by Brezzi, Shan wanted “to go beyond the roles assigned to women by her society, and she did so by choosing a form of writing, which was the prerogative of male writers, the historical essay.”[xxi] Furthermore, as the first Chinese author to attempt to describe Western art and heritage to her readers, she effectively conveyed her travel experiences to her readers.[xxii] In this unique position, Shan Shili became one of the first Chinese individuals to write about various topics, such as Judaism and the aforementioned Italian art and architecture. Her works on Judaism reflect her experience of seeing “with her own eyes the suffering of Jewish people in Europe.”[xxiii] As she writes:
“I read newspapers from Germany and Japan claiming that there were Jews in China. I therefore collected much information from Japanese and German sources, as well as making many inquiries of several scholars of the subject.” [xxiv]
This passage indicates Shan’s eagerness to explore subjects to their full extent and investigate the questions that arise for answers. Through her research regarding Jews in China, she put together a thorough collection of information not only outlining the various arrivals of Jews and Judaism in China throughout time, but also detailed collections of information on Jewish faith, practices, worship, and stories.
Shan’s historical approach to her subjects in Guiqian Ji rendered her a “connoisseur of the architecture of the Cathedral [,…] a connoisseur with […] above all a serious degree of authority to write and perhaps instruct.”[xxv] This authority enabled her to not only record detailed histories of subjects she was immersed in, but also insert her own opinion on certain topics. For example, about Catholic confession, she states:
“Throughout his life a man never ceases to confess; if, after the confession of the afternoon, at the evening he commits other sins, the next morning he can confess again, and he becomes a virtuous man again!”[xxvi]
Or in another example, about anti-semitism across Europe:
“Although many Jews are intellectuals and rich financiers, many key figures of Europe and America’s financial world are Jews, still they are oppressed by the white race. […] It is clear that the Jewish problem is caused by racial hatred.”[xxvii]
In both excerpts, Shan enjoys the freedom to comment on and critique the Catholic faith and the racist treatment of the Jewish diaspora. Her deep knowledge and thorough research of these subjects enables her to fill a space, as previously stated, traditionally for male writers. When describing the nude Laocoön statue, Shan admits that these sights initially made her feel strange, but through reading books she grew to understand them.[xxviii] As Brezzi argues, this statement displays Shan’s faith in research and reading as a means of understanding foreign subjects, and subtly encourages her readers to educate themselves as well.
Widmer states that “[t]he contrast between Shan’s two travelogues suggests that over time Shan may have abandoned the idea of contributing to the awakening of Chinese women, preferring instead to confine her travels to more purely cultural themes.”[xxix] I contend instead that the reverse is true: as Shan focuses on the cultural and historical themes of her location, she demonstrates her ability as a woman to produce valuable knowledge and scholarship to be shared with anyone, as any man would. Furthermore, she reveals confidence in her judgment through her written expression – she no longer uses her husband and sons as rhetorical escorts when articulating perspectives or opinions. It is also made clear that her work is intended to be shared. She asserts:
“It might benefit readers by widening their scope of knowledge. Thus, I copied it out and sent it to the press.” [xxx]
While this statement sounds like an afterthought, the incredible extent of her research validates that she intended to educate and inform with her research. This is further reflected in her statement on Marco Polo’s written works:
“It is the requisite reading for any Westerner who is interested in Chinese affairs, as Marco Polo is considered the first scholar of Eastern studies.”[xxxi]
Here Shan once again subtly indicates the importance of her own work. If Marco Polo, as the first Westerner to write about Chinese affairs, is a requisite reading for any interested Westerner, this indicates that she, as the first Easterner to write about the West, is also a requisite reading. Additionally, Shan argues that Marco Polo’s work is valuable to Chinese individuals as a Western perspective of Eastern culture, indirectly drawing attention to the inverse significance of her work, as an Eastern production about Western culture. This statement demonstrates Shan Shili’s faith in her own ability, confidence in her authorial expression and independence as a woman. It confirms that Shan saw her research and work as valuable to readers of all backgrounds.
The contents of Guiqian Ji continue to portray Shan Shili as a female author aware of her own knowledge and ability. Here, she distances herself from the outcry for female mobility, and instead demonstrates it through her own travels, research, and writings. By fully committing to the historical essay, Shan proves that women are equal to men in their ability to write, research topics, and dispel knowledge. In contrast to Widmer’s analysis, her cultural focus indicates her strong self-identity as a researcher and historical scholar independent of her guixiu position, adjusting her writing style to the benefit of her readers.
Shan’s writing is frequently noted as encouraging women to conform to the expectations of guixiu. However, I would argue that Shan’s writings present an odd yet recurring contradiction between her stern statements reminding women to remain virtuous in their roles, and her support for the breaking of these norms. For example, she says to her daughter-in-law after a trip to the Osaka Exposition of 1903:
“Today’s trip was only to expand our knowledge. Although we tramped about in the rain, we did not trespass against the rules of decorum. Moreover, you were waiting upon your mother-in-law. But when you go back to Tokyo, you must scrupulously obey the rules of your school. Do not go out frivolously.”[xxxii]
Yet, in another passage she mentions intentionally walking multiple miles when at home “as an ironic comment on the women watching.”[xxxiii] Similarly, she has been quoted saying that women’s travels and education should be for the sole intent of improving their roles as mothers and educators; and yet, she wrote in a poem while staying in a Spring Resort in Hakone, Japan:
I would like to leave some footprints of a wild goose.[xxxiv]
What a shame that I haven’t mastered the Japanese language.[xxxv]
Once again, a contradiction is found in her statements. Shan’s longing to write fluently in Japanese in order to publish writings for a Japanese audience indicates that she in eager to write for dedicated readers, rather than to the benefit of her status as a guixiu, as was suggested. These examples obscure whether statements Shan Shili made about conforming to guixiu customs were supposed to be taken literally, or were supposed to indicate her desire to maintain the customs and traditions of the past, while still fully liberating women from literary and scholarly limitations. As stated by Armstrong, “Ming and Qing culture women’s writing maintained the sexual and social hierarchy of male over female without insisting, as Western feminism does, that their respective desires and sensibilities exist in opposition to each other.”[xxxvi] Could Shan have desired the liberation of women, without eradicating cultural norms and habits that had been a part of Chinese culture for centuries? These contradictions in her statements substantiate that perhaps a Western definition of feminism and female liberation is not compatible with understanding the late Qing era context.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge Qing guixiu zhengshi zaixuji (A Continuation of the Correct Beginning of Gentlewomen of the Qing), Shan Shili’s addition to Yun Shu’s collection of distinguishable guixiu. It has been noted that Shan did not include revolutionary writers from the end of the Qing Dynasty in her additions to the collection, only including women who exhibited the virtues of guixiu. Furthermore, the work is very traditional, using classical language and applying the date in the stem-branched form.[xxxvii] Per Widmer, this indicates a conservative approach to her additions.[xxxviii] Unfortunately, without proper translations, I was not able to analyse the contents of her work to its full extent. Nonetheless, I would like to propose an alternative interpretation. In light of Shan Shili’s steady and consistent shift from travel journal writer to historical essay writer, it is possible that her additions to Qing guixiu zhengshi zaixuji were an attempt to preserve the history of the guixiu following the 1911 Xinhai Revolution. This would effectively commemorate her reality and life in a meticulous, thorough history following the sudden and abrupt shift of Chinese culture from traditional ancient customs to those of the newly-founded Republic. Considering the drastic changes taking place around her, Shan’s desire to record a part of history that so deeply impacted and involved her would be understandable. If so, this would indicate that she remained a committed researcher and historian throughout her life. With her developed research skills, she would have been equipped to identify honourable guixiu, locate their significant works, investigate their biography, and include it all in a historically accurate and concise format.
As China transitioned from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the lives of all Chinese citizens shifted as they adapted, not only to a new government, but to a nation that had begun to open to the world, acknowledging its need to learn from international neighbours. This change came with a newfound freedom for women, as they enjoyed the accumulating liberation from their gendered expectations. Shan Shili has long been understood as a woman who accepted the change of time, but remained instilled in her role as guixiu. Through this analysis I intended to prove that Shan Shili was not in fact devoted to maintaining the strict decorum of guixiu, instead hoping to preserve the history and culture of the role as China entered a new era. Through an observation of her writings as a sequential series of works, it becomes evident that Shan Shili greatly expanded the scope of what a woman writer could be, rivaling the work of men, and solidifying herself as a historical scholar. While she continued to develop her literary and educational abilities, she preserved her guixiu identity which had long been a part of her, and continuously sought to protect this piece of culture as it began to fade from society. Shan Shili was not a reformist afraid to sacrifice the gendered norms of the past; she was a hidden feminist gem that has long been misinterpreted. Her collected works stand as an honorable example of perseverance and success in a transitory state.
Adrian Cook is a U3 student in the Faculty of Arts, majoring in Geography with a double minor in International Development and East Asian Studies. He began taking courses in the East Asian department of McGill in first year as elective courses, eventually turning these elective courses into a second minor. Particularly interested in East Asian history, he has primarily focused on courses focusing on gender and sexuality in East Asian literature.
[i] Alessandra Brezzi, Some artistic descriptions and ethical dilemmas in Shan Shili’s travel notes on Italy (1909). International Communication of Chinese Culture 3, no. 1 (2016): 177, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40636-015-0033-y
[ii] Ellen Widmer, Foreign Travels through a Woman’s Eyes: Shan Shili’s Guimao lüxing ji in Local and global Perspective. Journal of Asian Studies 65, no. 4 (2006): 769, https://mycourses2.mcgill.ca/d2l/le/content/351147/viewContent/4027712/View
[iii] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 177.
[iv] Yanning Wang, “Introduction,” in Reverie and Reality: Poetry on Travel by Late Imperial Chinese Women, (Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2014), 145.
[v] Yanning Wang, “Chapter 5: Women’s International Travels in the Late Qing,” in Reverie and Reality: Poetry on Travel by Late Imperial Chinese Women, (Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2014), 146.
[vi] Widmer, “Foreign Travels”, 766.
[vii] Grace S. Fong, Mobile Subjects: Women’s Education and Transformations in Travel Writing in the Late Qing and Early Republic. Institute of Chinese Studies Visiting Professor Lecture Series (II), Journal of Chinese Studies, no. Special (2009): 185, https://mycourses2.mcgill.ca/d2l/le/content/351147/viewContent/4109050/View
[viii] Widmer, “Foreign Travels”, 771.
[x] Ibid, 764.
[xi] Ellen Widmer, “Chapter 1: Gentility in transition: Travels, novels, and the new guixiu,” in The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class, ed. Daria Berg and Chloë Starr (Abingdon: Routledge, 2007), 31.
[xii] Wang, “Chapter 5: Women’s International Travels in the Late Qing”, 147.
[xiii] Ibid, 147.
[xiv] Guo Yanli, An Introduction to Modern Chinese Female Literature. Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 3, no. 2 (2003): 120-121, http://sjeas.skku.edu/upload/200605/06_Guo%20Yanli.pdf
[xv] Widmer, “Foreign Travels”, 766.
[xvi] Fong, “Mobile Subjects”, 184-185.
[xvii] Grace S. Fong, Mobile Subjects: Women’s Education and Transformations in Travel Writing in the Late Qing and Early Republic. Institute of Chinese Studies Visiting Professor Lecture Series (II), Journal of Chinese Studies, no. Special (2009): 185, https://mycourses2.mcgill.ca/d2l/le/content/351147/viewContent/4109050/View
[xviii] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 175.
[xix] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 179.
[xx] Hu Ying, ‘Would That I Were Marco Polo’: The Travel Writing of Shan Shili (1856-1943). Journeys 5, no. 1 (2004): 128, http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA135119027&docType=Article&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=ZEAI-MOD1&prodId=EAIM&contentSet=GALE%7CA135119027&searchId=R1&userGroupName=crepuq_mcgill&inPS=true
[xxi] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 180.
[xxii] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 179.
[xxiii] Zhou Xun, “Chapter 3: Encountering and Reinventing the ‘Jews’ 1870-1915,” in Chinese Perceptions of the ‘Jews’ and Judaism: A History of the Youtai, (Mitcham: Curzon Press, 2001), 52.
[xxiv] Zhou Xun, “Appendices,” in Chinese Perceptions of the ‘Jews’ and Judaism: A History of the Youtai, (Mitcham: Curzon Press, 2001), 169.
[xxv] Ying, “‘Would That I Were Marco Polo’”, 127.
[xxvi] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 181.
[xxvii] Xun, “Chapter 3: Encountering and Reinventing the ‘Jews’ 1870-1915”, 53.
[xxviii] Brezzi, “Some artistic descriptions”, 187.
[xxix] Widmer, “Foreign Travels”, 769.
[xxx] Ying, “‘Would That I Were Marco Polo’”, 124.
[xxxi] Ying, “‘Would That I Were Marco Polo’”, 131.
[xxxii] Widmer, “Foreign Travels”, 772.
[xxxiii] Ibid, 775.
[xxxiv] Chinese metaphor meaning ‘record my traveling experience at this place’
[xxxv] Wang, “Chapter 5: Women’s International Travels in the Late Qing”, 149.
[xxxvi] Nancy Armstrong, “Postface: Chinese Women in a Comparative Perspective: A Response,” in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, ed. Ellen Widmer and Kang-i Sun Chang (Stanford: Stanford University Press), 414.
[xxxvii] Ellen Widmer, “Chapter 5: The Rhetoric of Retrospection: May Fourth Literary History and the Ming-Qing Woman Writer,” in The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center), 213.
[xxxviii] Ibid, 213.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Armstrong, Nancy. “Postface: Chinese Women in a Comparative Perspective: A Response.” In Writing Women in Late Imperial China, edited by Ellen Widmer and Kang-i Sun Chang, 397-422. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
Brezzi, Alessandra. “Ome Artistic Descriptions and Ethical Dilemmas in Shan Shili’s Travel Notes on Italy (1909).” International Communication of Chinese Culture 3, no. 1 (2016): 175-89. Accessed November 29, 2018. SpringerLink.
Fong, Grace S. “Mobile Subjects: Women’s Education and Transformations in Travel Writing in the Late Qing and Early Republic.” Institute of Chinese Studies Visiting Professor Lecture Series (II), Journal of Chinese Studies, no. Special (2009): 181-201. Accessed November 12, 2018. MyCourses.
Wang, Yanning. “Chapter 5: Women’s International Travels in the Late Qing.” In Reverie and Reality: Poetry on Travel by Late Imperial Chinese Women, by Yanning Wang, 144-56. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2014. Accessed November 30, 2018. ProQuest.
Wang, Yanning. “Introduction.” In Reverie and Reality: Poetry on Travel by Late Imperial Chinese Women, by Yanning Wang, 8-13. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2014. Accessed November 30, 2018. ProQuest.
Widmer, Ellen. “Chapter 1: Gentility in Transition: Travels, Novels, and the New Guixiu.” In The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class, edited by Daria Berg and Chloë Starr, 21-44. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007.
Widmer, Ellen. “Chapter 5: The Rhetoric of Retrospection: May Fourth Literary History and the Ming-Qing Woman Writer.” In The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class, edited by Milena Doleželová-Velingerová and Král Oldřich, 193-226. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001.
Widmer, Ellen. “Foreign Travel through a Woman’s Eyes: Shan Shili’s Guimao Lüxing Ji in Local and Global Perspective.” Journal of Asian Studies 65, no. 4 (2006): 763-91. Accessed November 12, 2018. MyCourses.
Xun, Zhou. “Appendices.” In Chinese Perceptions of the ‘Jews’ and Judaism: A History of the Youtai, by Zhou Xun, 167-84. Mitcham: Curzon Press, 2001.
Xun, Zhou. “Chapter 3: Encountering and Reinventing the ‘Jews’ 1870-1915.” In Chinese Perceptions of the ‘Jews’ and Judaism: A History of the Youtai, by Zhou Xun, 39-66. Mitcham: Curzon Press, 2001.
Yanli, Guo. “An Introduction to Modern Chinese Female Literature.” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 3, no. 2 (November 30, 2018): 109-22. Accessed November 30, 2018. Korea Citation Index.
Ying, Hu. “Would That I Were Marco Polo’: The Travel Writing of Shan Shili (1856-1943).” Journeys 5, no. 1 (2004): 119-41. Accessed November 13, 2018. Expanded Academic ASAP.
Orientations - McGill University's East Asian Studies Journal 