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Irrepressible Female Piety: Late Imperial Bans on Women Visiting Temples

Irrepressible Female Piety: Late Imperial Bans on Women Visiting Temples Nan Nü 10 (2008) 212-241 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/138768008X368219 www.brill.nl/nanu N A N N Ü irrepressible female Piety: Late imperial Bans on Women Visiting temples Vincent Goossaert ( Groupe Sociétés, religions, Laïcités EPHE & CNrS) abstract Late imperial officials, from the highest-ranking ministers in Peking down to the county magistrates, repeatedly issued proclamations prohibiting women from visiting temples. Such bans were often ignored, but both normative and anecdotal evidence from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries documents a number of sustained attempts at enforcement. This article summarizes interpretations given to such bans by historians and analyzes the parameters of enforcement. while all-out bans were rarely envisioned, because of the total lack of public support, some officials tried to curb certain types of female participation in temple life that were considered particularly offensive (ritual roles for women, staying overnight, spectacular penitential practices, and so forth). This article argues that while outright repression of women (jailing and punishing all women entering temples or joining festivals) or temples (closure or destruction) was difficult to maintain on a long-term basis, it might serve as a threat in negotiations between official and local elites. In the course of such negotiations, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png NAN NÜ Brill

Irrepressible Female Piety: Late Imperial Bans on Women Visiting Temples

Goossaert, Vincent
NAN NÜ , Volume 10 (2): 212 – Jan 1, 2008
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2008 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1387-6805
eISSN
1568-5268
DOI
10.1163/138768008X368219
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Nan Nü 10 (2008) 212-241 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/138768008X368219 www.brill.nl/nanu N A N N Ü irrepressible female Piety: Late imperial Bans on Women Visiting temples Vincent Goossaert ( Groupe Sociétés, religions, Laïcités EPHE & CNrS) abstract Late imperial officials, from the highest-ranking ministers in Peking down to the county magistrates, repeatedly issued proclamations prohibiting women from visiting temples. Such bans were often ignored, but both normative and anecdotal evidence from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries documents a number of sustained attempts at enforcement. This article summarizes interpretations given to such bans by historians and analyzes the parameters of enforcement. while all-out bans were rarely envisioned, because of the total lack of public support, some officials tried to curb certain types of female participation in temple life that were considered particularly offensive (ritual roles for women, staying overnight, spectacular penitential practices, and so forth). This article argues that while outright repression of women (jailing and punishing all women entering temples or joining festivals) or temples (closure or destruction) was difficult to maintain on a long-term basis, it might serve as a threat in negotiations between official and local elites. In the course of such negotiations,

Journal

NAN NÜ – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2008

Keywords: FEMALE PIETY; LATE IMPERIAL CHINA; TEMPLES; FEMALE CHASTITY; RELIGIOUS PROHIBITION

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