Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica 中央研究院近代史研究所

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Vol. 45

ISSN：10294759

Size： 18 K

Other Ordering Methods：SanMin ． Agent List

Abstract：

This issue contains three articles: “Maidservant and Mother: Discourse on the Identity of Wet Nurse and the Reconstruction of Motherhood in the Ming Dynasty,” by Chi Hsiao; “Immortality Through Composing: The Creation, Circulation and Reading of Ge Xiuying’s（葛秀英，1773-1791）Writing,” by Lin Hsiao-Han; “Gender Politics in the Context of War: Controversies over Women’s Fashion Consumption and Government Control in Chongqing,” by Tan Gang.

Contents

Articles

Maidservant and Mother: Discourse on the Identity of Wet Nurse and the Reconstruction of Motherhood in the Ming Dynasty

Chi Hsiao

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Compared to those of previous dynasties, epitaphs for wet nurses produced during the Ming dynasty were significantly longer and more layered in terms of content. Considering this historical change within the traditional context of demarcating a mother’s identity, namely the primary 嫡 or the secondary (concubine) 庶 wife, in pre-modern China, the present article examines the role of the wet nurse to reconstruct motherhood in the Ming period, exploring the possibilities of the mother-child relationship and related identities.

Relying on anthologies and miscellaneous notes of literati, gazetteers medical books, novels, and political documents it first summarizes the livelihood of Ming dynasty wet nurses, explores the process behind the establishment and then deepening of the relationship between a wet nurse and the child, and analyzes contemporary commentaries, such as reflections on the mother’s identity and responsibilities.

This article finds that, although a wet nurse did not give birth to the child she breastfed, the intimate relationship established by her nurturing and long-term companionship made her importance to the child comparable to that of a biological or “primary” mother, and was often remembered by the child. For a daughter more specifically, a wet nurse was an important link to her natal family and would speak for her interests after marriage. Despite operating under the name of “mother,” wet nurses were not married to the child’s father, and thus employed her roles as wet nurse and caregiver to navigate classes, statuses, and families, challenging Confucian propriety between men and women as well as inner and outer. The stigma of the wet nurse grew stronger in the mid- to late-Ming period, which inspired the ideal of the perfect mother, encompassing childbearing, breastfeeding, nursing, and education, that would become an essential component of female virtue.
By intersecting gender and class, this article not only fills the lacuna in the study of wet nurse in pre-modern China, but also presents important shifts in motherhood and womanhood in the Ming dynasty, broadly enriching the gender, family and social history of late imperial China.

Keyword：wet nurse, motherhood, mother-child relationship, childbearing, nursing

Immortality Through Composing: The Creation, Circulation and Reading of Ge Xiuying’s（葛秀英，1773-1791）Writing

Lin Hsiao-Han

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Gender Politics in the Context of War: Controversies over Women’s Fashion Consumption and Government Control in Chongqing

Tan Gang

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During the War of Resistance against Japan, the mass population migration from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai to Chongqing significantly influenced the city’s urban landscape, particularly women’s fashion consumption. This phenomenon sparked social controversies that highlighted the unique gender politics of wartime Chongqing. These debates not only perpetuated the core conflict from pre-war discussions,— namely the tension between male-dominated traditional aesthetics and women’s increasing sense of autonomy,—but were also intensified by the war, with resistance ideology emerging as a dominant force in shaping said discourse. Simultaneously, the Chongqing municipal government leveraged the rhetoric of wartime austerity to tighten its control, thereby politicizing women’s fashion consumption to an unprecedented degree. This gendered governance strategy mobilized women’s organizations to participate in regulatory efforts, yet it also fomented gender-based dissent from various societal sectors. Moreover, the presence of privileged women’s groups and instances of gender collusion undermined the efficacy of government control. The gendered dilemma of state intervention illustrates that wartime gender politics was not a straightforward binary opposition between men and women but was intricately intertwined with class divisions and economic conflicts. The war thus transformed women’s fashion consumption into a contested arena where narratives of resistance and gendered power struggles intersected. This negotiation process not only continued pre-war debates over “modern” women and previous government regulatory practices but also, influenced by large-scale interregional migration and the harsh realities of war, reflected the complex interplay of multiple power relations. In doing so, it profoundly reveals the restructuring of gender power dynamics within the context of the War of Resistance.

Keyword：War of Resistance against Japan, Chongqing, women’s fashion consumption, consumption controversies, government control, gender politicswet nurse, motherhood, mother-child relationship, childbearing, nursing