The Utopian Modernity of Qing Tanci: Focusing on “Zaishengyuan”

Abstract

要　　約 　中国清代の恵まれた家庭の女性たちによって書かれた弾詞とよばれる物語群には，モダンな感覚と価値が生き生きと表現されている。なかでも十八世紀半ばすぎに書かれた『再生縁』における，決められた結婚を拒んで男装して活躍する主人公孟麗君の姿は，男尊女卑の古い壁を越えようとする反秩序的な志向だけではなく，自己の人生の創造，社会的な能力の発揮，自発性に基づく結婚への希求といった近代的な女性像・人生観を体現するものであり，そこには現代的な自己愛的性格を先取りする要素もはっきりとみられる。同時に，身近な他者との親密な関係も精彩をもって描かれ，夫婦関係や母と娘をはじめとする親子関係はきめ細かく深いもので，この物語で理想化されている家族像はほとんど完全に近代家族的である。さらに，女同士の親密で同性愛的な関係性すらも楽しげに描写されている。こうした，皇帝にすら愛されてしかもそれを拒絶するほど自己愛的・自律的であり，かつ多彩な情愛関係を生きるモダンな女性像が，十九世紀半ば以降の西洋化としての近代化に先立つ世紀の中国において登場しそれが広く大衆に支持されたことには，モダニティの本質をうかがわせる意義がある。Abstract The collection of stories known as “tanci” written by women from wealthy families during China’s Qing Dynasty vividly expresses modern sensibilities and values. In “Zaishengyuan,” one of the books written in the latter half of the 18th century, the protagonist Meng Lijun, who refuses to be tied down in an arranged marriage and cross-dresses as a man, embodies not only an anti-regulatory orientation that seeks to overcome the barrier of men’s predominance over women, but also the modern image of women and their outlook on life. This image includes constructing one’s own life, demonstrating one’s social abilities, and seeking marriage through one’s own motivation—elements that clearly anticipate the modern narcissistic personality can also be observed in that image. At the same time, the protagonist’s intimate relationships with those around her are vividly depicted; the relationships between husband and wife or parent-child relationships such as the one between mother and daughter, are detailed and in-depth, and the idealized image of the family in this story is almost entirely that of the modern family’s. Moreover, even the intimate and homosexual relationships between the women are portrayed in a light manner. The fact that this image of a modern woman—so narcissistic and independent that she is loved even by the emperor but rejects it and lives life engaging in a variety of romantic relationships—appeared in China in the century before modernization as a form of Westernization after the mid-19th century and was widely supported by the masses is significant in that it might reveals the essence of modernity.departmental bulletin pape