Envisioning Morality in Times of Dynastic Change

The emphasis placed on morality became increasingly remarkable during late imperial China, especially at the junctures of dynastic change. This thesis explores the problem of the construction of morality, and I focus on two plays in which the idea of morality is presented in complicated ways: the late Yuan play Pipa ji 琵琶记: The Lute) which primarily circulated during Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the early Qing play Taohua shan 桃花扇: The Peach Blossom Fan) which deals with the late Ming period. In this thesis, I primarily treat these two plays as texts, and I try to answer how ideas of morality are constructed in them by analyzing their construction of characters, structural designs, as well as narrative perspectives.I inquire how Gao Ming and Kong Shangren deal with these feelings of anxiety in their works. Moreover, I situate these two plays in the time periods when they were produced, that is, the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and discuss how different historical periods shape the way morality was represented. Finally, I try to link the way they construct morality in their works with persistent human concerns about sincerity and moral correctness.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

East Asian Studies

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Jin, Huan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Robert Hegel

• morailty
• dynastic changes

Language dc:language

English (en)

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7936/K7MS3QSW

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openscholarship.wustl.edu:etd-1518