Thirteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

For the feminist scholar, the Ming-Qing period saw three periods of significant, extended social transformation, the transition from Yuan to Ming1229 China; the transition from Ming to Qing China; and, the long century of degradation and disruption leading up to the fall of the Qing Dynasty. These periods formed key historical windows of transition in women’s religious practice and the social and spiritual meaning of women’s religious performance. Between these periods of transformation, there arose discrete messaging and consumption patterns in and around women’s religious roles on the one hand and religious symbolism on the other. Ritualization patterns – some more rote action than overt, oblique canonized rituals – became objects of scrutiny, identification formation and dynamic symbolic transformation. Consumption of religious symbols and symbolism formed symbiotic patterns laying the groundwork for a revalorization and de-valorization of ritualism and women’s ritual performance. Focusing particularly on the last of these windows of transition, this paper explores the dynamics invigorating these significant changes, and their significance for a feminist understanding of the religious history of Daoism.