@article{3f0dd349abd34d3cb093b669d6fb830a,
title = "Martyred Patriarchs, Institutionalized Virtues, and the Gendered Republic of Twentieth-Century China",
abstract = "This article draws attention to the cultural and social specificities of women{\textquoteright}s agency in Republican China and suggests a way to rethink the polarizing impacts of revolution- and war-related deaths on women{\textquoteright}s lives. Analyzing a number of petitions submitted by widows of martyrs, this article explores the transformation in family-state and gender relations during the Republican era. I argue that the Nationalist martyr compensation law perpetuated the imperial-era standards for the feminine virtues of chastity and sacrifice, circumscribing women{\textquoteright}s social and political roles in twentieth-century China. Under the new equality-promoting legal regime and in the absence of familial patriarchs, women had new opportunities to venture outside their domestic quarters and to engage with the state. Yet, the Republican state often made exceptions to the law based on petitioners{\textquoteright} display of feminine virtues. By entering into this negotiation of virtue with the state, Chinese women defined themselves primarily through their performance of moral qualities.",
keywords = "family, gender, gratuity, martyr, virtue",
author = "Vu, {Linh D.}",
note = "Funding Information: Vu Linh D. 1 1 Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Linh D. Vu, Arizona State University, Lattie F. Coor Hall #4532, 975 South Myrtle Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85287-4302, USA. Email: linhvu@asu.edu 11 2019 0097700419887466 {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2019 2019 SAGE Publications This article draws attention to the cultural and social specificities of women{\textquoteright}s agency in Republican China and suggests a way to rethink the polarizing impacts of revolution- and war-related deaths on women{\textquoteright}s lives. Analyzing a number of petitions submitted by widows of martyrs, this article explores the transformation in family-state and gender relations during the Republican era. I argue that the Nationalist martyr compensation law perpetuated the imperial-era standards for the feminine virtues of chastity and sacrifice, circumscribing women{\textquoteright}s social and political roles in twentieth-century China. Under the new equality-promoting legal regime and in the absence of familial patriarchs, women had new opportunities to venture outside their domestic quarters and to engage with the state. Yet, the Republican state often made exceptions to the law based on petitioners{\textquoteright} display of feminine virtues. By entering into this negotiation of virtue with the state, Chinese women defined themselves primarily through their performance of moral qualities. gratuity martyr family gender virtue National Central Library{\textquoteright}s Center for Chinese Studies Grant U.S. Fulbright Student Research Grant Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Grant edited-state corrected-proof I am grateful to the National Central Library{\textquoteright}s Center for Chinese Studies in Taipei, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Grant for sponsoring my research on the war dead in modern China. I would like to thank the organizers, Rebecca Nedostup and Caroline Reeves, and the participants at the Conference on the Social Lives of Dead Bodies in Modern China for their feedback on the original version of this article. I also benefited from the guidance of the associate editor, Jennifer Neighbors, and insightful comments from Edward McCord and an anonymous referee. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by the National Central Library{\textquoteright}s Center for Chinese Studies Grant, U.S. Fulbright Student Research Grant, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Grant. Funding Information: I am grateful to the National Central Library?s Center for Chinese Studies in Taipei, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Grant for sponsoring my research on the war dead in modern China. I would like to thank the organizers, Rebecca Nedostup and Caroline Reeves, and the participants at the Conference on the Social Lives of Dead Bodies in Modern China for their feedback on the original version of this article. I also benefited from the guidance of the associate editor, Jennifer Neighbors, and insightful comments from Edward McCord and an anonymous referee. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by the National Central Library?s Center for Chinese Studies Grant, U.S. Fulbright Student Research Grant, and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Dissertation Grant. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2019.",
year = "2021",
month = may,
doi = "10.1177/0097700419887466",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "47",
pages = "290--319",
journal = "Modern China",
issn = "0097-7004",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Inc.",
number = "3",
}