Penning Her Legacy: A Poetic Journey of Political Presences in Local Histories

Women in late imperial China were largely excluded from formal political participation, decision-making, and representation, with only a few women who held significant power and great influences in the court being exceptions. However, many women still managed to influence politics and shape history through their insightful and thought-provoking writings about self, family, and the state. This paper focuses on the life and work of Xu Ying (1600? -1681?), a woman poet who was deeply involved in resisting the Manchus before and after the dynastic transition. How was Xu Ying able to participate in resistance despite the restrictions placed on her? How did she negotiate and reconcile with the prevailing patriarchal Confucianism ideology for her political involvements? In her poems, Xu Ying addressed a range of controversial political issues and social concerns, including her involvement in resisting the Manchus and her role as a widow in a male-dominated society after the collapse of the Ming dynasty. Xu Ying conveyed her feelings of loss for her son and family during the war, frustration with the rigid bureaucracy of the Ming dynasty, disappointment with their military policies, and despair over the loss of Nanjing. She also expressed her disdain for those who collaborated with the Qing dynasty. In doing so, Xu made her voice heard in the political arena, even though her formal political participation in the society was limited and restricted. Furthermore, Xu Ying was able to empower herself through her involvement in local elite literary society of her time, and she also used her writings reshaping the narrative of local histories and the national political debate of Ming loyalists in the eighteenth century.