Main characteristics of gender identity in the Сhinese princesses’ poetry

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the Chinese princesses poetry who lived during the Western Han (西汉, III century BC – I century AD): princess Liu Xijun (刘细君公主, II century BC) and the Tang era (唐代, VII–VIII centuries): princesses Chen-Liu (陈留公主,？-？) and Yi-Fang (宜芳公主, ?-745). According to the definition of Ukrainian researchers, the gender identity of the author does not depend on his gender, moreover, the masculine and feminine identities are most clearly manifested in lyrics [2, c. 64]. That is why the study of Chinese women's poetry can highlight the peculiarities of the Chinese ancient women's lyrics self-concept. Feminist motifs of sisterhood, rebellion and longing for freedom from patriarchal oppression are the main thematic content of the Chinese ancient women writers. Although the issue of women's status in the patriarchal society of that time was also raised by male poets, but such kind of poetry was exclusively superficial and stereotypical. The Chinese palace poetry of aristocratic women is an unique phenomenon. That is why it is the reason of the huge interest in the field of research into the nature of the origin and peculiarities of this phenomenon. The social status of poets who are the part of noble families may reveals the feminist discourse of woman’s poetry. Due to the lack of Ukrainian studies and insufficient number of western works in this field, we consider it expedient to analyze the poetry of Chinese aristocratic women of that time. Identification the peculiarities of the certain symbols usage by Chinese poets, which are inherent only to female poets and to determine the feminist identity of the lyrical hero in the analyzed works are the main purpose of this article. According to the peculiarity of the social situation which Chinese aristocrats had, their original poetry is unique heritage of Chinese literature, which characteristically reveals the female identity. The authors of poetry emphasize on the peculiarities of their social position as an emancipated woman of a patriarchal society. It is clearly evidenced by their lyrics. The lyrical hero of ancient Chinese poetry may show the solidarity with the feelings of another woman. That is why we may see how poetesses consciously adopt more masculine features and try to act like a man.