Renyao and Wild Beasts: Gender Crossing in Late Imperial China
Zhongmu, in an essay translated by Allen Young, delves into the concept of 'renyao' or 'human demon' in late imperial China, focusing on male cross-dressing and nontraditional gender roles. The essay highlights Pu Songling's 'Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio,' especially the story 'Renyao,' about Ma Wanbao, a cross-dresser linked to the infamous criminal Sang Chong. During the Ming dynasty's Chenghua period, Sang Chong, disguised as a woman, assaulted over 180 women before being executed. The paper examines how traditional Chinese beliefs about gender, shaped by The Book of Rites, sparked fears of gender nonconformity. It also mentions Matthew H. Sommer's upcoming 2024 book, which explores transgender histories through literature and criminal records. Zhongmu is a literary critic and postdoctoral researcher at East China Normal University.
Key facts
- The essay 'Renyao and Wild Beasts: Gender Crossing in Late Imperial China' is written by Zhongmu and translated by Allen Young.
- It discusses the concept of 'renyao' (human demon) in late imperial China, focusing on male cross-dressing.
- Pu Songling's 'Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio' includes the story 'Renyao', featuring Ma Wanbao and Wang Erxi.
- Sang Chong, a real historical figure from the Chenghua reign of the Ming dynasty, cross-dressed for ten years and assaulted over 180 women.
- Sang Chong was executed by lingchi (death of a thousand cuts).
- Matthew H. Sommer's book 'The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China' was published by Columbia University Press in 2024.
- Sommer interprets cross-dressing as a practice rather than an identity, and notes that officials often saw it as criminal while many cross-dressers were poor and seeking survival.
- The essay references Philip Alden Kuhn's 'Soulstealers' (1990) and Bret Hinsch's 'Women in Early Imperial China' (2010).
Entities
Artists
- Pu Songling
- Li Yu
- Zhongmu
- Allen Young
- Matthew H. Sommer
- Philip Alden Kuhn
- Bret Hinsch
- Sang Chong
- Wang Erxi
- Ma Wanbao
- Xinxiang
Institutions
- Columbia University Press
- East China Normal University
- Harvard University Press
- Stanford University Press
- Rowman & Littlefield
- Austrian National Library
- Harvard-Yenching Library
- University of Bristol
Locations
- China
- Dongchang
- Shandong