A Study of Women’s Religion, Life, and Agency through Guanyin Hairpins in Ming Dynasty China

Hairpins decorated with motifs related to Guanyin, the most popular bodhisattva in Chinese culture, emerged as a new type of head accessory during China’s Ming dynasty (1368–1644). These hairpins have been found in tombs as burial objects and in pagodas as religious offerings. Records of their use h...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Jin, Hui-Han (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Taylor & Francis 2023
Dans: Material religion
Année: 2023, Volume: 19, Numéro: 4, Pages: 347-372
Sujets non-standardisés:B Agency
B Gender
B hairpins
B the Ming dynasty
B Guanyin
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Résumé:Hairpins decorated with motifs related to Guanyin, the most popular bodhisattva in Chinese culture, emerged as a new type of head accessory during China’s Ming dynasty (1368–1644). These hairpins have been found in tombs as burial objects and in pagodas as religious offerings. Records of their use have been captured in novels, travel notes, confiscatory inventories, burial arrangements, and ancestral portraits. Guanyin hairpins were used flexibly between religious and everyday domains, being both women’s accessories and a popular deity. They allow for an exploration of how women’s agency dynamically defined the functions of Guanyin hairpins in terms of aesthetic taste, self-appreciation, and religious practices. This diversity of uses further reveals that women not only relied on Guanyin for religious comfort, as current scholarship has established, but also as an expression of taste and appreciation, as reflected in how Guanyin was linked to women’s life and identity in Ming China.
ISSN:1751-8342
Contient:Enthalten in: Material religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2023.2256633