Chinese Female Image In The Early Republic Of China In Western Women’s Travel To China With Focus On Grace Seton’s Chinese Lanterns

This paper is a study about the Chinese female images in Chinese Lanterns,written by Grace Gallatin Thompson Seton（1872-1959）,a Western woman who came to China in the early years of the Republic of China.Grace Seton is an American adventures,writer and feminist,she came to China in 1922,She wrote Chinese Lanterns,a memoir of her travels in China.Published in 1924 in New York and London,The Chinese Lantern mainly records Grace Seton’s encounters with women of all classes and professions in China,interspersed with her feelings and perspectives on the chaotic politics of the time.As a travel book written by a female author with female characters as the main object of recording,The recording of Chinese Lanterns shows the initial awakening of Chinese women’s self-consciousness in the early years of the Republic of China.Grace Seton observed China at that time through the Chinese women she was concerned about,and took“lantern”,an image with Chinese characteristics,as the title,as a symbol of the awakening and exploration of Chinese women in the night before dawn.The paper will consist of the following five sections.The introductory section will describe the basic information of the topic,the significance of the research,the existing research results at home and abroad,and the theoretical approach of comparative literature imagology.The first chapter is divided into two sections.The first section introduces the biography of the author Grace Seton and her other works except the Chinese Lanterns,and the second section presents an overview of Chinese Lanterns from the perspective of the nature of travelogue.In chapter two,the Chinese female images recorded in Chinese Lanterns are classified according to social class,education level and ideological enlightenment level,which can be roughly divided into three categories:The old aristocratic female image,the new progressive female image and the female image at the bottom of society.It also analyzes Grace Seton’s impression,attitude and image-making techniques towards different Chinese women by textual close reading.Analyzing the image of Chinese women in Chinese Lanterns from a macro perspective,I believe that the special feature of Grace Seton’s portrayal of Chinese women lies in the fact that Chinese Lanterns presents a more positive image of Chinese women,in which she writes with deep hope for Chinese women from all social classes and different levels of education,and places optimistic expectations on Chinese women to awaken their self-awareness.The first section of Chapter three will discuss the subject from this perspective.The second section of Chapter three will explore the causes of this positive image of Chinese women in the context of the socio-historical and cultural background and the author’s particular perspective of the female other.The imaginaire social influenced the writer’s portrayal of the foreign country,and in terms of the American view of China at the time,American society had a sympathetic and "beneficent" attitude toward China,and Grace Seton wrote with a superior sympathy for the Chinese people.In the early twentieth century,the United States dominated relations between China and the United States,an American citizenship was like a pass in China,so Grace Seton was able to walk freely in China and had many opportunities to interact with Chinese people from all walks of life,thus the range of Chinese women recorded in Chinese Lanterns was relatively wide.In terms of the development of the feminist movement in America in the 20th century,Grace Seton traveled to China at the height of the first feminist movement.As a committed feminist,Grace Seton was particularly concerned with the realities of Chinese women’s existence,their roles and rights in economic,political,and family life during her travels in China.In terms of the state of female consciousness enlightenment in Chinese society,Chinese women in the early years of the Republic were also playing the prelude to an awakening of self-awareness.In addition to the above reasons,factors such as American curiosity and pursuit of the legacy of the Eastern court need to be taken into account.The third section of the third chapter will analyze the limitations of Chinese Lanterns in terms of the west-centered ideology from which it is difficult to escape when portraying Chinese women,Grace Seton’s misreading of China,and the under-representation of the image.The last section will summarize and conclude the whole paper.