Research On Women In Southwest China In Ming Dynasty From The Perspective Of War

The four provinces of Sichuan,Guizhou,Yunnan and Guangxi in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty(Buzhengsi)were war-torn areas throughout the Ming Dynasty and even the early Qing Dynasty due to their geographical location and complex ethnic composition.According to its different nature,the war in this area can be roughly divided into three stages.The first stage was before the 14 th year of Hongwu(1381),which was dominated by the unified war launched by the central government of the Ming Dynasty against the separatist forces in the southwest.The second stage was from the fifteenth year of Hongwu(1382)to the seventeenth year of Chongzhen(1644).The war was mainly caused by the contradictions within the dynasty,and the manifestations were mostly Tusi rebellion and refugee uprising.The third stage was from the change of Jiashen(1644)to the third year of Kangxi(1664),which was mainly manifested in various anti-Qing struggles,especially the struggles of the Nanming regime.These large and small wars inevitably involved a large number of women in the southwest and had a profound impact on them.It is representative and unique to study the female groups in the southwest of Ming Dynasty from the perspective of war.In the face of war,the response and behavior of women in the southwest region are different.They either take the initiative to fight the war,go to the battle to kill the enemy,or swear to die from the enemy,scold the enemy to die,or are in danger.Fearless,sacrifice their lives to save their families.Even if they survived the war,some women whose husbands died in the war will die for love after the war,or swear to die and take the responsibility of raising children.Of course,some women chose to succumb to the enemy in the war,or chose to remarry after the war.There are also many women who died innocently in the war and are not recorded.The behavior choice of women in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty in the war was influenced by multiple factors such as national incentive mechanism,social ideology and culture,and local traditional customs.At the same time,women ’s response to wars has also had a certain impact on women themselves,men,and social culture.The world ’s record and praise of some women ’s killing enemies,martyrdom,chastity and other behaviors have enabled the praised to realize the recognition of self-worth,improved the overall social evaluation of women in southwest China,and set an example for other women.To a certain extent,the loyalty of women in the war also helps to awaken the spirit of loyalty of men;the independent housekeeping behavior of some women after the war objectively had a certain impact on the patriarchal social traditions such as ’ men outside and women inside ’.Although some of the behaviors of women in southwest China under the war have certain positive significance and play a certain incentive role for the people of the time and future generations,in general,women are still a group attached to men and influenced by male values.