Epistolary Gentility of Literary Women in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Crises, Health, and Friendship in Ding Shanyi's Letters

Focusing on Correspondence from the Double-Cassia Studio (Shuanggui xuan chidu [phrase omitted] ), a collection of letters by a gentlewoman named Ding Shanyi [phrase omitted] (1799-after 1861), this paper examines how elite women in mid-nineteenth-century China applied epistolary conventions in their social life. Compared to other literary collections of individual women in late imperial China, Ding's letter collection is exceptional in recording the life of its author through the epistolary genre and in revealing the sociopolitical dynamics that underlay elite women's epistolary gentility. Ding's letters are indicative of the noticeable concerns shared by gentlewomen in mid-nineteenth-century China and provide specific contexts for understanding some of the epistolary techniques used by literary women to facilitate social networking. This paper uncovers Ding's life and explores three major themes in her epistolary collection: her responses to crises, concerns about health, and cultivation of friendship. Ding's letters show how elite women evinced sophistication and erudition in their epistolary composition, which was an important way for them to express themselves and demonstrate their mastery of language and rhetorical tradition.
If it is convenient [for you to send] fish and wild geese, please be unstinting in sharing delightful messages. [phrase omitted] INTRODUCTION: AUTOBIOGRAPHY, TEXTBOOK, AND GENTILITY The longing for letters [...]