The Gendered Politics of Socializing and the Emergence of the ＂Public Wife＂ in Late Qing Diplomacy

Studies of late Qing diplomatic history and its international relations still lack a gendered perspective. Meanwhile, the emergence of modern Chinese gender roles has rarely been examined beyond the perspectives of education and employment. This article explores the intersections of gender history and diplomatic history through examining the gendered politics of socializing in Chinese diplomacy. Late Qing envoys noticed that women were omnipresent in Western diplomatic and social functions, such as parties, receptions, and balls. Hence, even just to accomplish their official duties, they frequently had to deal with gender related issues, including not only learning how they themselves should interact with Western women in public, but also, more sensitively, deciding if they should follow Western etiquette and allow their wives, who were used to gender separation and domestic seclusion, to attend these events to shake hands with men, or converse with them over dinner table, or even dance with them. This article demonstrates how Qing elites gradually realized gender separation might be a liability in international diplomacy and began to adopt Western gender related etiquette in improvised ways, such as taking their concubines, a traditionally low-class category of public women, abroad to play the role of the public wife. Although these rapid adaptations were primarily done out of practical diplomatic concerns rather than new conceptualizations of gender relations, they facilitated the emergence of the role of the public wife, which opened a new officially-sanctioned public platform for Chinese women to appear and act.

關鍵字

late Qing ； socializing ； public wife ； concubine ； diplomacy

並列摘要

目前晚清外交和國際關系史的研究仍然缺乏一個性別視角。同時，學界對現代中國女性性別角色的出現的探索還多局限於教育和就業等途徑。本文試圖通過外交界社交的性別政治視角來探索晚清性別史與外交史的交集。晚清駐歐公使注意到西方婦女在外交、社交圈中無處不在。因而，公使們即便就是為了完成他們的官方任務，也經常要面對與性別有關的問題，包括不僅學會如何與西方婦女在公共場合中交往，而且更為敏感的是決定是否讓他們深居簡出的妻女出來公共場合參加這些活動，與男性握手，晚宴交談，甚至共舞。本文意圖展示晚清官員是怎樣逐步意識到傳統的性別分離成為國際外交中的負擔，並開始靈活的採用和改造西方與性別有關的禮節，包括讓他們的妾隨行國外扮演公眾茶會的夫人。雖然這些改造主要是基於實際外交需求而不是源於對新的兩性關係的接受，這些新禮節的採納有助於「公眾夫人」這一新性別角色的出現，從而為中國女性提供了一個新的官方允許的展示和行動的舞台。