Space and Identity: Self-Representation of a Ming Nanjing Courtesan in Transformation

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the poetic collections of the Ming woman writer Yang Wan 楊宛 (ca. 1600–ca. 1647), whose transformation of identity from a courtesan celebrity to a gentry wife was one of the most representative in the category of courtesan turned concubine/wife. Her marriage lasted for decades, and her role as a family woman fully developed over time. By approaching her writings from the perspective of space, it reveals how a woman perceived and interpreted her changing status by framing her self-representation and emotional expression within two feminine spaces: the pleasure quarter and the inner chamber. Yang Wan's identity transformation and her strategic exploration of the gendered spaces along with their diverse symbolic codes contribute to our knowledge of the social, textual, and cultural mobility of late imperial China.