FIGHTING FOR LOVE: MALE JEALOUSY IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CHINA

Abstract

AbstractThis article considers male jealousy as reflected in judicial sources, thus placing it in historical context. Men who lived in an increasingly difficult and complex world committed acts of violence because of jealousy, driven by a sense of honor, by love and by desire for a woman. Magistrates handling these cases were forced to recognize that jealousy, considered in Chinese literary tradition a typically female and dangerous sentiment, is a powerful force conditioning male behavior.