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<strong> Li Ruzhen’s Flowers in the Mirror</strong>

By: Gargi Dave

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Li Ju-Chen, (as known as Li Ruzhen), (1763-1830) was an author known to write novels of fantasy with feminist perception, although a few of his works such as: his treatise on phonology <i>Yin</i><i>‐</i><i>chien, </i>a chess handbook <i>Shou</i><i>‐</i><i>tzu p'u</i>, were not published due to it being lost, Ruzhen’s most important book written was his 1828 novel, <i>Flowers in the Mirror. </i>According to web source, eNotes, “Through his novel, he attempted to reconcile classical Confucianism with Neo-Confucianism and meld traditional values and aesthetics with modern ideas. Li Ruzhen is remembered today as an erudite social critic and early feminist.” <i>Flowers in the Mirror</i> definitely depicted a fantasy Ruzhen had, creating a world where women of China played the role of men; working, taking care of the financial status of the family, going to school and making a career, while the men wore women’s clothing and taking care of the children playing the role of a woman. Ruzhen’s views completely shocked readers in this 100 chapter novel. Li Ruzhen established his knowledge and opinion on how women and men should be equal instead of having gender roles, and he also expresses, “criticism of the education and examination systems in China” (web source enotes) in the <i>Flowers in the Mirror</i>, and due to his boldness and adventurous dare to write such a feminist book, <i>Flowers in the Mirror</i> should be protected and also read for future generations to come.<!--more-->

This classic novel that Ruzhen worked on for over a decade became a book of no classification. This feminist book was set in the Tang Dynasty with the ruler Empress Wu Zetian who overruled her brother’s shine to the throne, and decided to do things her way and demanded impossible tasks. As one of the tasks, she commands the flower spirits to allow the flowers upon the earth to bloom the very next day, which was unimaginable and impossible. But, the flower spirits did so and they were taken out of Heaven and put onto the earth as punishment from the Gods and at the end of their compensation, they will be allowed back into the Heavens. The Fairy of a Hundred Flowers’ father, Tang Ao, gets knocked down from his high rank to the lowest rank possible by the Empress. She suspects he has plotted against her will, and due to that, he gives up the animosity of the mortal life and transforms himself to an immortal being. Tang Ao decides to embark upon a journey with his brother-in-law, Merchant Lin, because he was told by a dream spirit that his afterlife was somewhere afar. During his adventurous quest he embarked upon, he came upon many flower spirits and accompanied them with their troubles, and during this journey he vanished into the mountain of Little Penglai. During his wandering, he visited the many countries as stated in web source “Readtiger”: “Country of Gentlemen, the Country of Women, the Country of Intestineless People, the Country of Sexless People, and the Country of Two-Faced People and many more” (websource). Towards the end of this novel, the Fairy of a Hundred Flowers searches for her father out into Little Penlai, and the many flower spirits with their husbands and brothers gather and throw the Empress out from her throne, and reinstate Emperor Tang Chung-tsung to his rightful throne. Ruzhen calls the Empress a “King” explaining the fact that she is ruler, and although she is a woman, she can also be defined as a “King”.

During the time of when Flowers in the Mirror was written, there were many women writers who published letters and books explaining the problem women have with their unequal rights compared to men. This work was not typical of its era, because during this time period, all women were subjected to their men and their own vanity. Women had no voice, and also weren’t in their own control. There were many other feminists during this time such as Abigail Adams, Anna Wheeler, Frances Wright and others. They all similarly wrote about the social order in communities and how inequality was a major issue for women in society. The drive for these feminists to voice their opinions were very opinionated and very open due to the fact that they wanted to be a part of a change where women and men can altogether live equally. There were no laws of equal rights between men and women, but the feminists during the 18th century surely voiced their full on opinions about the issue.

This specific piece of work is definitely unusual for its time. Ruzhen was an opinionated man with a big heart to prove his ideas about empowered women and strived to prove his point about women being as equal as men, and also how women and men can play each other’s roles with the execution of society’s role as women only being subjects of vanity. In writing the <i>Flowers in the Mirror,</i> Ruzhen was simply implying for society to treat both genders equally. After writing this novel for about 15 years, Ruzhen accomplished getting his point across with his vision in this fantasy novel and in web source “Readtiger”, “When Li writes about the different countries he is giving his aspirations for an ideal society. The novel is full of fantasy which shows the author's unique vision of life” (websource). During this time period of the 1800’s, women were seen as subjects of vanity and played the role of beauty and being a housewife. Society was the complete opposite of how Ruzhen fantasized society to be in his novel. This novel completely cracked the typical gender role played in reality. Throughout this book, the author indirectly states how women are able to do the tasks of men as well and easily as men are able to do the same.

<i>          Flowers in the Mirror</i> was received as a “miscellaneous novel” at this time due to the mixture of genre’s in the novel (websource). There was much controversy in his reason of writing <i>Flowers in the Mirror</i> because in Ruzhen’s version of <i>Utopia </i>there was complete equality for men so therefore, “<i>Flowers in the Mirror</i> does not represent a completely revolutionary vision” (websource.enotes). His ideas inside<i> Flowers in the Mirror</i> did not give complete equality for women due to Utopia being a world for the equalness for all men. Otherwise, Ruzhen’s feminist approach was received fairly well. He introduced a “new world” during a time where women and men weren’t equal, and his approach gave many scholars new ideas and thoughts about a world where women could be just as equal as men.

Today, many people have the same perception of <i>Flowers in the Mirror </i>back then compared to today. Editor Lynn M. Scott states, “Criticism of Li Ju‐chen's work is confined to the<i> Flowers in the Mirror </i>and addresses three main issues in the novel: the breadth of learning Li Ju‐chen demonstrates in the text; his criticism of the education and examination systems of China; and his denunciation of harmful and discriminatory practices against women.” People were shocked during the 1800’s as well as today, due to this book (websource.enotes). Li Ruzhen is known as one of the most feminist writers with a very narrow perception of society. Many people today, though, accept the author’s views on equality for women because today, there is complete equality for men and women. The only aspect which scholars see to be unusual is that a very knowledgeable man (Ruzhen) during this time in China has complete passion for equality among every individual in society, including men and women.

My personal reaction was uttered disbelief that a man living in Beijing during the 1800’s, a time where there is complete social order among society pertaining to the rights of men and women, wrote a novel about society needing to give entire equal rights to women in China. There are many different sections in this novel, but the one that sticks out to me is the gender roles and the different countries Ruzhen fantasized about in his work. I admire that he wrote this book in reference to his own opinion, and he sticks to his beliefs about full equality among members of society. The story of the Empress ruling the nation is impressive in my opinion, especially the part of the story where Ruzhen refers Empress Wu Zetian as “King”, that comparison shows that a woman in society can also play the role of a man or a “King”. Despite the fact that in the story, the Empress is thrown out of her own power as “King”, the story still gives readers today a new aspect of how back then, there were people who voiced their opinions on huge ordeals such as equality among society.

The <i>Flowers in the Mirror </i>compares to many works from generations of feminists, and only a handful during the 18th century. Rhuzen’s novel specifically compares to one particular work, the letters sent back and forth between Abigail Adams and her husband John Adams during the late 17th century, early 18th century. The few letters that Abigail sent to her husband declared that she had heard John declare independence, and she would like for him to add women’s equal rights to the “new code of laws” (websource). Abigail Adams claims a rebellion if the law isn’t passed to include the women into equal rights, such as  having a voice or any sort of representation in lawmaking or in general society, as it claims in the letters she wrote. In the letters, she voices her stern opinion on how husbands are trying to have complete control and protection over their wives, and also, how women need to be able to start being a part of the decision making process in general decisions. Abigail indirectly argues with her husband that he is being barbaric and arrogant towards the women of society by not taking what she has to say about equality among women and men seriously, but still her last stern letter proves why there should be outright equality and freedom amidst all women and men of civilization.

The letters of Abigail Adams and <i>Flowers in the Mirror </i>are similar in many ways, such as both Ruzhen and Abigail are unconditionally blunt and direct about their feelings about equality with both genders amid commonality. Regardless of John Adams response to his wife, Abigail nonetheless, still makes a stand to what she believes in, that is women having a voice when it comes to making decisions, and for there to be ultimate freedom between all people. Ruzhen’s fantasy shows his passion for an equal society when he names the different countries as they are in the <i>Flowers in the Mirror. </i>And also his will to push out his opinion on equality among men and women. Li Ruzhen and Abigail Adams was only a couple out of the many civilian feminists who had an opinion about freedom and equality for women.

The novel, <i>Flowers in the Mirror </i>is a powerful approach to changing society back in the 18th century, and also authoritative today seeing as there is complete, and full freedom and equality of the men and women today. This paramount piece of work should be restored for many generations to come because of its classic feminist entrance to a world that we live in today. Writers such as Li Ruzhen helped and pushed society become equal and as free-spirited as it is today.

<strong>                                                                                                 Works Cited</strong>

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"Introduction" <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism</span> Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 134. Gale Cengage 2004 <span style="text-decoration: underline;">eNotes.com</span> 14 Oct, 2013

<b>This website gave me so much information about the author and his background, and more so the views and criticism that many scholars had pertaining to this novel. This is an amazing source to find the meaning of the true message of the book.</b>

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<i>LETTERS BETWEEN ABIGAIL ADAMS AND HER HUSBAND JOHN ADAMS</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.

<b>This was definitely my favorite source. It extremely helped out with my understanding of other feminists and their views on inequality. It gave me a piece of history that I did not know before, and know now. </b>

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N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. &lt;http://readtiger.com/wkp/en/Flowers_in_the_Mirror&gt;.

<b>This is where I found a clear and thorough view of the book. Also, a good source to know exactly what the main story is about from beginning to end.</b>

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N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. &lt;<a href="http://www.qesign.com/offer.php?x=Li_Ruzhen">http://www.qesign.com/offer.php?x=Li_Ruzhen</a>&gt;.

<b>This source gave me an excellent understanding of the author and his ideas. It completely gave me an inside scoop of the authors thoughts, and how it is to feel like a true feminist back in the 18th century.</b>

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<i>The Women's Review of Books</i> , Vol. 9, No. 9 (Jun., 1992), pp. 14-15

<b>This source was an incredible find because it showed a full list of feminists of the 18th century who voiced their opinions on inequality. Also, it answered many questions I had pertaining to the life lived by 18th century women.</b>

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