Analysis Of The Death Of Woman Wang By Jonathan D. Spence

Jonathan D. Spence weaves together fact and fiction in his book The Death of Woman Wang. Approaching history through the eyes of those who lived it, he tells a story of those affected by history rather than solely recounting the historical events themselves. By incorporating factual evidence, contextualizing the scene, and introducing individual accounts, he chronicles events and experiences in a person’s life rather than episodes in history. Spence pulls together the narrative from a factual local history of T’an-ch’eng by scholar Fenge K’o-ts’an, the memoir of magistrate Huang Liu-hung, and fictional stories by writer P’u Sung-ling. The book closely resembles an historical fiction while still maintaining the integrity of an historical reconstruction.

Spence even makes the choice to include Huang, a real historical figure, in the fiction of the story as a character, further enhancing the tragic story of civilization during the Qing empire in China. Interestingly enough, he makes a significant distinction between fact and fiction until he reaches the story of the Woman Wang, during which it becomes much more difficult to separate the two. Spence also presents the collection of history and stories as active commentary on social grievances of the time, lamenting the fates of women in a constraining, patriarchal society with a distanced government eager to create laws but incompetent in enforcement. By doing so, Spence highlights the struggle of the impoverished against history as hopelessly futile and tragic.
Spence distinguishes himself from other historians through his active rather than passive approach to historical events. He collects information and presents it in a format that allows him to convey his own views and disappointment in Chinese morals of the time. The interlaced stories portray the atrocious social norms which are hard to logically conceive, but upon close inspection still are prevalent in many places in the world today. Spence, however, sidesteps the concerns of the upper class and sympathizes with the demanding and difficult struggles of the poor. The genuinely suffering people with the most meager means of survival showed the most loyalty and devotion to morals and laws dictated thoughtlessly by members of the upper class. From this view, the people suffered the most, as “the people’s problem was one of basic survival-physical and moral-in a world that seemed to be disintegrating before their eyes” (Spence, 9). The impoverished citizens not only faced external physical conflicts, such as being afflicted by famine and earthquakes, but also internal conflicts of following the moral standards passed down to them despite their dwindling resources. The righteous peasantry was even forced to combat banditry, facing those who rashly disobeyed the laws and “bettered” their quality of life through stealing from others, while their victims attempted to maintain some semblance of honor even in their furthered destitution. The juxtaposition of the lawless selfishness and greed of both bandits and lawmakers alike against the impoverished yet righteous illustrates the hopelessness of the peasant class’s cause. Spence’s active choice of T’an-ch’eng county as the point of focus rather than a larger, busier city shows how he chooses the county for its character and representation of the common person’s struggle. By narrowing a broad factual perspective, Spence emphasizes the wealthy class’s callous disregard of those below them. For example, properly maintaining honor and preserving elite virtues could mean death for those whose priorities lie in acquiring basic necessities. While the lawmakers bent the rules, rewriting the handbook of morality to further their own agendas and propagating their self-interests and greed, the peasants were forced to conform their lives to appease them. The commoners and working class were at the mercy of the lawmakers’ impulses, and becoming accustomed to each challenge is futile, as more and more abound unexpectedly. Though the peasant-class suffered the direct consequences of lawmaking, history rarely sheds light on their struggles. Spence objectively portrays the socio-economic conditions, the adulterated tax system, cultural norms and gender suppression within rural China to his audience.
In much the same way as his approach to the mistreatment of the poor and their endless suffering, Spence empathizes with the predicament of women in 17th century China and their unpromising existence under the thumb of the law. Similar to his approach to peasantry, Spence uses individual specific struggles to draw attention to overall injustice. The story of Woman Wang herself, takes up twenty-something pages of the overall book, as she is only one testament towards the cruel fates of women. He further displays the full force of obstacles faced by women in particular, addressing the three major disasters of the time--the White Lotus attacks, an earthquake, and a major snowfall. However, these disasters took a backseat to the main priority of societal difficulties. Women, who were already dependent on the collapsing population and depleted land resources, were constantly compared outwardly and inwardly to the ‘ideal’ woman. Widows, who ranked at the lowest of scale, experienced added pressures of maintaining income, raising capable sons, and paying taxes on depleted land, all without overstepping her role as a woman, which created an overwhelming environment that went along with societal norms. Only through “determination and strict moral purpose [could] one survive as a widow” (Spence, 59). Death was almost guaranteed with one’s only choice in the matter being whether it was honorable or dishonorable. Women were presented with the unattainable task of fighting tooth and nail to survive and ensure their family’s survival while also maintaining the innocent elegance and grace of an ‘honorable’ woman. Although women were the most disadvantaged of the hierarchy, women struggled to enhance and enforce that same hierarchy to maintain stability and consistency in their ethical and spiritual world, if not in their physical world as this hierarchy was the dogma of the time. These heroic struggles of underrepresented and underappreciated women were not significant in the overall history of China; however, unlike other historians, Spence bestows meaning to the “insignificant” lives lost to create purpose in his writing.
Spence’s inclusion of P’u Sung-ling’s fictional writing gives insight into the unrest of the time and the hypocrisy of the privilege classes that would have otherwise been overlooked had the focus been through their perspective alone.

P’u shamelessly addresses the fact that despite preaching honor and virtue, the nobility were the most lawless, yet only an idealized account would be recorded in history, as has always been. The author mocks this relinquishment in his own stories, as the moral is driven to immorality as rebels receive little to no punishment for their flagrant abuse of others and adultery against virtue. He describes the turmoil as “the ways that misery spawned recklessness and sudden, unreasoning violence that were almost impossible to deal with” (Spence 79). Laws themselves proved to be as wicked and depraved as their creators. For example, a horrific clause even encouraged men to take advantage of widows for profit. While the peasant class resisted their struggled by simply trying to survive, the upper nobility fought their problems by making the existence of those below them harder to bear. Enforced laws were done so with no due process, yet were made flexible by their own creators. Therefore, Spence exhibited the lawlessness and the government and its constant effort to contain this disorder. By hand-selecting the sources and settling on rural China, Spence felt the format effectively depicted his purpose. He effectively detailed history in relation to the average person of 17th century China and created a personal perspective that imbued the historical events with meaning. He most fully and accurately captures the greed, vision of morals, unaltered by elite preference and ironically one can draw parallels to our modern times. His purpose results in a richness of detail seldom observed in Chinese history. The principles of the time are captured through the poverty within the peasant class as every moment of their lives was set forth

by rules established by those above them. Unlike the nobility, they did not have or comprehend the option to choose which law to follow, as each represented heaven and its’ promises. Therefore, Spence uses format in The Death of Woman Wang to imbue personal and historical meaning and purpose into untold and unheard stories of China’s oppressed.