摘要
In the volume of Chinese literature of Ming and Qing dynasties, there are a lot of well-known figures of women rebels, who have been highly spoken of by many later critics for their braveness in breaking the conventional and unfair rules made for women in that male-centered society. In the traditional point of view, the appearance of these literary figures marks the awareness of self-consciousness of women. But this paper, by analyzing two of the representative figures of them, Miss Du Liniang （杜丽娘） in Tang Xianzu＇s drama The Peony Pavilion （牡丹亭） and the women in the Women＇s Kingdom （女儿国） in Li Ruzhen＇s novel Flowers in the Mirror （镜花缘）, tries to figure out and distinguish the superficial gender dependence and the real but hidden role of ＂the other＂ in these characters. It purports to convince that such processes of rebellion are none the less women＇s tragedies, for they serve only to show Chinese women＇s unchangeable position of ＂the second sex＂ in the traditional male-centered society of old China, but merely in some new and different ways.
