From Margins to Center Stage: The Changing Role of Women in Guqin Musical Tradition

The art of the guqin is an important component of traditional Chinese musical culture and has long been lauded as the “instrument of the gentleman”. Over the course of its long development, the art of the guqin has developed a unique cultural significance. However, throughout the history of guqin art, men have long dominated the field; the presence of female guqin players has not been prominent, and research on this aspect remains limited. By reviewing historical documents and contemporary sources, this paper analyzes how the gender structure of guqin art has evolved over time, and examines the influence of female guqin players at various stages of this history. This study adopts the analytical perspectives of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital and symbolic violence, along with Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, combining theory with historical evidence to reveal the gender power relations and their changes embedded in the field of guqin art. The results show that female qin players in ancient times were exceedingly rare and remained marginalized for a long period, a phenomenon rooted in unequal distribution of cultural capital and the workings of symbolic power. Since the 20th century, however, female qin players have gradually risen and played a crucial role in the preservation and transmission of guqin traditions. In contemporary guqin art, the gender structure has shifted significantly, with women now becoming the central force in guqin heritage transmission and dissemination. This transformation has not only injected new impetus into the development of guqin art, but also challenged existing gender norms by reinterpreting the traditional gender image of the “qin dao ren”(琴道人). This paper not only fills a gap in research on female qin players, but also holds significant implications for understanding gender equality issues in the realm of traditional arts.