Trans Clerical Masculinities: Family and Buddhist Monks in Late Imperial China

This study examines how lower-level clerics in Qing China maintained familial ties, thereby challenging the gender norms imposed by their religious tradition. It highlights the tension between the idealized clerical conduct prescribed in monastic regulations and the lived experiences of monks who remained embedded in kinship and community networks. Drawing on underutilized criminal case records, this research adopts Matthew Sommer’s framework of Buddhist monasticism as a form of transgender practice, expanding current understandings of gender fluidity in late imperial China. While existing scholarship on Buddhist masculinities has largely focused on normative ideals and prescriptive sources, this study shifts attention to the everyday negotiations of monastic masculinity. In doing so, this work contributes to broader discussions on gender diversity and the lived realities of clerical life in late imperial China.