A Chastity-pursuing Death:An Analysis of the Choice of Women in the South of the Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River between Ming and Qing Dynasty

The scourge of the war between Ming and Qing dynasty and the social unrest caused by it have made a grave disaster to the society of the region in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.The living condition of women has been worsening rapidly.In front of the disaster,women there chose death to prove their chastity.From the aspect of the social environment of that period, strengthen of the perception of chastity and specialty of the women in this region,this paper aims to analyze the reason and explore the cultural meaning behind it.