Shea Jeanne L
Anthropology Department, University of Vermont, 509 Williams Hall, 72 University Place, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2020 Dec;35(4):367-388. doi: 10.1007/s10823-020-09408-6.
Based on longitudinal mixed methods ethnographic research conducted in China from the mid-1990s to 2018, this article argues that Chinese lay language use divides what Americans and Canadians refer to as "menopause" into two distinct though overlapping concepts of the narrow juejing or end of menstruation and the broader non-gender-specific gengnianqi or "transition between middle and old age." While comparison with research done by Lock in Japan shows that Japanese language uses a similar set of two overlapping yet distinct terms called heikei and könenki, there are important differences between Chinese and Japanese views and experiences of female midlife amidst the similarities. While views and experiences of juejing in China are very similar to notions of heikei in Japan, gengnianqi is quite different from könenki. Like in Japan, the end of menstruation tends to be welcomed by women in China. Also like in Japan, midlife women in China had a lower prevalence of hot flashes than that found in the US and Canada. Also similar to Japan, Chinese women rarely associate hot flashes with embarrassment. However, unlike in the Japanese sample, the Chinese women reported a higher rate of irritability than even the American and Canadian samples. Contrasting with könenki, which is primarly associated with bodily aches and self-restraint in Japan, gengnianqi is commonly viewed as a time of vulnerability to irritable outbursts which must be allowed, though managed carefully. Overall, I show how menopause and midlife aging as concepts and as lived experiences are subject to variation related to differences in language, cultural ideas and practices, local biologies, and culturally-mediated generational experiences of historical change.
基于20世纪90年代中期至2018年在中国进行的纵向混合方法民族志研究，本文认为，中国的日常语言使用将美国人和加拿大人所说的“更年期”分为两个不同但有重叠的概念：狭义的“绝经”或月经结束，以及更宽泛的非特定性别的“更年期”或“从中年到老年的过渡”。虽然与洛克在日本所做的研究相比表明，日语使用了一组类似的、有重叠但又不同的术语，即“平和期”和“更年其”，但在相似之处中，中日两国对女性中年期的看法和经历也存在重要差异。虽然中国对“绝经”的看法和经历与日本的“平和期”概念非常相似，但“更年期”与“更年其”却大不相同。与日本一样，在中国，月经结束往往受到女性的欢迎。同样与日本一样，中国中年女性潮热的发生率低于美国和加拿大。也与日本相似，中国女性很少将潮热与尴尬联系在一起。然而，与日本的样本不同，中国女性报告的易怒率甚至高于美国和加拿大的样本。与日本主要与身体疼痛和自我克制相关的“更年其”形成对比的是，“更年期”通常被视为一个容易情绪爆发的时期，虽然必须小心应对，但对此应予以接纳。总体而言，我展示了更年期和中年衰老作为概念和生活经历如何因语言、文化观念和习俗、当地生物学以及历史变革的文化介导代际经历的差异而有所不同。
