前人對明清之際士人殉死現象的探討，大都著重在觀察男性士大夫的生死抉擇，而甚少關心女性在這場劇變中的際遇。松江夏家的男性成員全部在明清鼎革之際殉國，但對明朝忠心耿耿的夏家男性，並沒有要求夏家的女性從死，反而希望她們能夠彼此照顧，努力存活，因為他們和當時社會上大多數的人都認為，天下興亡乃是「匹夫」之責。和一般的印象不同，夏家婦女在國變之後，並不是以男性中心的妻妾婆媳關係來互相依存，而是由一個父系家庭拆解為數個以女性為中心的生活單位，並透過女性之間的關係，與其他的父系家庭結合成新的社會關係網絡。清人對夏家婦女的再現，多半著重在其守節撫孤的事蹟，但在抗戰以後，夏家故事的傳述者則越來越重視夏家婦女對抗清運動的支持和參與，顯示天下興亡「匹夫」之責的觀念，已經開始轉變。

　　　　　During the Ming-Ch’ing transition, all of the male members of the Hsia family in Sung Chang died because of their connection with the anti-Ch’ing movement. Though the male members were so loyal to the Ming dynasty, they did not ask their female family members to die with them or to take revenge for them, because they believed that to save the nation was the duty of “men”.After losing their husband, sons and brothers with whom the daughters of different family names connected, the Hsia women no longer lived with their in-laws. Instead of preserving the broken patriarchal family, the Hsia wife, concubine, and daughter-in-law chose to live with their own daughter. The Hsia daughter and daughter-in-law of Hou family, Shu-chi, was the only Hsia woman to live with her in-laws. In fact, the cohabiting Hou widows had transformed their in-law relation into a religious sisterhood.For a long time, the main theme of the story of the Hsia women has been their chastity and hardship to preserve the offspring of the loyalist family. During the Sino-Japanese war in 1937-1945, writers began to emphasize the support and participation in the anti-Ch’ing movement of the Hsia women. It appears that the idea has changed, especially in the minds of the Nationalists in the Republican era: to save the country is no longer the duty only of men, but both of men and women.