The Woman's Role in Chinese History and Tradition

Many of the literature written by women of Chinese ancestry are acts of rebellion against the historical and societal conditions in which they have lived. Although in early history, Chinese society may have been matrilineal, by the first century BC, patriarchal power was firmly established. Them way in which women were portrayed can be illustrated by poems in The Book of Songs such as the following: ‘Black bears and browm Mean men-children. Snakes and serpents Mean girl-children." So he bears a son, And puts him to sleep upon a bed, Clothes him in robes, Gives him a jade sceptre to play with. The child’s howling is very lusty; In red greaves shall he flare, Be lord and king of house and home. Then he bears a daughter, And puts her upon the ground, Clothes her in swaddling-clothes, Gives her a loom-whorl to play with. For her no decorations, no emblems; Her only care, the wine and the food, And how to give no trouble to father and mother. This poem shows the favored treatment of males over females which starts right at birth.

There are also many Chinese proverbs which are useful in illustrating how unimportant women were in Chinese culture:

A woman without talent is a woman of virtue

It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters

In traditional Chinese culture women were so inferior that they were sometimes thought of as less useful than farm animals. Practices such as female slavery, concubinage, female infanticide and footbinding were very normal, though in American society today most people would consider them inhumane.

Confucious (551-479 B.C.) also revealed an attitude towards women which was inferior. He seldom wrote about women, and when he did write about them, he classified them as slaves and small humans or "hsaio ren." As well,, he has been called an "eater of women."

There also existed a code which controlled the behavior and instruction of women in the first century B.C. Obviously this did nothing to change the patriarchal position of women. This code consisted of three obediences and four virtues:

3 obediences: obey her father before marriage, her husband after marriage, and her son after her husband’s death.

4 virtues: she be chaste, her conversion courteous and not gossipy, her deportment graceful but not extravagant, her leisure spent in perfecting needlework and tapestry for beautifying the home.

What is also shocking about this code is that the author of it has been most widely thought to be Ban Tso, a highly educated Chinese woman who did not follow these codes herself.

Before the Eighteenth century, Chinese women were honored if they committed suicide after their husband’s deaths and as a result, China has more monuments constructed for women than any other nation. This is because one would be constructed after the wife committed suicide.

Ling suggests that changes from mid- nineteenth century to mid- twentieth century occured mainly due to China’s contact with the west: Christian missionaries, technology and science, democracy and egalitarian philosophies. "The liberating winds of revolution and patriotism, combines with the persistent tadition of the women rebel and warrior, inspired Chinese women of this period to go so far as to become anarchists and assasins"

Women struggled to overthrow the Ch’ing Dynasty by serving the women’s National Army, the Women’s dare-to-die Corps, and the Women’s assassination Corps. After the establishment of the republic in 1911, women could turn to their own problems, and women armies became transformed into women’s suffrage societies.

"Though China may have taken great leaps forward in official statutes and public pronouncements concerning women, nonetheless, in practice, backed by centuries of history and tradition, the old ways die hard. Moreover, Chinese who have immigrated to other countries, whether motivated by homesickness, alienation, or persecution, ofter hold tightly to what they have brought from the Old Country; thus, customs and attitudes that may have altered or dissapeared in the mother country may still be continued almost unchanged in isolated enclaves abroad. And young Chinese women today-(even or perhaps particularly) those living half a globe away from China-are still haunted by the misogynist proverbs and attitudes of generations past"

Bibliography:

Ling, Amy. 1990. Between Worlds: Women of Chinese Ancestry. New York, NY: Pergamon Press, Inc.

Go to Homepage