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The Song Dynasty was very prosperous and known as a “golden age,” much like some of the previous dynasties in China. However, not everything about the Song Dynasty was perfect, including the vast difference in power men over women had. Men were free and unbound by society, whereas women were isolated and controlled by their husband and family. All of this was pushed by the Neo-Confucians, who believed that women were below men. Women in the Song Dynasty were subject to many different societal standards, leading to them having little power and control over their lives.
Many aspects of women’s lives were determined by their families without any input from the woman herself. When a girl was around five to eight years old, many mothers wound their feet in a process called footbinding. Footbinding painfully gave them narrower and more attractive feet, making it harder to move around, but also enhancing their beauty (source 8). As
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For example, if a woman’s husband dies and she becomes a widow, she has lost her integrity and shouldn’t marry again. Cheng Yi, a Confucian scholar, states that starving to death is much worse than losing one’s integrity, so a widow should not remarry (source 6). After a woman’s husband dies, she is expected to remain a widow because she has lost her integrity. The Neo-Confucians believed that a woman’s integrity is in the hands of her husband, showing how little they believe women can lead their own lives. A less extreme example of these roles is how women should not write poetry, for it is a purposeless talent (source 1). Furthermore, it was strongly discouraged because it was a woman’s role to be secluded from the world, existing merely in her own family. The Neo-Confucians didn’t want to have women express themselves via poetry, as it was traditionally something men did and went against their beliefs of what a woman should
China was not only patriarchal, but also patrilineal. This means that family descent could only be counted through the men. Woman were not able to pass on lineage or surnames except under very rare circumstances. Ancestor worship was very important in this culture, and only the
Ban Zhao wrote Lessons for a Woman around the end of the first century C.E. as social guide for (her daughters and other) women of Han society (Bulliet 167). Because Zhao aimed to educate women on their responsibilities and required attributes, one is left questioning what the existing attitudes and roles of women were to start with. Surprisingly, their positions were not automatically fixed at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Ban Zhao’s own status as an educated woman of high social rank exemplifies the “reality [that] a woman’s status depended on her “location” within various social institutions’ (167). This meant that women had different privileges and opportunities depending on their economic, social, or political background. Wealthier noble women would likely have access to an education and may have even been able to wield certain political power (167). Nevertheless, women relinquished this power within the family hierarchy to their fathers, husbands, and sons. Despite her own elevated social status, Ban Zhao still considered herself an “unworthy writer”, “unsophisticated”, “unenlightened’, “unintelligent”, and a frequent disgrace to her and her husband’s family (Zhao). Social custom was not, however, the only driving force behind Zhao’s desire to guide women towards proper behavior.
The united States Declaration of independence states that all men are equal, but aren’t all women as well? Nowadays, the numbers for the population are at an increase for the support in gender equality, with the capture of feminist labels. The seek for equality between men and women, and criticize the privileges that arouse by gender differences. However in Old China, males control almost everything due to a patriarchal society. At that time, not only men, but also women are influenced by male chauvinism. In the Jade Peony, written by Wayson Choy, female characters are affected by an unequal perspective despite their age group.
Years later during the Ming and Ch’ing eras it became wide spread among all status levels. Footbinding is a mutilation of the feet by wrapping them up weeks upon weeks to force them into the shape of a lotus flower and keep them at a length of three inches. (p.366) “Small feet became a prestige item to such an extent that a girl without them could not achieve a good marriage arrangement and was subjected to the disrespect and taunts of the community.” (p.364). Eventually lower-class women began using binding to find wealthy husbands.
In the patriarchal, Confucian influenced, Han dynasty, a woman’s role and social status was far from equal to that of a man. In Ban Zhao’s work Lessons for a woman she depicted the role of a woman, as a lower-class member of society. Hidden beneath the stereotypes of what a woman was supposed to be, Ban Zhao was a rarity of her time as she excelled as a historian and teacher.
Because they did not have a traditional role in government, women had work their way around the system to gain any type of political leverage. Empress Lu violated every cultural and social norm by retaining power as a regent throughout the reins of her son, grandson and adopted grandson. Tradidtionaly regents ruled from behind the scenes while the emperor himself was unable to make decisions, usualy due to age or heath complications, however Empress Lu eradicated any competitors for the thrown. As the end of her reign was nearing, she expected her nephews to succeed her. Even as the first empress, not unfamiliar with disrupting tradition, she left the emperorship to the next male in her bloodline (Doc. 5) not a female. Though Empress Lu defied all expectations of women, her power as an Empress was still undisputed due to the Mandate of Heaven, an idea originating in the Shang dynasty....
Chen, Jo-shui. "Empress Wu and Proto-feminist Sentiments in T'ang China." In Imperial Rulership and Cultural Change in Traditional China, edited by Frederick P. Brandauer and Chün-chieh Huang. 77-116. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
As Song explains , Rule Two: " The West thinks of itself as masculine--big guns,big industry, big money--so the East is feminine--weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom--the feminine mystique." ( 83 ) It's possible Song interprets the West as such, at this point. If this is so, however, why does he/she also state, Song: "The Chinese men--they keep us down." ? ( 43 ) It seems, at the tender age that Song is, everyone is keeping him/her "down". The men from the West, as well as men from the East. And yet Song seems to think as well, the East is somewhat powerful, deep inside.
The Song dynasty is actually divided into two separate periods: The Northern Song from 960-1126 A.D. and the Southern Song from 1126-1279 A.D. The northwestern part of the country had been taken over by the nomadic tribes, forcing the emperor move the capital to Kaifeng, then later to Hangzhou during the southern Song period. They also lost control of Tibet. (Duiker, & Spielvogel, 2009) While they struggled with territory control, the Song strived in economic development and cultural achievement.
During the Han and Roman time period everything was changing. New Technology greatly expanding the empire's. Attitudes shifted in the Han and Roman empire. The Han attitude towards technology is for the common people with innovative tools and natural disaster prevention. The attitude to the Roman technology is to show off how advanced their civilization was with aqueducts and paved roads.
Also in China girls are made to bind there feet up at an early age so
“Never again allow any women to hold supreme power in the state. It is against the house-law of our Dynasty, and should be strictly forbidden. Be careful not to permit eunuchs to meddle in Government matters. The Ming Dynasty was brought to ruin by eunuchs, and its fate should be a warning to my people”(Haldane 259). These were the final words of the last great empress of China, Tzu Hsi. In a sense this statement was ironic. For almost 50 years this one woman ruled China with a graceful but iron fist.
Lessons for Women was written by Ban Zhao, the leading female Confucian scholar of classical China, in 100 C.E. It was written to apply Confucian principles to the moral instruction of women, and was particularly addressed to Ban Zhao’s own daughters. As her best remembered work, it allows the reader insight into the common role of a woman during this fascinating time-period. The work starts off by Ban Zhao unconvincingly berating herself, and claiming how she once lived with the constant fear of disgracing her family. This argument is rather implausible, for the reader already knows the credibility of Ban Zhao, and how important her role was in ancient China.
recover these lands so they were forced to make peace with the Khitans and the
The Tang and Song Dynasties are both pertinent to China’s development. During the Tang period, which is also considered the “Golden Age”, art and literature was embraced and thrived. During the Song Dynasties, many technical inventions allowed China to grow as a nation, and emerge as one of the greatest nations in the medieval world. Both dynasties played a key role in the history of China.