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Women's status in ancient china
Women's status in ancient china
The status of women in ancient China
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Patricia Ebrey has mentioned to the audience that in the very early times in China Society, the roles of men has been pointed as a patriarchy in a family. Women in early times in Chinese seemed to be a trouble in men’s eyes. The author also said that a basis of a family begins from a birth of son, and not the birth of a daughter. She also points out an interesting view that women are yin and men is yang. Throughout Ebrey explanation that yin will never control yang. In my thought, it will be soon a time for the old family structure to be disappeared in modern society as in today. The precursors to whom a Shang or Zhou tradition lord made penances were his patrilineal predecessors, that is, his predecessors connected only through men such as
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.
In her book, The House of Lim, author Margery Wolf observes the Lims, a large Chinese family living in a small village in Taiwan in the early 1960s (Wolf iv). She utilizes her book to portray the Lim family through multiple generations. She provides audiences with a firsthand account of the family life and structure within this specific region and offers information on various customs that the Lims and other families participate in. She particularly mentions and explains the marriage customs that are the norm within the society. Through Wolf’s ethnography it can be argued that parents should not dec5pide whom their children marry. This argument is obvious through the decline in marriage to simpua, or little girls taken in and raised as future daughter-in-laws, and the influence parents have over their children (Freedman xi).
However, this “ladder of success” was not as simple as it seemed. First of all, the class of both families will be a huge barrier. We are not even talking about freedom to love here, there is no such thing in late imperial China. Although we can’t say that love doesn’t exist even in such systems, such as Shen Fu and Chen Yun, but most marriages are not about love. Rather, it was about exchange of values. For example, when two families want to become business partners, the parents of the family will have their son and daughter married, so the two families will have closer bonding which made the business much easier. In this sense, we can see that the couple is simply a tool. In the same sense, the families which has not much “values” can only have marriages with the same class of families. Meaning for a women to climb up the ladder of success is not quite possible as the class of her family is a huge deciding factor for marriage in the
Shanghai Girls was written by Lisa See in 2009. In the beginning of the novel, the setting of the story is Shanghai and as the story goes on it moves to the United States. When the story shifts Shanghai to America it also impacts the character’s life and culture. Each culture has its own beliefs, clothing style, food and may more. Chines culture is different from other cultures, their clothing style, female beauty standards, and Chines zodiac. Chines zodiac is another name for a horoscope. One character is Pearl, she is the protagonist, another character is May is also the protagonist of the story. Lisa See starts this novel by showing the strong bond between two sister Pearl and May. Although, the goal of this novel was to explore the Chines
...c. 4). This is an example of one of the seven unequal relationships in Confucianism. Much of the social structure of classical China was based on Confucian ideals (Doc. 3). In Greece the relationship between a husband and wife also very unequal due to her young age and lack of education. Alone a woman had no political rights and limited legal powers therefore is was necessary for a husband to provide for his wife much like a father would (Doc. 6) A woman would learn house hold management and eventually produce heirs. These two similar systems of social roles was not a benevolent system. It did not take into account the welfare of individuals, particularly woman who had little power to leave in a bad marital situation. However by insuring that people know their place, which kept them in line, classical societies were more prosperous and able to run more smoothly.
Ba Jin does not judge Cultural Revolution directly; however, the cruelty can be found from all those unfair miseries Xiao Shan suffers. The more simplicity and innocent Xiao Shan is shown, the crueler Cultural Revolution is. Personal grief is associated with the familiar historical event is more affective to readers.
Moso matrilineal society, which is located in Lugu Lake, Southern of China, is often called the paradise of daughter. This is because of the society trace down their ancestor base on women’s line, unlike most society in China who practice patrilineal. Inheritance of property are also goes from mother to daughter. Many people believe that Moso matrilineal society is just simply a mirror image of patrilineal society which leads to false impression Moso’s women have higher social status in their society. However it is man that have actual higher social status. Men in Moso society have higher education level, can choose their lovers from a broader range when compare with women, and are the leaders of Moso society. This essay will analyze the real situation of Moso society which is different from most people view and give argument why Moso’s men have higher social status when compared with women.
The impediments are mainly caused by the educational goals that result in the creation of fear of parents teaching their children more about Chinese traditions than the formal education. The fatherhood aspect gets passed from the father to the son, which translate to rites of passage from one generation to the next generation. A sad story associated with the fatherhood tradition is a drunkard and a drug-addict father seeking forgiveness from his sons to get acceptance back to the family. “The father had been excommunicated from the family and had to undergo therapy sessions to bring back his sanity (Shwalb et al. 162).” The opposite should have happened, and the sons had to seek father 's forgiveness and integrate him back to the family. The sons were not ready, but the aspect of father seeking forgiveness created a sense of togetherness and the importance of family values. “The fatherhood tradition is valuable and meaningful to the family since the lack of a father figure may lead to family disintegration (Lamb 235).”
Kingston uses the story of her aunt to show the gender roles in China. Women had to take and respect gender roles that they were given. Women roles they had to follow were getting married, obey men, be a mother, and provide food. Women had to get married. Kingston states, “When the family found a young man in the next village to be her husband…she would be the first wife, an advantage secure now” (623). This quote shows how women had to get married, which is a role women in China had to follow. Moreover, marriage is a very important step in women lives. The marriage of a couple in the village where Kingston’s aunt lived was very important because any thing an individual would do would affect the village and create social disorder. Men dominated women physically and mentally. In paragraph eighteen, “they both gav...
In the primordial times of the Heian period, Japan procured and practiced matrilineal systems within their isolated society for over 2,000 years. During the Heian period, situated in 12th century A.D., women were given the privileged of inheriting, managing, and retaining property of their own (Kumar, 2011). It was not until Japanese culture adopted the Confucian ideas of China that the society began to integrate a patriarchal system. Confucian ideals had a prominently drastic impact and influence in Japanese society. The Confucian ethical system stressed the utopian idea of a society in which a hierarchal structure is maintained. The hierarchal structure’s foundation is based upon the subservient and submissive idea of subordinates’ obedi...
Patrilineality in China has been very influential to their customs and culture. One thing that Asian culture tends to emphasize is their ancesters, who they trace back through their father’s lineages. Property to inheretence, family names, responsibilities to honor their ancestors, obligations to others—all these and more were passed down from the fathers to their
Korea traditionally used to have a family structure called extended [authoritarian] stem family where the family members included all their grandparents, aunts and uncles into the number and size. In traditional society the role structure was strictly divided by sex and age. After the virtues of Confucianism were imported from China, Korea valued high patriarchal family structure; the principal purpose of marriage traditionally was meant to continue the family lineage by obtaining a male heir. Filial piety, which served as an ideology for maintaining its traditional familial pattern, was a virtuous characteristic; it was believed that it was the duty that kept the order to not disgrace the name of the ancestors because the descendants believed in punishing un-filial behavior and taking care of the honorable. The eldest son had the most responsibility as he was always the lead for rituals, in which they honored the ancestors, and taking care of his parents after they reached an old age while his wife had the role to produce all important male heirs. The women’s role was restricted to the domestic sphere, which sometimes led to sacrifices for the family. Overall, the traditional family system was viewed as an unequal relationship in which the son obeyed the father.
Expectations are placed on characters across cultures, time, and through, all genders. Characters in patriarchal societies experience pressures such as: ------------ This essay will argue that patriarchal societies, societies where males promote and maintain power, place social expectations on female characters. First begining with tradionalism family values and the private sphere in China with Elieen Chang to internationality with Duras *****
“Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, a Yale Law professor. In this excerpt the author explains why Chinese children tend to be more successful in life and expresses her dislike towards Western parenting. The first idea Chua explains is a list of activities her daughters are allowed to do and not do in order to focus solely on academic progress. Second, the author demonstrates the contrast in mindset between Chinese mothers and Western mothers by explaining how Chinese mothers feel differently than Western mothers in regards to academic success and learning. Furthermore, she describes how Chinese mothers can demand things from their children. Finally, they can also say