Virtuous Women In Ancient China

While women were viewed as inferior beings to men throughout their life, Chinese women influenced society by bearing children to make them become strong, respectful Chinese

Throughout our ancient history, women have portrayed various different roles in different ancient civilizations. Whether it was taking care of their children and men at home, working in the fields, or doing hard labor, these women shaped the way women act, and the roles they portray today. The Han Dynasty was one of those ancient civilization where women portrayed different roles.

Confucius and his disciple Mencius had an influence on Chinese thought and social practice. Chinese traditions of worshiping deceased ancestors and exceptional leaders inspired the growth of Confucianism as a philosophic custom and religion. Confucianism was established as the state’s official doctrine by Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. However, both philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism believed that anyone can develop wisdom or skill, regardless of social status or birth.

Women were considered inferior to men in Chinese society. Only males could have formal education and pursue careers in government or scholarship. In the family, capable women played strong roles, but the wife was still subordinate to the husband. Legally, wives couldn’t divorce her husband or inherit property, in contrast to the husband. Husbands were expected to provide support for their wives and children. An estimated one-half to two-thirds of the women in China bound their feet in order to become more marriageable as bound feet was a status symbol. Women who had their feet bound couldn’t walk and had to be carried. In traditional China women played roles of leadership in the family, but didn’t go beyond that. The roles of women were limited

Reading "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See urged me to explore the gender inequality disphas changed throughout china’s history, and prove that patriachial standards have affected womens wealth. In the book "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See we are introduced to a rich variety of characters including our main character’s Lily and Snow Flower. The book focuses on the relationship between Lily and Snow Flower, and follows the life of both girls starting from the age of seven till death. The events happening in the book take place during the nineteenth-century in the Hunan province in China, and the story explores the themes of women gender inequality, classism, and marriage.

Many people have mistaken Confucianism as a religion. However, it is a system of belief, a philosophy. This belief emphasizes on respect and harmony of relationships. Moreover, it pushed for a well-ordered society by accentuating human relationships, a righteous leader and a good education. Confucius, a philosopher and a teacher, founded Confucianism. He grew up in the period of warring states, a time of chaos and internal hostilities during the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, Confucius’ ultimate goal was to transform the Chinese society into a state of unity and righteous. However, Confucianism did not flourish until the Han Dynasty. It also played a different role in the Song Dynasty.

For example, being a good helper consisted of a woman’s role as a parent and household manager (Zurndorfer). An exception to the normal view of women in Chinese society was Ban Zhao. She was a well-known woman, who belonged to an elite and prominent family. She was an accomplished historian and scholar, and she contributed to many important texts in the Chinese society.

Confucianism enforced harmony, between people while legalism enforced strict following of rules. For confucianism was built on the belief that harmony results when people in society accepted their place in their lives. However, Legalism was built on the fact that all humans are more inclined to do the wrong thing instead of the right thing due to the motivation of self-interest. Confucianism is described through the five key relationships: father to son, elder brother to younger brother, husband to wife, elder friend to younger friend, and ruler to subject. But legalism was described

Chinese tradition is opposed to individual glorification and considers anyone who desires personal enhancement as a threat to collectivism (Pye, 1982). Chinese are more group-oriented, they value respect and friendship. China is more Egalitarian, meaning that they share power and share authority and spread the authority out evenly. They do not expect all power as some cultures do. Next is Performance orientation, which means when the community encourages and rewards good things done and completed.

The Chinese government is trying to integrate some of the Confucian principles into the lives of the Chinese by creating TV shows based on “good Confucian emperors” (Benjamin 7). The Confucian ideology as a whole was considered the main ideology of China for over a millennium, and it was accepted by the majority of Chinese until the 20th century (Benjamin 7). Confucianism has had a powerful influence on Chinese culture, and will likely continue to as long as the Chinese people adopt the values into their everyday lives. Although there pure Confucians may not exist in abundance, many others still practice certain aspects of this ideology. As long as humans desire to become better, more respectful people, the centuries old Confucian ideology will continue to have an influence on modern

Next, Confucianism had five basic relationships that they taught. They were: husband to wife, ruler to subject, older sibling and younger sibling, father and son, and friend and friend. By looking at this, we see that Confucianism wanted people to have someone there for them. This religion wants family members and friends to have a close relationship so that they can have a happy life. This proves

Women in the Song Dynasty This part will evoke women’s life and rights in the Northern Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty is often seen as the start of the decline of women status in the Chinese society: a revival of Confucianism led women political role to be reduced, as well as their public appearance compared to Tang Dynasty. The practice of foot binding also started in the Song Dynasty. However, women also enjoyed new and reinforced property rights, and social mobility and political influence were not completely impossible to achieve. Indeed, there are several examples of some lower class women managing to get considerable power by providing pleasure to the higher spheres of the Imperial Court.

It’s put on jewelry, sweatshirts, socks even. Books have been written about it, people have focused entire careers on it even, but what really is the theory of the Yin and the Yang? Numerous misconceptions have been made about the philosophy, ranging from the meaning of the words all the way to the what the entire philosophy is based on (Derek). The true Yin and Yang philosophy is over 5000 years old (Dunas), and it comes from the ancient Chinese people who “were greatly interested in the relationship and patterns that occurred in nature” (Integrated Chinese Medical Holdings Ltd).

This is the true meaning of yin and yang” (See, page 99). Yin and yang symbolize two complementary forces that can’t exist without one another and serve a greater purpose beyond the two alone. Throughout the novel it is shown that the main characters, Lily and Snow flower, genuinely struggle with knowing the reasons behind their good and bad moments. They soon realize that it’s just the way of life and there is a balance between the two.

With that it is the main understanding that children were required to showing solitude to parents , if not there would be no way in reforming a stable community, and administration. In the end it makes the most sense to say that the contribution of order in a society and government have had the biggest influence on Confucianism in the Han Dynasty of 206 B.C all the way to 220 A.D as it is resembled in the display of education, relationships, and family