Chinese Women in history

Chinese Women

A famous saying about ancient Chinese women's social position is that "the hen does not announce the morning. The crowing of a hen in the morning indicates the subversion of the family". This saying demonstrates that if women control the power of a nation, it would be disastrous for the fate of the nation. Moreover, Confucius said that "girls and servants were the most difficult to handle". In ancient times, Chinese women would be taught to observe the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues" - the principle of feudal moral conduct. This principle indicated that men were superior to women. In this way, ancient Chinese women usually played silent roles in their early political life. Their subordinate position continued a long time until the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. 

The National Government brought forward the idea that each citizen was equal and had democratic rights, bringing the first hope in politics for Chinese women of that time. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese women were entitled to equal political rights with men. From then on, Chinese women became more active in political matters, especially after the Reform and Opening - Up Policy was carried out. Now, Chinese women play an essential role in today's social, political and educational activities.

5 Beauties

1, Su Daji

The political position of ancient Chinese women varies in different social systems and dynasties. Generally speaking, men were dominant in the political field in Chinese history. In Chinese ancient matriarchal society, women still could participate in political activities by taking part in worship to the God of Heaven and joining the army. However, from the Duke of Zhou’s defeat of the King of Shang Dynasty (1046 B. C.), there came about the belief that women’s charm would destroy men. The Duke of Zhou thought that the Shang Dynasty (1600 B. C. - 1046 B.C.) was ruined because of Su Daji, a favorite concubine of King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty. 

Su Daji was allowed to represent King Zhou openly at court, gradually leading to his failure in national affairs. Su Daji’s behavior was called “the hen announcing morning instead of the cock’, by people in the later generation. It was regarded as an example to alert Kings and men, and it became a powerful proof and theoretical weapon against women's participation in political affairs. Confucianism that became popularized since around 500 B. C. advocated the belief that woman’s duties were silkworm breeding and silk weaving, which marginalized women in political activities.

2, Xishi

However, there were some famous women to be noted in such a social culture, especially royal, noblewomen. These women had great influence in an unstable time of a country, or in the early days of a dynasty, or at the time when the emperor was young, or at the time when the emperor trusted them. In Chinese history, there were four most well-known beauties - Xishi, whose beauty made the fish drown, Wang Zhaojun, who would make wild geese alight, Diaochan, who obscured the moon and Yang Yuhuan, who made the flowers close up for being ashamed. In fact, what made them famous was not their beauty but their close relationships with the emperors and how this relationship influenced political matters. Two historical books of Wu Yue Chunqiu and Yue Jue Shu talked about the role that beauty Xishi played in the story, “Goujian (Goujidn) overthrows the State of Wu.” 

In the Spring and Autumn Period, ancient China was split into more than 140 states. The dire relationships between the State of Wu and the State of Yue led to a war between these two countries. The State of Wu defeated the State of Yue and forced the king of Yue, Goujian, to surrender. Goujian was a tough and ambitious person who swallowed the humiliations and made himself a hostage to protect his people and his country. Goujian behaved humbly and submissively in front of the King of Wu, gradually relaxing the King of Wu’s guard against him. He even tasted the feces of the King of Wu to help diagnose the King of Wu’s illness. This behavior lets the King of Wu totally lower his guard. After that, the King of Wu released Goujian to go back to his own country. When Goujian came back to the State of Yue, it was suggested that he do something to show compliance and friendliness to the State of Wu. He subsequently sent the beauty Xishi to King Wu to weaken his health and to delude the spirit of the King. Xishi’s beauty was well-known in the state of Yue. It is said that when Xishi went to the river to wash her clothes, even the fishes in the river saw such a beauty that they forgot to swim and would sink underwater.

Therefore, Xishi was persuaded by Goujian to accept this task. She was taught how to dance and how to behave like a noble lady in the royal palace. After Xishi was sent to the State of Wu, the King of Wu fell in love with her at first sight. Being conscious of her own responsibility and patriotic mission, she paid attention to every move she made. The King of Wu was drawn to Xishi,s every twinkle and smile. From then on, the King of Wu seldom cared about political affairs and only wanted to be together with Xishi. He ordered people to build a luxurious palace to please Xishi. In this way, the State of Wu was gradually impaired. At the same time, Xishi gained adequate time for the State of Yue to become strong enough to defeat the State of Wu. It can be said that Xishi was a deciding factor in Goujian’s plan of restoring his country.

3, Wang Zhaojun

Another very charming lady named Wang Zhaojun was famous for her contribution to peace, national unity and cultural exchange between the Han Dynasty (206 B. C. -220) and the neighboring minority groups. According to Hou Han Shu, a book recording the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 220) in the form of a series of biographies, Wang Zhaojun was an attractive and brilliant girl who was selected to live in the imperial palace. At that time, all the young girls in the palace would rely on an artist to paint them a flattering self-portrait in hopes of attracting the Emperor's attention and affection. Wang Zhaojun did not want to bribe the painter named Mao Yanshou, so she never got a nice portrait of herself thereby losing the chance to meet the emperor.

For several years, she still did not get the opportunity to let the emperor see her until the king of Xiongnu, one neighboring minority nation, wanted a marriage alliance with the Han Dynasty. This was a usual means used by the emperor of the Han Dynasty to make peace with rulers of minority nations in the border areas. By marrying a princess or a noble lady to the kings of these groups, peace was enforced.

However, there was not a princess or a noblewoman who was willing to go to the desolate areas because of the tough living condition and different cultures. Zhaojun believed that this would be an excellent chance to get out of her poor situation and to secure the safety and peace of her own country, so she voluntarily requested to marry the king of Xiongnu. At the moment that Emperor Yuan of Han Dynasty met Wang Zhaojun, Emperor Yuan discovered that Wang Zhaojun was the most beautiful lady in his palace. With regret, the emperor had to marry Wang Zhaojun to the king of Xiongnu. On the way to Xiongnu, the wild geese in the sky saw this beauty playing a farewell melody on the horse. The geese forgot to wave their wings and fell. There are many different opinions on Wang Zhaojun,s departure to the Xiongnu, yet, there is no doubt that Wang Zhaojun’s contribution to the Han Dynasty was great.

4, Diaochan

Diaochan, another renowned beauty in the novel of “Romance of Three Kingdoms,” was a singing girl in the home of Wang Yun, who was a minister of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Xian was a weak and useless emperor who was controlled by Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo often commanded the dukes in the emperor’s name. Wang Yun was so worried about the country and the emperor that he wanted to banish Dong Zhuo. He lacked a sound strategy to do so. One time, when Diaochan worshipped the moon to pray that she could do something for her master to relieve his worry and anxiety about the country, the moon hid behind a piece of cloud. At the sight of this, Wang Yun came up with an idea. He decided to take advantage of Diaochan’s beauty to attract Dong Zhuo’s and Lu Bu’s (Dong Zhuo,s adopted son) attention as he knew Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu were lecherous. To repay the love and care from Wang Yun, Diaochan decided to sacrifice herself to complete Wang  Yun’s wishes.

Therefore, Wang Yun made Diaochan well- known whose beauty could obscure the moon. Finally, Lu Bu fell in love with Diaochan because of her gorgeous looks. Then, Wang Yun adopted Diaochan as his daughter and married her to Lu Bu. After that, Wang Yun instigated Diaochan to seduce Dong Zhuo who also coveted her. Diaochan began to sow dissension in the relationship between Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu which raised a storm of jealousy. Consequently, Lu Bu killed Dong Zhuo.

5, Yang Yuhuan

Yang Yuhuan, the favorite concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was forced to die because the ministers thought her beauty bewitched Emperor Xuanzong who was letting the Tang Dynasty fall into a turbulent situation. Emperor Xuanzong was fascinated by Yang Yuhuan, and he was even unwilling to go to the court to manage the national affairs. A famous poem named “Passing by Huaqing Palace on Mount” written by Du Mu tells the story：

From Chang’ e palace embroidered the scene,

On the mountaintop, palace gates opened one by one;

One horse rider kicking up red dust, the concubine laughs,

No one knew it was the lychee express arriving!

Huaqing Palace was Emperor Xuanzong’s temporary winter palace, and Huaqing Hot Spring was for the exclusive use of Lady Yang. She had bathed there for ten years. Litchi was the favorite fruit of Lady Yang, but litchi did not grow in Chang’an. Emperor Xuanzong ordered the post-horse that carried the important news to deliver the fresh litchi for Lady Yang. Another person closely related to Yang Yuhuan’s death was An Lushan. He tricked Lady Yang to obtain more power from Emperor Xuanzong. A Lushan made himself Lady Yang’s step-son, even though he was older than Lady Yang. Because of Yang Yuhuan, Emperor Xuanzong trusted An Lushan and put him in an important position. After that, An Lushan began to expand his power, planning to usurp the throne from Emperor Xuanzong. This rebellion let the Tang Dynasty to fall into a political crisis. The ministers believed Yang Yuhuan was the chief culprit of this overthrow and forced her to die. Emperor Xuanzong could do nothing but watch his beloved die.

In the above five stories, all these beauties were tools to achieve some political purposes. Among them, Su Daji, Xi Shi, Diao Chan and Yang Yuhuan were all regarded as female misfortunes.

3 Empress

Besides the above five beauties, many influential historical female figures like Empress Lu, Great Empress Wu, and Empress Dowager Cixi promoted the political transformation and social changes in Chinese history. Empress Lu was the only woman who had an individual biography in Shi Ji, a great history book, and literary works, recording the history from 100 B. C. to the Western Han Dynasty. With a resolute and steadfast character, Empress Lu who was called Lu Zhi got through the hardships with Emperor Gaozu whose name was Liu Bang. Before Liu Bang became Emperor Gaozu, Lu Zhi even went to the farm like other ordinary women. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were fighting for the throne of the country, and Lu Zhi was caught by Xiang Yu as a hostage. She suffered much in prison, but she did not betray Liu Bang. Lu Zhi assisted him in establishing the Han Dynasty and helped him govern the country.

Empress Lu

The Western Han Dynasty (206 B. C. -25) in this period was not very stable, a result of the decentralization of the power. There were many people who had distinguished accomplishments in the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, and they have conferred the title of king and fiefs. This could threaten the emperor’s power. Among those people, Han Xin and Peng Yue were the biggest threat to Emperor Gaozu. Empress Lii, under the assistance of Xiao He, plotted to set Han Xin up and killed him at the time of Emperor Gaozu’s expedition. Likewise, Empress Lu played the same trick killing Peng Yue by accusing him of treason. Apparently, Emperor Gaozu was very sad for losing two trusted men,  but in fact, he was happy for strengthening his power. By plotting against these ambitious men, Empress Li won her power.

Later, Empress Lu also united with four influential ministers and persuaded Emperor Gaozu not to choose his favorite concubine’s son as the heir, making Lu Zhi’s son the heir to the throne. After Emperor Gaozu died, she became Empress Dowager Lu (Huang Tai Hou) with the Emperor Xiaohui’s succession to the throne. Emperor Xiaohui was merciful and weak so that Empress Dowager LG was the “real emperor” at that time. She governed the Han Dynasty on behalf of Xiaohui Emperor for fifteen years. She reshaped the governing strategy and advocated “governing by noninterference,” encouraging the ministers to exert their abilities to some extent.

She relieved the forced labor to encourage the peasants to be engaged in agricultural production, increased business which was looked down upon at that time, and practiced monetary reform,  thereby promoting the economic development of the Western Han Dynasty. In the aspect of building excellent social culture, she awarded those people who respected and loved their family. The political reform and transformation she made laid a solid foundation for the prosperity of the Han Dynasty. However, since her last name was not Liu but Lu, she did things to squeeze out the Liu family of the imperial palace to foster her power.

For instance, she invented various excuses to kill the Liu family people and confiscated their lands and wealth. She put those who she trusted and those whose last name was Lu in the important positions. Besides that, she also married daughters of Lu family to those men from Liu family in hopes of uniting two families’ powers and controlling the Liu family. As a result, subsequent generations gave the Empress Dowager Lu high evaluations. Han Shu, a history book recording the history from 203 B. C. to 23 of ancient China, wrote down that people lived an easy, rich and happy life without cruel punishments in her reign. The Empress Dowager Lu never changed the title of the Han Dynasty during her governing period even though she was the real ruler of the Western Han Dynasty.

Empress Wu

Contrary to the Empress Dowager Lu, the great Empress Wu (Empress Wu Zetian), was not only a concubine of Emperor Taizong but also the queen of Emperor Gaozong. She was the first female emperor who changed the title of a dynasty, from the Tang Dynasty (618 -907) to the Zhou Dynasty (668 -696). At the time of being a little girl, she was called Wu Meiniang (Wu Meiniang). She was fond of reading and had a good memory. When she grew up to become a wise and fair lady, she was elected by the emperor at the age of 14 and quickly gained the affection of the emperor. She put forward twelve suggestions about administering a country to the Emperor Taizong, a comprehensive governing program, covering the fields of agriculture, the militaries, education, social morality, and personnel system.

Among the suggestions, ruling people using morality instead of military means, encouraging the free airing of views, and saving the labor and resources were quite useful and instructive. However, Wu Meiniang’s insight and wisdom alerted Emperor Taizong that women in the palace should not be involved in state affairs. That made Emperor Taizong alienate her. During her living in the palace, she won the heart of the son of Emperor Taizong - the later Emperor Gaozong. This love was forbidden in the imperial palace in that the son should not love his father's concubine.

After Emperor Taizong died and Emperor Gaozong inherited the throne, Wu Meiniang was expelled out of the palace into a temple as she did not give birth to the emperor. After that, she lost all the connections to the imperial palace. At the same time, Emperor Gaozong still longed for Wu Meiniang and often came to see her in the temple privately. Being ambitious and brilliant, she did not want to give up her political and social status, so she took this opportunity and persuaded Emperor Gaozong to take her back to the imperial palace. In 649, Emperor Gaozong took Wu Meiniang back to the imperial palace and conferred the title of “Chen Fei“ to her in spite of objections of all the ministers.

Then, she played numerous tricks to gain more power and trust of Emperor Gaozong. She even killed her daughter secretly and blamed Empress Wang. Emperor Gaozong put Empress Wang to death and crowned Wu Meiniang as the Empress in 655. Taking advantage of her status in the palace and the dependence of Emperor Gaozong, Wu Meiniang participated in political matters actively. She gradually won respect and confidence of the ministers for her decisiveness and discipline in dealing with political affairs, which stimulated her to pursue even more power. She discovered a number of talents among the people and regarded these people as her respectable guests, making them willing to help her.

Moreover, she attached great importance to her own family - the Wu family. All these things did set the stage for her to take the throne after Emperor Gaozong,s death. In 690, she practiced social reform and turned the Tang Dynasty into the Zhou Dynasty at the age of 66. During her reign, she not only attributed great importance to women but also extended the territory and contributed markedly to the welfare of her people. To seek out more wise and able men, she improved the Ke-Tsu system (imperial examination system) and created an examination way which was presided over by the emperor. Wu Zetian could respect people’s talents, hear sincere advice and trust virtuous men.

When Wu Zetian was in her old age, she was forced to give power back to the Li Family which was the original royal family. At last, she chose Li Xian, the son of Emperor Gaozong and herself, as the heir to the throne. When she was dying, she ordered that there should be no words on the monument in front of her grave, leaving the later generations to make comments on her. She was a controversial person, yet she was undoubtedly a remarkable woman and the only female emperor in Chinese history.

Empress Cixi

The Empress Cixi, a charming and educated woman, was the mother of the heir to the throne during the last years of the Emperor Xianfeng. However, by way of assisting the young emperor, she ruled the Qing Dynasty (1616 - 1911) for almost half a century since 1861. Possessing a strong intellect and good education, she was an accomplished scholar, essayist, and artist. She married Emperor Xianfeng which desired a son, and she gave birth to a son for Emperor Xianfeng which established her position in the imperial palace. Different from the above mentioned Empress Lu and great Empress Wu, the Empress Dowager Cixi was living in an unstable time. During her reign, the Qing Dynasty was attacked by foreign powers. Then, social conflicts became more intense. Facing such a special and complicated situation, she clashed with the emperor repeatedly over how to negotiate with foreign countries and who could be trusted. To save the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Guangxu practiced “Hundred Days Reform,” attempting to apply constitution monarchy to the political system of the Qing Dynasty.

Cixi was so conservative that she believed that this reform would not only be harmful to the Qing Dynasty but also threaten her power. She executed six people who advocated the reform and the reform failed. The later Taiping Revolution in the late 1890s struck a serious blow to the foreign invasive power. Cixi did not support the Taiping Revolution and allied with the foreign powers to suppress this patriotic movement. She wanted nothing more than a complete Qing Dynasty so that she signed a peace agreement in 1901 with the invading foreign countries, which humiliated Chinese people both politically and economically. 

On the other hand, some of her orders promoted the modernization of China. For instance, she not only approved the establishment of the “Jing Shi Tong Wen Guan” ( a school in Peking) to study the western languages but supported the Westernization Movement. Besides that, she established schools to learn Western technology (Li Shuxi, 2007)133. Remarkably, Cixi’s private life was very luxurious and lavish. She used the money which was earmarked for the navy to build stone boats at the Summer Palace for her entertainment.

From the above statements of Chinese influential female figures, it can be seen that Chinese women achieved their social status or political purpose by their beauty, their ambition, their wisdom, and political tricks.

Compared with the ancient Chinese women, nowadays, Chinese women have greater freedom and enthusiasm in the political field. We can start from the Draft of Civil Law of the Republic of China compiled in 1911 after the Xinhai Revolution, which was a breakthrough in the aspect of women’s rights. For instance, it was regulated that women could ask for divorce first. 

After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the first constitution was launched, which provided for women the rights that were equal to that of men. Women were encouraged to take part in political affairs actively from then on. Especially after the Reform and Opening-Up Policy was carried out, a great number of women were influenced by western ideas and paid more attention to their development. Receiving more education and updating their knowledge, modern Chinese women actively participate in every field of society. However, comparing with the women in urban areas, in some backward rural areas, women still have traditional ideas and stay at home to do housework. They place their husbands and children in the first place while limiting themselves to the home. The development gap between urban and rural areas has to be addressed. Overall, women’s political rights and enthusiasm are greatly improved in today’s China.

Social and Family Perspective

The popular saying “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” seems to best represent the ancient Chinese women’s status in family life. A woman was required to obey her father before marriage, her husband during married life and her son (s) in widowhood. She should bear four kinds of virtues: fidelity, physical charm, propriety in speech and efficiency in needlework. Chinese women leave the impression of compliance. They must accept the oppression and have no right to resist. Arranged marriage was a prevailing phenomenon in ancient China. It was considered to be the cause of many love tragedies. One of the tragic stories, recorded in Yue Fu, is titled “The Bride of Jiao Zhongqing,” which is the first long narrative poem in the history of Chinese literature. The poem describes a tragic love story. 

The heroine, Liu Lanzhi, was a beautiful and talented woman. Her husband, Jiao Zhongqing, was a local official in the prefecture of Lujiang during the reign of Jian’an (196 -219) in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 -220). They deeply loved each other. However, Jiao’s mother did not like Liu and asked her son to send Liu away, but Jiao did not follow his mother's wishes. Finally, Liu was sent away by Jiao’s mother and vowed never to marry again. After Liu returned to her own family, she was compelled by her elder brother to marry the son of the prefecture chief. She resisted hard but failed. Bearing her vow in mind, she drowned herself in a pond. On receiving Liu’s death, Jiao hanged himself in his courtyard.

Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing’s love tragedy was a mirror reflecting many common situations in ancient Chinese society. Arranged marriage was like a sharp knife that violently cut the predestined love between lovers. Parents could ward off their children’s true love willfully. However, it is not suitable to use “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” to summarize Chinese women’s rights and status in marriage and family life. Some of the women were brave enough to fight for their right to free love. The change that took place in Chinese women’s marriage and family life was actually by the evolution of Chinese history.

Most Chinese scholars believe that matrilineality was carried out in China from 5,000 B. C. to 3000 B. C., which was just about the Yangshao Period. The following Longshan Period started to put patrilineality into effect.

The reduced women’s right to marriage and family life was a gradual process. In many dynasties in ancient China, women did have the freedom to choose a satisfactory marriage or to dissolve an engagement. In the family, women had the right to make their voices heard. The disparity of positions between husbands and wives was not that obvious. There was even a case that Zhen Luo remarried Emperor Weiwen (Cao Pi, 187 -226) after her husband Yuan Xi died. Women in the family enjoyed high status and shared the rights they deserved. 

For example, in the Song Dynasty (960 -1279), marrying off a daughter cost more than getting a wife for a son; thus, unmarried women shared equal rights as men regarding spouse cost. Despite polygamy, women’s status in the family was quite acceptable. In the Yuan Dynasty, women’s situation was further improved due to the influence of Mongolian people. Mongolian women took part in labor as men did, so their status was comparatively high. At that time, it was illegal for husbands to beat wives, which ensured that women could enjoy a high degree of freedom and personal right.

But things changed a lot after the Yuan Dynasty (1206 -1368), for remarriage was banned. It was made into law that a woman entitled by the Emperor due to her husbands’ death could not remarry. Otherwise, her title would be revoked and her remarriage was invalid. In the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), the practice that parents chose husbands for their daughters became a routine. It was an order allowing no disobedience. The engagement was an essential prelude to getting married. Women who did not follow the engagement would be punished by law. What was worse, if husbands and wives violated the rights of each other, wives would be given more serious penalties, which reflected the complete inequality between husbands and wives. The chastity of women was valued to a much greater extent. Qing Dynasty, reaching the peak of feudalism, went even beyond. Those who did not preserve chastity would be persecuted and regarded as her family’s shame.

Although it violated the women’s chastity to marry again, it was legitimate and common for men to marry several women. It seemed that the higher a man’s social status was, the more wives he would have. For example, Emperor Qianlong (1711 -1799) had more than 40 wives, ranking only after Emperor Kangxi (1654 - 1722), his grandfather. After the reign of Emperor Kangxi, a sound ranking system of concubines took shape. From the very top to the very bottom, it included one Empress, one Imperial Noble Consort, two Noble Consorts, four Consorts, six Imperial Concubines, and Noble Ladies, First Class Female Attendants, Second Class Female Attendants without number restrictions. These women lived in 12 palaces, six in the east and six in the west in the forbidden city. The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty, during which the feudal government came to its peak. The view that men were superior to women was so dominant that women had no choice but to entirely depend on men and to show total obedience.

There was a Chinese phenomenon stretching across ancient China and modern China, which reflects the suppressed status of women. That was foot-binding. As a custom,foot-binding reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty when feudal ethics was in full force. As to the origin of women’s foot-binding, opinions differ a lot. The inferences about the origin of foot-binding are based on several respects: from folk legends, from historical materials, from records in ancient literary works, and from archeological discoveries. There is still no agreement among scholars on it. Each inference has its own plausible reasons and weaknesses. But some of the statements are quite interesting and worth mentioning. Legend-based inferences include one that foot-binding started from the Shang Dynasty (1600 B. C. -1046 B.C.). 

According to the legend, King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty had a beloved concubine called Daji. Daji was such an enchanting woman that King Zhou loved her very much. It was said that Daji became a woman from a fox (some say from a pheasant). But when she turned herself into a woman, her feet remained the fox feet. To cover up her defect, she used a cloth to bind her feet, letting no one see her fox’s feet. Since Daji was the most beloved concubine among the harem, other concubines would like to follow her example, namely, to bind their feet up. Then, the practice of foot-binding was passed down.

Another statement says that foot-binding can be traced back to the period of the Five Dynasties (907 - 960). It was based on records in ancient literary works. Based on Tao Zongyi,s record in Chuo Geng Lu, Emperor Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty (937 - 975) had a concubine called Yao Niang. Yao Niang was good at dancing. Emperor Li Yu made a six - chi platform (chi, a Chinese length unit, 1 chi = 33. 33 cm) like a golden lotus for her to dance on. The lotus-like stage was decorated with jewelry and silk. Emperor Li Yu asked Yao Niang to bind her feet with light-colored cloth and dance on the platform. Her dance moves looked more charming with the setting of the golden lotus. From then on, foot-binding was considered a standard of judging beauty.

There are several other notions about the origin of foot-binding. But no matter when the practice of foot-binding originated, one thing is for certain. Women got their feet bound not only for pleasing men but also out of the feudal ethical bondage that they should keep undefiled for their husbands. Their bound feet played an important role in women’s marriage life. Therefore, whether from a scholarly family or a poor one, a man would be ashamed to marry a woman with unbound feet. Even if a woman without binding on her feet did get married, she would be maltreated by their husbands’ families. However, foot-binding had a negative impact on women both physically and mentally. It severely damaged women’s health and even made them unable to walk. Many women had their feet bound at a very young age. They suffered great pain just to have a pair of little feet. But physical pain was only one aspect of those women’s misfortune. They also suffered mentally. Women who hadn’t had their feet bound were regarded to have lost “the figure and feature of a woman.” Feet-bounded women were arrogant while women with unbounded feet felt ashamed, which led to a distorted social ideology. This kind of notion gradually added to the burden of society and hurt social development.

It was until the late Qing Dynasty that some people of insight, Kang Youwei (1858 -1927, a Chinese scholar and reformer in the late Qing Dynasty) and Liang Qichao (1873 -1929, a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher, and reformist during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Chinese Republic), began to realize that foot-binding had been doing great harm to the country. Voices against foot-binding gradually got stronger and finally developed into “the Women’s Feet Liberation Movement”. Actually, before that, the Qing government had already issued an injunction forbidding women’s foot-binding during the reign of Emperor Shunzhi (1638 - 1661) and Kangxi. In 1901, the Empress Dowager Cixi also issued a decree to persuade women to stop foot-binding. There had also been much propaganda against foot-binding in private and public schools. However, the feudal ethical code had been so deeply rooted in Chinese women’s mind that the injunction and decree didn’t do much good. After the Revolution of 1911, the government of the Republic of China again banned foot-binding, but little progress was made. It was the prohibition enforced by the government of the People’s Republic of China in 1950 that finally put an end to Chinese women’s foot-binding.

After the abolishment of feudalism, women’s status was greatly improved. In 1911, the Republic of China took the place of the monarchy, and the country underwent a drastic social transformation. Women’s roles in society also changed. In 1898, Liang Qichao published an article promoting establishing schools for women. Also, he asserted new requirements for women - a woman should be able to take care of her husband, educate her son, look after her family, as well as do farm work. Then the May Fourth Movement (an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919) began. Both male and female students actively took part in it. The improvement of women’s rights in the political field was a powerful motivator for the improvement of women’s status in family life. On May 1, 1950, the first Marriage Law of China took effect. For the first time in history, it had a law that China carried out the policy of monogamy and that men and women shared equal rights in the marriage. From then on, everyone enjoyed the freedom of marriage, which put women and men on the same level, at least in respect of the law.

In modern China, after abolishing the polygamy policy, both men’s and women’s rights in a marriage are legally protected. Generally speaking, men and women share equal rights and equal shoulder responsibilities. But unbalanced development in different areas has led to the unequal status of men and women. For most urban families, husbands and wives both go out to work to support the family while in some remote rural areas, men are supposed to work for money and women are still responsible for attending family duties. Since men support the family, they are usually regarded as more important than women in the family. 

The reasons for the phenomenon may include the following. Women in urban areas often receive a more advanced education. Many of them acquire skills and capabilities as men do. So they can as well make a living by themselves. Urban areas are more open than in rural areas. Women living in urban areas see the outside world more often and absorb more information. Unlike those in rural areas, they tend to have their careers, instead of engaging themselves in family duties. The belief that men are superior to women is still rooted in the mind of many people in rural areas. Girls have fewer chances to receive an education than boys. There seems to be no need for girls to master professional knowledge or skills.

Traditional ideology about marriage could not be eradicated in one day. It is still a common belief that men were superior to women in some underdeveloped areas of China and people there prefer boys to girls. In some unenlightened regions and very traditional minds, a wife who could not give birth to a son is very much looked down upon. Several reasons may cause the fact that boys are preferred.

First, in most people’s minds, only boys can inherit the family blood, for children are named after their father, but not their mother. If a man’s wife bears a girl, there is no one to carry on the family name.

Second, farm work requires more men. Men always have the advantage over women in physical labor.

Third, as has been mentioned above, men are supposed to support the family in most rural areas so that a man can bring wealth for his family. While women take care of the housework. Seldom can they gather wealth directly? So to bear more boys means to bring more wealth to the family. But on the contrary, in metropolitan areas, having a boy or having a girl differs little. Many young couples prefer to have daughters because girls are careful in attending older people. When the couple gets old, a daughter can often take better care of them than a son does.

Labor Distribution Perspective

A person’s economic status has a significant effect on his/her family life and social life. This is reflected in Chinese women. Chinese traditional mode of production was that men plow the fields and women weave the cloth. The rite that “the men should not speak of what belongs to the inside (of the house), nor should the women of what belongs to the outside” confined women in the house. This kind of social labor division made it difficult for ancient Chinese women in most dynasties to own farmland and support themselves.

On the contrary, today’s Chinese women have their careers. They control their property independently. They are also active in all walks of life, contributing to their families and country. They are called half the sky of this society. After the Reform and Opening-up Policy was practiced in China, the market-oriented economy provided great opportunities for women to showcase themselves and demonstrate their talents and creativity. Many women began to set foot in the fields previously dominated by the men, like the first female astronaut in Shenzhou. In today’s urban areas of China, an increasing number of women realize how important it is to be independent, so they go out to work as men do. At home, women and men share the housework. On the other hand, this, to some degree, leads to a high divorce rate in today’s China.

However, women in rural areas don’t go out to work, and they seldom have income. Some of them are married at a very early age, and some others receive little education and cannot gain a good job. There are cases when men are favored over women when both have the same capabilities, and men are promoted faster than women with the same qualifications. Women may encounter sexual discrimination in the job market. Although there are diverse kinds of problems in Chinese women’s economic life today, they will never give up. They will gain glory and respect through their constant endeavors.

Educational Perspective

Ancient Chinese women may be famous for their comely Asian faces and their elegance, but their wisdom was seldom known to the outside world. It is too arbitrary to say that ancient Chinese women had no right to getting an education. It happened in some periods in history, but even during those periods, women could still receive education to some degree. There were some ways for women to receive an education. Some rich families tended to have a family tutor to teach their daughters poems and rites. Their family might influence girls growing up in a scholarly family. From their family members, their literature quality was often developed since childhood. Other ways to get education might seem peculiar. For example, Zhu Yingtai (Zhu Yingtai, a young lady in the West Jin Dynasty (265 -317), the heroine of the famous love story Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai) dressed up like a man and attended school, since girls were not allowed to go to school. On the way to school, Zhu met Liang, who was also going to school. Then there developed their romantic and tragic love story.

In fact, in almost all dynasties, there were talented women. They composed an important part of Chinese literature. In the Han Dynasty (206 B. C. -220), female poets emerged in a large number. For example, Zhao Feiyan, the Empress of Emperor Han Cheng, was good at history, playing Gu Qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither) and dancing. Ban Zhao, the younger sister of Ban Gu (32 - 92), was another celebrated woman with great talent. Ban Gu was a great historian in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and he authored Han Shu, the first dynastic history book presented in a series of biographies. But he did not finish it before his death. Ban Zhao carried on her older brother's unfinished work Han Shu and made it a masterpiece. When she was in her fifties, she taught the harem Confucianism under the Emperor's order, making a great contribution to the education of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

As the imperial examination system (an examination system in Imperial China aimed at selecting officials for the state’s bureaucracy) was well implemented in Sui (581 -618) and Tang Dynasties (618 -907), people with talents could take the exam equally, despite their backgrounds, so women from all walks of life were provided with equal opportunities to get education. Tang Dynasty was famous for its poetry, which was largely attributed to its popularization of education. Women in this period, from whichever social class, had their literacy improved. A large number of depictions of talented women could be seen in the Tang literature. Song Dynasty (960 -1279) was another period with great literary achievements when the Song Poetry enjoyed almost the same reputation as the Tang Poetry. Works of many female poets were included in The Complete Song Poems (an anthology of Song Poems), including the works by Chen Fengyi, Mrs. Wei Ruanying and so on. These female poets ranged from upper to lower classes, which indicated that the Song women, in general, had chances to receive an education.

When talking about talented Chinese women, Li Qingzhao (1084 -1155) could never be neglected, no matter in ancient times or at present. Growing up in a scholarly family with a deep literary atmosphere, she was not an ordinary woman sticking to the traditional conception that ignorance was the virtue for women. Her father was an official and a scholar, and her mother was also talented in literature, so Li was deeply influenced by her family since childhood. She was open in mind, loved life, and had read extensively. She had an acute and insightful view of life and history. As a poet, she left for later generations a great wealth of graceful, poetic works. These poems go into two styles. Before the Northern Song Dynasty (960 -1127), her age came to an end due to the Jin people’s invasion; she wrote poems mostly about her sweet love happy life or departure from her husband, such as her poem Tune: Like A Dream.

I oft remember what a happy day

We passed in the creekside arbor when ‘t was gloomy

Drunk, we returned by boat and lost our way

And strayed off in the thicket of lotuses blooming.

“Get through!

Get through! “

Startled, a flock of herons from the sandbank flew.

The poem shows us a young lady’s happy life, condition with love and freedom. However, when the caused her husband’s death, she began drifting former husband died, she composed poems to express her poem Tune: “Spring in Peach-Blossom Land” might be a typical one produced in her later period.

Sweet flowers fall to dust when winds abate.

Tired, I won’t comb my hair although it’s late.

Things are the same, but he’s no more, and all is c

Before I speak, how can my tears not pour!

What this said at Twin Creek spring is not yet gone.

In a light boat, I long to float thereon.

But I’m afraid the grief-overladen boat

Upon Twin Creek can’t keep afloat.

This poem contrasts with the first one regarding emotion. Written during the war and after her husband’s death, the poem reveals the extreme sadness in her inner heart. Different themes as her poems have, Li is undoubtedly a perfect representative of talented women in ancient China. The education she got was mainly from her family. Her talent in literature had been nurtured at a young age.

Wang Zhuo, a scholar in Song Dynasty, once commented Li, “She had her poems well-known since a juvenile. She was such an extraordinary talent that was rarely seen even among all the scholar-bureaucrats”. Another master in the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi, once said, “When it comes to talented women in this era, only Li Yi’an (Li Qingzhao’s alternative name) and Mrs. Wei (a female poet in the Northern Song Dynasty) are worth mentioning,”

However, women’s educational situation did not continue in the Yuan Dynasty when the ruler paid little attention to education and rules of propriety began to gain popularity. There also appeared textbooks about “virtues of women.” Well-behaved and elegant women were more likely to marry into families of higher status, so women were often trained to behave decently while education was almost entirely neglected. This trend intensified in the following dynasties and came to its climax in the Qing Dynasty.

When it came to modern times, women’s chances of getting an education largely increased During the May Fourth Movement, Beijing University enrolled nine female students for the first time. Soon afterward, girls were admitted by other universities and colleges. Therefore, educated female youths were more commonly seen in modern times, such as Lin Huiyin (Phyllis Lin). Lin was the first lady architect in China, who was also famous for her prose, poems, novels, plays, and translations. After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, Lin was an entitled Professor of Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University. During the period from September 1949 to June 1950, Lin, together with several other professors of the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University, designed the national emblem of China.

Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, gratifying achievements have been gained, and women’s education has been greatly improved. Nowadays, almost all girls can receive a nine-year compulsory education. No clear distinction can be seen between the boys’ school enrollment rate and that of the girls.

The improvement in women’s education can be attributed to both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors include girls’ awareness of education’s importance and the parents’ enlightened thought. As more and more girls realize the importance of education, they became desirous of knowledge and school education. Besides, with the development of society, their parents are also aware that girls should get involved in society and compete with men, so they need the subsequent knowledge and skills as well. While on the other hand, extrinsic factors consist of the enforcement of the nine-year compulsory education and the job demands of society. The nine-year compulsory education gives girls equal opportunities to receive an education. Therefore, junior high school education can be ensured. From a social perspective, as more and more wealth is created, more and more educated people are needed. Only men can no longer meet the social requirement. Women are objectively urged to receive an education.

China has witnessed a flourishing period in education since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. Due to unbalanced regional development, the development in education still seems different. Compared with the thriving urban areas, a girl’s education in some rural, underdeveloped areas still faces many challenges, especially in western China. Stronger government measures have been implemented, including building more boarding schools for children living far away. Girls still have higher possibilities to drop out. For many rural families in western areas, girls become the labor force. In some regions, girls should get married early to reduce the family burden or go out to work to support their families. According to the 5th population census, among all women who do not work, the percentage of girls from 15 to 19 who are not at school is 4.12%, but the same percentage for boys is only 1.02%. To reach a real balance between boys and girls in education, there is still a long way to go.

China’s education system has experienced a complex developing process. Chinese women’s education can never be disengaged from China’s overall educational development.

Closing Remarks

Both in ancient China and modern China, women are indispensable for the family, the country, and the society. Among numerous outstanding Chinese ancient women, what made the four great beauties and three empresses remarkable were the unique historical background, their social contribution, and personal glamour. They were out of the ordinary Chinese ancient women. However, they reflected the faithfulness, wisdom, elegance, and dedication of traditional Chinese women.

Nowadays, Chinese women are still faced with challenges, for instance, men are more favored than women in the job market. Women are in an inferior position to men in career promotion, and the development gap between urban areas and rural areas still exists. Chinese women still have a long way to go. Chinese women's status in family and education also experienced a long and torturous process. Though inferior sometimes in status, some great women still stand out. They were a valuable group not only in the past but also at present. Chinese women as a whole have gone through a hard time. When the present becomes past and future becomes present, more and more significant women will emerge. The changing Chinese women's status is forever ongoing.