sex inequity in imperial china
...he girl reach the age of six, comes the most painful stage of transition to adulthood, footbinding. Even through the book The strange cases of Magistrate Pao didn¡¯t mention anything about footbinding but it is another unequal aspect between man and woman and also one of the most painful experiences for the women. It all started when the empire in the Tang dynasty fall in love with a dancer¡¯s small feet then it spread to dancing girls, the upper class and slowly set the fashion for the rest of the Chinese world. It had become so popular towards the Qing dynasty that it had become a tradition that at the beginning of a girl¡¯s adulthood, she was forced to bind her feet. Woman with natural-footed was considered ridiculous. It had become the symbol of beauty, style, social class, and proper upbringing. The major reason why women bound their feet is to please men. For Chinese male during the imperial period found small feet to be attractive. But there was another more reasonable explanation for men encouraged women to bound there feet, is to control women. Be certain that she stayed in her proper place, which was obviously within the confines of the home, to stop her from learning and experiencing the outside world therefore she would be inferior to men. This will certainly ensure male dominance and female¡¯s inferior social position. The abolition of footbinding was not until the present century, when it became part of a large movement to emancipate the Chinese woman from her age-old inheritance of social inequality. The pleas of revolutionary leaders to free woman from her spiritual and physical bondage made an increasing psychological impact on China¡¯s masses, gradually brought to an end of this feminine suffering which last for ten centuries. Virginity and chastity were one of the unfair expectations placed on women. If unfortunately a woman had been raped, the only alternative she had to prove her virtue is to committing suicide. It is a tragic fact that a large percentage of women who committed suicide in late imperial China were those in their late teens and early twenties. In the story-The Net of Heaven from the book The strange cases of Magistrate Pao, a young woman named Plum Blossom who hanged herself when she discovered she had given herself to the wrong man. This virginity ¡°something she valued more than life itself¡± was the cause of her death. Also in the story-The Stolen Slippers, the husband, Chang Te-hua who ¡°disown his wife¡± because he accused her of adultery, ¡°he had convinced himself of her unfaithfulness, and sent her back home to her parents.¡± His wife Orchid who did not commit such crime was simply ¡°loss for words¡± and there is nothing she can do but to accept the punishment from her husband since divorce was private matters implicitly sanctioned by the cultural insistence on male heirs. Then when she found out she had remarried the man that framed her and destroyed her good name and reputation, she decided to take revenge on him by committing suicide. Since ¡°it was common belief among the Chinese people that one sure way of bringing intolerable grievances into the open was to commit suicide.¡± Both women in the story were innocent and helpless. They had been accused and blamed by their loved one. They don¡¯t have the rights to speak out, to stand up for themselves, or have the opportunities for self-expression. Due to lack of education and social involvement, they have nowhere to turn to, nowhere to seek for help; therefore the only way to express their innocence to everyone is to commit suicide. This is a result of a sex inequality society. One of the major turning points in a woman¡¯s life is marriage. Although this event is very important to her personally, she might never be consulted about it. Neither would her future husband have a part in the decision. Marriage in China was regarded as a family matter-by the family and for the family. The major reason for the groom¡¯s family to acquire a woman is to produce male offspring in order to perpetuate the family line. She must also serve her husband with all worship and reverence, never disobey him. She also has to honour and practice filial piety towards her father-in-law and mother-in-law, to pay her respects to them day and night. That would be the Confucian ideals of womanhood. But if the girl is lazy or bad temper, she could be a curse on the family. If she is ill, she could be a burden and if she is too attractive, she could start love affairs that would ruin the family reputation just like Madam Hsieh, the ¡®dissolute woman¡¯ with a dazzling beauty in story-The Temple by the River from The strange cases of Magistrate Pao. She had commit adultery both before and after her husband¡¯s death and also planned the conspiracy of murder against her husband. In the end she was tricked into a full confession and sentenced to death by Magistrate Pao, which she deserved. This story shows women in late imperial China were not all stereotypes, there were individuals that do not follow the path of Confucian ideals of womanhood. It also suggests that not all the women were satisfied with their family & social roles and the expectations placed on them. If women were given the rights to divorce, then this tragic story would never had happened. Madam Hsieh could simply get a divorce rather going through all the trouble of getting rid of her husband by murdering him. If women were given more rights and freedom, the society would be more equal, and there will be a decrease in suicide rate and crimes involved adultery will also be reduced. Concubinage was another disgrace action against women in late imperial China. For the man to have more than one wife whether to gain male hers or just for his own pleasure was a discriminate action against women, and the fact that there was no legal obstacle to or moral stigma against this ridiculous action just shows how unequally women had be treated. Since concubines were experience items usually affordable by only the upper classes, and the concubines were definitely recruited from the lower classes. The status of a concubine was determined by her personally relationship between her mast...