Chinese Women

11 Pages 2634 Words

How has the issue of gender superiority evolved in China?

The existence of women throughout China’s history was that of total inferiority. As the Chinese society developed women became subordinate to men. Even when death comes, this lesser position was brought out in the discoveries of ancient graves. They showed the wife’s corpse in a bowing position towards her husband. However, the social stature of women in China has grown tremendously compared to 20,000 years ago.
In 1949, the Communist government took over China. One of the Communist party’s principles was that of equality for women. This was a big change for the women of China. For the most part, women are given equal rights with men. Especially in large cities. However, this doesn’t apply to 100% of Chinese women. In many areas in China, women are still looked upon as inferior to men. Therefore, the struggle for equality and the end to sex discrimination continues.
Since the year 221 BC, the philosophy of China has always been male dominance over women. In the 5th century BC, Chinese philosopher Confucius set three rules for women to follow. The first was “obedience to the father before marriage, obedience to the husband after marriage, and obedience to the son after the death of the husband.” (Tan p. 11)
Chinese history has been traced as far back as 500,000 years ago. However, China has a 4,000 year recorded history. The Chinese lived along the Yellow River 7,000 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers and evidence shows that the society was matriarchal. “Decent was traced through the women and men lived in the homes of their wives.” (Tan p. 12) Women were respected and all of the children took their mothers’ maiden name.
When the Xin dynasty began (2100-1600 BC), attitudes towards women started to change. As society became more stable, the ill treatment of women increased. Men started to take control of the family instead of the women...