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Women in ancient China:The invisible sector of society

A S O U R C E D O C U M E N T A N A L Y S I S

Lauren RabainoJuly 15, 2009

HIST 310

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The sourcebook reading "Women's Virtues and Vices" reveals that gender roles in

ancient China were distinctively defined; the woman was the silent caretaker and the man ran the

household. Furthermore, the specific anecdotes reveal that deviating from those clear roles was

seen as a huge disgrace to the family. 

The role of the woman is to exist in the home as a child-rearing, food-preparing being

who is otherwise invisible. Her influence on the world is only virtuous when it helps her husband

and children succeed. In the first excerpt of the reading, the mother of Mecius was praised as

being the epitome of womanhood, yet her worth was defined by men. Specifically, Mencius'

mother's virtue is determined by what she helps her son accomplish, rather than what she

accomplishes for herself. Even from the first sentence of the reading, we know her as "the

mother of Mencius." She goes without a name. This simple reference shows that her identity is

tied directly to her son's existence only. She has no identity of her own. Every decision made by

Mencius' mother is based on whether it'd be "good for" her son. For example, she made decisions

about where to live based on whether it's a good environment to raise her son (72). Mencius'

mother — who was meant to represent the ideal woman — has the role that modern societies

would see as a domestic servant. A woman's job was to cook, clean, heat wine, look after the

parents-in-law and "that is all!" (73). This job description sounds like that of a contemporary

household servant. Mencius' mother was quoted as supposedly saying that she has "no ambition

to manage affairs outside of the house" (73). The Book of Songs is quoted to say that the role of

the woman is "neither to do wrong nor to do good" (73). In other words, these statements reveal

that the woman's role was to remain invisible while being dutiful and obedient.  In the time

period, it was practical for the woman to be domestic. In an era before mass-produced food, there

had to be someone at home to provide food for the family, which is why domesticity was

expected from women. Because the practicality of the man taking care of his parents, while the

wife is forced to take care of her husband’s parents, it explains why women weren’t as valued as

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men and thus had no identity except when it came to men. What the “practicality” arguement

does not explain, however, is why the woman was meant to be silent and obedient, and for that,

we can only point to the rules of superiority dictated by Confucianism.

The sourcebook reading tells a story of another woman who did not follow the

expectation of silence, and because of it, she's seen as a disgrace, an embarrassment, and a reason

for her husband to leave. The husband writes to his brother-in-law, “Unless I send this wife back,

my house will have no peace” (75). This statement reveals that “peace” at home is important to

the man, and that might be because these excerpts were written during the Warring States Period.

The "disgraceful" wife — who is also nameless, just like Mencius’ mother – steps out of the role

of silence and speaks her mind. The brother-in-law writes that "When the respectable members

of our family try to reason with her, she flings insults at them and makes sharp retorts" (75). This

description sounds as though the wife is witty and intelligent, not a person to be reprimanded.

Yet because she has made herself visible, the husband is embarrassed of her, hates her, and plans

to leave her because she refuses to do domestic housework. Her husband is a hypocrite because

he would rather leave his family behind, give up his job and friends and live as a recluse than

have such an embarrassing wife (75). Although he claims to have the best interest of his family

at heart when criticizing his wife's vices, it's only a facade. He says that his wife is lazy and

"watching [his] children struggle under such labor gives me distress" (75), yet that distress would

only be deepened without a father at home, revealing that he was only really looking out for

himself. What this shows about the time period is that men were supposed to do work outside the

home and women were supposed to do work within the home, and when that doesn’t happen, it’s

a humiliation to the family.

Ban Zhao wrote a list of guidelines for women to follow, all of which are oppressive.

From the start of their lives, women are to be placed under the bed to learn that she is "lowly and

weak" and she plays with broken glass to learn to be hard-working (75). Women are oppressed

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sexually because although their husbands are allowed to have multiple wives, women are

expected to be faithful to their husbands. Women are not allowed to be sexually flirtatious with

their husbands, but rather show their love through devotion (75). Although these excerpts

represent what an ideal woman should be, it doesn't mean this is what women truly wanted for

themselves. Accounts of what Mencius' mother said and did were likely written by someone who

didn't directly know her. It was probably written as a kind of propaganda to try to teach women

how they should act. We do know that government propaganda during Mencius’ time was strong

because he lived during the Warring States Period. It was a time of great turmoil in the state, so

naturally, it might be that the woman was expected to take care of her children because the home

was the only place at peace.

During the time period during which the source documents were written, Confucianism

was gaining popularity. Confucianism ideals dictate a concept of relationships between the

superior and inferior beings. It would make sense that, naturally, there would be an emphasis on

the relationship between the husband and wife that emphasizes the submission of the wife to the

husband. Following such a custom of hierarchical subordinance would support the notion of

Confucianism and make a family more honorable. If we look at the readings as propaganda

written after Mencius’ lifetime when Confucianism became integrated into the government, then

a family’s status could be raised by following the rule of a woman submitting to a man. For this

reason, we can assume that women were reading propaganda such as the story of Mencius’

mother and Ban Zhao’s rules because it would give their family a higher standing and give the

husband a better chance at taking and passing government sanctioned tests to get up in society.

This is why a man like the brother-in-law whose wife spoke her mind would choose to leave his

family. He would be seen as more honorable to live alone by Confucianism ideals than live with

his family that goes against the hierarchy of husband-wife superiority. More than it being about

internal strife, the struggle is based on the way that the public perceives the family.

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The author of the story about Mencius’ mother was Liu Xiang, an eminent scholar and

bibliographer. He wrote a collection of accounts of the women he saw as “virtuous.” During

Liu’s time period from 79 to 8 B.C.E., was during the early Han Dynasty. It was during this

dynasty when Confucianism became a major emphasis of governmental affairs. About 120 years

before Liu’s lifetime, the “men of merit” service tests came about. Men were expected to follow

Confucian values, and their families were held equally responsible for maintain those values,

which is why women were even further oppressed.

Women of ancient China were not free and probably not very happy. Women of ancient

China were oppressed because Confucian ideals dictated their roles as inferior to all men –

whether it is to their fathers, husbands, brothers or sons. Women who stepped outside of their

role as quiet, domestic child-bearers were not seen as virtuous. Women of ancient China were

merely domestic servants, and they passed that culture down onto future women, as shown in the

example of Mencius’ mother who taught a lesson of modesty to Mencius’ wife. Because it was

all dictated by the “right” ideals of Confucianism, it was not questioned. The government and

scholars released writings about the ideal woman like Mencius’ mother in order to show women

an example by which to follow. It’s ironic, however, because most women of the time period

were not educated and probably could not read those writings anyway. It’s likely that the men

read the writings and then told women how to act based on the writings. Women themselves

weren’t even allowed to learn about their own destinies, but rather it was defined, documented

and subsequently interpreted by men. The only role women played was to follow through with

those roles men gave them and suffer the consequences if they choose to so deviate from the said

roles.