Kathy Nguyen
Michael D’Amato
History 010, Section 031
6 December 2018
Women of the Han Dynasty Rough Draft
In contemporary society, women from nearly all cultures experience some form of gender inequality. In east Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korea and Korea; gender inequality is a struggle that women face within familial relationships. Between the East Asian population, many assume it is just adopted by Confucianism. For those that know a little bit of history, they know that the Han Dynasty is a period in which Confucianism became established. It may lead some to conclude that this gender inequality is originated from the Han Dynasty. This is only the partial truth. In reality, the origins of these ideologies go back as far as the Shang Dynasty. However, it was during the period of the Han Dynasty that these ideologies further develop and became adopted. This paper focuses on how these ideologies form to establish the role of women in the Han Dynasty and whether they followed them as expected.
China’s long and rich textual history have been recognized as canonical foundations of their lifestyle and moral beliefs. Many influential texts written during Pre-Imperial and Imperial China are written with multiple philosophical influences. While Daoism and Confucianism laid the foundations of the societal structure in the Han Dynasty, there were many other agents that also contributed to the interpretation of a women’s priety.
The earliest Chinese Dynasty which we have historical records of is the Shang Dynasty (1600-71 B.C.E). It is argued that the subordination of women started as early as this period. Many people believed this due to an ancient practice of rulers of the Shang Dynasty. Rulers of the Shang dynasty would heat up bones, and as a result they would crack. These cracks would be used to predict the future or communicate with the spirits of ancestors and/or other supernatural ancestral beings. These bones are referred to as the “oracle bones” and it is argued that the earliest indication of the women’s status can be seen in the inscriptions on the bones. The chinese character for women would show a kneeling figure. Having studied Mandarin myself, I learned that Chinese characters are really just pictographs, a pictorial symbol of a word or phrase. This symbolism is a direct portrayal of the status of women. In addition to this, the ritualistic practice of the oracle bones portrays the Ancient Chinese belief is ancestral relationships and paying respect to it. It is suggested that the culture of the Chinese to pay respects to their elders originated from this practice.
We are able to tell during this period that the subordination of women existed through the Chinese preference for male offspring. King Wu Ding (who lived around 1200 B.C.E) had a consort named Fu Hao, also known as “Lady Hao”. When Lady Hao gave birth on the day jiayin, he would state “It was not good; it was a girl”. This indicates that sons were more valuable than women. However, Lady Hao did manage to achieve some importance in her lifetime, she had control over some military units and after her death she is given ritual sacrifices by later rulers.
After the Shang Dynasty came the Zhou Dynasty. During this period, a man named Kong-Zi, also known as Confucius established a philosophical and ethical belief system called Confucianism. His teachings are found in the Five Classics and the Four Books, which altogether form the Confucian canon. His teachings become the Han Dynasty’s state ideology, influencing Chinese thought and way of life. He believed in filial piety, or the practice of respecting elders of the family, which I believed is culturally inherited from the Shang Dynasty. In the Confucian Canon, the representation and distinction of women are not through a set of innate qualities or biological categories of “male” and “female”, but rather identity of women is formed in relation to her role in her kinships.
It was also during this period that Daoism was founded by a philosopher named Lao-Tzu. His book Daodejing lays the philosophical foundation of Daoism. The term Dao, translates into “the way” and its central principle is too live in harmony with nature, the cosmos and the universe. It is to not interfere with how things result, expressed by “wu wei’. Daoism also believes in the principle called Yin-Yang, which all things exists as separable and contradictory opposites. Mirroring this principle; masculinity and femininity are understood to be complementary, inseparable and equal.
With the historical practices of bone inscriptions and the establishment of Daoism and Confucianism; these three influential agents influence the perception of women and the roles they would be expected to fulfill. The bone inscriptions established the belief of respecting elders, Taoism establishes the difference of men and women through the nature of Yin-Yang. Confucius’ was able to bring these ideologies together to form a misogynistic ideology. One that is justified through teachings of the Dao which advises to practice “wu wei” and follows the pattern of paying respect to elders, except fathers and sons are now added to hierarchical social ladder, affecting women’s kinships.
In Julia Kristeva’s book, About Chinese Women, she addresses the misogynistic role of the women under the Confucian ideology. She states that women are “Homeless even among her own family-who, knowing she is destined to leave them, never quite treat her as one of their own- she lives as a stranger in her adopted family, until her first male child is born and reaches maturity. A woman is submitted throughout her life to a whole series of authorities: her own mother and father, her husband’s mother and father, her husband, and finally, her son (71)”.
One of the five Confucian Classics would be The Book of Odes (Shijing), which is a compilation of 305 poems from early Zhou Dynasty to about 600 B.C.E. The Odes contain many different depictions of Chinese women, some being mirroring present day women who enjoy sex outside of marriage, some celebrating love, the appreciation of female intellect and beauty. It also contains poems written by women whose whose main objective is the exhortations of men for the mistreatment of women, and not living up to their expectations of society of how their relationships with women should be.
We can understand the frustration of a women’s divorce through the poem in Ode 35. The female writer mentions her qualities as a tenacious spirit who is kind. She states angrily, “You cannot cherish me, / And you even count me as an enemy. / You disdain my virtues-”. Of the few odes that address mistreatment of women from their husbands, this Ode is choose because it highlights the women’s sense of personhood. Another Ode titled “Before the Ford” is a women who states she will cross shallow water if he (potential spouse) bids her loyalty and love, but if his thoughts go awry, then she is not willing to cross. She states, “Better Men than you remain”. A powerful statement to showcase the women’s sense of personhood. Ode 218, on the other hand, is a poem celebrating love. These three texts out of the 305 poems present the complex relationships of men and women and its relationship to personhood as well as the fundamental importance of family and marriage in Chinese society.
Mengzi, a follower of Confucianism and philosopher during the Han Dynasty, would build upon these ideologies of the time period and have it be established as the state’s ideology. A collection of his conversations and anecdotes are recorded in The Book of Mencius. In The Book of Mencius, Mengzi rarely mentions women, but shares the view that women are incapable of having political or educational equality. However, he does believe there is value in their ethical insights (Wang, 102). This misogynistic view of women mirrors Confucius’ disregard of the female minister in Chapter 8.20 of the Confucian analects. King Wu of the Han Dynasty stated that he had ten ministers in charge of establishing order, however Confucius counters his statement saying, “there was a women included, which means he really only had nine good men (Wang, 63).” It is unclear whether there is a correlation between Confucius misogynistic statement directly influence Mengzi’s perception of women. Regardless, both philosophers share the same ideology and this ideology is adopted by an entire dynasty.
Wisdom from generations of Sages are also collected and compiled into a book called the Classic of Changes (Yinjing). It is regarded as the most important of Chinese philosophical texts, highly valued by Confucianism and Daoism. The text is divided into four parts, its third section contributing the the theory of Dao. This text is important in particular because the Yijing establishes a system to set boundaries of Yin (female) and Yang(male). The book is organized into eight trigrams (each representing a natural powers), composed of sixty-four hexagrams. Commentaries of the text called Yizhuan would also be transmitted along with the text. The commentary on Hexagram 32, in simple translation, stated that it is good for women to persevere through life because her yi will regulate her husband. It would be unfortunate for a man, however, to follow his wife. This Hexagram is significant because it suggests that dichotomy between men and women are strict. Women and men are not able to switch the nature of the Yin-Yang because that would that would upset Dao. It further establishes the ideology that women are caretakers of the family and responsible for men. The Yijing contains evidence of sexism even in pre-imperial China society.
While we understand how these texts work intrinsically to mold the images of women and their roles. How did Han women perceive their personhood? Han Dynasty scholar Liu Xiang compiles 125 biographical excerpts of extraordinary women in the book Exemplary Women of Early China (Lienu Zhuan). In Chapter One, Number 11: The Mother of Meng Ke, Of Zou would describe the Mengzi’s own mother known as Mother Meng. Mengzi becomes saddened because of his desire to leave and implement Daoism ideology back to the state is hindered by the elderly age of his mother. She comforts him saying, “a woman is cultivated to care for affairs within the home, but does not have the the ambition to care for affairs outside (Wang,154).” She states that she is guided only by the three guidelines: her role as a daughter, wife, and mother. That is the proper decorum, and Mengzi should follow his duty as she follows her decorum.
The first female historian and greatest women scholar in Chinese history is Bao Zhao in the Han Dynasty. She is known to be the first female Chinese historian who completed her brother’s two books on the history of the Han Dynasty. She would also go on to complete her own book called, Lessons for Women (Nujie). As phenomenal as her accomplishments are of breaking social normatives of her society, her lack of personhood can be understood in the introduction of her book. She states, “I, the unworthy writer, am unsophisticated, unenlightened, and by nature unintelligent…. Being careless, and by nature stupid…”. She goes on to explain the worry she has for her daughters who are now at the age for marriage, and whether they’d made good wives. The objective of this book was to educate her daughters and provide guidance to achieve “Dao” in their domestic life. She would explain the customs and state the qualifications to be a woman: womanly virtue, womanly words, womanly bearing and womanly work. This suggests that a woman without these qualities, has failed her gender roles assigned to her by the social construct of the Han Dynasty. While she has broken social normatives in her society, her sense of personhood is evident to her ability to fulfill her Confucian roles.
In conclusion, we are able to see that Confucianism is not the only agent that affected the social structure or roles of women during the Han Dynasty. Prior the Confucianism and Daoism, the subordination of women already existed as shown in the inscriptions on the oracle bones and Lady Hao in the Shang dynasty. The two fundamental ideologies that affected Chinese thought and way of life emerged out of the Zhou Dynasty and would become the ideology of the Han Dynasty. Regardless of numerous texts exemplifying the greatness of women, it seems as though the Han women’s sense of personhood is strictly related to their Confucian roles as daughters, wives, and mothers.