What was the difference between men and women in ancient China

First of all, the pattern of gender roles formed during the pre-Qin period became the basic pattern of gender roles in Chinese society for more than 2,000 years. For more than 2,000 years, from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, men and women and couples existed and got along with each other according to the pattern of "difference". The basic connotation of men's gender roles is that, on the basis of the roles of ruler and subject, father and son, brother and husband, there are many social roles that are constantly being refined, such as the scholar or the man, the gentleman or the villain, the man of letters or the man of the cloth, and so on, which are active in all corners of social life. In contrast, women's gender roles were based on the basic role of women, and they continued to operate in the narrow circle of family life, engaging in childbearing and child-rearing, pleasing men, as well as serving as family sideline practitioners ("women's weaving"), and appearing in the role of supporting actors in family life. As far as pleasing men was concerned, the custom of "foot-binding" for women appeared in the Five Dynasties period, and by the end of the Song Dynasty, "everyone followed suit, shaming those who did not do so" (Nancunjiuquanlu, Volume 10). It was not until the Xinhai Revolution that this custom was abolished. That even in the grooming and the pursuit of physical beauty, women can not be autonomous, often with the men on the female aesthetic concept of change and change. So, suddenly "ring fat", suddenly "swallow thin"; suddenly "long white" favored, suddenly "small barbarians" The women were so overwhelmed that they did not know what to do (see Liu Jucai's History of Beauty Pageants, pp. 198-202, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1997).

In ancient China, there were occasional female rulers, such as Empress Lu, Wu Zetian and Empress Dowager Cixi, but they were not recognized by the people. This is because the gender roles established in the pre-Qin period had long been defined as "the female chicken is in charge of the morning, but the family is in charge" (Shangshu - Oath of the Pastor). Even as a baby in swaddling clothes, a man could be the young master; even as a terminally ill person, he could live in a forbidden place and act as a puppet. Correspondingly, all kinds of official positions and powers were often set up for men, excluding the possibility of women getting their hands on them. Because of this, there were many famous men, but only a few famous women (see the appendix to Chen Dongyuan's A History of Chinese Women's Lives).

Secondly, the gender role model formed in the pre-Qin period initiated a social role model in which men were superior to women. Men can be evaluated in all aspects of society, can show their skills, the generals into the prime minister, the frontier gallop, the gold list, it can be said that "the sea is wide by the fish, the sky is high, let the birds fly", at least the possibility of a comprehensive display of their intelligence and style. Of course, throughout the ages, there are no way to serve the country and the name of the downtrodden, but after all, men still have a variety of opportunities and social responsibility (the so-called "responsibility of the man"). It is no wonder that people say, "Having a son is everything" (Su Shi, "He Ziyu Born the Fourth Grandson"). However, the woman has always been completely deprived of this right, her role has always been positioned in the family circle (the woman has the "inner son", "inner man"), but can not go beyond. It is within the door, the woman is not free to do as she pleases, but the same is subject to men. Also in the pre-Qin period, there has been on the female role of the "three from" provisions, which specifies the woman from birth to get married and then to the death of her husband and other stages of life, are subject to the role of the man limited to, always involuntarily. No wonder the ancients have long lamented: "Do not be a woman, a hundred years of suffering and happiness by others." (Bai Juyi, "The Road to Taihang")

Under the arrangement of this role model, polygamy (concubinage) is a legal form of marriage that has been recognized for a long time, and the husband's right to repudiate his wife has been tolerated and permitted by the society, and there are seven articles that guarantee the man's right to repudiate his wife. Although sometimes people would comfort themselves by saying, "Although a weak woman is not a man, her comfort is better than none" (Tao Yuanming, "Liu Chaisang"), or occasionally there is also the argument that "a man is not born again but a woman is born again" (Bai Juyi, "The Song of Everlasting Hatred"), on most occasions a woman is considered to be a money-loser. considered to be a money-loser. As early as the Han Dynasty, it was popular to say that "there are no more thefts than five daughters' houses," because many families often lost all their money because of their daughters' marriages. By the Song and Ming dynasties, because the marriage of a daughter to consume a lot of family property, many people are reluctant to give birth to a girl, so in the vast southern region of the bad habit of drowning women.

Thirdly, the patterns of virtue established by the gender roles of men and women in the pre-Qin period also had a profound impact on the virtue of men and women in later generations. The requirements for men to "establish virtue" are mainly for their public virtues such as "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust" and "courage", which are formulated in response to the fact that men's roles cover all spheres of social and public **** life. It was formulated in response to the fact that men's roles encompassed all spheres of social and public life, while the requirements for their private virtues were relatively broad, as the saying goes, "The great virtues do not overstep the bounds of idleness, while the small virtues may enter and leave" (Lun Yu - Zi Zhang). But the woman's private morality requirements are extremely strict, pre-Qin has been specialized in the so-called "women's morality" as a constraint. According to Ban Zhao of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Women's Commandments", women's morality is "leisure and chastity, keeping the festival neatly, walking with shame, and moving with law", and said that women's morality is "no need to be talented and bright to be different". In addition, there are "women's speech", "women's appearance", "women's work" and so on, collectively known as the "four lines" or "four virtues". "Four Virtues". In later times, the model of women's virtues such as "Virtue, talent and color are the three imperishable qualities of women" and "A woman without talent is a woman without virtue" was also developed.

Correspondingly, in order to satisfy the man's effective inheritance of his private property and the purity of patrilineal lineage, the concept of women's chastity was already formed in the pre-Qin period. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the concept of chastity was clearly stated, and it was symbolized by the emperors either carving stones to proclaim it or awarding silk rewards. Into the Song Dynasty, women's chastity in all social classes has been generalized, the emergence of women "starve to death is very small, the loss of chastity is very big" argument. To the Ming and Qing dynasties, the rulers vigorously advocate the commendation of chaste women and martyrs, and will be rewarded regularly, institutionalized. Social popularity of a variety of publicity and education of women to comply with the "women's morality" of the reading material is also a layer of emergence, such as the Ming Dynasty, "internal training", "Women's Fan," "Girl's Precepts", "Women's Fan Jie Lu", "Women's Morality Four Proverbs" and so on, the Qing Dynasty, there are "Women's Studies," "Women's Study of Words and Actions," "New Women's Spectrum", "New Women's Spectrum to supplement", "Teaching Women's Legacy", "Daughter of the scripture", and so on. The Daughter's Scriptures" and so on. It is in this context of government praise, public opinion to advocate, the successive generations of women's martyrdom continue to emerge. And scholars have "Ancient and Modern Book Integration" "Lady's Day", "Lady's Martyrdom" recorded in the two parts of the festival of women martyrs to statistics, the results are: the pre-Qin Dynasty 13 people, 42 people in the Han Dynasty, 53 people in the Tang Dynasty, 282 people in the Song Dynasty, more than 700 people in the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, more than 36,000 people in the early Qing Dynasty, more than 36,000 people in the early Qing Dynasty, more than 36,000 people in the early Qing Dynasty. More than 36,000 people, more than 12,000 people in the early Qing Dynasty. This continuous increase in numbers "graphically outlines the trend of the increasing strengthening of the concept of chastity" (cf. Gao Shiyu, Women's Lives in Ancient China, The Commercial Press, 1996 edition, p. 113), indicating that the concept of chastity gradually penetrated into people's hearts and became one of the main bases for people's evaluation of women's virtues. And women themselves, under the expectation of such powerful and incomparable gender roles, from unconscious to conscious, from involuntary to voluntary, entered into such role patterns and could not extricate themselves.