In ancient times women had a low social status?

The first case is the leader of peasant revolts. In many peasant uprisings in China's history, many women acted as leaders. They enjoyed high prestige among the peasants. For example, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the organizer and initiator of the Red Eyebrows Uprising was the mother of Lu, who was trusted by everyone. Chen Shuozhen, who led a great peasant uprising in Luzhou (present-day Jiande, Zhejiang Province) in the third year of Emperor Gaozong Yonghui's reign in the Tang Dynasty (653 A.D.), was also a woman. She was not only the leader of the uprising, but also became Emperor Wenjia, more than thirty years before Wu Zetian became emperor. Therefore, the first female emperor in Chinese history was not Wu Zetian, but Chen Shuozhen.

Tang Saier, who led a peasant uprising in the area of Yidu in present-day Shandong Province in 1420 A.D., the leader of the Hubei peasant rebellion in the Qianlong period, Wang Conger, the leader of the people in Nanlongfu, Guizhou Province (present-day Long'an) led the people of various ethnic groups to ignite the torch of the uprising, and a famous female leader of the Boxer Rebellion movement at the end of the Qing Dynasty--Lin Heier and so on. Lin Heier, a famous female leader of the Boxer Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty. Lin Hei'er organized the Boxer women's army, the Red Lantern Light, and bravely fought against the Eight-Power Allied Forces, killing the foreign invasion forces in the area of Old Dragon Head Station and Zizhulin. Lin Heier has been famous all over the world since then. These female leaders of the Peasants' Revolt, the name of the reason why there is a child", probably with their belief that they should be the same as men. In fact, because of their heroic deeds than men, and thus won the respect of the people.

The second situation is that when men were overburdened with labor and military service, women became the main labor force. In a patriarchal society, the preference for men over women permeated every aspect, and the ruling class also put heavy burdens on men when exploiting and oppressing the ruled class, especially in collecting taxes and in performing corvée service. In many dynasties, both men and women had to bear the burden, and men had to bear a heavier burden than women. During the period of Qin Shi Huang, a large number of laborers were transferred to build the Great Wall and the A-Fang Palace, and many young and strong men were tortured to death, with piles of white bones. When people saw such a sad and horrible scene, they made up a folk song saying: "Don't lift a man when he is born, and feed a woman with a breast. I don't see the corpses standing on each other's backs under the Great Wall." A large number of men died in the labor service, so much so that people were afraid to have another son. This is not a literary exaggeration, but probably true at the time.

According to the Book of Han, after Liu Bang had pacified the world, the people were afraid to have a son, so he issued an imperial edict stipulating that anyone who had a son would be exempted from labor for two years, so as to ease the people's fear of having a son. However, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, due to the successive wars, not only was the number of men conscripted to serve in the army and corvée service extremely large, the tax was also very heavy, and it was stipulated that the birth of a son to the age of three years, should be "exported to share the money", i.e., bear the burden of the tax. In order to avoid the heavy burden, the poor people "killed their sons at every turn". It was not until Emperor Yuan of Han Dynasty that the rule was changed to "a child of seven years of age is exported for a share of money". Excessive tax pressure on the people can not breathe, anything will be the opposite of the extreme. In a society where men were favored over women, the ruling class originally used the preference for men to consolidate their rule, but in the end it went the other way around and created a situation where "men were not born again, but women were born again".

The third scenario is that when nepotism is prevalent, the status of women is also elevated. The above mentioned "not born male, born female" is from a poem by Bai Juyi. How did Bai Juyi come up with such a sentiment? His famous poem reflected the historical facts of the time. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, who favored Yang Guifei, named her three sisters as Lady of Korea, Lady of Zhiguo and Lady of Qin respectively. Other family members and relatives were all rewarded with high-ranking officials and high salaries. Yang Guifei's cousin Yang Zhao gave the name of Guozhong even became a prime minister, the Duke of Wei. Because a woman is favored, the family of young and old are also "favored by the voice of the flame". Bai Juyi's "not born male, born female" is also a generalization of similar historical facts before the Tang Dynasty. It's as if Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty fell in love with Wei Zifu, a kisaeng from the family of his sister, Princess Pingyang, and Wei Zifu became the empress, bringing honor to her family.

The fourth case is that of some prominent women in the ruling class. For example, Xie An's family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was a famous big family, and the children of Xie's family all regarded themselves as "orchids and jade trees". The family is also known for their cleverness and ability. For example, in the famous Battle of Nai Shui, Xie An was the decision-maker, and his younger brother Xie Shi, son Xie Yan, and nephew Xie Xuan were the commander-in-chief of the front line and the vanguard of the enemy. However, among Xie An's sons and nephews, none was more literate than his niece, Susanna Tse. Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man and took her father's place in the army, made great achievements in battle, and was even more famous as a scarf hero for thousands of years. At the tender age of thirteen, Xun Yuniang rushed out of the siege to bring in several soldiers to relieve her father from the siege of the lonely city of Xiangyang, where he was trapped. All of them were smarter and more capable than men and were respected by men. And Li Qingzhao, a famous poet between the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, was so accomplished in the arts that she was beyond the reach of many men who danced and wrote.

The above four cases are anomalies in feudal society, temporary phenomena among some people, which did not, and could not, fundamentally change the oppressed status of women. However, it shows the power of women from one side, and it declares to people from a particular angle that men and women should be equal. In feudal society, the oppression of women was subordinate to class oppression. The four categories mentioned above are intricate. For example, if women were favored over men because of their lighter corvée, this was itself a product of class oppression; if they were favored by the rulers because of their beautiful posture, this kind of favoritism also distortedly reflected the fact that women were playthings and commodities, and reflected the low status of women.