Recurring Renovation of Principles
Ever since the first Jesuit brought mathematics, science, and Christianity to China in the 1600s, China had been bombarded, if not physically, by Western ideologies. China’s diplomatic relations in the last 300 years had also been fluctuating; a close ally today can be the greatest enemy tomorrow.
The 17th and 18th centuries marked a period when the European powers were expanding their trade. They wanted to seize the giant Chinese market, but the Qing confined them to the Canton System, where foreigners traded tea with high taxes and prices. In contrast to the Western objectives, the Qing’s attitude (Qianlong’s attitude) towards trading was passive, as it was satisfied with its tributary system and its self-sufficiency. This led to the failure of the McCartney Mission in 1793 and the British trade deficit unresolved. It’s not until Lin Zexu burnt the opium and the British navy sailed their cannons so powerful unseen by the Chinese to their front gate (Movie: Opium War) that the Chinese realized they were no longer the dominance of the world. As a result of its quick defeat in the Opium Wars, China fully opened its borders to a revolutionary invasion of Western imperialism.
Soon realized that China had to learn from the West, Feng Guifen proposed the idea of “Chinese Learning as Substance, Western Learning for Application (中體西用)” in 1861 in support of the Self-Strengthening Movement that attempted to reproduce Western technologies. (Lecture 13) New intellectuals educated in the West such as Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei, who were exposed to Nationalism and Social Darwinism, believed that there needed a rapid reform to save the nation. However, though armed with models mimicking the success of the Japanese reform, the 1898 Hundred Days’ Reform and the Late Qing’s Reform had proved to the people the ineffectiveness of the Qing in abandoning its despotic power and establishing a constitutional monarchy. It’s too late before the reformers could stop the 1911 Revolution, when revolutionaries led by Sun Yat-sen replaced the Qing with a democratic Republic.
The thousand-years-old Confucianism was also eliminated through the New Culture Movement, where men like Chen Duxiu and Hu Shih promoted individual independence and vernacular literature (The Way of Confucius and Modern Life). In Chen Duxiu’s words, “Those who engage in party activities all express their spirit of independent conviction. They go their own way and need not agree with their father or husbands.” (Lecture 14) The start of the 20th century was a period of ideology clashes, where Western ideas like Utilitarianism, Individualism, Anarchy, and Feminism all seemed to overthrow everything the Chinese had known of; it was also when Marxism made its way to China.
After the pro-West ideologists lost their beliefs of the West during the May Fourth Movement, the people began to look for alternatives. This was when they stumbled upon socialism. Mao leading the bourgeoisies allied with the Soviet Union and Chiang leading the rich and corrupt landlords with the United States. Mao, however, after the CPC took charge of China, regarded the Soviet Union as a greater enemy than the imperialist United States in his later years. (PBS Documentary: China Under Mao) The Sino-Soviet split had indirectly led to Deng’s deepening relations with the US after Mao died. Deng believed that the Western market system should be introduced to prevent “the possible clashes between enterprises’ autonomy and the command from the state.” (Lecture 17) To do so, he planned to attract foreign investments by establishing diplomatic relations with the US and declared war with Vietnam, a measure to free China from USSR influence. He implemented an Open-door policy and established special economic zones where tax concessions were granted to foreign investors in exchange for technical knowledge. In the 21st century, we saw China risen to the second greatest economic power in the world and fought a mighty trade war with the US. Just like how socialism was gradually eroded by capitalism, we saw how China’s principles were once again subverted ever since its first contact with the West.
Shifting Roles of Ancient Chinese Women
There existed great inequalities between men and women throughout the history of the world, but none underwent such fluctuating roles experienced by women in Chinese history. Constitutes by monogamous, patrilineal family structures, where a man can have one wife but many concubines, Chinese society, and oftentimes traditional Chinese history, portrayed women as “submissive victims of patriarchy or cunning rebels against it,” (Lecture 5) as seen from the images of Empress Dowager Lü (呂后) and Wu Hou (武后). Although the origin of the female inferior position can best be characterized by the long-lasting Confucian expectations of women in the Han dynasty, women’s status in family, society, and politics differed greatly in different dynasties. We argue that ancient Chinese women owned the highest social status in the Song and the lowest in the Ming.
The specific expected qualities of women weren’t visualized until the Biographies of Heroic Women by Liu Xiang and the Admonitions for Women by Ban Gu in the Han. They depicted how women shall possess virtues such as “loyalty to the ruler, self-sacrifice to help husband or father, preservation of chastity under duress, humility, resignation, subservience, self-abasement, obedience, cleanliness, and industry,” (Ebrey Women’s Virtues and Vices) which can best be summed by the Three Obediences and Four Virtues (三從四德). Just like what Mother of Mencius stated, “A woman’s duties are to cook the five grains, heat the wine, look after her parents-in-law, make clothes, and that is all!” (Ebrey Women’s Virtues and Vices).
Many may argue that the status of women must be the highest in the Tang, given that one of the emperors was female and women were allowed to own lands and be the household leader. Indeed, Wu Zetian (武則天) “promoted gender equality among the elite, giving palace women official titles and allowed to participate in important rituals,” (Lecture 7) leading to many of these elite Big Women (大女) to be free from traditional standards: they dressed up as men, played polo, and rode horses. However, the freedom was only applicable to women of the elite. Common women still suffered from the Confucian rules.
The Song was different. Commercialization and urbanization of the Song had brought printing and expansion of the educated class (A Moving Masterpiece: Qingming shanghe tu) that gave women more opportunities to thrive. (Ebrey The Attractions of the Capital) In addition to being able to read, write, and even tutor their children, women were very powerful at home, especially in their ties to their sons. Li Qingzhao, a female poet, even attained great fame. Daughters were granted large dowries to attract sons-in-law with bright futures. Women’s legal claims were also improved. Furthermore, Song instituted a tradition for empress dowagers to attend to state affairs. In contrast to empress dowagers in other dynasties who attended to state affairs after seizing power from the emperor, the Song recognized the status of women in politics.
Women in the Ming was a different story. Neo-Confucianism of the Chen-Zhou school became prominent in the Ming. Neo-Confucian ideas degraded women to properties that must be absolutely loyal and devoted to their husbands. This led the Ming society to greatly value the Cult of Widow chastity. This means that if the husband died before, after marriage, or even before the girls ever get to see their finances, the girls were meant to serve the parents-in-law for the rest of their life, not to mention remarrying. The possessiveness and constraint of freedom over the women were furthered to an extent where women committed suicide after their husbands had died. It was best described by the great neo-Confucian thinker Cheng Yi from the Song, “it was better for a widow to starve to death than remarry, since personal integrity was a more important matter than life.” (Ebrey Widows Loyal Unto Death)
Bibliography
Lectures: Professor Xiaowei Zheng. (2021, March 18). Lecture 5, 7, 13, 14, 17. [Video file]. Retrieved from EACS 80 Gauchospace
Movie: beyondzzp. (2021, March 18). Movie: Opium War. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/eBayNugXlU0
Film Clip: leweatherman. (2021, March 18). A Moving Masterpiece: Qingming shanghe tu [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/kxff-4GktOI
Documentary: China Ministry. (2021, March 18). PBS Documentary: China Under Mao [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/fsh2FHq0tUA
Reading: de Bary, William Theodore, et al. “The Way of Confucius and Modern Life” Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1, Columbia University Press, 1964, pp. 815–818.
Reading: Ebrey, P. B. (2010). Women’s Virtues and Vices. In The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge Illustrated Histories) (2nd ed., pp. 140–147). Cambridge University Press.
Reading: Ebrey, P. B. (2010). The Attractions of the Capital. In The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge Illustrated Histories) (2nd ed., pp.304–317). Cambridge University Press.
Reading: Ebrey, P. B. (2010). Widows Loyal Unto Death. In The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge Illustrated Histories) (2nd ed., pp. 439–432). Cambridge University Press.