The Questionable Role of Women in Ancient China

This week, I wanted to discuss the most delicate and controversial subject in this entire blog series-the questionable role of women in Jiangnan. This has been the subject of a lot of debate within the company and among playtest groups, and it's about time we had a serious talk about it.To get more news about women in ancient china, you can visit shine news official website.

A Rose by any Other Name?
There's no other way to say it. Aspects of Ancient Chinese culture were sexist. Now, there are a lot of asterisks after that sentence, and that's what we're going to talk about today. Please, let's be civil here.

Before we begin, I want to convey the importance of language in culture. The language of a culture shapes the thoughts of the culture. Chinese is radically different from English.

Even the basic concept of "sadness" is different. When I hear the word "sad", I imagine a box of tissues, tears, sitting on the floor hugging my knees, and a big bowl of ice cream. When I hear the characters "難過", I don't immediately think of those images. Sadness (one of the many ways to say it) in Chinese is "難過". "難" means "difficult". "過" can mean "pass". So "sadness" in Chinese literally means "a difficult time to pass". That's not quite the same way I view the concept of sadness. I think this viewpoint is beautiful. Sadness is a difficult time to pass, but you will pass through it.

In this article, I'll be using words such as prostitute, geisha, and concubine. These English words are loaded with imagery from English-speaking cultures; however, prostitution wasn't handled the same in Ancient China as it is today. There were differences. I am not condoning prostitution. It existed then, and it exists today. I just want to point out that how the culture of Ancient China viewed the concepts of prostitute, geisha, and concubine are different than how we do today. Granted, that could be due to overwhelmingly male dominance in Chinese culture.

Concubines
To be honest, when I first learned of the concept of concubines in Ancient China as a kid, I thought it was simply the Emperor's private harem. And while there is some truth to that statement, it doesn't capture the full concept of Imperial concubinage.

For example, Imperial Concubines were chosen and ranked by several metrics. The higher they were ranked, the more their families were financially compensated. In fact, the plot from the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber" (one of the four great novels in Chinese literature) revolves around this. Families that received this "Imperial compensation" were quite well off, typically never having to work ever again.

In fact, in "Dream of the Red Chamber", the family of the male protagonist, Jia Baoyu, lives like royalty in a rather large home with dozens of servants. All of this wealth was due to Jia Yuanchun, the protagonist's elder sister, becoming an Imperial consort and ultimately one of the Emperor's favorite.Keep in mind that concubinage was practiced throughout most of China's history and only became outlawed in 1949 (less than 100 years ago) when the CCP took over China.

The concept of concubine evolved throughout China's history. While concubines were purchased much like servants or slaves, they were considered to be of a higher social class. Servants lived in their master's home, received wages, could leave the premises unattended, and at times were treated more like apprentices than what we think of as a servant today. By the early Ming Dynasty (1500 CE), slavery in China was forbidden. Concubines were always considered to be of a higher social class.

For most of China's history, polygamy was illegal and socially frowned upon; however, a man could have as many concubines as he could afford. Somewhere in the Han Period (ending in 220 CE), the number of concubines one man could have was limited by law. Eventually, by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), concubines could be promoted to a wife.

While concubines typically lived well and better than most women of the day, their lives were not easy and horrific things happened to them, such as being buried alive with their master or the binding of their feet.