Images of Women in Republican China

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I really enjoyed Eileen Cheng's presentation today. I encourage you to read the other two stories. I really liked them.

My questions for you: Are women in China powerful? Are they able to create their own identity? Are they using desire as a way to empower their position? Or are they frustrated because Chinese Society is repressing them?

This subject interests me a great deal because I think these stories could fit into a unit I teach in 12th grade English. Do you have any other suggestions of women repressed by society?

[Anonymous]

It is my impression that women are able to assert their power and identity only within their own families. It seems that the Mother is a universal power within families around the world. The movie from this afternoon exemplifies this when the third mistress pulls the master from his bed. Although the third mistress is not the wife, her position seems to suggest some type of "blackmail power."

[Anonymous]

I agree, the presentation was very interesting. Discussing the articles and having some historical background helped me in understanding the struggles that women had to go through during that time and what was expected of them. I think women in China during that time were pretty frustrated because they were expected to act a certain way.

Also, in Ling Ding's article, Sophia actually had some say in what she wanted in a man. She wanted someone who would understand her completely. She took charge of what she was looking for. I was under the impression that Chinese women really didn't have much say in marriage and relationships during that time. Their families expected them to marry men with a lot of money. It didn't seem like Sophia was looking for this.

As for suggestions... I don't know if this is appropriate for 12th graders, but there is a book called Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller, which talks about how Korean women were forced to be sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during their occupation. Are you looking for texts only related to China?

[Anonymous]

I loved the discussion of the literature of women in China. I am not an English teacher. I am a math teacher. I haven't really had too many classes where you discuss written worked. Hey, what's the discussion in math. It's sort of right or wrong.
I was really impressed by the discussion Eileen Cheng held. How she was able to take various peoples ideas and concentrate them.

Melody 😀

[Anonymous]

I think that depends on what kind of scale you're talking about power. I would think that power is usually a negotiation within, around and through constraints.

I spend time with my students talking about different kinds of strength- that strength isn't just ability move or destroy or cow or intimidate. There is strength in endurance in patience in creativity, in facing intense emotions and not exploding. SO given that I'd say Chinese women are pretty powerful.

Did they have sway? I'm sure some did. I don't have any info political or social power though, but I think men were just as constrained by rules of politeness and ediquette as women.

I really liked this presentation as well. I liked the broad mind thinking, the debate, and literature is cool. I like studying a culture thorugh how it expresses itself; how it sees it self or how it wants to be. Cool, cool, cool.
DEAN

[Anonymous]

I was able to relate to some of the customs that Prof. Cindy Fan related regarding women in China, since I myself grew up with some similar traditions. As a religious Orthodox Jew, it is the custom that our parents "search for an appropriate match" for us. We are not required to marry this guy, the choice is ours, however, they start the initial meeting process. Not all families do this, but many do. My own marriage was a "match" made by several family members' recommendations.
Another way in which it is similar to the Chinese is that we tend to marry into families that we know, just like a migrant worker had mentioned that she will return to her own village to find a husband, since she does not know where the male migrant workers come from. I actually think it is quite nice that we know about the families we are marrying into, it feels safe and there are less "surprises".
Finally, in the circles that I grew up in, women usually get married between the ages of 19-24. (I myself got married at 19 🙂 I found it really interesting when Cindy mentioned that as the women get older, their choices for prospective mates becomes narrower. I find this happening to my own friends, who are 27 and not married. They are now being "offered" mates that they would never have dreamed of dating when they were 20! (Maybe they shouldn't have been so picky 🙂
Anyway, it was very interesting for me to discover that many of the traditions that I experienced growing up are similar to the experiences of Chinese women.
Let me just add, I did and do not feel repressed at all with these traditions!
Miriam

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the recommendation of "Comfort Woman" by Nora Okja Keller. I have the book and have been meaning to read it. I'll check it out. I am not limiting my unit to China, so any other suggestions would be great.

[Anonymous]

I think that women have power but it is all relative. In other words they may have power within their own homes and domestically but when you look at them compared to men in society it seems they have little. Yet in the story that power over a man is evident. I think the female did have power over others and used it subjectively. She could show interest in certain men, string them along by not openly telling them her feelings and then pushing them away at will. That is power.

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