Session 2 - August 5, Clayton Dube, USC

[Jonathan Tam]

Something that really intrigued me was the new exemplars of Filial Piety based on the 24 ancient ones. The old ones - which center on ruler-subject, husband-wife, father-son, older brother-younger brother and friend-friend relations are codified in these almost mythological stories that aim to teach people the manifestation of these values. I took a look at a few of the new ones (https://herschelian.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/filial-piety-for-the-21st-century/) - and I was suprised to see that many only dabble in the father-son (now, parent-child) relation rather than between partners or friends or even country. I suppose it's an interesting shift in how filial piety is approached - seemingly more about parent-child relations than anything else. But, this leaves me the question of whether or not the harm that has been caused between fathers-sons and husbands-wives has ever been reconciled - or perhaps if those values have just escaped the conversation and still subvert our society. That's why I am incredibly skeptical about the Hot Moms and Hot Supermoms media that has been created. Yes, these may be images created by women, but are they going to be studied and looked at one day as having the same intent that Ban Zhao had.

[Zoey McKinney]

The excerpts from Ban Zhao demonstrate how dualism plays a central role in her philosophy. She discusses Yin and Yang, which is the classic example of complementary, interdependent forces. Ban Zhao notes the need for firmness as well as compliance in a marital relationship, intimacy as well as respectful distance, control and service. You can tell that women's lives were filled with these kinds of contradictions. In order to present herself as honorable, Ban Zhao has to deprecate herself to show that she is humble. It's interesting that she advocates for the education of girls as well as boys, which is generally an empowering thing, but the reason behind it is so that the girls are able to properly serve their husbands and thus maintain the balance in their marriage. I think Ban Zhao is interesting because her life contradicts itself - she spent it demonstrating subservience and modesty, and she did it so well that she became famous. In a way I think she found a way to thrive even under the oppressive society she lived in. 

[David Ojeda]

Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China communicates qualities that establish gender roles in, I believe, 80 CE. Within the first two paragraphs, Ban Zhao introduces the reader to the perception of women at the time: unintelligent by nature. Ben Zhao states she fears humiliation and shame will come to the ancestors (connection to a person’s lineage) and to her clan (female gender) because women are not properly trained for marriage. The book of lessons, therefore, serves as a call to action for females to act accordingly by adhering to Confucianism’s teaching of the bond/relationship between husband to wife. In creating this book, she reinforces gender roles by establishing qualities the culture of the time valued. As I read the excerpt, I felt the author was voicing out the opinions that were instilled in her and other females since birth: docility, abnegation, malleability, and propriety. When females are compared to others, I also got the impression that, on some level, the book seeks to inculcate a state of neither above par nor subpar; women had to find a way to not outshine others. While discussing the four qualifications a woman should have, the author states, 

...womanly virtue need not be brilliant ability, exceptionally different from others. Womanly words need be neither clever in debate nor keen in conversation. Womanly appearance requires neither a pretty nor a perfect face and form. Womanly work need not be work done more skillfully than that of others.

For the time, I believe this book was effective in perpetuating female gender roles in a patriarchal society. Women did not have a lot of say, and it seems their main roles pertained to marriage, childbearing, and the inculcation of the norms they were raised to adhere to.

[Anthony Pollard]

     Hmm...I decided to start this post over again, and I decided to write this post in the first person point-of-view. I'm not sure we can actually teach filial peity, but if there is prose demonstrating its mannerisms, we can mention it. I am sure our understanding of filial peity can relate to classroom management and providing incentives for good behavior.

     We claim students are representations of their parents. Often, we ask students, "Do your parents let you say that at home? Do you talk to your parents that way? Should we call them and ask them?" Exposing students to filial pieties would be both informative and a learning experience for students learning to respect their parents. Many teachers can attest to the claim a majority of students are not familiar with respect for elders (generally, people who are older than them.)

 

[Lin Kuang]

Actually, my partner and I came up with the perspective of tolerance and kindness of Min Ziqian, which are extremely important to be a man in China. Even though the stepmother mistreated him and tortured him, but he tolerated whay happened and his the truth from his dad because he believed this would keep peace for his family. Later on, his father discovered the facts his wife mistreated his son and insisted to kick her out as consequences for his her unstandarded behviors heartlessly, Min showed his kindness to forgive her still for the stabilization of their family. Eventually, his stepmother woke from her evil thoughts and returned kindness to her stepson. Family played a big role in this piece.

[Lin Kuang]

Interesting question! I was told to respect elders when I was a little child or we would be puniched by "Shang Tian"(Sky). My grandmother told me a story about the filial piety, which was fictional. Onece a child was very disrespectful to his grandpa. He gave him leftover food and torn clothes living in a darkroom. The sky ( mythologically) knew and got very angry to throw a big thunderstorm, Mr.Thunder took the bad kid out and ordered him to kneel down under a big tree to apologize to his grndpa as his punishment. SInce ever I learned the moral lesson of filial piety. Whenever I heard thunderstorm, I imagined that someone must be pumnished by Mr. Thunder because of their his disrespect to elders. I dare not even talk louder to my grandma becasue I was so scared of Mr.Thunderś punishment.

[Lin Kuang]

Great connection with Mulan, who was the heroic femal figure who demonstrated characteractics of being a "perfect daughter" to fight battles for her father to share his pians and responsibilities. According to Ban Zhao and other Chinese traditional rules, femalesś jobs are to serve her husband and children without given names and rights. Interestingly to know, these kind of unfairness has embedded in Chinese, which restricted many Chinese women to purpue their own happiness and true identities.

[Marcos Garrido]

Ban Zhao wrote this document because she was not feeling well, feared for her life, and most importantly, feared that her daughters were not properly trained for marriage and would bring shame to her family and dynasty. As I read the document, it seems that Ban Zhao is very concerned, and speaks from the heart with humility considering her position. I was very interested in the following quote: “Let a woman modestly yield to others; let her respect others; let her put others first, herself last.” It seems that the main idea in this document is to remind women that the necessities of the family comes first, and a sacrifice must be made in order to achieve harmony at home. Harmony will come with everyone understanding their status at home and in society. Another aspect that I observed is that this document implies that a woman that can be humble, and fulfills her duties is what every woman should aspire to.  Overall the four qualifications of a woman summarized can be rephrased into: controlling emotions, waiting language, cleanliness and housework. I would have to make an assumption to say if this document was successful or not, and I would have to say yes for the most part as this values and virtues were seen in Chinese history for centuries.

[Eva Morales]

Pan Chao conveys how women should act and what virtues they need to have in order to serve their husband and others well. It inculcates selflessness, respect, familial and domestic duties, silence, submissiveness, hygiene, and obedience. It was produced to control women and to tell them to accept the social norms. This practice has been effective, because these “acceptable” man-made concepts were taught to women, therefore women continued to project the only concepts they were taught. It isn’t the women’s fault that they have been conditioned to think this way, but it is their job to acknowledge the fact that spreading that “ideal woman” ideology is problematic (because they aren’t able to be their own person) and it is their job to acknowledge that they are part of the problem. They can redeem themselves by realizing that the purpose of this ideology is to control them (women). Then they must to bring awareness to the lack of equality that exists between both genders and fight for equal existence.

 

I am unfamiliar with a book telling men how to behave, then I don’t see why women should abide by this man-made construct.

 

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

James White’s article on the new marriage laws in China is a great source to use in class in combination with other documents on the new laws. I would like to also use an article written by a Chinese author for a Chinese audience, and a segment of the Chinese laws translated into English. Students can analyze the documents and study the bias in the news articles and understand the different perspectives from each document.

[Amy Chen]

The new marriage laws that ban child marriage and polygamy during Communist China is very progressive for its time. Communist China has been viewed as controviersial and detriment toward China but these laws bring gender equality into the equation. The new laws allow divorce and for the woman to keep property that was hers before marriage. There are a total of 37 articles that detail the new laws. The difficult task of enforcing these laws unfolded by strict banning og child brothels, concubines, and so on. I found this article enlightening and a big eye opener in terms of women's rights in China.

[Nira Sun]

Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, we were constantly fueled with the values of how to behave like a girl and what it means to be a woman. My parents, at least my mom, still holds the belief that marriage and having children are the only ways for women to reflect their values. As opposed to ancient Chinese society, there is no more arranged marriage in modern China. Nowadays, not only do women hold the right to choose their own partners, they also get to choose between getting married or staying single and having children or not. However, this doesn’t mean that traditional perspectives on women has disappeared. That makes reading the “Foremost Woman Scholar of China” even more interesting as we can compare with modern values to see what has been preserved and what has changed.

Ban Zhao had very specific characteristics listed in her writing to demonstrate how to behave “womanly”. She started her writing with her concerns of her own daughter not being able to be a good wife. Then she promoted four qualifications with detailed examples. Overall speaking, Ban Zhao illustrated a perfect image of a woman who ought to be gentle, be cautious of her words, be hardworking, be modest, and to be obedient. Such expectation of women is still quite popular in modern society. When men are looking for women, one of the most important traits they wish for is “温顺”. “温” as in being gentle in temper and being soft in action. “顺” means to obey or to go along with so that things are going smooth instead of causing conflict. A lot of times, wives are expected to meet such standard more by their mothers-in-law than their own husbands. The difference is that, nowadays, women in China gradually develop the traits of being independent and outspoken. Less and less women choose to live under the same roof with their parents-in-law as a way to seek for space and freedom in their marriage. Basically, not only do they have jobs with stable income, they also make effort to pursuit the happiness they deserve.

In terms of relationship with men, Ban Zhao promoted the concept of maintaining harmony and intimacy in marriage. However, it was purely women’s responsibility to achieve such balance in ancient society. If a woman controls her action and words appropriately, it will bring peace to the family. This might be one of the reasons that divorce was never an option for women back in the days. In modern China, couples see marriage maintenance as the responsibility of both parties. When the so-called harmony cannot be achieved, divorce becomes the only way out.

I personally believe the virtues promoted in this book was effective since majority of the expectations of women are still prevalent in modern society. Although there are some changes due to the influence of western values, the overall expectation on women being soft in general still exists.

 

[Kathrin Simmons]

I am interested in learning more about the One Child policy and would like to read Mei Fong's book " One Child and will checkout videos on the website.  I am very much looking forward to the documentary "One nation" tonight to get more insight.

[Nira Sun]

Hi Jennifer,

I can absolutely relate to your concern of the story. Having off-springs to carry on the family blood is one of the biggest/most important filial piety in Chinese value. I think the story conveyed an encouragement on taking initiative to sacrifice and how such initiative will be rewarded in general. I guess whoever came up with this story couldn't let such cruel action happen either. 

In regards to using this cartoon in a classroom, I do see your concern. Other than giving students background knowledge of it being a classical story in ancient China to provide them with the historical and social context, I would also suggest to have them compare such behavior/value with the changes in modern China. It might also be a good time to introduce the concept of "blind filial piety" as in being obedient to/serving parents without one's own judgement on right or wrong. I personally believe it's more important for students to see how values and expectation have developed and changed all along other than having our steps paused in that specific historical moment. Hopefully this will help to minimize the possible negative reaction from students. : ) 

 

[clay dube]

The two laws first implemented by the Communist Party-led government after 1949 were the land reform law (text: http://www.bannedthought.net/China/MaoEra/Rural/AgrarianReformLawOfPRC-1950.pdf  posters will interest students: https://chineseposters.net/themes/land-reform.php) and the marriage law. That signals what a priority it was. The aim, though, included breaking the authority of lineages and parents, making the state the authority on such a fundamental aspect of life. Here's the text of the marriage law: http://www.bannedthought.net/China/MaoEra/Women-Family/MarriageLawOfThePRC-1950-OCR-sm.pdf

How might one use these laws with students? Note that China has a national law. Under the family planning regime, however, local areas could set higher marriage ages (not lower).

 

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