sessions 7 & 8 readings

[Anonymous]

Mei Fong's one child policy lecture was fascinating! Although this policy has changed, I didn't realize that the change was recent. Recently, a friend of mine shared with me that her grandmother was a mail order bride in China. I was oblivious of all of this happening; however, I can relate to families pressuring daughters in getting married. Similar to the Asian culture, my family pressures my sister and cousin for not being married and not having children, but it's not to the extreme of putting them up on a Marriage Market. The Marriage Market Takeover/Leftover Women truly made an impact on me. When I saw the caption that these women finally decided to go to the Marriage Market, my first thought was they gave in to the pressure and will have their pictures posted for marriage. However, in the end, I was really proud of all those women that stood up for what they believed in and that their families were there to support them. Without a doubt, the one child policy in China obviously has had tremendous impact, and I am curious to see how many more changes will come.

[Anonymous]

Session 7- Margaret Kuo
The “Century of Humiliation” was not a great time for women. Women were blamed for everything including the loss of power, weakness, and the state of national crisis. Before 1949, Chinese women are viewed as weak and victims, according to missionaries from other countries. This idea was fueled by the customs of foot binding, women being bought and sold, less education, being confined to the home, and female chastity. Other evidence of unequal treatment between men and women are the rules for divorce. Women could only seek a divorce if their husbands abandoned them for more than 3 years, or they physically beat them resulting in broken bones or tooth. Men had many more options in this area. They could divorce if their wife talked too much, displayed jealousy, acquired a disease, stole, or could not have children. Men were also allowed concubines, estimating that 1 in 9 men had one compared to 1 in 5 women being one. Thankfully there was a period of emancipation and women started to move forward with education, financial independence, and individual endeavors.

[Anonymous]

Session 8- Mei Fong
Over the years through casual conversation and knowledge, China’s one child policy was something I had heard of yet didn’t put much thought into. When I began planning my own family, the thought never crossed my mind that I would be limited in how many children I would have, what the preferred sex would be, or worry about who (government) was deciding what my family dynamic would look like. The number of children a woman, along with her partner, decide to have is a very personal choice. I have always envisioned my life with a big family, feeling like I had a tremendous amount of love, attention, care, and support to give. I did not dream of my career, yet that of my future family.
Hearing Mei Fong speak opened my eyes and emotions to another world and the families that have/had to adhere to the one child policy. The information she gave and the personal experiences that were shared helped me understand and empathize with women living in China, along with their partners- it really effects both parties. I also was awed be Mei’s strength and determination in standing up for herself and making the choices that should be only hers. In saying that, I sympathize with the women who did not feel like they could push the button and speak up for their individual rights as a women and mothers.
Mei Fong is a dynamic speaker, keeping us completely engaged during her lecture and I look forward to reading her book. What a generous and thoughtful gesture in giving us all a copy!

[Anonymous]

Session 7- Foot Binding
Wrapped and Unwrapped was a fascinating article about foot binding. Part of China’s history and culture involve foot binding, evolving from a practice of the elite and moving into all class levels. Women’s bound feet represented virtue, beauty, and cultural refinement, when in reality it was a cruel and inhumane practice that was painful, crippling and disfiguring to Chinese women. Women’s bound feet were so sacred that the naked, unwrapped foot was taboo. Husbands were not allowed to see or touch their wife’s unwrapped feet, and prostitutes were not allowed to unwrap their feet for their customers. Chinese women wrapped their feet in beautiful silk cloth with extraordinary embroidery and only exposed their naked feet when they were alone and in their bedrooms. Women who showed their feet and allowed them to be photographed, were paid large sums of money to compensate such a taboo and did not want to show their faces in the photographs.
It is the western missionaries that brought this practice to light and deemed it cruel and inhumane. They spearheaded anti-foot binding campaigns and in the 1860s established the first anti-foot binding organization. Women missionaries advocated for the health benefits and served as role models for natural feet. The introduction of western imaging and later x-ray radiology undermined the visual taboo overnight.
It is difficult to look at the photographs of the unwrapped feet and I can only imagine how painful this must have been for the women, especially as they got older. As the pictures started to circulate abroad, foot binding became a symbol for Chinese women’s oppression and changes started to occur, saving future generations of women from this cultural practice.

[Anonymous]

Session 7- Morning
[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]
[/font]
Women in Republican China/ Professor Margert Kou

I thought that this was a very informative and interesting lecture. Again I was thrilled that it focused on the role of women throughout Chinese history. I can not get enough information about it, I may be biased but I think that it is just so fascinating and something that I would like to get even more and more information about I really thought the connection between feminism and nationalism was very interesting as well. I also thought it was very intersting that this period is seen as a transitional period, prior to communism, Chinese women were seen as victims, typically because of what was written about them by western missionaries.

Rural Women and Gendered Memories of the Early PRC/ Professor Gail Hershatter

Let me start by saying wow! Seriously the information that was presented was beyond amazing. The stories that were shared and the work that professor Hershatter has put in is just amazing. I will admit that this time period is my favorite to learn about so I am again biased but I was just so in love with this lecture. I have always found it very intersting that the communist tried to empower and mobilize women. I feel like they were successful because of how women had been treated under more classical traditions.

Everything that I gained from this lecture are things I would love to work into my curriculum at some point. I am thinking about finding a way to have students compare and contrast the treatment of women throughout history.
[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]
[/font]
[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]
[/font]
[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]
[/font]

[Anonymous]

Session 8 - Afternoon

Mei Fong

Again wow....what a way to be able to spend an afternoon. I have always been very interested in the one child policy and how it has had a continued effect. This lecture gave me so much more information. I thought it was very interesting to hear about how this policy has created such a problem when it comes to the number of available women and men and what implications that has for the future of the country. Again receiving Mei Fong's book was another thing that blew my mind. I am so excited to sit poolside this summer and read it!

[Anonymous]

Women in republic china
Learning about women in china and the roles they obtained through the 1900’s was very fascinating. Women had no voice and were forced to agree to terms of being male property until a rebellion started. With the suicide murder of Ms. Dao carried to her wedding and to be husband, women began to react and become involved in civil affairs. At first women were only to be a wives or concubines no other roles existed . By 1937 women began to create campaigns and become activists. Women began to run for political leadership and even began to fight in military units. Education became a privilege and only the elite will be entitled to this privilege.
In the classroom I would love to experiment with this idea of female and male privileges, to allow the students to envision the inequality that existed. For ten minutes all rights of any female students would be taken, they would not have a place to sit, materials or any given abilities that the males would be able to have. After those ten minutes the role would switch and all the males would have every entitlement revoked from them . After the experiment a discussion would take place of the type of treatment that occurred, if it was fair and conclude in comparing the types of roles Chinese women were not able to hold in that particular time frame.

[Anonymous]

Based on most of my schooling and what I have read in textbooks, much of what is depicted of Chinese women is that of a victim. Prior to this lecture I have found it difficult to find information of rebellious Chinese women or of Chinese women who were not oppressed by the patriarchy. This lecture opened my eyes to the complexity of women's roles in the Republic of China. Yes, there were many women who were victims of the laws and traditions. I learned that some of my former education was true when it discussed foot binding, marriage, divorce and other rights. However, this only explains part of what women's roles were in China. While women were held to different standards of men, most of what I had read in the past never mentioned women have some rights to divorce, the readings never mentioned that feminism came about because of nationalism, and it definitely didn't mention women activists in China. Now, if this was all new to me until just a few weeks ago, I can guess that my students are probably not aware of this information either. Thanks to Margaret Kuo From Cal State Long Beach, I have a new perspective and new desire to keep learning about women's roles in China and in other countries.

[Anonymous]

Professor Gail Hershatter of UC Santa Cruz discussed the difference between the revolution women in China had vs those that women in rural China experienced. I was most intrigued by the study done on an elderly woman who married at 13 years of age. Part of the fascination was that she was very close to her mother-in-law. This is different from many western ideas I have heard, it's rare a case that one hears about this here. Also, the fact that she didn't remember things in a linear manner that some of us are used to, but she remembered things based on important things that happened to her. I think this was also the case with other women interviewed at the time. This testimony of the elderly woman, discussed the fight for women's marriage and divorce rights. She discussed how women would gather to learn literacy and become educated. She became a communist leader and she students the Marriage Law of 1950, at a time when she didn't even think it applied to her. However, she and her husband started having difficulty conceiving which led to other problems and eventually she also wanted to get a divorce. This further contradicts the victimized women's role, and actually poses a new role that women are not often perceived to have in places such as China. I found this to be a great example of how we don't know or fully understand what people experience if we don't seek to find answers. I would like to challenge my students with finding more information about powerful women in China and in other countries, where women are perceived as weak and victimized.

[Anonymous]

Our third speaker, Mei Fong from USC further discussed the one child policy and the war on women. Again, I had a limited understanding about the one child policy and it basically consisted of the idea that women who were expecting girls would have abortions and that it was a culturally accepted decision by parents and the government alike. My narrow understanding of what China's one child policy had drastically changed and grown to better understand the people and what they experience and to negate the belief that everyone was just fine with this policy. Of the many things I learned, I found it eye opening that many people did want to have their children even after learning they were daughters however, their were policies against them. It wasn't that parents just didn't care about keeping daughters, but more about what was done to prevent them from having them. They experienced pressure from the government by being charged fines, threats to their jobs, threats to housing, and many times people were forced to go into hiding until they gave birth to their babies. It is also fascinating the major effects this policy is currently having on the population. I would like to use this in the classroom maybe in connection with the stats teacher to look at graphs and numbers and making sense of them in a cause and effect concept. I found this to be highly engaging and relevant to what students should be learning.

[Anonymous]

Session 7 was divided into two categories with two presenters. First part was on women as victims and the second was on the emancipation of women.

Women were first not given rights and were sold as maid, servants, and concubines. At this time woman were forced to bind their feet and it was considered pornographic for a woman to expose her feet. Presenter mentioned how disgusting the smell must have been since they would use chemicals to kill off the dead skin. Women were expected to stay loyal to their husbands while men would cheat on them. Made me think of the previous article we had to read about Widows and Concubines. Women were not allowed to leave courtyards where they lived and were confined to their homes. Again made me think of the movie review that I did. Women did not choose who they married but was arranged at a young age. She mentioned a woman who was on her way to get married was found dead when she arrived at her husband to be home. She had cut her wrist and died before she got there. If there was a divorce it always favored the men.

Second part was on women being emancipated. The family ideals begin to changed. Sexuality fidelity was for both men and women. Women were getting educated, female martyrs began to leave poems and journals. Women began to take power in the government system. Women school began to pop up and women began to begin to move into the workforce.

This session was definitely interesting in understanding how far women have come. Even though I don’t think I could teach all of this I think this was a great summary of some of the things we had already read. Which would then take us to the next session.

[Anonymous]

Session 8, WOW… this was the best session I have attended. I don’t know if it was because of the book fair and the presenter had just come in from presenting to the crowd but she had so much passion in what she was saying, I was hanging on every word. I also want to say Thank You so much to the professor [font=Corbel]Mei Fong [/font][font=Corbel]for giving us a copy of her book One Child, The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment. What I learned in this session was that China would fine [/font]parents who had more than one child. They would lose their job, lose their homes since a person’s job determined where they live. They had system of detention, sterilization by detaining families, to force people to come and get sterilized and forced abortion. In China more women kill themselves then men because life is difficult. Women would have to stay in the husband’s family’s village and take care of the grandparents while the men went to the city to make a living. Women had to take care of the farm, children, grandparents, etc. As a result, we now have bachelor villages and the increase of purchasing brides. Many women are making it into a business by getting married and are running away after receiving the money. For the families who only had one child and later died, parents are left with nothing and nobody to take care of them when they get older. With families a child that survived adulthood, they are now being left to take care of 5 different generations in one household. They are also getting pressured into getting married but many have chosen not to do so. The video that was shown, SK-II Video Marriage Market takeover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irfd74z52Cw, made me cry. There is now sex trafficking going on and ghost children who are not recognized as citizens of China. So much was talked about in this session that I can go on even longer. Again what a great session!

[Anonymous]

I am very sad that I missed the lecture series this week, it sounds like there was great discussion topics. But reading the primary sources for the week made me sad. In particular, the foot binding reading as well as the piece called “Is This Also a Human Being?” by Ye Shengtao. The poor woman suffered because of her husband and once she was able to escape the torture, he dies and she must return to his funeral, where is it decided that her parents-in-law will sell her to a new family to pay off the funeral. I think my students would be very interested in learning about women across time, and in particular, women around the world. This would be a great piece for world history, in thinking about to what extent the roles and expectations of women have changed over time. I think starting with the title of the piece and asking students what they think that title means would get them engaged and then discussing how people are sold could lead to great discussion topics in class. It would also be a great jumping off point for discussing the power and privileges that come with various social classes. Would she have experience the same issues if she was not a peasant? If she was of the ruling class? If she was a male? If she was older or younger?

[Anonymous]

Was an excellent seminar that spoke on the memories collected by the speaker and Gao Xiaoxian. They went to collect the memories of women who impacted change in China during times of revolution. It was a look at the roles and impact of women on the society and the changes the needed to change the view of women.

There was a division of gender in labor though it was constantly changing.

There were stories of child brides, they were given to the family young and raised by the mother in law to be ready for her son. Sex in this time was a form of submission.

At this time the relation between the mother and daughter in law was ever evolving on the lines of love and respect.

[Anonymous]

35 Year Old Policy

2 Child Policy being changed, there is a war on women. The way that this policy was made to stick was it had to hurt, make people pay, take away their jobs, their homes, create a financial loss, force sterilization, abortions and detention, for those who don’t follow the rules.

Women, like Feng Jianmei was forced in 2012 to have an abortion at 7 months and it became public media.

From this design of the One Child Rule, we are forced into societal imbalances of Bachelor Villages, were there are not enough women for the men that are of marriage age and they are electing to find and offer women money to marry them, a bride price, which is often 10 years worth of income, this has created run away brides, women who scam desperate men and run off with their bride price leaving them single and with a major financial loss.

[Author]

Posts