women in Asian history

[clay dube]

Let's use this section of the board to share materials to add in bringing women and gender roles into our courses. We can take up broader themes related to women in Asian history in the Asia in My Classroom forum.

Please read the attached article from The Chronicle of Higher Education (4/30/04) discusses a new book which suggests that sex selection in Asia will produce a shortage of daughters, and that mate-less males will threaten social stability. To channel these energies, some governments may enlarge their armies and this could jeopardize peace.

The article also discusses theories explaining the enduring preference among many Asians for sons.

[Anonymous]

My version of WORD would not open the attachment, 040430chronicle-shortageofsons.doc  59 KB, because ".doc" was omitted in the download. When I added ".doc" to the title I was able to open and read the attachment.

[Anonymous]

This article about sex selection in Asia is very disturbing. I have often thought that the lack of women in Chinese society will lead to a different social order according to the law of supply and demand. Women may become more highly valued now that there are fewer of them. The man might have to pay the woman's family for a wife (reverse dowry) since she can have her pick of suitors. There could be a stipulation that the groom take care of her parents in old age.

I imagine that there will be an increase in mail-order brides in that region of the world. In the same way that Japanese men are marrying women from abroad because Japanese women are not interested in marrying them, so too will Chinese men have to find mates elsewhere.

Catherine

[Anonymous]

Several thoughts on this article.
First, the recent election in India and the return to power of the Congress Party led by Sonia Gandhi (daughter-in-law of Indira/not related to Mahatma) was propelled mainly by the very poor masses who have been left out of the prosperity loop created by the influx of foreign out-sourcing capital. It was a literal uprising in the largest democracy that resoundingly threw out the right leaning Hindu-nationalist party. So, the premise that "extra" unmarried men will gravitate to this political orientation is a bit off base, I think, and possibly tainted by the researchers orientation to equate unmarried men/Indian-Chinese=terrorist potential. Doesn't this spin a bit in the racist direction?
Secondly, the population explosion worldwide will undoubtedly lead to continued escalating conflicts as the competition for increasingly scarce resources intensifies. Less women with fewer pregnancies...less population growth.[Edit by="lsutton on May 31, 9:25:25 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

The article seems to be one sided with selective memory loss. There were doweries paid all over Europe and early America all the time. And in fact today, isn't it the bride's family that pays all the bills? And is the United States getting rid of its excess male population (young black and latino males) by sending them in greater proportion to Vietnam, the Gulf War, and now Iraq? Why is it always a danger and a threat to national security when the people who do things supposedly differently, don't look European?

[Anonymous]

I just thought I' d post some more information re. “ohaguro” (black teeth). Some may be urban legend but I do remember a UCLA class discussion re. Japanese married women who blackened their teeth. A great research project!

(from a web discussion forum)
The reason why is because back in the geisha days there was no toothpaste so many geishas had black teeth. Since they were entertaining they had to look their best so hiding their mouth when they laughed spared the entertainee from seeing their black teeth. So, it has been passed down generation to generation, from mother to daughter(and in many cases to son) and still exists now.

Heian aristocrats regarded white teeth as ugly, particularly for women. " They look just like peeled caterpillars" wrote one critic of a woman who refused to blacken her teeth. To blacken their teeth Heian women applied a sticky black dye to their teeth so that their mouths resembled a dark, toothless oval when open. This particular custom of blackening the teeth (haguro) persisted until the 1870s among certain elite groups of Japanese women.

…as someone said, it was a sign of if you were married or not.

Did Japanese women used to paint their teeth black?
Yes, until the nineteenth century some Japanese women used to dye their teeth black as part of their makeup. This was called ohaguro (black teeth). It was thought that black teeth made a woman look beautiful. The dye was made by soaking iron in tea or sake (rice wine) until the liquid turned black. Unfortunately the dye sometimes contained lead, which can make people sick or even kill them. Ohaguro has a long history but was most popular in around the 1700s. It continued until the late 1800s. In 1873, the Empress of Japan appeared in public with her own white teeth showing, and it seems that other women copied her. This may have been how teeth blackening died out.

Healthy Black Smiles by Barbara Cohen

On my early visits to Vietnam, I was quickly impressed by the spontaneous warm smiles of the Vietnamese children. On later visits the more reticent but sincere smiles of many older northern Vietnamese became even more memorable. Their smiles revealed jet-black teeth.
Tooth blackening was (and still is) a deliberate process but it was not uncommon for tour guides (even Vietnamese guides) to tell visitors that the black teeth of the older Vietnamese women were the unexpected result from the habit of chewing betel.
A betel chew is made up of several ingredients: betel leaf, slivers of areca palm nut and a bit of lime paste. The pieces of nut covered with lime paste are wrapped in a leaf of the betel pepper vine, making a tiny package that fits neatly into the pouch of the cheek. The quid, as the entire package is called, releases a mild stimulant and anesthetic that relieves toothaches while suppressing the appetite. Betel chewing is still a common custom throughout Southeast Asia and has the same geographic distribution as the custom of filing and blackening the teeth. Indeed chewing betel does affect the coloring of the teeth but it conveys an irregular brown color instead of the lustrous black seen in Vietnamese who have had their teeth lacquered..
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Pham, a 67 year old Hanoian, dressed in a loose silk overblouse, black satin trousers, jade bracelet and necklace, described the ritual blackening of her teeth when she was 17. Pham waves her slender gold-ringed fingers as she described the party-like atmosphere of the ceremony. Her grandmother blackened her teeth as the rest of her family looked on joking and making joyful comments to her as her mouth was being "painted." There needed to be three applications (every other day for a week) because natural saliva washed off the original application of chemicals. For that period of time she could not eat solids and could drink only through a straw. The ritual certified that she was "grown up and ready for marriage." Although it was not a painful process for Pham, I have spoken to other women who recall that their mouths swelled up or that their gums burned and stung for days. The procedure could take place some time after the age of ten when the child has all her permanent teeth but is usually done after menarche.
Professor Vu Van Chuyen of the Center for Research and Development of Medicinal Plants helped me understand the chemistry of tooth blackening. The chemical ingredients can take several forms. In Vietnam red sticklac, a resin obtained from secretions of a tiny aphid-like insect that sucks the sap of a host tree, was used as a dye. This was diluted with lemon juice or rice alcohol, stored in the dark for a few days and then is applied with pressure to all the teeth. This will then react with an application of iron (mainly from iron nails) or copper from green or black alum and tannin from Chinese gall to give a blue-black color and an insoluble coating. In some areas of Southeast Asia, coconut husk is burned to form a black sticky char that is combined with nail filings and adhered to the tooth surface until the dye "takes." I noticed that the Vietnamese use the term 'dye' and not 'lacquer' to describe the process, although in English it is common for anthropologists to describe "lacquered teeth." In Japan the mixture was made by soaking iron filings in an infusion of tea or sake to produce a liquid that turned a permanent black upon the oxidation of the iron. Sometimes cinnamon bark, cloves and anise were added to reduce the harsh chemical taste of the dye paste. Betel chewing maintains the dark color and some people reinforce the dark luster by a periodic reapplication of the dye.
There were cultural reasons for tooth blackening. It was believed that only savages, wild animals and the demons of the underworld had long white teeth. In part, the original rationale for the filing and blackening of the teeth at puberty was the assurance that one would not be mistaken for an evil spirit. Statues seen in Vietnamese temples sometimes depict a mandarin holding a small flat rectangular object in front of his mouth. This board was to be used when he spoke to the King so as not to expose his teeth to His Majesty. Even today in Hanoi, my more traditional friends will hold a hand in front of their mouth when speaking. Girls are taught that is sweet and polite to smile but not ladylike to laugh. These traditions may relate to the superstition that exposing the uncouth "fangs" is uncivilized savagery.
In Japan tooth blackening was known as Ohagura* and was believed to enhance sex appeal in addition to maintaining healthy teeth. Until the 12th century in Japan it was a sign of coming of age. Then it spread to the men of nobility and the samurai class. By the 18th century it was again confined to women. Then until the end of the 19th century in Japan it was used only by married women.
For similar reasons, throughout Indonesia and Philippines, teeth were sometimes filed down at puberty. Some filing rituals were symbolic, such as the minimum trimming of the two front teeth. Other regional protocols, as in Sumatra, demanded a drastic trimming of all the teeth. The filing of the teeth was practiced also among the hill tribes of the central highlands of Vietnam. Blackening of the teeth was popular both on the mainland and insular Southeast Asia.
Tooth blackening prevents tooth decay. Those who have had their teeth blackened maintain a full set of teeth longer than those who have not undergone the process. Teeth blackening may prolong life by maintaining the capacity to enjoy a wholesome diet.
In 1938 a French survey found 80% of the countryside folk of Vietnam had blackened teeth. Medieval kings of Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries blackened their teeth and wore tattoos. This clearly distinguished them from the Han Chinese occupiers who did not practice such customs. When the French came to Vietnam, they did not appreciate the implied beauty and the procedure was discouraged. For many years I did not see any woman under the age of 60 with her teeth blackened. However, recently I was surprised to see a young woman in her twenties living outside of Hanoi who had black teeth. She was a novice nun living and working in a Buddhist temple. I could not resist asking her about it. She smiled in surprise at my question and answered that it was another form of renunciation of worldly concerns and vanities like her simple brown garb and shaved head.
*Vietnam Cultural Window magazine published in Hanoi has a recent article on the difference between the Japanese and Vietnamese methods. Volume 6 & 7, pages 38-39, September/October 1998.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting pieces on teeth altering. I remember seeing many chewing betel in Taiwan when I traveled there 20 yrs ago. It caused many mouths to look as if they had just been bloodied, and I remember thinking, "This would never catch on in the US."
The gesture of women in Japan "hiding" their laugh behind their hand is still alive and well. It is interesting to think of it in terms of connections with teeth blackening, and wonder what other gestures have resulted from older practices.

[Anonymous]

The article from The Chronicle of Higher Education was informative and a good source of background information on the preference for males in Chinese society.

When I first heard of sex selection a few years ago, it was in an article about a Chinese village where girls were often killed by their mothers until a son was produced. When the boys in the village grew up, there were no girls to marry. I remember thinking, "Serves them right." Now that more research has been done and political scientists have reported their findings, it is plausible that there will be more violence including sex crimes and widespread discontent involving war. Human beings in any society seem to be motivated by economics -- sons are prized because they will bring in more money, bring honor to the family, and be able to support their wives, parents, and in-laws.

I think this topic can bring engaging discussions to many classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Interesting article on changing traditions. After childbirth, a woman was expected to "stay in bed behind closed windows, cover her head, give up bathing, washing her hair and even brushing her teeth." It goes on to prescribe that she must eat as many as 40 boiled eggs a day, avoid cold water, cold food, strangers and other pregnant women for fear they might take her breast milk away (also damaging to milk is talking, reading and crying). The new mother is to live this way for a full cycle of the moon under the watchful eyes of the family elders. Zuo yuezi, as it was called, originated as a way to protect new mothers because of the harsh living conditions.
Young Chinese are opting for a new kind of hotel where the new mother and baby spend a month. It's staffed with doctors and nurses, a professional cooking staff, and provides massage, exercise, medical consultations, and post-natal care. Cost at Beijing's New Mother Service Center is $360/week including 3 meals and 3 snacks/day.
Estimated 20 million babies are born in China/year, about 5x the number in US. This in spite of the fact that most couples are still restricted to 1 child. Fastest growing baby care market in the world.
written by Ching-ChingNi with a Beijing by-line.
(I'll have the whole article in my bag if anyone wants to read it)

[Edit by="lsutton on May 31, 9:48:20 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Please, I need some help. I have looked everywhere in the binder for the readings, “Women in East Asian History” which I want to go over in preparation for Elizabeth Vanderven’s session. I can help with a few listings.

Several web addresses are listed but I could connect with only Karl Greenfield. The remainder, which come from the journal,

Intersections: Gender, History & Culture in the Asian Context
Murdoch University, Perth Western Australia
Division of Arts

are listed incorrectly. There is no dot (.) between “www” and “sshe”. The address is written “wwwsshe” as follows:

http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/

Also, the address for Christina Lee’s film review should read as follows:

http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue2/Mulanreview.html

Ron Walcott

:~

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ron. Yeah, I was wondering where those readings for tonight are hidden. Oh well, plenty to read for Saturday! Thanks for the corrected URLs. I never would have found them.

[Author]

Posts