Status of Women in Pre-Modern China Research Paper

Status of Women in Pre-modern China
China was matrilineal, fertility goddesses were worshipped, and there seem to be no delineation between men and women in the Neolithic times (Hinsch 2004). When buried together, men and women were side by side, suggesting equality in status. However, there were also graves where women seemed to be buried alive as men’s possessions. During the Shang dynasty, fewer women received formal burial though some cemeteries still show that they had equal burial rights. Women were also involved in conquests, political affairs, and religious leadership. However, there were accounts also that showed that male children were preferred over having a female offspring. (Sun Yan and Hongyu 2004)
During the Zhou dynasty, China was decidedly patriarchal, patrilocal, and patrilineal. Men were regarded with more respect, status, and authority. Women were regarded as subordinate to men. The time of the Zhou dynasty was the golden age of Chinese philosophy. Mohism and Legalism brought about gender constructs and delineated stereotypical roles and expectations for men and women (Hinsch 2013). On top of these, Confucianism had lasting influences throughout succeeding empires in terms of social hierarchy based on position, age and gender.
In Confucian philosophy, there are 5 types of relationships. Except for friendship, the other relational types are hierarchical – ruler to its subordinate, parent to its child, husband to his wife, and older to the younger. Confucian texts also emphasized on dominance of yang over yin, male over female. (Riegel 2012)
From these, we could deduce that in pre-modern China, women were subordinate to men and little girls or young women were at the bottom of the hierarchy. This was reflected in Chinese literary works such as “The Magic Sword”.
The Magic Sword
The Magic Sword story is that of an eighteen year-old young woman, Nieh Hsiao, in a gravely debase state of being a demon’s slave, and an older man, Ning Ts’ai, who was of high status and great honor. In the story, Hsiao was a ghostly murderer that turned into a real human through marrying Ts’ai.
Hsiao died and was buried beside an abandoned monastery where Ts’ai happened to stay as a traveler. She had ever been forced by a demonic vampire to seduce and kill men for their blood, though against her will and good nature. She had no choice but to do as the demon commands her until the upright man, Ts’ai, came and she had opportunity to escape. Ts’ai strongly resisted her temptatious tricks until she gave up. Seeing the man’s strength of character, she confided to him and asked for his help so that she could be free from the demonic oppression she suffers.
Hsiao could not victimize Ts’ai and gave him advise how to save his life from the demon who was planning to kill him. A peculiar monk-knight named Yen happened to be staying in the monastery at that time. He had magical talismans that wards off evil spirits. Hsiao advised Ts’ai to sleep with Yen. On the night of the demon’s attack, the magic sword saved Ts’ai’s life. Yen gave Ts’ai the sword’s case which can also ward off spirits.
Hsiao c...