While China was an Empire, women were in a subordinate position to men, as in a traditionally Confucian society. It became the state ideology after officially giving up the Legalism. Confucianism was officially admitted by the Han Dynasty. Women, however, possessed certain power. It was supposed that they have a role of leadership among familial affairs, but it this power did not extend any further. Women did not have any political power; they could not hold any posts or have a suffrage. There was strict gender roles among East Asia. They were a cornerstone of family. In addition, these roles had significance of societal stability in the country. Women were expected to uphold certain subordinations to men. According to Confucianism, Asian woman had to be subordinate to her father, then to her husband (after the marriage) and finally to her son, is her husband will pass away. Men could remarry, women – not. They should uphold the chastity after the husband departure. Exemplary women supposed to be compliant, hard-working and silent.
According to yin-yang theory, both men and women have equal importance, but men should dominate over women, while women should be submissive. However, since 1911, attitude to women and their role in Chinese society started to change significantly. On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established. Since that time, the government of the People’s Republic of China has tried to achieve equality between women and men. They wanted to improve women’s liberation by the means of promotion of their social, cultural and political roles in the country.
Generally, before 1949, in Chinese society, women did not work and the polygamy in Chinese families was normal. However, with establishment of People’s Republic of China, many things have changed. New laws were adopted, according to which, having multiple wives was prohibited. Women became able to divorce their husbands. They even were encouraged to work. The rural women found the opportunity to be recruited to the factories, mainly textile ones. The intellectual movement toward the extension of women rights has developed. “Periodicals such as The Ladie’s Journal and The New Woman, and essays on the ‘woman problem’ in the journal New Youth, were published in China’s major cities” (Mitter 79).
According to Mitter, “the idea of the ‘new woman’, autonomous, professional, and urban, was a global on during the interwar years” (79). However, the Sino-Japanese war changed Chinese society completely. According to such laws as Marriage Law, marriages had to be based mutual consent. Chinese women and men were free to marriage and divorce whenever they like. Both genders supposed to have economic independence. The point was to give women all necessary liberation they needed in order to change the old-fashioned Chinese society. The new government wanted to make China a stronger nation.
Many things have changed for Chinese society with the Cultural Revolution. In movie Red Sorghum, it is clearly visible how the image of women have changed since the old times. In one of the scenes, a young woman uses her sexual attraction to manipulate man. She says, “Are you not going to rescue me from this bandit?” (Red Sorghum). The man complies and helps her. In this scene, we can see the representation of women’s sexuality. It is great breakthrough in cinematograph. The film breaks the code of modesty. Earlier, women were represented as humble, silent, complaisant and submissive. But here, we can clearly see the portrayal of desire and sexuality. The Red Sorghum also became a bridge between China and the outside world. The activists of the Feminist movement considered the family structure as one of the main China’s weaknesses. The lack of education, bound feet and subordinating women behavior were considered as factors that prevent country from becoming a healthy, strong and modern nation.
By 1953, the economy could not cope with such amount of labor power that had been engaged due to women liberation. Besides, the implementation of some new laws brought strong opposition from male part of the society. Government decided to give the priority to the collective stability. Particularly, freedom of women was a major priority. It is clear from literature of that time, how has changed the attitude to women, as well as relations inside the society. From the Zhu Wen’s short story I Love Dollars we can see, how the ‘free love’ and ‘free sex’ elements have integrated into the Chinese society, “I didn’t want Father to think the woman his son had just been sleeping with was some random pickup, a divorced older woman” (Wen 2).
It is clearly visible how women position in society has changer within last decades. The evidential proof is the significant change of the women representation in literature and cinematograph. Comparing to the old woman shape of an obedient and submissive daughter and wife, since 1949, that image change into a contemporary, educated, independent and free woman that do not have to hide her appeal and can openly express her sexual desires. However, in some areas of social life, women remained suppressed. For example, their low status as for the One-child policy.
Works Cited
Mitter, Rana. Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.
Red Sorghum. Dir. Zhang Yimou. Ex. Prod. Wu Tianming. Xi’an Film Studio, 1998. Film.
Wen, Zhu. I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China, New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Print.