Thoughts and Reflections on:Women in ancient China

Agnes Yu

Period 7 World History

12/1/14

  Women and men did a lot of different things in ancient China, people had different positions,

sometimes women had there own strength.


  Taoist has the symbol of Yin and Yang, it refers to black and white, wrong and right, the dark swirl

is the passive, it means feminine, however, the light swirl refers to male. It's a symbol of Tai-chi.

However, through Taoism, women could express both female and male characteristics. They could

seek spiritual accomplishments beyond their family duties, and some women could even take part in

the events about philosophy and religion. Only, the Hsi Huang Mu mentioned about how the

pervasive fear that women could bring chaos by upsetting the cosmic yin/yang harmony.

  Buddhism also granted women some aspects of empowerment. Women went on pilgrimages in the

temples, some of them gave public speeches. During Wu Zetian's reign, which is the only one female

emperor in Chinese history, women allowed to enjoy relatively great status and freedom.  


  But all of these are different in Confucianism. Confucianism promoted the beliefs in women's status.  

Confucius placed women at lower end of the family structures. During the period, lessons were really

important and they were one of the most durable sources of advice about female behaviors.

 
  During the Song Dynasty which is the period of Neoconfucianism stratified more positions and

works of women. The loyalty of women and the worship of men started to spread out, it brought the

results of selling unwanted daughters and cruel footbinding.  During the long revolution, the state

promoted and negate new roles for women. During the Guomindang's counter revolution, there were

a lot of cruel things happened to women.  But the Communists, erased the rules and set the women

free.  Mao Zedong got women out of the home and into works, therefore, a lot of female peasants

appeared.