Women in Early Imperial China

Introduction

History of Women is the discipline of history deals with the role that women played in the history of mankind, and the scientific methods used to study the role and status of women. The elements of this discipline is the study of history of obtaining and losing the rights of women, research on the historical significance of individual women and the impact of historical events exerted on women. It is the integral component of the history of women's studies is that the more traditional view of history of mankind belittle or ignore the contribution of women in history and how historical events influence exerted on women (Zarrow, Peter, p. 1019-21 ).

Women in Early Imperial China

A Chinese girl spends her entire youth life in his father's house, and when they reach the proper age she marries a guy with whom she can spend her entire life. In a family shaped by Confucian principles, a woman from childhood was subject to discrimination, and her position was of a subordinate and unequal person. From an early age, my mother was preparing her for marriage, instilling the principles of good manners and obedience to her husband.

The ideal Chinese wife did not have to be particularly intelligent, clever and handsome. It is important to be "polite, gentle, quiet, and clean ". Chinese women's psyche was so shaped that they themselves believed that they are intended primarily to carry burdens of domestic life, and obedience to men. Their mentality was expressed in the proverb proclaiming that "every woman's virtue is not to be too smart" (in fact, the first thousand years of our era, the vast majority of even high-born ladies in China did not have reading and writing skills). The behavior of men shaped her in this belief, shaping the type of humble, menial and resistant strain of living daughters, wives and mothers.

In China, it was thought that women's allure is flat chest and very small feet. The custom of bandaging the foot of seven girls in order to stop the growth rate was started around 970 AD at the court of Emperor Li Houzhu and quickly became widespread in the entire region. As a result of such a surgery, the calves were narrowed and thighs had widened. After reaching the proper age for marriage for girls stepped deformed toes, or rather the big toe, swinging her hips, which greatly pleased the men. The rate was considered to be the most embarrassing part of the female body. Emperor Kangxi tried to eradicate this habit but without success. He disappeared only with the empire and the whole Confucian system. Despite the strong influence of the West, even in the second half of the twentieth century, China organized beauty feet contests. They were married at the same time in markets, because it was assumed that beautiful women were limited in number and men may find a suitable spouse in the market. Feminists believe that the underlying purpose of these practices was ...