Final Exam 12/12/12 1:05 AM Chinese • Patriarchy/Eldest Male/Clan o Clan is led by eldest male o Male won’t stop being in power until their passing o Eldest male tells everyone what to do o Clan is related by blood or marriage • Surname o Goes by last name o…
As a child a woman submits to her father, when married she submits to her husband, and when windowed she submits to her eldest son. Traditional beliefs are stated in a biography of the mother of Mengzi. In her own words she states the duties of a Chinese woman; “-to cook the five grains, heat the wine, look after her parents-in-law, make clothes, and that is all!..”. Chinese woman have no ambitions outside of the house, only to submit and do their duties for their men which in so in very opposing to the woman of the Roman Empire. Woman of Rome are seen to be “like a child”. As a child she is under the authority of her paterfamilias, when marries she’s under the jurisdiction of her husband’s paterfamilias. Unlike the woman of China, they are highly dependable on a male guardian to protect her needs and interests. Although, in both civilizations, the social standing of a woman remains depending on the level of hierarchy they belong…
How did Women P’eng, Tou, and Wang experience challenges in terms of their relationships to their husbands and their positions within their families?…
The first similarity between Han China and Imperial Rome is found when comparing their patriarchal societies. Both in Han China and Imperial Rome they were extremely patriarchal. In each society the man of the house could arrange marriages for their children, decided whether or not to keep the offspring born to their wives, and decided how to punish wives if they commit a wrongdoing. In Han China, for example they tried to strengthen patriarchal authority by emphasizing importance of filial piety and women’s subordination to men. Imperial Rome was also patriarchal, for example, because husbands would have multiple children with their wives in hope of birthing a strong, healthy son to carry on the family name and legacy. The main job given to women in Rome was to birth sons. The women had no say in the number of children they had or in keeping the children they gave birth to. If the women couldn’t fulfill this expectation of having sons, the husband would divorce the woman, have children with another woman, or simply kill his wife and find another one.…
Cited: Topley, Marjorie. “Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwantung” in Women in Chinese Society, edited by Marjorie Wolf and Roxane Witke. Stanford University Press:1975. Print.…
The country I chose to write about is China. The Chinese culture is one that has been forming for centuries due to the country’s rich history. China has always been known as a communist country, but recently it has been phasing out those practices and replacing them with capitalist practices. A custom that is very relevant in their culture is their emphasis on family lineage. Many men are expected to marry in order to carry on their family names (Hitton). This custom pressured women into giving birth to male children so that the family name could be passed on (Hitton). Family respect is also important to their culture. The elders of the family are always honored and obeyed above other members. Due to their communist history, group work has a bigger emphasis than individual work (Hitton). For example, if one fails to…
Kinship systems in foraging based societies provide support for all of the individuals in the band community. The San, also known as Bushmen, of Kalahari Desert are one of the best-known foraging communities in the modern world. They are also one of the most, tight-knit bands held together by kinship. In chapter three of Cultural Anthropology written by Barbara Nowak and Peter Laird, describe the kinship relationships of the San by stating, “A meal for every household is composed of items of food from each other 's labor; they are not strangers. Generosity in sharing maintains kin and social relationships while providing a safety net”. Each member of the San culture is not out for their self or themselves. Instead they rely in their kinships from the other members of their band, and surrounding family, to come together come together collectively to support each other. The San rely on the kinship they have with one another in several different areas of their lives. Three of the major areas include gathering and distributing food, deciding on who and when to marry as well as handling divorce…
In the documentary, China’s Lost Girls directed by Allan Myers, it goe into China’s One Child Policy. On of the major topics this documentary is the Social Structure of China and how this policy will affect it in the long run. To begin, China’s social structure and culture compared to ours, here in the United States, is far different. China’s culture places more value on men than they do women. Because of that, there is more pressure on the women to help please the needs of the man. Though because of this inconsistency of value between…
It has been suggested that the new imperial system introduced in China by the Qin and the Han produced a “misogynistic ideology” that became evermore embedded in aristocratic…
Both China and India, like most classical empires, were patriarchal societies which allowed women little to no independence. Women were inferior to men and were restricted to domestic lives as wives and mothers. Chinese women were forced to spend their days at home because of Confucian values which emphasized the importance of a wife’s obedience to her husband. Foot-binding emerged during China’s classical era and further confined women to the home. Yin and yang, the concept of contrasting forces in the world, also limited Chinese women’s opportunities because it described women as the weak counterpart to men. In India, women at first had some property rights and some families were even matrilineal. However, Hindu laws set more restrictions on women, especially on those in upper classes. For example, a wealthy woman would have to conduct the ritual of sati and cremate herself at her husband’s funeral. Indian women, similar to Chinese women, were confined to their homes, and they were forced to cover themselves from head to toe when they came out. The only exceptions to restrictions on women of the classical era were a Chinese woman being able to exercise authority as a mother-in-law and an Indian women gaining independence by becoming a Buddhist nun. While both empires had similar gender hierarchies, the differences in their social hierarchies are what set them apart.…
Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing to the early 20th century, many Chinese families struggled to gain social, economic, and educational stature in both China and the United States. In the book, A Transnational History of a Chinese Family, by Haiming Liu, we learn about the Chang family rooted in Kaiping County, China, who unlike many typical Chinese families’ exemplified hard-work and strong cultural values allowing them to pursue an exceptional Chinese-American lifestyle. Even with immigration laws preventing Chinese laborers and citizens to enter unless maintaining merchant status, Yitang and Sam Chang managed to sponsor approximately 40 relatives to the states with their businesses in herbalist medicine and asparagus farming. Though the Chang’s encountered many of the hardships typical of Chinese families for the time, they relied on their outstanding work ethic so that their families would always be supported, receive the best possible education, and preserve family and kinship relationships to get them through the tough times and long periods of separation.…
It is quite interesting how sudden a particular dynasty gets replaced by another in a blink of an eye. It is also quite interesting to sit back and view the various changes being taken place, whether it calls for drastic measures or simply leaving things the way they are. Perhaps changes will allow for improvement and create a better society for all. But, if things are done one way and results are satisfactory, why change a good thing? Koryo, a dynasty founded and ruled by a military commander named Wang Kon (T 'aego), did just that. It kept many of the female-centered features of Silla 's social system, which will be discussed in the following paragraphs. (Kim, p11) During the declination of the Silla dynasty and the formation of the newly…
Young men had little say in their marriages as well as women. The wife would move into her in-laws and would possibly be subjected to the demands and criticisms of the mother in-law. Widowed women could remarry and all women participated in family ceremonies. However, women were tutored in writing, arts and music. Stearns states that "Despite these promising trends, women at all social levels remained subordinated to men".3 Family households were run by men and male children inherited more property than females.4In the lower classes of China, women didn 't live in extended households commonly. They usually cooked, cleaned the houses and worked long hours in the fields. They had more social outlets and financial freedom but still were under their male relatives in the households such as their fathers or husbands.5Upper and lower class level women in China were subjected to one thing in common. This was that their vital function in society was to preferably bear male…
The Mongol Empire and Qing Dynasty’s are similar in that in both societies, family life formed the basis of social life. However, the role of women in these two societies varied greatly; in the Mongol empire, women had several basic rights and were considered wise1 whereas in the Qing dynasty, women were…
What has happened to Confucianism. For a long time, Confucian was accepted as the idea that a healthy society depended on a solid traditional family. Confucius himself, for example, called for people to put principle above selfish desires. People supported hierarchy. The rulers moral example would inspire the people to live good lives. But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism oppose to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse to women and children? The rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.…