10
2.1.3. Ancient Chinese Parental Upbringing toward Girl
The social life in ancient Chinese people was influenced by patriarchy system and Confucianism. The basic principle of patriarchy system is male
dominance over women Spencer, 1985:278. It means that more power and prestige are given to men than to women and children.
Besides, Women in dynastic china were influenced greatly by Confucian philosophies. According to Confucius, women were not equal to men and were
not worthy to have literary and education http:www.buzzle.comarticleswomen-in-the-ancient-chinese-culture.html.
Moreover, the existence of traditional Chinese cosmology yin and yang made women more powerless. Yin means the female, stood for all things dark,
weak, and passive. While yang means male, stood for all things bright, strong, and active Eshleman, 1985: 199.
History of ancient Chinese women often painted as subservient in society. The existence of patriarchal system in the ancient Chinese culture made women
was segregated and treated differently with men in society, even when a girl born in the world. It can be seen from an ancient Chinese poem
http:www.eastwestcenter.orgfileadminstoredpdfsapi025.pdf. When a son is born
Let him sleep on the bed, Clothe him with fine clothes,
And give him jade to play with. How lordly he cry is
May he grow up to wear crimson And be the lord of the clan and the tribe
When a daughter is born Let her sleep on the ground,
11
Wrap her in common wrappings, And give her broken tiles for playthings.
May she have no faults, no merits of her own May she well attend to food and wine,
And bring no discredit to her parents. Riley also adds the birth of a baby girl is not simply a “small happiness” to
her family, while the birth of a son is “big happiness”, sometimes it can seem calamity http:www.eastwestcenter.orgfileadminstoredpdfsapi025.pdf.
There is clearer indication of women’s status in China than the phenomena of the “missing girl”. The thousands of girls who should have been born but they
have not been born or killed. Many inside and outside China allege that this “missing girls” are aborted and rejected by their parents desperate of having a
boy. Riley in http:www.eastwestcenter.orgfileadminstoredpdfsapi025.pdf, states that the girls are abandoned or murdered by their family.
Girls rarely received much formal education in ancient China. They were only trained in household duties such as cooking, weaving, embroidery, and
taking care of family members. These training skills were an asset in arranging a girls marriage. It is caused the women in ancient Chinese culture lived according
to the rules set by Confucius in his analects. According to Confucius, women were not equal to men and were not worthy to have literary and education
http:www.buzzle.comarticleswomen-in-ancient-chinese-culture.html. When girls were getting older, they were portrayed as object sold off into
marriage. Their feet were bound to keep them from running off. Marriages were not based on love and free choice. They could not choose their own soul mates
because marriages were arranged by parents through matchmaker. Hasan in
12
http:www.bellaonline.comarticlesart28659.asp, says Normally, it would be the aunt or a matchmaker, normally an elderly woman of the village, who would
arrange the favorable union of two families. Unlike men who always worked outside, Chinese women only controlled
the functions of the house. They were only responsible their family such as taking care of their children and keeping house desk. Wang states, women were obliged
to obey their husbands and stay within the realm of the home http:etd.lsu.edudocsavailableetd-07142005-
093123unrestrictedWang_thesis.pdf. After marriage, an ancient Chinese woman would serve her husband like a
slave and could not raise her voice. The wife’s responsibilities were to bear male children and to aid in the work. Failure of a wife to bear male children could lead
to repudiation and the obligation of a husband, among the gentry at least, to take a concubine or additional wives Eshleman, 1985:199. Clearly, in ancient China
men were allowed to have more than one wife. However, women could have only a husband, and even if her husband died she was not allowed to remarry. Death
penalty was given, if she remarried.
2.2 Gender
Kategori