3. Family
Family life is extremely important to Chinese culture as Chinese lived in large family units. The family was responsible for its individual members
because in China the government did not deal with individuals but with family heads. If a person committed an offense against society or the state, the head
of his family might be punished for a crime if the guilty individual could not be arrested.
The most important relationship was the relationship between a father and son. After infancy, a mother’s authority over sons was less than his
father’s. But, the relationship between a mother and son had a special importance because a wife’s status depended on her sons’ birth and a mother
was responsible for choosing a wife for her son. Male and female in a family were not so close because there is
separation of male and female. Therefore, a mother had a closer relationship with a daughter than a son, and a father had a closer relationship with a son
than a daughter, as well as brother-brother and sister-sister relationship were closer than brother-sister relationship ibid, 157- 160.
4. Concubine
Since sons were very important for Chinese, a husband might marry secondary wives or concubines in order that they bore sons to insure the
continuity of the husband’s descendants. Even the China imperial law permitted men to have secondary wives and concubines. The reason for
concubine is not only for male descendants, but sometimes also for sexual 18
desire. Men had stronger and longer desire than women. Therefore, some men would take a concubine for his sexual desire.
The wife had authority over any concubines and it was easier to divorce a concubine, who was socially inferior to the wife. A man could not
divorce a wife and place a concubine in her stead, but after the death of his wife a man might raise one of his concubines to the status of a wife. A
concubine’s children had equal legal status with any children of the first wife ibid, 170.
C. Criticism and Review of Related Studies
Pearl S. Buck’s Pavilion of Women 1946 is an interesting novel, which tells about Madame Wu, an amazing woman - brilliant, beautiful, full of
contradictions and authority, a woman who took a surprising decision to retire from a marriage life and select a concubine for her husband upsetting her
extended household. As an author of many novels, Buck and one of her novel, Pavilion of Women
1946 still get some criticisms from the readers, both positively and negatively. Erica Bauermeister writes:
‘Pavilion of Women is Miss Buck at her best, the dedicated storyteller. Beneath the deceptive simplicity of the narrative flows the clear, swift tide
of human life--the small commonplaces of daily living, the clashes of personality, and the episodes mean and magnificent.’
http:www.amazon.comPavilion-Women-Oriental- Novels-Pearldp1559210249
From http:www.buy.comprodPavilion_of_Women in San Francisco chronicle, the writer finds another criticism said by Mary McGory that
Pavilion of Women 1946 is a great novel centered on a vital theme which deals
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