Ancient China People
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History Essay Term 2 2018Ancient China The lifestyle of Ancient China was one very different to our one now. Almost everything you did in your life and how people saw you would be determined by your rank or status. Your rank would be determined by your: gender, heritage and (if you were male) your job. If you had a low rank to start off with, life would be difficult and it would be hard to rise to a higher rank and if you were one of high status, life would be one of power and wealth.The lifestyle of the ancient Chinese people reveals a society that is dictated by status and tradition. The ancient Chinese lived in a male-dominated society where the silk route was a one-stop shopping centre and punishments were strict, in turn these all reveal something different about ancient Chinese society. For example, male-domination reveals their unwillingness to derive from Confucian laws and patriarchal tradition, and their strict punishments show that they accepted violence as part of daily life. Furthermore, their system of ranks implies the value they placed on hard work and the use of the silk route reveals that they were not completely xenophobic and had an established system of trade.The teachings of Confucius stated that women were inferior to men and therefore should not be treated in the same way as them and in ancient China Confucius was the main religion for hundreds of years. Being the main religion for hundreds of years reveals that Ancient Chinese were very strict about following the teachings of Confucius, however it may have been just that after males got control over society and they started liking Confucianism it was impossible for females to gain any respect or control over society again. To further reinstate the gap between males and females only wealthy boys were allowed to attend school. This left women illiterate and without the skills of reading or writing that the males had it made life increasingly hard for women. However, some women invented their own forms of writing only they and their friends could understand. This implies that even though women were heavily suppressed they would not sit down and do nothing, while they could not attempt to gain more respect (in which case they would be punished), they would at least find a way to communicate which others couldn’t understand. However, there were a couple of ways a female could move up the ranks and gain a bit of respect (but not literacy): the first was to become the oldest living member of the family as the ancient Chinese gave their elders a lot of respect, the second was to become a wise woman. A wise woman was a very old lady who: other women, children and even men would come and ask for advice from, each village would have one or two of these. By collecting this information, we can infer the aim of a woman throughout her life, get old. Both the respect earning tasks mentioned above require a woman to be old and there is no other way for a woman to get to any of those positions without age. Undeniably, examining how males dominated society and the life of females gives an insight to the structure of society and the thoughts of femalesToday, equality between men and women prevails. However back in Ancient China, the teachings of Confucius stated that men were superior to women. Due to this, women lived a very subdued life and were even killed at birth. All women were illiterate, however, some invented their own forms of writing only they and their friends could understand. On the other hand, wealthy boys attended school where they learned to read, write(calligraphy) and the teachings of Confucius. These were all important skills for government officials and nobles. The ancient Chinese also had a rule stating that only men could be government officials. Further preventing a female’s ability to move up the ranks.
Throughout their life, women were “owned” by men. At birth, they were owned by their father, who had full control over their life including who they could marry. When women grew older and got married they became the property of their husband. After women got married they were to act as if they had no relations with their “former” family at all. They were required to stop their worship to their own family and turn their respects to their husband’s family both living and dead. Women were not expected to do much with their life. As a girl, they would be expected to learn how to perform household duties, support her father in whatever he did and to learn that men were superior to women and their purpose in life was to serve them and deal with it. As a girl grew older and got to about 16 they would get married. Usually, this would be an arranged marriage and the bride would have no say in who she would get married to. After getting married a woman would have very few duties: perform household duties, take care of, raise and have kids.  —– to shortenFoot binding was another practice which differentiated females and males. It is thought the practice began in 900AD during the Tang dynasty and continued until 1911 when it was finally banned. In Ancient China small feet were thought to be a mark of exceptional beauty. So, at around the age of six rich families bound the feet of their daughters to restrict the growth of their feet. It was a painful process as the toes were broken and their growth was restricted. The bandages had to be changed every few days for about ten years when the feet had fully developed. The practice spread quickly to lower classes who saw it as a way to improve their social status and eventually it became necessary to have your feet bound to find a husband. This put a lot of pressure on poorer people as they needed all members of their family to work so that they could survive. In some cases, women had to work in fields on their hands and knees, an excruciating task. Another reason that foot binding spread so fast was that it made women inferior to men as women would have a heavily decreased amount of mobility and they would be less likely to be rebellious or defiant.While saying that there were a few ways for women to move up the ranks and gain respect. Each village usually had a wise woman or two. A wise woman was a woman who had lived for a long time and usually was a widow because her husband had died. All kinds of people: children, women and men would consult the wise woman for help and advice. Another way for a woman to gain respect was to become the oldest living member of her family. The ancient Chinese had great respect for their elders and to become the oldest living member of the family was certainly an honour.From the treatment of women, there are a few conclusions we can come to. The first one is that the Chinese were very strict about the teachings of Confucius and would impose extreme measures to follow them. Another is what the aim of a woman would have been. The aim of a woman throughout her life would have been to promote her rank and gain respect, this would have meant either living a long life or marrying some male with a high status (however she would just have to hope she got married to one, as parents decided marriages). A third conclusion we can make is that females in loyalty may not have rightfully got their turn to rule the nation as they were thought to be “inferior” and a younger male of royalty may have gotten the job as they would have thought to have been better than the female who should have ruled.