Patriarchal Society in 1900's China and It's Effects on Women

 Stephanie Lui, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in SLS (1-6)

When I took a humanities course about modern culture in China it became clear to me what my capstone project would be about. What fascinated me and made me want to further my research was that I got to learn more about my culture.

The texts that we read and analyzed revolved around the major themes of gender and sexuality. Growing up in a female dominated household, my grandma told me stories about how women were supposed to dress and act a certain way because of their gender. One traditional custom that took place in China was feet binding for females. My grandma had friends whose feet were bound, and she saw how difficult it was for them to walk. It was shocking to see images of what foot binding looked like and how women would walk when their toes were broken. It made me wonder why women had to undergo painful changes while men did not have to endure the same thing. 

One of the many captivating texts I read was Regrets for the Past by Lu Xun. Tze-chun was an orphan who was disowned by her guardian because she decided to be in a cohabitation relationship, meaning she lived with her boyfriend without first getting married. It may be more common in this generation to live with someone without getting married, but back in the 1900s it was unconventional. It portrayed how society viewed Tze-chun because she went against society's cultural norms and through her action, she was disowned by her only family member. 

Lu Xun described how women were portrayed in society in different circumstances using two perspectives, one from a male and the other from a female. This showed how males and females were portrayed under a patriarchy system and the outcomes from it. Understanding the historical background of the text allowed me to grasp a full understanding of why the author wrote it in a certain way and how it led to other events. 

If I were to develop this research further, I would envision the project to go in more depth about how women's liberation in China could connect to America today. Since China went through the May Fourth Movement and the New Cultural Movement during the early 1900s, the westernized ideas gave women the push to fight for their rights.

It would also be interesting to look into other westernized ideas besides the “walk away” movement that was introduced by the play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. The walking away movement gave Chinese contemporaries the courage to walk out of the house and out of the patriarchy system to gain personal freedom.

Comparing how these westernized ideas came to China and the influence it had can also be seen the other way around. The impact of China’s version of the women's liberation movement may have some influence on America today and it could explore progression between the two countries.