Women in China

Paper Summary:

This paper examines three different stories written over a thousand years ago when women in China were without power. It looks at how traditional ancient Chinese writers reveal that although women had little sanctioned power, their innate wisdom gave them dominance over the men around them. It demonstrates, with quoted examples, how male Chinese writers from those ancient times frequently portrayed women as possessing control over men through the power of their natural wisdom.

From the Paper:

"Another incidence of female superiority, this time in Chinese literature from the ninth century, is found in "The Biography of a Girl Surnamed Chao," by Pi Jih-hsiu. This young girl, testified in court to save the life of her father who had been convicted of a crime against the government and sentenced to die. She offered to die with her father, and through her "filial devotion" saved her father's life. She then vowed to shave her hair and become a Buddhist in order to repay the judge for his decision, and immediately "Concerned that others might not believe the words of a girl, she took out a stiletto that she carried in her bosom and forthwith cut off her ear to demonstrate that she would certainly keep her oath." "

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