Chinese Women

A Faithful Aunt

One day in the Spring-Autumn Period, the army of Qi State which invaded Lu State came to a field and saw a woman held a child in her arms and another child followed her. When this woman saw many armymen of Qi came, she put down the child that she held, and held the other child who followed her in her arms. The child who was put down cried and ran to follow, but the woman disregarded him and ran away to a mountain.

Select A Husband

This story took place in 541 B.C. in Zheng State. Zheng State was a country of the Spring-Autumn Period in modern-days Henan Province. There was a man called Xuwu Fan. His younger sister was very beautiful. A young noble Gongsun Chu who’s “zi” (another name taken at the age of twenty) was Zinan had been bethothed with her. But another noble Gongsun Hei who’s “zi” was Zixi sent his subordinate to give a betrothal gift to her. Because Gongsun Hei was an imperious influence, Xuwu Fan was afraid. So he had to ask Zichan who was the prime minister of Zheng State for help.

"Who Is Closer, Father or Husband?"

In the moral principles of the Orient, a woman should be loyal to her husband. As a daughter, she should filially respect her parents. If a woman’s husband and her father had conflict, what would she do?

In 697 B.C., Zheng Li-Gong (郑厉公), the monarch of the Zheng (郑, where was in modern-day Henan Province) State in the Spring-Autumn Period, wanted to kill his prime minister Zhai Zu (祭足), because Zhai Zu monopolized the power.

Disasters Were Not Brought By Women

Traditional ideas assume disasters are brought by women. So the ends of many dynasties are always regarded as women’s fault. The end of Xia Dynasty was because of Moxi, the wife of Jie who was the last king of Xia; the end of Shang Dynasty was because of Da Ji, the wife of Zhou who was the last king of Shang; the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty was because of Bao Si, the wife of Zhou You-King; and so on. A poem in the Classic of Odes has such lines, “Zong-Zhou was so great, but Bao Si destroyed it.”

Pages

Subscribe to Chinese Women