Chapter 7 Section 5 Status of Women

After the patriarchal patriarchal system was established, the status of women began to decline significantly.The etiquette system stipulates that state power and family property are inherited from father to son and from generation to generation.Since the blood relationship is calculated according to the patrilineal line, it is only passed on to the son and not to the daughter, so it does not matter whether the daughter is born or not. Sometimes the birth of a daughter is still a burden to the family, but the reliability of the succession must be guaranteed.Therefore, every family attaches great importance to the birth and raising of sons, and shows an indifferent attitude towards the birth of daughters. "The Book of Songs Xiaoya Sigan" writes: "It is a man who gives birth to a bed for sleeping, clothes for clothes, and a bag for play." Zai Nong Zhiwa.” When a child is born, he is treated differently by his parents because of gender differences. The boy sleeps on the bed, wraps him with clothes, and plays with jade Zhang; while the girl can only be placed on the ground, wrapped What I wear are clothes and gowns, and what I play with are tiles for spinning.Patriarchal patriarchy, male superiority and female inferiority, are so clearly defined that later generations called giving birth to a boy as "Nongzhang Zhixi" and giving birth to a girl as "Nongwa". This is the allusion. "Sigan" also said that after giving birth to a boy, I hope that he will become a dragon and become a tiger, and can be "the king of the family", but when a girl is born, "only food and wine are the only things to talk about", "no parents will harm you", which means that you grow up I can only work hard in the kitchen, as long as I don't embarrass my parents.

Because he was worried that his son would not be able to grow up, he died halfway, so even if he gave birth to a son, he would have to be born again, praying for more children and more blessings.In Chinese poems, it is common to see congratulatory speeches wishing many descendants, endless success, and prosperous family.For example, "A gentleman has a filial son. A filial son is not lacking [kui collapse], Yongxier is like", "Yongxi Zuoyin" and so on. "Xi" here means gift, and "Zuoyin" generally refers to descendants. It can be seen how much Zhou people valued the birth and rearing of sons.In this case, if the wife cannot bear children for her husband's family, it will be difficult for her to escape bad luck. Either she will be abandoned or neglected, and the husband can remarry.The reason why the wife was "exited" because of "childlessness" is said in "The Book of Rites: Ben Ming Pian" because it is "peerless".The continuation of fireworks has become the basic criterion for the guarantee of women's status.

The status of women has also declined in matters of divorce.Two weeks ago, aristocratic women still retained part of the right to concede their husbands. For example, in Liu Xiang's "Shuo Yuan", it was recorded that Jiang Taigong was "the husband of old women".In the Zhou Dynasty when the patriarchal patriarchal system was established, this kind of right became exclusively enjoyed by men, and there were cases of wives in all social classes.The patriarchal patriarchal system highly concentrated power in the hands of men, and a relationship between husband and wife was formed between the ruler and the ruled. Even a particularly favored first wife could not predict whether or when she would be abandoned. "The Book of Songs · Bei [Bei] Wind · Valley Wind" depicts a woman's grief after being abandoned by her husband.It is written in the poem that when the man first got married, he treated his wife very well. with poison. "Mao Poetry Preface" believes that this kind of thing of "being obsessed with newcomers and abandoning their old houses" was caused by the system at that time, "the couple divorced, and the national customs were hurt and defeated." The theme of "The Book of Songs·Wei Feng·Mang" is similar to that of "Gu Feng". It describes the process of a woman from falling in love to being abandoned, and her feelings are very sad and indignant.For unmarried women, what they are most afraid of is that the marriage of "the order of their parents and the words of the matchmaker" will bring them an unsuitable husband. After marrying a man, she sighed helplessly: "I'm so sorry, it's so difficult to meet people..." It's too late to regret.

In the Zhou Dynasty, women began to be gradually restrained by the three obediences and four virtues in the family. The pattern of "men outside and women inside" in the family has been formed. It’s a great righteousness.” A woman within the rule must rely on the will of the man outside the rule, and has no independent right to self-determination, only a subordinate family status, and must abide by the “outside words do not enter into the 梱 [kun, that is, the threshold], inside Words do not come from the 梱" ("Book of Rites · Qu Li") criterion.Even in this case, once the country is in trouble or the family is ruined, men will still blame women, thinking that everything is caused by women.According to the "Shangshu·Mu's Oath", when King Wu of Zhou defeated Zhou and destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he said in the oath: "There is no morning for a rooster. The morning of a rooster is the only way to a home." When a hen crows, the family It is about to lose, which is used as a metaphor that women cannot participate in political affairs.The first point of King Wu's denunciation of King Zhou's crimes is "only what a woman says is true".Later generations also attributed the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty to King You of Zhou's concubine Baosi, saying that "the Zhou Dynasty was so great that Baosi destroyed it" ("Book of Songs Xiaoya First Moon").In the "Jizhong Zhoushu" in the Warring States Period, even the non-appearance of seasonal phenomena was connected with women's inevitable evil deeds, saying, "Qingming has another five days, the rainbow is gone, and women are in chaos; on the day of light snow, winter Hongzang, women are not single-minded", it is really a strange talk.