Chinese Culture

The ancient Chinese culture was a male dominant society. Women were always treated beneath men because of the teachings of Confucius. Confucius referred to women as unworthy and incapable of a literary education. Women were in a position of servitude from when they were born to when they could no longer serve their man because of old age. Women were considered as men’s property. If women were to disrespect the husband, without a doubt, she would be killed.

A historical female figure in this ancient culture was Hua Mulan. This name is a synonym for the English word heroine. The story of Hua Mulan is portrayed in the Disney movie “Mulan” (1998). The story of Mulan depicts a young Chinese girl struggling to find a husband to honor her family name (Fa). This movie relates to many young Chinese girls that need to be married in order to be considered of any value.

In this story, the Huns tried to attack the imperial city of China. When the emperor’s counsel arrives at Mulan’s village, he asks for one man from each family to serve in the imperial army. In real ancient china, only men would be asked and able to serve in the military. If a woman was to enter the army as a fraud, she would have been killed by the commander of that battalion. Not only would she have died, but she would have dishonored her family tremendously.

Married woman had an extreme responsibility to their husband and sons. Men were allowed more then one wife. If the husband died the woman could not remarry. She could not remarry because it would be disloyal to the husband’s family. If she remarried, she would have been skinned to death. Woman could hardly find jobs because they were supposed to be married. Chinese widows with no sons were probably the lowest in this culture. They couldn’t find any jobs so it was very hard