Womens Role in the Qing Dynasty (as seen in the film The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and in the novel, Dream of the Red Chamber (or A Dream of Red Mansions) In an empire during the time where women are expected to do everything for the family from washing and mending the households clothing to taking care of her sick mother-in-law along with her husbands sick concubine on top of being responsible for the subsistence of her family (Mann and Yu-Yin Cheng, p. 221-223, 2001) the temperaments, spirits and actions manifested by the women in the film The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and most of the major female characters in the novel, Dream of the Red Chamber (or A Dream of Red Mansions) are contrary to the prevailing attitude and perceived role of women in the Qing Dynasty. Both literary media were set in an era marked by the oppression of women in which female obedience and women’s seclusion are the highlights along with Confucianisms emphasis on male authority. This is a society where patriarchy has many faces and supporters, even among the women populace. A notable fact about the women featured in the story is their almost identical characteristics of being independent minded, self-willed, capable and possessing different competencies not unlike that of their male counterparts, in fact in the novel, Dream of the Red Chamber, the women are even pictured as reliable, stronger, talented, and more competent than the male members of the clan. And most remarkable about these two Chinese works is the fact that these women characters featured in the works are not the usual, ordinary citizen of China but are rather women with clouts in society and in politics, in particular through their families. Taken generally, the female characters in both works are frequently shown to be more capable than their male counterparts.
A Woman’s Place Is In The Home
We are now living in the 21st century, the idea of whether or not a woman should work is very different from the traditional culture. It is a very common scene for women to go to work in Hong Kong now. To a larger extend, I believe a woman’s place is not just in the home. Traditional thinking said that women should stay at home, tidy up the house, take care of the children and cook for the family. ...
They are also very literarily learned, brilliant, and skilled unlike most Qing maidens of their time. In particular, the females in Dream of the Red Chamber have taken central stage in the history of the clan. They are the prime movers and hands in the molding and shaping of the clans future; the unfolding of the story was directly affected by the way these women act and react to their situations, background and the milieu where they find themselves in. What makes the women in the film apart from the women in the novel is their ability to be part of the mainstream Chinese society (i.e. Yu Shu-lien is an accomplished female martial art warrior; Jen Yu is an aristocrat daughter destined for an arranged marriage, yet yearns for adventure instead of a life as a court wife), meaning they have established themselves as freedom loving, independent women definitely living ahead of their time. While most of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling were daughters of wealthy families sheltered in chambers idiomatically referred to as Red Mansion, which is alluded to by the title where the women is capable of nothing but dream of the things they want to be (Young, 1995, p.340-353 ).
Although endowed with talents and are encouraged to cultivate their education unlike most women in their time, do not really possess the necessary power and influence to be part of the decision making in the patriarchal society. The women in the novel, probably except for the young mistress, Wang Xifeng, alias Phoenix, are basically part of the elite women of the Qing dynasty who have creatively translated and adapted the Confucian set standards and customs into their own lives to conceive and craft an area and a fraction of autonomy where the dominant gender system is left intact. Reference List Cheng, Yu-Yin and Mann, Susan (2001).
Under confucion eyes: writing on gender in chinese history. Berkeley, California: California University Press. Levy, Howard S (1991).
The Lovers: The Complete History of the Curious Erotic Tradition of Foot Binding in China. New York: Prometheus Books. Mann,Susan (1997).
The Essay on Animal Experimentation At New York University
Animal Experimentation at New York University Using animals for medical experimentation and education is a controversial subject that often leads to a heated debate. The issues are complex, but the suffering and waste involved in animal experimentation are painfully obvious. Vivisection, the act of cutting into a live animal, has led the nation down countless scientific dead ends, while detracting ...
Precious records: women in china’s long eighteenth century. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. White, Barbra Sue (2003).
Chinese women: a thousand pieces of gold. New York: Oxford University Press. Young, Serenity (1995).
“Confucianism,” in An Anthology of sacred texts by and about women.
New York: Crossroads, 340-353..
