Essay - Chinese Traditional Marriage Introduction the First Time A Large Area...

Chinese Traditional Marriage

Introduction

The first time a large area of China was under single rule was in 221BC, when the k*****g of Qin conquered adjoining states to become *****shi Huangdi (Emperor of Qin). From then until the early 20th century, emperors governed *****. The current political structure—one-party rule in ***** form of the Communist Party—ma*****tains the ritual of a high degree of centr*****l control.

***** administrative system was developed during the ***** (221BC-206BC) and Han (206BC-220AD) dynasties. A written language and legal code were incorporated, ***** agricultural and industrial techniques were developed.

***** effective Confucian bureaucracy was established during ***** Tang dynasty (618-907), ***** Chinese culture and sway blossomed in Asia. This ***** followed by a period in which Chinese and Mongols contested power. Kublai Khan ***** chose Beijing as the capital. The country was periodically raided by Mongols ***** Manchus but ***** Chinese culture was strong enough to absorb their power. China is both an old country and a new country, ***** its attitudes toward women reflect that duality. After offered as a feudal society for nearly 3,000 years, the ***** China emerged with the establishment of the People's Republic of ***** in 1949.

The Status of Women in Feudal China

Confucian philosophy sermonize *****'s lowliness to men. ***** were to remain ignorant and to obey--first, ***** fathers; after marriage, their husb*****s; during widowhood, their sons. Marriages ***** arranged, and a woman's responsibility was to remain married, no matter how objectionable the match is. Divorce ***** *****t permissible or re***** by widows. Chastity archways we***** built ***** women who killed themselves when their husb*****s died. The major role of women, considered the private property of men, was to satisfy their husbands and to bear children. Symbolic of ********** subservience was the practice of binding women's feet. Introduced in China during the last Tang dynasty, this practice *****ed nearly 1,000 years. During the Ming and Qing *****, women had to bind their feet to be eligible for a husband.

Discrimination and prejudice against "strong women" is deeply rooted in China, an outgrowth of its extensive feudal history. An example will illustrate.

In establishing 'nationhood', China actualizes its own autonomous uniqueness, not only in opposition to the 'west', but also by draw*****g differences within its own cultural parameters. Rey Chow writes:

***** *****, where ethnic differences are relatively undisruptive (except in Tibet) *****d where the centrality of the ***** culture *****s assimilated for generations, nationalism functions in ***** past forty years to fuel communism rather than as communism's repressed side. As communism gradually loses its hold on the populace (even though it is still the official policy), what surface as the "social disorders' that are repressed ***** communism? Two related things: sexual differences... and "the West." (1)

The Chinese feudal ***** relies on tight knitted social compounds, ********** each member of society is interconnected by the kinship system ***** a family, a community ***** ***** nation. The societal *****s of ***** in a Chinese community are more strictly defined by