1. GENDER RELATIONS IN ASIA
MAN > WOMAN!?! Nah, Diana>Everyone. :D

2. China…
Independence and legal rights enjoyed by a

small minority of women during Tang-Song
era, but outweighed by the worsening
conditions of Chinese women in general. :O
The idea of male-dominance was conjured up

by Neo-Confucianism…

3. Neo-Confucianism in China
Neo-Confucian philosophers stressed women’s role as

homemaker and wife, not to mention the bearer of sons
in order to continue the patrilineal family line
They even promoted the confinement of women and the

virginity for young brides, fidelity for wives, and chastity
for widows…(similar to India, widows weren’t allowed to
remarry)
Also, they attacked Buddhism who allowed some rights

to women

4. Men vs. Women : China
Men Women
Homemaker/mother, bearer of
Permitted to have premarital sex 

sons
without scandal
Confided within the household

Have concubines if they could

like its Indian counterpart
afford it
No remarriage if husband dies

Remarrying if one or more of

Live up to husband’s
their wives dies…just because 
expectations
they feel like it
Buddhism promoted career

Laws created that favored male

alternatives: offering
inheritance, divorce, and familial scholarships and monastic life
interactions
Neo-Confucianism thought

otherwise and excluded women
from education that allows them
enter civil services or rise in
political positions

5. Subordination Proclamation!
Nothing better demonstrates

the subordination of women
to men than footbinding
A counterpart of the veil &

seclusion of Islam
Origins in the delight of Tang

emperors who took delight
out of the tiny feet of his
dancers
In response to the male

demand of the new
trend, young girls’ feet were
tightly binded with silk, which
by marriageable age, her
foot will be transformed into
“lotus petal” or “golden lily.”

6. No Pain No Gain ):
Bounded feet were chronic pains

for women and limited their
mobility, which made it easier for
men to confide their wives within
the household
Becoming a fashion among

scholar-gentry and other elite
classes, it was vital for a woman so
she can get married
As for the lower classes, they were

slower to adapt footbinding due to
the reason that woman were
depended on for labor in fields and
market
The fact that mothers force their

daughters to endure the pain in
order to win a husband tells a lot
about how low women’s positions
were in China between 400 c.e.
and 1450.

7. A Cinderella Story From China
This was one of those old retold tales passed down from generation to generation. I remember my mommy
reading this book to me once…and it reminded me of how low women’s position are. This was just a recap
of what I remember…
Once upon a time there was a girl named Yeh-Shen. Her stepmother overworked her and left her half-starved
all the time. She had two stepsister (whose name I forgot) who were just as mean to Yeh-Shen. Yeh-
Shen’s only friend was a fish…a magical fish (yup yup)! However, her cruel stepmother took the magical
fish out of the water and cooked it for dinner (evil fish eating lady!) because she knew that Yeh-Shen was
getting comfort from the magical fish. Poor Yeh-Shen was left with the bones of her only friend (aww, I’d
be sad if my goldfish died too). Of course, like every other princess story, the bones had a magic spirit
inside (hooray!).
Seeing how beautiful her stepdaughter (Yeh-Shen) was, the stepmother forbid Yeh-Shen to go to the annual
Spring festival. Seeing how sad Yeh-Shen was, the fish spirit made her a beautiful gown and a pair of
golden slippers. So off she went to the Spring festival. Everyone marveled at the mysterious girl’s beauty
and there she met the King who was wealthy and had a strong political position in Chinese society
(haha).The King instantly fell in love with Yeh-Shen’s beauty. So the same thing happened like the
Disney’s Cinderella story where Yeh-Shen drops her slipper and runs-away, blah blah blah. And then the
King who finds the slipper wants to find her again because he’s a stalker.
So as we all know, the only person who could fit the golden slipper was Yeh-Shen, partly because she was
born with small feet (lucky her! No footbinding!). Anyway, the King reaches Yeh-Shen’s house and asks for
all the daughters of the household to try on the golden slipper. Yeh-Shen’s stepmother seizes the chance
to get one of her daughters to marry the King and tells her eldest daughter to cut off part of her foot (sole
of her foot, or toes…eww) so she would fit the slippers. At first the eldest daughter refused, but her mother
reasoned that once she was the King’s bride she wouldn’t have to use her feet for she’d have people carry
her around (spoken like a true mother…).

8. A Cinderella Story From China
Continued
Her daughter agrees and cuts off part of her foot and slips on the golden slipper. The King is excited and puts
her on his carriage to take home. But on the way, he looks down at her feet and sees blood coming out of
the slipper and realizes that he has been tricked! He takes her back to Yeh-Shen’s house and leaves to
find his true love, yet again (man, this guy sure is desperate). He then notices Yeh-Shen out by the pond
with a replica of the golden slipper in her hands. In the end they marry and live happily ever after. (:
Hooray for Yeh-Shen’s small feet!
So, in the end, it shows how women would do some things in order to win a husband in a higher class. Yeh-
Shen’s stepmother portrays the mothers during the Tang-Song era who wanted their daughters to go
through footbinding so they could marry into a good high class family. TADA! I analyzed it!