Women in 18th Century China

I just finished reading, Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century by Susan Mann. It was very interesting full of lots of great information, and new and alternate viewpoints on the lives of women in China's past. The book covered women's life course, their writings, their work, courtesans and religion. She drew on the historical and poetic writings of women at the time for her sources as well as writings done by male scholars about women and women's role in society. She also mentioned frequently examples from the great novel, Dream of red chambers also translated here as The story of the stone. The time period is during the height of the Qing dynasty where the west influence had yet to be felt.

I found the chapter on women's writing to be most interesting. I had come across the debate among male scholars before, about whether women at the time should be taught poetry, whether it was a waste of time and a distraction for them. While these writings were confined to a small group of upper class women, they were published works that were very popular at the time. So while it is very good insight into the wives of women who lived at the time, it is a very select group. The poems in the collection that get mentioned first were poems that women had sent each other and presented as gifts, the woman who published had over three thousand poems in her original collection. When presented for publication however half the poems contained sensual or erotic images that she deemed were not fit for public consumption. I of course thought it was interesting that half of the poems were of this nature. (And the naughty part of me couldn't help but wondering what these women were doing sending each other so many naughty poems) . I enjoyed the tales of the women poets and scholars, some were taught as if they were sons including wearing male clothing, but more often it was thought that an educated woman would be a worthier bride for a scholar, also as a mother it would be her duty to instruct her sons if anything happened to their father. Father's in particular seemed to cherish their daughters learning, and liked to show off their ability to write poems. One poem of a precocious six year old came down that said:

I live in sadness on this moonlight night,
my body thin, like a flower dropped from heaven.

The chapter on women's work was also very interesting to me. Officials at the time were very keen to expand silk production and produced many works encouraging women in the practice of sericulture. Women's work was frequently the extra income that was used to pay taxes for a family, the husband working in the fields and the women weaving. Many edicts were written about what a sense of pride a woman would have if she felt responsible for her families well being, and how the opposite was also true. This struck me as completely different to what I've just been reading about English women in the same period. However, the weaving and other women's work that was highly regarded led to her being sequestered in the inner chambers even more. In another reverse of the European system it seemed the more a woman worked the more tightly bound to her home she was, despite the financial benefits. Despite all the encouragement of women's labor through official channels at this time, there was also a rise in the male artisan class. So all the really well paid work was being done by them, leaving the women the more generic less well paid work.

The book, looks at the central role that women played in the 18th century of China. How looking at their role provides a different view of life in China at that time. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what women's life in China was like during the 18th century, particularly to anyone who has read and enjoyed A Dream of Red Mansions. It was very well written, clear and straight forward to read. While I may not agree with everything said and felt that some points were ignored that I would have asked, it was a thoroughly enjoyable book.