While the fate of women in India was shaped by Manu’s Code of Laws, in
=China= it was decided by the orders of Confucius, the famous sage, born
in the year 550 B. C. and in popular histories of his life praised in
the lines:
“Confucius! Confucius! How great was Confucius!
Before him there was no Confucius,
Since him there has been no other.
Confucius! Confucius! How great was Confucius!”
In the rules, which this savant gave to his followers, he demanded full
subordination of woman to man; also, that the two sexes should have
nothing in common and live separated in two different parts of the
house. The husband must not mingle in the internal affairs of the home,
while the wife must not concern herself in any outside matter. Also
women should have no right to make decisions but in everything be guided
by the orders of their husbands.
Women have likewise no proper position before the law and cannot be
witnesses in any court. The father may sell his daughter, and the
husband may sell his wife. Concubines are permitted and often are housed
under the same roof with the wife. Daughters are not welcomed, but
treated with contempt.
To get rid of a superabundance of infant girls which were regarded as a
burden and as unwelcome eaters, the Chinese in former times resorted to
exposure and infanticide to such an appalling extent that these
cruelties became a national calamity and disgrace. Generally the female
babies were drowned. In the provinces of Fukian and Kiangsi infanticide
was so common, that, according to Douglas, at public canals stones could
be seen bearing the inscription: “Infants must not be drowned here!”—
To lessen these abuses one of the emperors of the Sung-dynasty decreed
that all persons, willing to adopt exposed children, should be
compensated by the government. But this well-meant decree brought evil
results, as many people, who adopted such foundlings, raised them for
the purpose of making them their own concubines, or to sell them to the
keepers of brothels, of which every Chinese city had an abundance.
Placed in these brothels when six or seven years old, the unfortunate
girls were compelled to serve the older inmates for several years. Later
on they assisted in entertaining visitors with song and music. But
having reached the age of twelve or thirteen, they were regarded as
sufficiently developed to bring profit in the lines of their actual
designation.
The final fate of such unfortunate beings was in most cases miserable
beyond description. Having been exploited to the utmost by their
heartless owners, they were, when withered and no longer desirable,
thrown into the streets, to perish in some filthy corner.
Women of the lower classes too had a hard life. In addition to such
unfavorable conditions there existed among the aristocrats a strict
adherence to ancient manners and customs. Accordingly the life of the
whole nation became rigid and ossified. Foreigners, who came in close
contact with Chinese aristocrats, speak of their women with greater pity
than of the females of the poor, describing them as dull and boring
creatures, with no higher interests than dress and gossip.
As in Japan the rules of Confucius were likewise in force, the position
of woman in “the Land of the Rising Sun” likewise was an inferior one.
Obedience was her lifelong duty. As a girl she owed obedience to her
father, as a wife to her husband, and as a widow to her oldest son. And
in the “Onna Deigaku,” the classic manual for the education of women,
she was advised to be constantly aware of the bar between the two sexes.
[Illustration:
AN ENTERTAINMENT AMONG THE GEISHAS OF JAPAN.
]
[Illustration:
AN EGYPTIAN QUEEN AND HER ATTENDANTS.
]