Проблемы литератур Дальнего Востока. Часть 1

Новые вопросы изучения классической китайской литературы... Issues of Far Eastern Literatures. Vol. 1. 2018 359 In Chinese culture and literature a woman usually is presented as modest, obe- dient, passive and virtuous. Such defined ideal of femininity derives from many factors, including the yin-yang concept and Confucianism as the most important ones. In culture and literature yin and yang are characterised as two opposing and contrasting forces. Yin, identified with female gender, is soft, compliant, accepting, passive, while yang, ascribed to male gender — dominant, active, acting. Even in the oldest Chinese literature, such as the Classic of Poetry ( Shijing ), there are fragments in which women are prohibited to pursue public activities and ordered to housekeeping: “So a woman who has nothing to do with public affairs, Leaves her silk-worms and weaving”  1 . In the classic books being a part of Confucian canon there is a lot of mentions, not about women per se , but almost only about daughters, wives and mothers. Female gender was perceived almost solely through the prism of these roles but women were not treated as inferior but having completely differ- ent social functions resulting solely from the cosmic order  2 . Patricia Ebrey claims, however, that in Confucianism women were perceived as inferior and in a book Women and the Family in Chinese History proves that Confucianism, as well in its classic form as in later interpretations — from the times of Han and Song dynas- ties — has justified the patriarchal model of society and family built on a principle that the older family members always were dominating over the younger ones and the female gender  3 . Women were fully subordinated to men at every step of their lives, which is perfectly reflected by the Confucian concept of Three Obediences ( san cong ) — as a daughter she had to be obedient to her father and brothers, after marriage — to her husband, and after the husband’s death — to her son  4 . In the Chinese civilization, however, more important was the subordination and respect of younger to older ones. This is why, if a woman gave birth to sons and lived long life, the people surrounding her, including even her imperial descendants, were listening to her and respecting her will. This is how one can explain the intriguing lack of Chinese women revolts over centuries and supposedly the lack of big scale feminist standpoints until nowadays  5 . 1 Legge J. The Chinese Classics: with a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Pro- legomena, and Copious Indexes , Vol. IV The She King , Part 2, p. 562. 2 Guisso R. W. Thunder Over the Lake: The Five Classics and the Perception of Woman in Early China , „Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques”. Vol. 8, No. 3. Women in China: Current Directions in Historical Scholarship (Fall 1981), p. 48. 3 Ebrey P. Women and the Family in Chinese History. London; New York: Routledge, 2003, p. 11–12. 4 Rosenlee Li-Hsiang L. Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006, p. 89–90. 5 Guisso R. W. Thunder Over the Lake: The Five Classics and the Perception of Woman in Early China , „Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques”, Vol. 8, No. 3, WOMEN IN CHINA: Current Directions in Historical Scholarship (Fall 1981), p. 60.