“No longer did they think of themselves ‘as different from men as earth was from heaven’, but as half of China holding up or constituting the other ‘half of heaven’” (Croll, 2). Today, the Chinese society alongside with the rest of the world are living in a time where women are not restricted from getting a proper education, living independently, having a good career, and to speak our minds; however, this was not always true in the past. Previously in early China, women were treated like objects, “Their feet were bound, they were forced into arranged marriages, and they could not achieve nor live the life they wanted” (Fincher and Lee, “Mao Zedong: Feminist”). Confucius – one of the world’s greatest philosopher; a person whom many respected
…show more content…
The story started with a description of the typical arranged-marriage wedding day atmosphere; the sound of a suona announcing the arrival of the beautifully dressed bride as she was about to leave her parents’ house and sleep with a stranger to “bear an heir for his ancestors” (CP 247/102). Growing up as an orphan, Xiaoxiao was raised by her uncle and had no deep filial attachments with anyone. This caused her to develop an ignorant attitude; Shen mentioned that Xiaoxiao was different from the other child-brides, that she shed no tears on her wedding day as, “for her, marriage was simply moving from one home to another” (CP 247/103). At the age of twelve, Xiaoxiao bravely and compliantly married her two-year-old husband. She was more of a nanny than she was a wife as the marriage was not consummated until her husband was of the proper age; she played with him, fed him when he was hungry, comforted him when he cried, and helped with the household chores. During the time when the story was written, women of the Chinese society were often betrothed to men of a much younger age. Although this situation seems to be preposterous from a modern and non-Chinese perspective, an occasion like this was considered to be normal and morally acceptable in the past. Some argued that the concept of an arranged-marriage is not a matter …show more content…
Xiaoxiao, being young, naïve, and ignorant, made it easy for Huagou and granddad to tease her. Huagou was a farmhand who showed an interest in Xiaoxiao. He wooed her on every chance he had in order to get closer to her; he kept on singing her beautiful songs and it finally wore her down. Shen wrote that Huagou and Xiaoxiao became a couple while her husband was busy picking berries. As for granddad, he often made a passive-aggressive joke about the girl students. Although she did not quite get granddad’s teasing; she knew that he disliked the student girls, but that was about it. ““All right, I don 't care,” she flashed back. Actually she had no idea what was wrong with girl students.” (CP 248/105), Shen wrote. In his story, Shen described the girl students as “denizens of a different world, with their extraordinary clothes and even more unthinkable behavior” (CP 249/106). The clothes they wore, their education, the way they interacted with men, and most of their habits were all different from the farmers’ – “… they were altogether peculiar, unlike countryfolk” (CP 249/107). However, as we read through the story, we will be able to see that what was deemed as a strange behavior by the Chinese community in the past, is something that we consider normal
The story started with a description of the typical arranged-marriage wedding day atmosphere; the sound of a suona announcing the arrival of the beautifully dressed bride as she was about to leave her parents’ house and sleep with a stranger to “bear an heir for his ancestors” (CP 247/102). Growing up as an orphan, Xiaoxiao was raised by her uncle and had no deep filial attachments with anyone. This caused her to develop an ignorant attitude; Shen mentioned that Xiaoxiao was different from the other child-brides, that she shed no tears on her wedding day as, “for her, marriage was simply moving from one home to another” (CP 247/103). At the age of twelve, Xiaoxiao bravely and compliantly married her two-year-old husband. She was more of a nanny than she was a wife as the marriage was not consummated until her husband was of the proper age; she played with him, fed him when he was hungry, comforted him when he cried, and helped with the household chores. During the time when the story was written, women of the Chinese society were often betrothed to men of a much younger age. Although this situation seems to be preposterous from a modern and non-Chinese perspective, an occasion like this was considered to be normal and morally acceptable in the past. Some argued that the concept of an arranged-marriage is not a matter …show more content…
Xiaoxiao, being young, naïve, and ignorant, made it easy for Huagou and granddad to tease her. Huagou was a farmhand who showed an interest in Xiaoxiao. He wooed her on every chance he had in order to get closer to her; he kept on singing her beautiful songs and it finally wore her down. Shen wrote that Huagou and Xiaoxiao became a couple while her husband was busy picking berries. As for granddad, he often made a passive-aggressive joke about the girl students. Although she did not quite get granddad’s teasing; she knew that he disliked the student girls, but that was about it. ““All right, I don 't care,” she flashed back. Actually she had no idea what was wrong with girl students.” (CP 248/105), Shen wrote. In his story, Shen described the girl students as “denizens of a different world, with their extraordinary clothes and even more unthinkable behavior” (CP 249/106). The clothes they wore, their education, the way they interacted with men, and most of their habits were all different from the farmers’ – “… they were altogether peculiar, unlike countryfolk” (CP 249/107). However, as we read through the story, we will be able to see that what was deemed as a strange behavior by the Chinese community in the past, is something that we consider normal