Women’s oppression and Chinese characters

Dantong

American historian and feminist theorist Joan Scott (1994) proposed that the analysis of language provides a starting point for understanding how social relations are conceived and how collective identity is established. French feminists also argue that language, signs, and symbols are keys to understanding gender construction (Kristeva, Jardine, & Blake, 1981; Cixous & Kuhn, 1981 ), English and American feminist linguists have discussed the substance of the English language as literally man made and under male control (Spender & Bardin, 1985; Penelope, 1990). As for Chinese, the analysis of Chinese characters and idioms can provide the context for understanding the historical construction of gender roles, and the ideas that inform the oppression of women in ancient Chinese society. I will give some specific examples in Chinese to further illustrate it.

The ancient Chinese character for female (女, this is the simplified Chinese character for female) consists of a pictographic representation of a person kneeling with hands folded, a pose seen as a form of submission. 

Gender construction for females starts early in ancient China. At the age of seven, girls are supposed to be separated from boys in all the social activities. As the saying goes, “男女有别” (nan nü you bie)—male and female have separate spheres. A woman lives with two families during her lifetime—in her family-of-origin and marital homes (Wolf, 1972). A woman is thought to marry into her husband’s family, so the character “female”(女：nü) plus “home”(家：jia) conveys the word meaning marriage (嫁: jia). 

After she is married, she becomes a wife or woman (妇：fu). This character consists of a female with a broom, signifying submission and the duty to do housework; hence, it demonstrates a gender division of labor. 

Once married and under her husband’s roof, the wife’s condition is identified as being content and safe (安：an).

Three women together are up to something wicked and treacherous (奸：jian). 

A good and capable wife is described as being successful because of the activities of domestic service. She will be praised as “贤内助” (xian nei zhu). However, a man’s achievements do not include credit for the assistance and sacrifices he has received from his wife.

The semantic stem of female (女：nü) is mated with other signs to become an accomplice for the oppression of women in ancient China (Fan, C. C. 1996). There are about 250 characters containing the form of female (女：nü). Some of them are descriptive, others are complimentary of woman’s physical attributes. The rest of them have negative meanings such as cunning and deviousness of speech (佞：ning)；

treacherous, and evil (奸：jian); seductive and evil (妖：yao); preposterous and arrogant (妄：wang); and ambitious and avaricious (贪婪：tan lan). A woman and a door mean jealousy (妒：du), one of the undesirable characteristics of women in a polygynous society (a form of plural marriage, in which a man is allowed to marry more than one wife). A woman (女) and a hand (手) means servant (奴：nü). 

A heart written below the character “奴” (nu) makes the verb for becoming angry (怒：nü). This might be because women who lose their temper easily are difficult to get along with. 

A woman under a spear means male power and authority (威：wei): men assert their authority by subjugating women through physical force. 

Male dominance and female subordination are evident in such idioms as “男尊女卑” (nan zun nü bei)—males respected, females despised; “男女”(nan nü)—male and female; “夫妇”(fufu)—husband and wife; and “儿女”(er nü)—son and daughter. This kind of lexical usage even appears in a phrase meant to express gender equality, “男女平等”(nan nü ping deng), however, the male character is always placed first. The idiom “夫唱妇随”(fu chang fu sui)—”When husband calls, wife follows” reflects the superiority of men and the inferiority of wives at home. There are many other terms that describe women in specifically negative ways: “女人善变”(nü ren shan bian)—woman’s heart and moods shift quickly; “最毒妇人心”(zui du fu ren xin )—woman’s heart is most evil; “女人祸水”(nü ren huo shui)—women are a cause of troubles; or, she is a “母夜叉” (mu ye cha)—a frightful, malicious, ugly woman. Traditionally, women were supposed not to be seen and heard in public. If a woman expressed her opinion, it would be considered as just a “妇人之见”(fu ren zhi jian)—”woman’s expression”. If she tried to show compassion like an ideal Confucian scholar, what she did would be described as a “妇人之仁”(fu ren zhi ren)—”woman’s kindness.”

However, after the reforms, revolution, and the women’s rights movements in the twentieth century, some new idioms came up to describe Chinese women such as “女人能顶半边天”(nü ren neng ding ban bian tian)—women can hold up half of the sky. Since the 1980s, in the wake of widespread social and economic transformation, women have tried to reestablish and redefine gender roles and relationships. There are increasing numbers of women entrepreneurs starting their own businesses and managing their own companies. They are described in a newly emerged word as “女强人” (nü jiang ren)—strong women. 

Nowadays, we can see that the Chinese writing system which is by and for men still serves to maintain patterns of behavior that reflect gender inequality. However, we should also recognize that social change creates linguistic and behavioral changes. It is possible for women to seek equality by starting changing language and its usages. Once Chinese women expose the falseness of existing male meanings and encode their own language, a more objective society might be ultimately achieved.

References

Cixous, H., & Kuhn, A. (1981). Castration or decapitation? Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 7(1), 41-55.

Fan, C. C. (1996). Language, gender, and Chinese culture. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 10(1), 95-114.

Kristeva, J., Jardine, A., & Blake, H. (1981). Women’s time. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 7(1), 13-35.

Penelope, J. (1990). Speaking freely: Unlearning the lies of the father’s tongues.

Scott, J. W.(1994).Deconstructing equality-versus-difference: Or, the uses of poststructuralist theory for feminism Joan W. Scott. The postmodern turn: New perspectives on social theory, 15, 282.

Spender, D., & Bardin, N. (1985). Man made language.

Wolf, M. (1972). Women and the family in rural Taiwan. Stanford University Press.