A Critical Perspective on Confucianism: From Yin-Yang Harmony with Nature to Oppression Toward Women

1. A Critical Perspective on Confucianism: From Yin-Yang Harmony with Nature to Oppression Toward Women Sung Hyun Yun, PhD, MSW March 21st, 2012 Freed Orman Centre Assumption University Building

2. Acknowledgement 2011 – 2012 HRG Fellowship Humanities Research Group With special thanks to Dr. Antonio Rossini Director, Humanities Research Group Languages, Literatures & Cultures Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

3. Contents • Introduction • Purpose of the Study • Why Confucianism and gender? • Confucianism Ideology • From Yin -Yang(陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy • Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • Gender-Based Oppression • Footbindings and Female Infanticide • Conclusion • Implications/Limitations

4. Confucianism Ideology • The central doctrine of Confucianism encompasses goodness, benevolence, consideration, humanity, and kind-heartedness. • Related teachings emphasize such qualities as loyalty to government, respect for authority, reciprocity, self-cultivation, and neighborliness.

5. Goal of the Study • This study introduces basic concepts of Confucianism related to gender and their evolution, and explores its unique contribution to socio-cultural practices on gender-based oppression.

6. My Experience in Confucianism • Traditional Social Ethics • 男女七歲不同席 ([Nam Yeo Chil Se Bu Dong Seok]) – Boys and girls should not seat next to each other when they reach 7 years old. • Boys/girls only school • Different Gender Roles & Expectation • Kitchen • Military experience

7. My Experience in Confucianism • Old proverbs: • It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the rooster. • 三從 ([Sam Jong]: Three Submissions) 1) Women must be obedient to her father before being married, 2) Women must be obedient to her husband after being married, & 3) Women must be obedient to her son after her husband dies.

8. Professional Experience • BIP (Batterer Intervention Program)

9. Confucianism in East Asia • The Asian culture is not homogenous: nonetheless, gender-based studies, such as violence against women, show certain common characteristics within the diverse Asian cultural traditions and customs. • A study on Asian family violence in Massachusetts found that Cambodian respondents generally believed that women had no right to divorce and should not leave an abusive husband (Yoshioka, Dang, Shewmangal, Chan, & Tan, 2009).

10. Confucianism in East Asia • Asian women are more likely to be held responsible for marital problems (Caplan, 1987). • Asian women report that they would ‘talk softly” and/or “do nothing” (D’Avanzo, Frye, & Froman, 1994, p. 72). • Vietnamese respondents believed that a husband was the home ruler with the right to discipline his wife and that wives deserved beatings (Yoshioka et al., 2009).

11. Confucianism in East Asia • Patriarchal beliefs play an important role in domestic abuse (Bui, 1999). • Some prominent Korean cultural factors and family values may influence the development of attitudes supportive of family violence (Rhee, 1996).

12. Confucianism in East Asia • Asian American subgroups share certain common characteristics originating from agricultural backgrounds such as Buddhism and Confucianism (Lee, 1997). • Confucian civilization is coessential with the East Asian region (Rozman, 1991).

13. Confucianism in East Asia  Literature on gender-specific problems in the Asian communities can be explained by a certain cultural commonality imbedded in their lifestyle, their ways of thinking, their behavior, and their relationships with others.

14. Research Inquiry • The author hypothesizes that Confucianism infuses such Asian cultural norms as respect for authority, hierarchy, family dependence, and role expectations based on age, gender, and social class. • Confucianism’s ying-yang harmony with nature was evolved into gender-based oppression toward women.

15. Research Method • Historical and Critical Analysis on Confucian Texts & Case Examples • Using one of the most important ancient Chinese classical writings such as Wujing (五經: the Five Classics) and Nusishu (女四書: the Four Books for Women) • Case Examples • The Chinese Footbinding Tradition • Female Infanticide

16. Research Method • Wujing (五經: the Five Classics) are one of the most important ancient Chinese classical writings. • The Five Classics formed the core curriculum in the education of Chinese people/scholars throughout most of the imperial period According to such as Wujing (五經: Five Classics),

17. Research Method • The Five Classics include: • Yinjing(易經: Book of Change), • Shijing (詩經: Book of Odes), • Liji(禮記: Book of Rites), • Shujing(書經: Book of History), and • Chunqiu Fanlu (春秋繁露: Luxuriant Dew of The Spring and Autumn Annals)

18. Research Method • Nusishu (女四書:Four Books for Women) • The influence of Confucianism on women’s social relations can be specifically found in various classic Confucian texts, especially in Nusishu (女四書:Four Books for Women), the standard text, first compiled as a collection by Wang Xiang (1789 – 1852) in the mid-Qing (清, 1616 – 1912) (Rosenlee, 2006).

19. Research Method • Nusishu (女四書:Four Books for Women) were • Specialized writings on the education of women • Their objectives lay in expounding the proper behavior for the female sex to promote the character model of "wise and worthy wives and good mothers.” • (e.g., the "three submissions” promoted by the Confucian school)

20. Research Method • Nusishu (女四書:Four Books for Women) includes: • Nujie (女誡: Admonitions for Women), • Nulunyn (女論語: Analects for Women), • Neixun (內訓: Instruction for the Inner Quarters), and • Nufan jielu (女範捷錄: Concise Selection of Model Women).

21. Confucianism Ideology • K'ung Fu Tzu (commonly pronounced “Confucius” in English) was born in 551 BCE in Shantung Province, China. • Confucius (551 BCE – 479 BCE) conceived of a system of moral wisdom in the “Spring and Autumn Period” (春秋時代; 770 BCE – 476 BCE) in ancient China.

22. Confucianism Ideology • For over 2,500 years Confucianism has been one of the most predominant social norms, political ideologies, cultural traditions, educational systems, and ethical standards to have influenced the thoughts and behavior of people in East Asia • Confucianism is primarily a Chinese tradition but its influence has spread throughout East Asia.

23. Confucianism Ideology • This region includes the East Asian countries (China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) and the Southeast Asian countries (Vietnam and Singapore). Source: Wikipedia

24. Confucianism Ideology • It has been formulated, adapted, and transformed through interactions with other schools of religion and philosophy such as Legalism, Monism, Taoism, Buddhism, etc. (Yao, 2000).

25. Yin Yang Binary As A Harmony • One of the most important concepts of Confucianism as it relates to gender is the yin-yang (陰-陽) binary. • “Yin (陰)”, etymologically, means the shady side of the mountain and “yang (陽)” means the sunny side (e.g., Rubin, 1982).

26. Yin Yang Binary As A Harmony • The yin-yang relation is a cosmic concept that is cyclic, complementary, and correlative, but not oppositional and contradictory (Rosenlee, 2006). • The dual cosmic forces of the yin and yang are understood to compose the universe in an unending chain.

27. Yin Yang Binary As A Harmony • This philosophical system, based on a correlative dualism, is approved and utilized by both Confucianists and Taoists (see Gulik, 1961). Source: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/yinyang.htm Tai-Chi symbol What are the examples of yin and yang harmony?

29. From Yin-Yang (陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy • Despite the complementary nature of the yin-yang union, a confucianized Chinese society consigned yang to male and yin to female. • The quality of yang is rigidity that is linked to strength of men, whereas yin’s quality is yielding that is associated with gentleness and weakness of women (Swann, 1968).

30. From Yin-Yang (陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy • In Wujing (the Five Classics), the yin and yang analogies were described as hierarchal and gender-based. Social meaning… • tian (heaven)/yang/nan (man) are privileged over di (earth)/yin/nu (woman)” (Rosenlee, 2006, p. 55).

31. From Yin-Yang (陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy • “… All things end and begin by following yang. …Men, however mean, are in all cases yang; women, however hobble, are all yin … Categories of evil all are yin, whereas categories of good all are yang; yang is a matter of virtue (de 德), yin is a matter of punishment (xing 刑).” (Chunqiu Fanlu, cited in Raphals, 1998, p. 163)

32. From Yin-Yang (陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy • A song in the Shijing (詩經: Book of Odes) demonstrates how an infant boy was treated preferentially opposed to a girl, denoting the gender-based status and destiny in future life:

33. From Yin-Yang (陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy “When a son is born, he is cradled on the bed.He is clothed in robes, given a jade scepter as toy.His lusty cries portend his vigour, he shall wear bright, red knee-caps, shall be the lord of a house. When a daughter is born, she is cradled on the floor.She is clothed in swaddling-bands, given a loom as toy.She shall wear no badges of honour shall only take care of food and drink,and not cause trouble to her parents.” (Book of Odes, no. 189 cited by Gulik, 1961, pp. 15-16)

34. From Yin-Yang (陰-陽) Harmony to Gender Hierarchy • The value of a clever woman is also depreciated in Shijing: • A clever man builds strong ramparts, a clever woman overthrows them. Beautiful is the clever wife, but her heart as cruel as that of the owl. Women with long tongues are harbingers of evil.Disasters are not sent down from heaven, they originate in wives. (Book of Odes, no. 264, cited by Gulik, 1961, p. 29)

35. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • Nusishu’s teaching was so highly valued that both literate men and women started their education with these four books (Lee, 1994). • The major goal of Nusishu was to inculcate the character model for “wise and worthy wives and good mothers” promoted by the Confucian school in a feudal society (Mingqi, 1987, “The Four Books for Women,” para.1).

36. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • Women were expected to be entirely subservient to men, and their greatest virtue was supposed to be self-sacrifice for the benefit of men (Morgan, 2001). • Several chapter titles in each of the Nusishu, - “Humble Yielding,” “Bending in Submission,” “Serving the Husband,” “Filial Actions,” and “Being faithful to the Dead.”

37. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • Male superiority and female obedience are spelled out in a practical and detailed manner in Nujie (女誡: Admonitions for Women).

38. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • Nujie says that: • “Though a boy is born like a wolf, it is still feared that he may grow up to be like a worm, and yet though a girl is born like a mouse, it is still feared that she may grow up to be like a tiger” (originally Swann, 1968, p. 85 cited from Lee, 1994, p. 12).

39. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • The importance of obedience as a daughter, mother, and wife was codified in the guiding principle of Sam Jong (三從; Three Submissions). • Sam Jong states that a young girl should obey her father, a married woman should obey her husband, and a widow should obey her oldest son (e.g., Ho, 1990; Johnson, 1983; Kim, 1979).

40. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • Such cases for expelling a wife [Qichu (七出; Seven Reasons for Expelling One’s Wife)] included • disobedience to the husband’s parents, • failing to bear a son, • adultery, • jealousy, • contracting a harmful disease, • malicious gossip, and • theft (Park & Cho, 1995, p. 125).

41. Women as Daughters, Wives, and Mothers • A woman faced constant fear of being divorced and abandoned by her husband (Park & Cho, 1995). • Specifically, the fact that a woman could be expelled from home because of not having a boy baby, while having no right to repudiate her husband (Verschuur-Basse, 1996), was an obvious example of gender-based discrimination in Confucian society.

42. Case Example: Footbindings • Women, especially upper-class women, were physically restricted to the boundaries of the house and often relegated to a certain part of the house. • This social constraint is predominantly reflected in the traditional Chinese practice of Footbinding.

43. Footbindings • A young girl’s feet were tightly bound by bandages so that her feet did not grow, and the bone structure would become deformed. Source: Wikipedia

44. Footbindings • Although the origin of footbinding is empirically unknown, mothers in the Song dynasty (宋朝; 960 – 1279) began to bind their daughters’ feet to increase the opportunities in the marriage market because small feet had a strong erotic appeal to men (Ko, 2002).

45. Footbindings • The harmful consequences of footbinding such as pain, immobility, and disability were accepted in most of China (except in some areas where it was customary for women to work in the field as a normal part of childhood for girls at least until the twentieth century) (Davin, 1976).

46. Footbindings • Despite being prohibited from 1911, this social custom was still practiced in some northern villages of China in the 1930s and only slowly extinguished (Davin, 1976; Snow, 1939, 1967). • Footbinding, a thousand year old Chinese institution, is believed to be one of the most brutal and inhumane practices affecting women (Johnson, 1983; Ko, 2002).

47. Female Infanticide • A more recent example of systematic oppression toward women in China is well evinced by female infanticide practice. • This practice is one of the by-products of the one-child policy that has been implemented since the late 1970s.

48. Female Infanticide • Do you know how many people are living in the world? • How about Canada? • How about China?

49. Female Infanticide

50. Female Infanticide • To decrease the population growth as well as to diminish socio-economic and environmental problems in China, this family planning policy restricts married couples to have only one child, except for special circumstances, such as living in rural areas, members of ethnic minority groups, and couples who do not have any siblings (“China Sets Up,” 2000).