Construction of Womanhood in Confucian Texts for Girls.docVIP

Construction of Womanhood in Confucian Texts for Girls 　　[a] School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, BURWOOD 3125, VIC, Australia. 　　*Corresponding author. 　　Received 21 July 2012; accepted 2 October 2012. 　　Abstract 　　An investigation in the construction of womanhood in Confucian texts is important to our understanding of the cry for social and economic equality for women in the twentieth century, yet little has been done to analyse the didactic nature of these texts. In pre-modern China, women were expected to demonstrate obedience to male members of the family at every stage of life. As children, girls were required to obey their fathers; as wives, women were required to obey their husbands; and as widows, women were required to obey their adult sons. At no point in her life, according to the Confucian view, was a woman expected to function as an autonomous being, free of male control. This study examines major Confucian texts for girls in order to shed light on their nature of the repressive social hierarchy dominated by males. 　　Key words: Confucianism; Moral education; Chastity; Filial piety; Gender 　　Xiangshu FANG (2012). Construction of Womanhood in Confucian Texts for Girls. Studies in Literature and Language, 5(2), -0. Available from /index.php/sll/view/j.sll.1923156320120502.738 　　DOI: 10.3968/j.sll.1923156320120502.738 　　INTRODUCTION 　　The origins of Confucianism were heavily based on ancient cosmology, derived from the early agricultural practices along the Yellow River valley. This ancient cosmology is itself characterised by a deep belief that the world is the product of two interacting, complementary elements: yin and yang. All things female, dark, weak, and passive are attributable to yin, whereas yang is characteristically male, bright, strong and active. Whilst the attribution of both male and female are necessary and complement one another, yin, by nature, is said to be passive to yang. Base