Ailin is a very strong representation of a heroine, she saw the need to break Chinese tradition that was carried on for many centuries, she did this for the for the moral and physical good, she supported and understood the revolution because it would bring change and she never gave up when things got tough. When Ailin broke tradition for the moral and physical good by not giving into society’s rules and regulations, she was then unable to preform the functions of an upper class Chinese woman. These women had small, delicate bound feet by having bones broken and fractured they were unable to do work and manual labor, because of this they stayed at home and rarely went out. Since Ailin forbid herself from getting this done she was free, to walk, run and play with the boys. In doing so she became more independent and stronger on her own.
Marriages were arranged in ancient China but they were also carefully considered. Women were portrayed as “objects”. To make sure that they would not run off, their feet would bound. Feet were a sacred body part and once married were not to be shown or reveled unless in the bed of their husband. The role of the man was taken very seriously as they were considered to be the most intelligent and held the most wisdom.
A woman’s position in China during the sixteen hundreds was drastically different than that of contemporary Western society. Rights and recourses for women were typically one-dimensional, and were not often in their favor. At the same time, women were not ostracized from society, and the anecdotes in The Death of Woman Wang often demonstrate the way women were able to exhibit power and strength within their societal role. The purveying sense of what a woman’s role in Chinese society demanded was that of exemplarily virtue. It was her virtue that defined whether she was to be esteemed or denounced.
Confucianism gave women a lesser importance in society than men. Whereas, Taoism was more about the 'self' than the society, while also giving equal importance to bot the sexes. Both philosophies also had several similarities. The biggest one being their teachings, a lot of which were taken from scriptures that already existed. Confucius himself admitted that what he taught wasn't anything new.
The people of China have been most influenced by Confucian ideas, and during the Han Dynasty Confucianism became part of the official education. Since Confucianism was being taught widespread it influenced the minds of the Chinese people enormously. Something the Confucian ideals taught was that women must hold a position that has less power than men, lowering the status of women. The only way a women could gain any type of respect was by birthing a son. It was taught that women should not have any type of rule and no one should care about a women’s ideas.
According to Chua there are three differences that cause the Chinese mothers to be “superior.” First, Chinese parents don’t care as much about their kid’s self-esteem as Western mothers do. Second, Chinese parents assert that any goal their kids reach is all thanks to their parents. Lastly, Chinese parents are sure that they always know what is best for them. Western parents might see some of these as unacceptable, and even in some ways abusive, but according to Chua, these are the things that make Chinese mothers have such successful children. One of the things Chinese mothers seem to be very good at compared to
Confucianism was mainly concerned with the five relationships; ruler to minister, father to son, older brother to younger brother, husband to wife, and friend to friend. Within these five relationships women are only referred to once and that is in a subordinate relationship to her husband, thus validating the claim that women held zero power in Tang society. Confucianism is extremely stringent upon knowing ones place in society and gives power to the one that holds a higher status in regards to the five relationships. In Tang China women were not revered as equals to men they were their subordinates and the Chinese conception of gender roles at the time was that the “male was venerated and the female is denigrated.” In all aspects of society women were separate; they even had their own versions of the Confucian Classics. The role of women in Tang society was to fulfill their duties within the household and respect their male superiors.
She places the blame on both men and women. She implies that educated women should know when their human rights are being taken, reminding the reader that Western women are offended by the veil but are also demeaning themselves by being something they are not, by sacrifcing their happiness for a societal ideal. But men are alsoto blame. Mernissi uses Chinese footbinding as her example of a shameful beauty pactice supported by society. She says, ”Chinese men did not force women to bandage their feet to keep them from developing normally—all they did was to define the beauty ideal.” In other words, if you support an unfair practice or unfair beauty standards, then you are part of the problem even if you do not say anything directly.Mernissi also gives some history in her article as well, reminding readers that as beauty standards have changed over the year, presenting thinner and thinner women as the “ideal”,
Since majority of Chinese parents set such high standards for their children’s social life, academics, and extracurricular activities, it makes them better parents than most Western parents. In most cases, strict parenting involves parents having the responsibility to impose rules and guidelines for their children’s social life. If not, most parents feel that their children will take advantage of their free time, and utilize it in an unnecessary manner. For example, “It drew from studies which had shown that girls whose parents were 'mediocre' were more likely to experience 'significantly more internalizing problems such as low self-esteem or the use of illicit drugs'.” (Clark, 2009). Clearly, this shows that studies prove that due to ‘mediocre’ parents having less involvement in their children’s social life, will lead their children to making immature decisions that they may regret.
Another reason why both parents should assume equal responsibility in raising a child is because children need love. Love, not just child need love, everyone need love too, but children have a special case. Persons just need one love in their life but children need 2 love in their life, one from their mother and another one from their father. As long as that condition is accomplished children will stay in right way, but if that condition is unaccomplished children will stuck in wrong way. So, both mother and father love can make children have good mental, attitude, and behavior.