In many early Chinese portraits, women were often depicted as weak and fragile individuals. The physical weakness opened them to the hostility of men and slowly became a subject of family violence. In Zhou dynasty, when a husband struck his wife, no charge was pressed upon the man; whereas when a woman struck another man, she was to be punished and humiliated. In addition, because of their physical attractiveness and sexuality, women were thought as a form of evil that could potentially lure man into ruins. Many books draws on a historical context in which Daji, the concubine of the last king of Shang, lured the king into being obsessed with her and therefore, dilapidated country’s affairs.
In the words of Tacitus, “she could give her son the empire, but not endure him as emperor”. The “Empire was ruled by a woman” (Grant) as during Nero’s early reign, Agrippina achieved her height of political dominance “ruling through her son” (Scullard) over foreign affairs. This is evidenced through Narcissus and Silanus sentencing to death, without Nero’s knowledge. Nero exemplifies her power by making the first password to the tribune of the watch “optimum mater” translating to ‘best of mothers’. The most damming evidence which supports Agrippina’s power and authority can be seen in the numismatic evidence with silver and gold coins displaying Agrippina and Nero face to face and of equal size on the obverse in 54AD and showing them side to side in 55AD.
It should be recognised that before Chiang became ruler, there were many domestic problems which overshadowed China which created an unstable society. China was in desperate need for reform, democracy and strong leadership after the torment of the warlord era. China’s most major domestic problem was undoubtedly the warlords which had shattered and fragmented China and had led to political unrest. Chiang was able to launch an offensive called the Northern Expedition to remove the warlords and their hold over China with an alliance with the CCP. This had a massive impact on the country as it had successfully stopped civil and political unrest which had previously been threating the harmony of the country.
However, China's revolution differed because the initial democratic establishment led to opposition from the Communist party while the formation of the U.S.S.R faced minimal opposition. In China, the Qing dynasty was ineffective, instead of trying to modernized as early as possible, it squandered what remained of its wealth and in doing so led to heavy losses in influence and power. Similarly, in Russia, The Tsars became ineffective, the decision to enter World War I had brought Russia to its knees socially, politically and economically. The Tsars also faced many scandals that would deface their influence in Russian cities. It was due to these reasons that both China and Russia were seeking to replace the government in power with new ones that would appeal to the population's demands.
During this time period, Chinese states were at war for control over the Zhou Dynasty, this led to Han Fei raising questions whether or not complying with Confucian ideals that state proper behavior could create a stable and peaceful society (Han, 1939). Both societies relied on harsh punishments to keep their community orderly. As stated by Han Fei, developing laws with unambiguous punishments and rewards was the one and only way to attain a powerful society. For example, “people caught opposing the government would instantly be disciplined by being burned alive, boiled to death in pots, or have their hands cut off.” These ideas were very similar to the ones stated in Hammurabi’s Code, “If a man breaks into a house,
Martha felt the government was out to get her, because she was a successful woman in a business world of men. Martha was fairly and appropriately targeted because of her celebrity. Maintaining ethical and legal norms is one of the jobs of the government, and the prosecution of prominent people makes a much greater impact on everyone else than the anonymous prosecution of an average citizen. Cheating and lying to the government about it is, sadly, too widespread to apprehend everyone doing it. The next best thing is to make an example out of a famous person like Martha.
Medea is alienated by society because she is an intelligent, foreign, powerful woman. The first reason Medea is shunned is her gender. In the patriarchal society of Ancient Greece, femininity is a faux pas on its own. On top of being a woman, though, she is clever and intelligent; these qualities were not admirable in a woman of her time. King Creon states that “a sharp tempered woman, or for that matter a man, is easier to deal with than the clever type who hold her tongue.” Medea is, in fact, clever enough to hold her tongue and stay quiet.
Though this proposition is correct, I argue that the decentralization of the Chinese system of governance was an integral reason for its inability to cope with the challenges posed by modern nation-states. This decentralization is characterized by many factors including internal social unrest, lack of strong leadership, corruption, and traditional ideals. The already decentralized, corrupt state was thus easily exploited by modern imperialist powers due to their superior military technology and organization. Eventually, China’s decline and successive defeats led to the fall of the last Chinese empirical dynasty. To begin, it is necessary to have a strong understanding of China’s background as an empire and what led to its decline during this period.
Most of Chiang’s policies were relatively successful, if not extremely promising, but it is the moral low ground of these schemes that could prove unsuccessful in hindsight. The social element of Chiang’s policies were probably is most sought after, as he sole aim was to unify China under one centralised, capitalist government. He realised his vision successfully through the use of several projects, notably manipulating and overthrowing the provincial warlords. Chiang, as well as the rest of the GMD, realised that the last thing between China and a unified government was the warlords – Chiang rightfully concluded they simply had to be ousted, otherwise China would continue to be the fragmented nation that it was. Chiang’s clever strategy was invaluable, as the Kuomintang had come the closest to a centralised government since the Qing Dynasty, by successfully using Feng Yuxiang, who negotiated with both the Wuhan GMD and Chiang’s
Her use of Naval funds to build her summer palace affected China's naval strength and helped to cause her defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). However, Cixi herself declared reforms after the Boxer Rebellion (1900). But her purpose was to strengthen the Manchu regime in the face of growing discontent and an approaching revolution rather than from any ideological intentions to modernise China. Because of her ignorant and blindly anti-foreign persuasions, she believed in the magic power of the Boxers and encouraged their anti-foreign activities. This led to the Eight Power Expedition (1900) to Beijing and the harsh terms of the subsequent Boxer Protocol.