The Thin Horse Market

320 Words2 Pages
In pre-modern China, women did not have much say so in their lives. If a man’s wife failed to produce a male heir often they would purchase a concubine. There was a business in the town of Yangzhou that provided a service to wealthy men, where young women were provided to be concubines. This was called “The thin horse market.” The name alone suggests that the women were treated no better than animals. Men in China believed if no male heir was produced, that after their death their soul would remain on Earth as a wandering spirit or “hungry ghost”. This made it socially acceptable to take another woman as sort of a second wife. Often though, men would buy a concubine just because they could afford it or they just wanted one. Poor farmers sometimes would sell a young daughter into this industry so he would have enough money to pay his taxes. Also women were forced to bind their feet. This painful and deformative practice made women in China more marriageable. Chinese men preferred girls with small feet. These were terrible practices but most women in China agreed that they would be better off being a concubine to a wealthy man was preferable than staying on the farm and starving. Needless to say, Chinese women had no rights and were treated little better than animals. I am sure practices such as these were common all over the world at this time. Wealthy men even in the United States did similar things, such as the practice in New Orleans, La. of the” Quadroon Balls”. This was basically the same thing but with wealthy plantation owners keeping a woman of color as a concubine. These things were common in those times. Thank goodness for the suffrage movement and women proving that we can be equal to men. As the old slogan goes, “You’ve come a long way
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