gic awareness that one's deepest, truest, and most sincere aspirations for fulfillment will be forever thwarted.
On what grounds did this abhorrent practice rest? Predating Confucianism were ancient beliefs about man, the earth, and the cosmos that have had such a powerful thrust among the Chinese that they have persisted for thousands of years - even to the present day.
The wise man founded the city, but the wise woman destroys it. Alas! This wise woman, a bird of evil omen is she! A woman with a long tongue is surely a stepping stone to ruin. Disaster does not stem from heaven, it comes from woman (Li Yu-ning, 1992, 5).
Such comments are typical of those expressed about the female sex generation after generation by both male and female story-tellers. Legends, myths, songs, adages, proverbs, and folk wisdom all endlessly embroidered variations on this theme. A primal duality of opposites ruled the universe, called yin and yang. Sun, heaven, and daylight were all male, while the moon, the night, and darkness female. The male was authoritative, active, and superior, and the woman subservient, obedient, and passive (Croll, 1995, 12).
Such dichotomies were felt to be integral to cosmic order, essential to the preservation of harmony in the universe and among men. Peace and prosperity in the world were "dependent on the maintenance of such complimentarity" (Croll, 1995, 13). The most ancient and influential Chinese text, the Book of Changes, associated "unrestrained woman and destruction and disorder"; she was supposed to be "obedient, unassuming, yielding, timid, respectful, reticent, and selfless"(Croll, 1995, 12). Her prime duty was to follow the Three Obediences - to father, older brothers, and sons. Her total compliance with these selfless and often degrading rules was a recipe for what today we would call low self-esteem.
A woman was required to be flawlessly chaste and constant. If her husband were to die, she must nev...