Opinion | No place in modern China for women’s morality classes that seek to turn the clock back, 70 years after Mao proclaimed equality
- Feudal notions of ‘female virtue’, chastity and submissiveness are rearing their ugly heads across the country as more turn to outdated ideas of morality to address a growing discomfort with permissiveness in society
When Confucianism scholar An Deyi spoke of “female virtue”, he illustrated this with many examples, including this one: “A complaining woman ruins a family for three generations.” His lecture, delivered not in feudal China but this year, at the reputable Huazhong Normal University in central Wuhan, was met with outrage.
An, a visiting lecturer, was meant to talk about traditional culture. Afterwards, many undergraduates, male and female, unleashed their frustration, confusion and anger on the university’s online platform. “Is this really traditional Chinese culture? It feels like feudal dross,” one wrote.
Disturbingly, such morality teachings are gaining popularity across China.
In feudal China, the morality code for women revolved around “the three obediences and four virtues”. A woman owed her obedience to her father, then to her husband after marriage, then to her sons after her husband died. She was also expected to uphold moral virtues, and be virtuous in speech, appearance and domestic duty.
