Book Review·Pingshu｜Gallis on the Status of Women in the Late Qing Dynasty

"Historic China, and Other Sketches" was published in 1882, and it is a description of the world situation in China by Galis. The whole book introduces the scenes of China in the late Qing Dynasty in the eyes of the diplomat Gilles from every aspect you can think of, from dentistry to Chinese New Year, from women's status to guild pawnshops, the list goes on and on. In the past, I wrote about Gilles’ fair discussion of the tradition of infanticide in late Qing China. Today, I happened to see his discussion of the status of women in late Qing China in this book, and I think it is worth sorting out here.

"Knowledge" and "Ignorance" in the boudoir

The last two sentences of the chapter "The Position of Women" are like this 👇

“One of the happiest moments a Chinese woman knows, is when the family circle gathers round husband, brother, or it may be son, and listens with rapt attention and wondering credibility to a favorite chapter from the "Dream of the Red Chamber." She believes it every word, and wanders about these realms of fiction with as much confidence as was ever placed by western child in the marvelous stories of the "Arabian Nights."

—— "Historic China, and other sketches" Herbert Allen Giles

Therefore, after discussing the overall status of Chinese women, Galis said that the happiest moment Chinese women know is when the whole family sits around and listens attentively to the chapters in A Dream of Red Mansions. Gilles felt that the Chinese woman who listened to the story must believe every word in the story, and compared this intoxication for the story with the Western children who listened to "Arabian Nights".

Gilles has his reasons for making such a comparison. In "The Status of Women," he talks about the status of women in late Qing Dynasty China through the distinction of social class. When it comes to women from wealthy families, Gilles observes,

She is represented as a mere ornament, or a soulless, listless machine—something on which the sensual eye of her opium-smoking lord may rest with pleasure while she prepares the fumes which will waft him to another hour or so of tipsy forgetfulness. knows nothing, she is taught nothing, never leaves the house, never sees friends, or hears the news; she is, consequently, devoid of the slightest intellectual effort, and no more a companion to her husband than the stone dog at his front gate .

Therefore, Chinese women in wealthy families are like decorations, decorations, and accessories of their husbands in the boudoir, and these women who have been stripped of their intelligence can naturally be compared with Western children who listen to the story of "Arabian Nights" —they were not treated as separate individuals.

In a patriarchal society, "A woman's ignorance is virtue" means "she doesn't know anything, and she hasn't learned anything" in Gilles's pen. Such a woman is similar to the stone lion at the door.

Comparing people to things makes me uncomfortable in most cases. At least, this is an extreme compression of a person's humanity, shrinking to nothingness, becoming an object. Sometimes I feel like this comparison is a kind of deepest disappointment, a hopeless sigh at the complete annihilation of human curiosity, the desire to explore and learn. It has to be said that people gain nourishment from communication and are constantly hurt by communication. It really seems to be a paradox that must be faced after birth, and no one can escape. Women, being locked in the boudoir, is it a blessing or a curse?

However, for women from poor families at the bottom of society, Galis has a different attitude. For women from poor families, Galis mentioned the traditional Chinese culture of "supporting" and helping each other among extended families. Because of this, Gilles said that in the late Qing Dynasty, there were far fewer homeless people on the streets than in Europe, and women in the same social class lived better than their European "sisters".

Revisiting China's "Girl Baby Problem"

As I wrote before, Gillis scoffed at the Chinese patriarchal and female infanticide traditions recorded by many "foreigners". In the chapter "Female Children", he called this misunderstanding " trashing ". Serious is a word. In the book "A Sketch of China", Galis once again stated that not all Chinese parents are so extreme that they would kill their baby girls, and there are still a large part of Chinese parents who are happy with the birth of a baby girl. In addition to not giving red eggs to relatives and friends like a baby boy, parents will still be happy and give the baby girl a milk name on the third day according to the tradition, and rub a grain of boiled rice on the baby girl's earlobe to make the earlobe happy through rubbing. After numbing, the baby girl's ear is pierced with a needle threaded through an oiled string.

In fact, I agree with Gilles' fair view in this respect. Regarding the parents who can kill female infants, I do not deny that there must be, from the late Qing Dynasty to the present, it has always been the result of culture, even the culture of a large area, but if it is generalized Involving all parents is not true.

However, sometimes I admire Gilles' self-confidence. After all, China in the late Qing Dynasty was considered a big place. Every foreigner saw and experienced something very different. Naturally, what was recorded was also different. Same. Gilles is more resolute in defending his point of view. Starting from the chapter "Status of Women", he uses "misunderstanding" to summarize other people's views, and even "trashing", which may be a bit too much. However, he never denied it. He just put forward his own views on the issue of infanticide or the status of women in the records, and felt that other people may not fully understand it. How to put it, in my opinion, it can still be attributed to " Fair".

In my eyes, Gillis is a bit like Mark Twain in China . His writing is humorous, he travels in China, and he has a deep understanding of China. Reminds me of Mark Twain's Travels in Europe. Of course, Gillis did not laugh at Chinese like Mark Twain laughed at German. On the contrary, he learned Chinese and has in-depth research on the Chinese language. Even the pinyin system he invented is still in use today.

In the future, I will continue to record Late Qing China and interesting small cases described by Gilles. ☺️