China’s New Wealth Spurs a Market for Mistresses, Essay Example

Within the context of the presentations that were seen and read, it has been pointed out that the Chines community’s view of women particularly implicates a sense of change especially in the way they are valued as vital members of the community. Women were gradually allowed to become part of the force that initiates a sense of transformation in the community. Considerably, it could be realized that it is with such essence of desire to embrace progress that the emergence of good control towards a definite course of new ways of recognizing the power of women is given birth. The proper indication of such transformation in the society insists on how women have accepted the challenges of becoming a part of a modern society through time.

With the emergence of one cultural administrator upon another, the Chinese community has gradually seen how women took different standing from one administration to another and somehow, this aspect of development continued to assist the Chinese community in embracing a new concept of developing a better sense of themselves and the ways by which they make sense of how they welcome the concept of globalization in the country and among the people.

The difference on the way urban and rural women face the situation of transformational change in the Chinese community gives distinct indication on how the female population does insist on the way the said communities identify well with the essence of globalization. Practically, people have become more insistent in making sure that they are able to embrace global competitiveness based on the cultural distinction they have in relation to the  improvement of social status of the female members of the society. The practicality of transformations is usually based on the culture primarily embraced by the said individuals in the past.

The Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong tried to change women’s status through promulgating new laws and assigning women new roles in society. It did not succeed in all it attempted to do. How did the Communist Party’s attempts affect rural and urban women? Did they affect their lives in the same way?  If so, how? If not, why not?

True to its sense, Mao Zedong’s communist party has changed the overall vision of how the role of the Chinese women’s role in the society is identified accordingly. Instead of simply giving attention to the idea that women are mere complement to men, Mao Zedong’s arrangement assisted women to take on new roles, to realize more about their real worth as members of the developing community.

This campaign from the country’s strongest leader has largely affect the overall understanding of the community with regards the real worth of women. Unlike other leaders in the country, it could be understood that Mao Zedong saw the possibility of empowering the whole society while he tries to improve the way women are seen to have a greater impact on how they live their lives and how they use to build their families and their communities all at the same time. No, Mao Zedong did not aim for the insistence of women overpowering the role of men, he still believes on the leadership of men, however he sees the capacity of the women to do something more than just stay at home and take care of the children and manage the home.

Nevertheless, the goals of Mao Zedong were not reached accordingly as planned. Although he wanted so much to get the women involved in the system, the oppressive state that the women had to deal with specifically did not allow them to become more involved in the situation which supposedly gives them the chance to take on more serious courses of developmental operations in par with what the men do. Notably, it could be realized that with such contention of the situation, women were given the chance to grow but within limited courses of progress alone, putting them in function within small market places where they are able to earn meager profit from the operation. Nevertheless, no matter how supposedly small their role was in the community, Mao Zedong’s belief on their capacity to improve the way they take on new options of growth in the society gives a definite guideline on how women took on the challenge seriously.

From small markets came improved possibilities of growth; growth options that paved the way towards the creation of new forms of commercial industries that the country continues to thrive along with at present. True to its sense, women did provide the backbones needed for the creation of new China. Even though the changes were not intermittently applied within ancient communities, it could not be denied that the emergence of good essence of developmental options do provide a distinct insistence on how the Chinese community ought to value the role of women towards the road to extensive progress. Notably though, the changes were not imposed towards every single turn in the community. Nevertheless, the impact of the development came pushing through in the years and decades that came after Mao Zedong’s time of administration.

This course ended with the book, Factory Girls, which described young rural women moving into the city to do factory work. May Fourth reformers in the early 20^th century believed that Chinese women could only achieve “personhood” if they were educated and worked outside the home. Yet the reformers were ambivalent about women working in a male-dominated work place because they feared women would lose their inherently gentle and gracious nature and men would sexually exploit them. Mao Zedong also believed that women could only achieve equality through work outside the home and essentially tried to destroy traditional Chinese family life and the home.  If the May 4^th Reformers, Mao Zedong, and Leslie Chang, the author of Factory Girls, could debate their perspectives on the best way women might achieve equality in Chinese society, what would each one say? Give examples to support your answer.

Relatively, empowering women came in different forms of identifiable indication based on what each party believed with regards the condition of growth that the women should take into account. For instance, the May Fourth Reformers would pursue that women be educated and be given proper options of personal development including on the ways by which they choose the career that would fit their skills. Their belief over holistic transformation allows them to become more effective in determining how they are able to make sure that the women getseverything they need to experience a more fully-defined aspect of growth. On the other hand, Leslie Chang might respond to the matter through highlighting the value of traditional Chinese family values and how this particular foundation of the Chinese community might be involved in distinct commotion if the transformation and full empowerment of women would be invoked accordingly. Mao Zedong, trying to balance out everything regarding the matter, could say that empowering the women is necessary. Giving them enough chance to build the community is allowable, but the community {as a whole}, need to see to it that they too would take part in preserving the traditions of the Chinese community and the Chinese family as the whole country takes on the new challenge towards embracing modern developments.

Some scholars of Chinese history have said that one cannot talk about women’s lives outside of the life of the Chinese family, that women do not have identities as individuals separate from their family roles and obligations. What do these scholars mean by that statement? Do you agree with them?  Is this statement true for women in the early 21^st century? Is it valid for women in rural as well as urban areas?  Give examples from our readings to support your answer.

The line represents a distinction on how gender stereotyping occurs and how it is able to shape the minds and the values of the Chinese community. Relatively, the scholars do believe that women already play distinct functions in the community especially towards keeping the Chinese family and culture intact especially in the ways by which people see the role they take in the community as guide to the young generation. The traditional setup simply works to support the overall function of every member of the community towards progressive social development. Putting the women out in the line and making them take on opportunities of work that are made specifically for men to appreciate definitely disregards such aspect of development. Women were feared to take over the men and relatively make a distinct impact on how the backbone of the Chinese community would break without the women controlling situations in the family. While the scholars do have a point, it could not be denied that such an idea suppresses the capacity of the women to thrive and become more effective in the way they hope to realize their personal capacities. Women are humans too; and like men, they do have something to offer to fuel up the development of the nation. Nevertheless, setting balance on how they see their career and their family roles need to be imposed accordingly.

The Chinese government announced this month that it is changing its One Child Policy to allow all families to have two children. The unequal sex ratio, the shrinking workforce, and the growing elderly  population have prompted this change. Some researchers saw benefits to Chinese girls and women from the One Child Policy. What were those benefits? Do you think the new policy allowing for two children will again relegate girls to being only a “small happiness?”  Why or why not?

Through the years of change, the Chinese community finally realizes what is meant by having a girl in the family. Gone are the days when the female members of the Chinese community are being set aside and are being pushed over to simply follow what their male counterparts implicate as part of their roles. Notably, the Chinese society has gradually accepted the fact that women are worth something more than just being mothers or keepers of the house. Their capacity to think and multi-task has allowed administrators of the nation to see through the fact that they have something more to offer and somehow, it is with such realization that they are valued at a much better state at present.

This pavement of laws towards the allowance given to the two child policy gives hope to the idea that girls ought not be considered as ‘small happiness’ anymore. Although this notion about women cannot be completely removed on the heads and thinking of the people, it could be realized that when it comes to developing better options of growth, the new era of Chinese generations ought to realize what and who women are and how they are going to be able to give attention to important matters that could create the better option for the Chinese nation to thrive within the emergence of global development.

The following articles describe the current status of gender relations in China in which the ratio of men to women is unbalanced because of the practice of female infanticide during the imposition of the government’s one-child policy and many parents’ preference for boy children. What do these articles say about the changing status of women in China?

Most infant girls were killed and thrown into human pits during the pursuance of the One-Child policy in China. This devastating situation has largely accounted for the distinct insistence on how the female population was much disregarded by the community. While this approach may have been a solid response to the desire of the country to pursue full-proofed Chinese traditions, it was not able to accomplish the overall desire of the nation to incur economic balance. The relative imbalance of the female population with the male population proved to be fatal to the national growth that the country aimed for. The emergence of infanticide among young female infants has created a massive effect on the real worth of Chinese traditions.

Hence, as the society enters a new realm of global connection and development, the Chinese community begins to realize the real worth of the female population and accordingly respects their existence. This insists on the fact that women have gradually been seen as vital and valuable members of the community as the goal towards massive development is being embraced accordingly.

References

“China’s New Wealth Spurs a Market for Mistresses” by Dan Levin. The New York Times. August 9, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/world/asia/10mistress.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Chinese%20concubines&st=cse. (retrieved on December 8, 2014)

“For Many Chinese Men, No Deed Means No Dates” by Andrew Jacobs, The New York Times April 14, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/asia/15bachelors.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Chinese%20men%20need%20apartments&st=cse. (retrieved on December 8, 2014).

The Lives of Rural and Urban Chinese Women Under State-Capitalism. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~jejackso/Women%20Under%20Mao.htm. (retrieved on December 8, 2014).

almer, Michael (September 2007). “Transforming Family Law in Post-Deng China: Marriage, Divorce and Reproduction“. The China Quarterly 191: 675–695.