Origins of Modern East Asia:

Changes in Gender Roles and Family Structure in China, Korea, and Japan

 

Ø                  Introduction

Ø                  Commonalities and differences

Ø                  Timelines of political developments

Ø                  Changes in gender roles

Ø                  Changes in family structure

Ø                  Summary and Outlook

 

Christine Avenarius (PhD)

Department of Anthropology

East Carolina University

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Commonalities and Differences between China, Korea and Japan

 

Basic Differences

·        size

·        absolute number of people

·        onset of domestication: China: 5800 BC, Japan 350 BC

·        emergence of first civilization: China: 1700 BC; Korea: 300 AD; Japan: 200 AD (?)

 

Basic Commonalities

·        limited amount of arable land (10%, 19%, and 11% respectively)

·        high population density

·        rural/urban dichotomy

·        Confucian social order (i.e., personhood embedded in social contexts; hierarchical relations; patrilineal kinship system)

·        marriage is considered to be a union between families not individuals

·        traditional gender roles: women were assigned to the private sphere and men to the public sphere

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Chinese social order

(i.e., the relationship between the individual and the society in China)

 

·        few barriers between public and private spheres

·        view of the self: relationship based (neither individual nor group oriented)

·        hierarchical relationships between distinct categories of people (wulun – the five normal relationships)

·        each person sees him or herself at the center of their networks of relationships; networks overlap

·        behavior in any relationship is based on “li” = rules of proper conduct based on cultural values and the display of human feelings (renqing) – otherwise one is considered to have “no manners” (bu dong renqing).

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Wu Lun = five normal relationships (normal order)

They are part of the Confucian teachings; based on age and gender differences; complementary (“yin and yang”)

 

• Ruler and subject

• Father and son

• Husband and wife

• Older and younger brother

• Friends

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Social Order and Relationships in East and West

 

“Western” cultures

“Eastern” cultures

 

Organizational mode of association

 

Differential mode of association

 

Fixed membership

 

 

Flexible membership

 

Order reinforced with the help of ‘external controls’

 

 

Order reinforced with the help of ‘internal controls’

 

 Law

 

Li (rites, rules of proper etiquette)

 

Universalism

 

Particularism

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Essential Chinese values

-         part of the ‘rules of proper conduct’ (li)

-         goal: to keep “face”: a) "mian" = public appearance and b) "lian" = morality

 

·        Ren (consideration for others)

·        Good faith

·        Loyalty

·        Sincerity

·        Sense of duty

·        Filial piety

·        Bao (keeping balance in the exchange process, i.e. reciprocity)

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Commonalities and differences between China, Korea, and Japan regarding their path to modernization

 

Commonalities: the need for reform

·        need to overcome imperialism

·        need for industrialization and transformation of the traditional agricultural production systems

·        need to overcome traditional social order (e.g., family structure and gender roles)

 

Differences: conditions for reform

·        Japan: Meiji reform starting in 1868

·        Korea: Japanese colonization 1910-1945

·        China: Revolution of 1911, Civil War, and success of Communist Party

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Timeline of political events in Japan

 

1600-1868       Tokugawa era: national isolation, Shogunat

 

1868-1912       Meiji era: Reforms of social order (e.g., samurai class eliminated), military, and                          economic system; emperor is restored; Japan makes transition to nation state

1877                research of social customs to formulate new social code; the 'ie' family, i.e., a stem                     family (see definitions of family types below) is declared the preferred family structure,                    this type used to be more prevalent among members of the samurai class than among                       farmers, merchants, or artisans, the other three groups of the traditional class order)

1889                new constitution (European style); emperor kept sovereignty

1894-1895       Sino-Japanese war over conflicts of interest in Korea

1904-1905       Russo-Japanese war over conflicts of interest in Korea and Manchuria

 

1912-1926       Taisho era: shift from ruling clique of elder statesmen (genro) to parliament and                           democratic parties; expansion and liberalization; more political participation                                     encouraged (voting rights for men in 1926)

1910                annexation of Korea

 

1926-1989       Showa era

1930                military established almost complete control over the government

1931                annexation of Manchuria

1937                Sino-Japanese war initiated from Manchuria, eventually occupation of all

                        coastal areas in China

1941-1942       expansion of Japanese control in East and Southeast Asia

1945                unconditional surrender by the emperor

 

1945-1952       Allied occupation of Japan, democratic party government restored

1946                new constitution, proclaims among other things the equality of men and women and                    that marriage shall be based on mutual consent and cooperation

1947                women gain full legal equality and the right to vote

1948                implementation of new 'civil law'

1951                Japan regains its independence

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additional overheads with tables on the changing distributions of arranged marriages and love-match marriages

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Timeline of political events in Korea

 

1392-1910       Choson empire: Confucian social order, rigid class system (other than in China, elite                   status in Korea was inheritable)

 

1895                increase of Japanese and Russian colonial interests

 

1910-1945       colony of Japan: disintegration of class system, onset of industrialization (many female                 factory workers)

 

1945                separation under Soviet and American control

 

1946                universal suffrage for women

 

1950-1953       Korean War

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Traditional Social Order in Korea

 

Yangban = scholar – officials

Chungin = “middle people” (technicians, administrators)

Sangmin = “commoners” (farmers, craftsmen, merchants) – 75 % of the population

Ch’ommin = “despised people” (meat workers, jail keepers, shoemakers, prostitutes, etc.)

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Social order in South Korea after WWII

 

 

1960

1980

upper middle class (social elite)

 

0.9%

1.8%

“new” middle class = civil servants, salaried white collar workers, professionals

 

6.6%

17.7%

“old” middle class = shopkeepers and small business owners

 

13%

20.8%

Industrial workers

 

8.9%

22.6%

Farmers, agricultural laborers

 

64%

31.3%

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additional overheads with maps of China depicting the extent of the influence by western powers in the Chinese economy; the locations of 'May Fourth Movement' protests, the location of 'Soviet Bases' in 1934.

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Timeline of political events in China

 

1644-1911 Qing empire: environmental degradation, population pressure, financial crisis

 

1911                Chinese revolution: establishment of the 'Republic of China'

1912                General Yuan Shikai becomes the first president, resides in Beijing (first Sun Yatsen                   becomes president in Nanking - concedes under military pressure for the sake of                          unification)

1912                women's groups from 18 provinces establish the Woman Suffrage Alliance

1913                Sun Yatsen goes into exile to Japan

1914                Japan takes over Shandong province from Germany

1916                Yuan Shikai dies, political disintegration continues, warlords reign in most provinces

1919                May Fourth movement = culmination of previous protests and initiation of further                       calls for reform

                        Nationalist Party (KMT) is founded advocating a 'liberal democracy'

1921                Communist Party (CCP) is founded in Shanghai

1923                Sun Yatsen reorganizes the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) into a leftist party

1925                Sun Yatsen dies

1923-1927       Communist party and Nationalist party join in a common alliance against warlord                                   governments (female members are in a strategic dilemma between their mission to                      promote the issues of women's liberation and participating in integrated movements of                     their parties at large. The rhetoric of the CCP was that feminist rebellion was                              meaningless unless it was part of a general political revolution)

 

1927                CCP - KMT alliance severed, General Chiang Kai-shek and his armies shift political                 allegiance to the reactionary wing of the KMT, unification of large parts of China, many                     warlords defeated

                        "White Terror" against Communist party members (including many female members)

1931                Japanese invasion starts

1934-1937       Long March of the CCP to Shaanxi province, continuation of the establishment of                      several 'Soviet Bases' (women's liberation movement faces more obstacles in rural                                 Chinese than in urban China)

1937-1945       Unified front of CCP and KMT against Japanese invasion

1945-1949       Civil war between CCP and KMT resumes after end of WWII (Japanese surrender)

 

1949                Mao Zedong proclaims the 'People's Republic of China' in Beijing, creation of a                                     "people's democratic dictatorship",

                        women gain universal suffrage

1950                Agrarian Reform begins: class struggle against landlords and wealthy peasants

 

1950                Marriage law: women have equal status, free choice of marriage partners, and the                                  right to divorce (was met with a lot of resistance in rural China. Many female promoters                     of this new law were killed in their attempt to reform the society)

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Types of family

- based on definitions in the field of Cultural Anthropology-

 

A family is a group of individuals composed of a woman her dependent children with at least one adult male joined through marriage or blood relationship.

 

A household is a basic residential unit where economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing and shelter are organized and implemented. May or may not be synonymous with 'family' in certain cultures.

 

A nuclear family is an independent unit of one or two adults and their children. Conjugal nuclear family is an independent unit of two adults joined by a marriage tie and their children

 

An extended family is a collection of nuclear families related by ties of blood that live together in one household.

A stem family is a particular type of extended family in which husband and wife and one adult child and his or her spouse and children live together in one household.

A joint family is another particular type of extended family which includes husband and wife and several adult children, their spouses and their children.

A lineage is a corporate descent group whose member trace their genealogical links to a common ancestor. Members of a lineage usually live in close proximity to one another and often own property together. They know all the members of their group (in contrast to 'clans').

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Changing gender roles: women enter the public sphere

v                 Women’s liberation movements

            for universal suffrage

                 for equal rights (e.g., inheritance)

            for free choice of marriage partner

 

v                 Women join the labor force in light industry

 

v                 Women have access to education (and information)

 

v                 Codified laws that guarantee equal rights and free choice of spouse are crafted in Korea (1946), Japan (1947) and China (1950)

 

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Changing family structures: towards more privacy

 

v                 Ideal vs. reality of the extended family in the traditional social order

 

v                 Industrialization promotes the individualization of families

 

v                 Tendency towards the formation of nuclear families

 

v                 Spatial arrangements change first in urban areas, later in rural areas

 

v                 Free choice of spouse and access to cash income trigger calls for more personal space, i.e., privacy becomes more attainable

 

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