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).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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% |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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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