RLGN1322 Introduction to Eastern Religions - respond to one of the 3 following prompts. It should be approximately 1500 words in length.It will be double spaced, 12 point font.It should follow a cons

(“Confucianism also gave the wife an “equal” position with the husband, somewhat below the husband, but still an equal helpmate, like the two fish in the Taoist symbol of yin and yang, necessarily complementing each other”) .6 In his opinion, the issue of women in China, oppressed by m en or not, presents two major aspects – on the one hand, there is clear evidence in the Neo -Confucianism of the Chinese Song and Ming Periods and in the Japanese Tokugawa Period which attests to the different treatment given to men and women in society; on the other hand, Lin is one of the first researchers to state the supremacy held by women within the family, which, he argues, would make their deprivation of social rights simply “unimportant/ irrelevant .” Richard Guiso (1981, 60), too, despite his critic ism of Chinese classical texts, which accepted tacitly or even perpetuated female stereotypes 134 in a patriarchal society, acknowledges the respect shown to “elderly ,” “wise” or “experienced” women. Nevertheless, as noted by Chenyang Li (2000, 7), the one who truly held power in the family of the Confucian world was the “mother ,” not the “woman ,” and this type influence cannot, in fact, be compared to that wielded by men. As regards studies on women from the upper classes, we mention the one written by Priscil la Ching Chung (1981), which stresses the prestige and power attributed to palace women of the Northern Song Dynasty. Following these works we call “transitional” in the research on women, there came a trend in which scholars reconsidered Confucian value s, rein- terpreted them in the light of new philosophies and gave novel meanings to classical excerpts, thus highlighting ideas that would, in fact, have led to a better position for women. Li Yu -ning (1992) stresses the importance assigned by Confucianism to equal education and self improvement regardless of social origin and gender. Dorothy Ko (1994) analyz es the privileged status held by educated women in the 18 th century and the important role allotted to the “mother” and “wife” ruling the destinies of a family. Ko tries to explain a complex phenomenon manifested at the level of the elites, by which women actively embraced and internalized Confucian values in order to pass them onto the next generations. Susan Mann (1997), in her study on educated women during the Qing Dynasty (1683 ‒1839), identifies writing not only as a weapon to defend values, but also as a means for them to gain respect and individual satisfaction. Thus, Mann gives them an important and well -deserved position, challenging a century an d a half during which Chinese radicals and Western missionaries viewed women as “victims” of a “cul - tural tradition .” In her book Sharing the Light , Lisa Raphals (1998) offers representa- tions of women as agents of “intellectual, political and ethical v irtues,” by analyzing the “biographies of exemplary women .” Despite the fact that these didactic texts had been written with the explicitly stated intention of disseminating the Confucian moral lifestyle at all social levels, they also prove “what women ar e capable of,” meaning their power acknowledged and sometimes feared by men. With these works the foundations of, some would think, even more “daring” approaches are being laid, which end up juxtaposing Confucianism and feminism, in an attempt to rehabil itate this school of thought, to adapt this cultural tradition to social and political changes. Some authors highlighted the similarities between the two schools of thought. Chenyang Li (1994) focuses on the aspects shared by the feminist ethics of compass ion, of altruism and the Confucian jen ethics, and demon - strates that both exhibit a similar understanding of the self as social con - struct, that both lie a heavy stress on situational moral judgment rather than on judgment based on principals and also t hat both advocate the importance 135 of compassion in ethics. The concept of jen and that of “compassion” are equally centered on the system of human relationships. Confucianists as well as feminists see the human being as social, integrated into a system in w hich it occupies a referential place. Li borrows arguments from the feminist perspective on compassion and quotes the opinions of consecrated authors, such as Carol Gillian and Nell Noddings, in order to support the affinity of these two “philosophies ,” as he calls them. Li identifies the “feminist” grain in early Confucianism, which, in his opinion, should go back to Confucius and Mencius in order to do away with the later additions and amendments brought throughout history to the concept of “female gender ,” under the influence of various political and philosophical systems. Like all the other authors who have attempted a parallel between these schools of thought pertaining to different epochs and apparently placed in complete opposition, Li also sees them as complementary, remarking on the reciprocal “help” they could provide in order to acquire new nuances. In his essay “Classical Confucian and Contemporary Feminist Perspectives on the Self: Some Parallels and Their Implications” (1997), Henry Rosemont Jr. draws a parallel between classical Confucianism and contemporary femin- ism and brigs arguments in favor of a reconstruction of Confucian philosophy on a new basis, which would inevitably comprise a vision of the equalit y between genders adapted to th e modern world. Terry Woo (1998) suggests, with examples taken from the writings of Confucius and Mencius that the two were “indulgent supporters” of tradi - tional norms of sexual segregation and exacerbated masculine authority, rather than “misogynists” as they have often been labeled. She sees feminism in its active form, as the necessary force in the struggle for equal rights. She cannot avoid noticing the irreconcilable differences between Confucianism and feminism, but at the same time she points out their common principles:

an equal opportunity for education and an attitude of flexibility and open - ness. She also of fers a solution for the future ‒ “an appropriation of jen and a better understanding of the history of Confucianism might offer a sense of cultural recovery” 7 to Chinese as well as Western feminists. Tu Wei -ming (1998) is yet another prominent scholar who researched the subject, tryi ng to bring more proof of the acknowledged necessity to establish a dialogue between Confucianism and feminism. Within the frame of the discussion on “the five essential relationships” mentioned explicitly in the writings of Mencius and “the three subordin ations of women,” Tu Wei -ming discusses the “separation between husband and wife” based ap - parently on the reciprocity principle, in view of a better division of labor. A wife’s patience and obedience are interpreted as signs of great inner strength and n ot of weakness, and the author sees woman as equal to man precisely virtue of her capacity to adapt and to manipulate silently. 136 The majority of these texts have their roots in a common tenet, namely a return to the founders of Confucianism, Confucius and Mencius, who, in their turn, preached a rediscovery of the ancestors and a valorization of lost meanings. The reinterpretation of classical texts in the light of new realities has been considered necessary for formulating the hypothesis on which all mo dern scholars of classical Confucianism rely, namely that the fathers of Confucianism never openly expressed an oppressive attitude towards women. Yet nor did they advocate the idea of gender equality, mainly because they lived in a patriarchal society whi ch appeared to have already devised a clear place and role for each of its members. Their neutral attitude in this respect is also a subject of discussion, given the sparse reference to women in their works. “The Analects” have been analyzed from many angles and there is even a statistics on the frequency of certain words in the text. One aspect scholars view as revealing is the fact that “woman” appears only twice and never in direct reference to her status. The fragment which is behind Confucius’ imag e as sexist (17:25) has known countless interpretations: (“Only nüzi and petty people are hard to rear. If you are close to them, they behave inappropriately; if you keep a distance from them, they become resentful.”) 8 The word used to refer to women is nüzi (the characters for “woman” and “child”), and its interpretations have led to all manner of conclusions.

Those who read simply “women” underlined Confucius’ defamatory attitude towards this gender. Others, among whom Chinese linguist Wang Li, took zi , w hich means “child/children ,” as an adjective to nü, the resulting com - pound word meaning not “women” in general, but “girls .” Other interpre - tations seeking to eliminate the sexist note replaced “women and small/ unimportant people” with “servants, both female and male,” but this particular decoding is seen as straying too much from the text’s original meaning. Others consider that women are compared to “unimportant people” (the characters for “small” and “man”), allegedly the opposite of the Confucian id eal of the “superior man ,” and the accusation that “they are difficult to nurture/cultivate” – yet another meaning ascribed to this word – would indeed be serious, were we to analyze the philosophical and pedagogical dimensions of “nurturing” (in the sense of “nurturing the mind”), since it would lead to the obvious conclusion that women lack the ability to grow spiritually and intellectually. James Legge, the famous translator of The Analects , felt the need to clarify this term and he said it was a referen ce to “concubines” rather than to women in general. He could not help himself from not noticing that “we hardly expect such an utterance, though correct in itself, from Confucius .”9 Nevertheless, there are some nuances that would give new meanings to the f ragment: Confucius would say that it is “difficult” to cultivate women, not that such a task is impossible, and seeing that he 137 considers the journey to self -cultivation as intrinsically difficult, there would be no discrimination between women and men, who face similar challenges.

The complexity and ambiguity of this excerpt, the multitude of interpretations possible at all levels – semantic, ideological etc. – lead us to the conclusion that the scholars who took into consideration only the sexist aspect ov er- simplified things in the general context of the Confucian view on gender, created by successive additions throughout history. The other fragment in which Confucius refers to women is also considered suffused with discrimination between genders. (“Sh un had five ministers and society was well managed. King Wu said, “I had ten able people as ministers.” Confucius said, “Is it true that it is difficult to find talent? The Tang -Yu period was a high time for talented people. [Among King Wu’s ministers] the re was a woman; so there were only nine people.”) 10 This was taken by scholars as proof of Confucius’ belief in woman’s inferior status. Even though King Wu counted a woman between his most trusted councilors , thus placing that woman on an equally footing with men, Confucius was keen on correcting his attitude and this is the reason why he said there were only nine people worth mentioning. Such textual debates can continue endlessly but it is important to mention that in the late years different approaches appeared. Some contemporary scholars, like Xinyan Jiang, 11 see in this fragment that, on the contrary, Confucius admits woman’s ability to become involved in official matters, building their interpretation on very early comments on the text. Huang Kan (488-545) considers that the “woman” Confucius speaks of could be King Wen’s mother, whom he admired and wished to singularize in this way. It is universally accepted that the founders of Confucianism were not the ones who produced this discriminatory vision of women, but later develop- ments of this ethical and philosophical system, notably Neo -Confucianism, which effectively sealed women’s fate. In the works by Confucius there is no mention of the three subordinations of woman, which place her successivel y under the authority of her father, her husband and her son. However, Con - fucius’ antifeminist inclinations were considered evident from the fact that he had no female disciples among his followers. But this can also be explained due to the hierarchical st ructure of the gender relations in the society of his time. We think that the key to the reinterpretation of the classic texts in relation to the new feministic approaches is Tu Wei -ming’s remarks that we shouldn’t forget there always was a major differenc e between the social and cultural practice and the Confucian teachings. One clear example to support this affirmation can be found in the didactic literature for women, written in China starting from the Han dynasty and which spread in all the other countr ies that went under the influence of Confucianism. Illustrated didactic books played an important role in establishing social norms and behavioral ideals, the 138 tracts for girls were meant to stimulate moral values by praising exemplary models and also suppo rted a patriarchal ideology. They expressed a perceived necessity to conceptualize the female gender but the question is whether the portrayals of women in these texts offered as accurate and natural repre sen- tations of the women as they really existed. W hy did this kind of literature flourish in a period when Neo -Confucianism was at its peak? Was didactic literature responding to a recent change based in part on women increasing access to work outside the home and increasing knowledge gained from literacy ? Another supposition meant to sustain this theory is that these developments in the lives of common women were so potentially disruptive to the ideal order conceived of by ruling elites that severe admonition was necessary. And here we go back to the rema rk of Tu Wei-ming who under - stood the discrepancy between reality and the Confucian principles. Tu Wei -ming also recognized the feminist potential of Confucian thought in that “unlike other spiritual traditions, there is no theoretical limitation within Confucianism against educating women or against training generations of women Confucian masters. The tradition does not impose any constraints on this .” 12 It is true that, for example, in Japan, the secularization of education was virtually completed befor e the end of the 17th century and according to Dore and the best available data, something like 40 per cent of Japanese men were literate by the end of the Tokugawa period but only 10 per cent of Japanese girls “were getting some kind of formal education o utside of their homes .” 13 Tokugawa education indoctrinated all levels of society, both men and women, with the goal dictated by Neo -Confucianism to serve the family, the group that one belonged to and ultimately, the country. The relationship between femi nism and Confucianism has long been one -sided, with feminists criticizing the status of the women conferred by Confucianism, but recent research tried to contextualize it and discover other aspects related to the socio -political reality of that time. Confu cianism cannot be blamed for discriminating women in a patriarchal society in which women’s subordination is seen as necessary for the whole hierarchy. It is worth mentioning that the fixed roles were not assigned only to women, but every member of the soc iety should have known his place and should have behaved accordingly. It is said that the function of any philosophy is con - textually determined and Confucianism is not an exception. That is why recent research on the classical books tried to redeem the s ubordinate status of women in Confucianism, “as their inferiority, at least as shown in the texts, is seen as contingent and functional rather than innate and biological .” 14 139 NOTES 1. Chenyang Li, (1994), Henry Rosemont, Jr., (1997), Terry Woo, (1998), Tu Wei -ming, (1998), Karyn Lai, (2000), Sandra A. Wawrytko, (2000), Kelly James Clark and Robin Wang, (2004), Jing Yin, (2006), Xinyan Jiang, (2009) .

2. Li Yu -ning, (1992), Dorothy Ko, (1994), Susan Mann, (1997), Lisa Raphals, (1998) .

3. Lisa Raphals, (1998), 1-2.

4. Hu Shi, (1931), Lin Yutang, (1939), Priscilla Ching Chung, (1981), Richard Guiso, (1981) .

5. Hu Shi, (1931 ), 15 .

6. Lin Yutang, (1939 ), 139 .

7. Terry Woo, (1998) , 138 .

8. Roger T. Ames, Henry Rosemont Jr., (1999 ), 17: 25. 9. James Legge, (1935) , p. 330, note to 17: 25. 10.The Analects 8.20 in the translation of James Legge. 11. Xinyan Jiang, (2009) .

12. Tu Wei -ming, (1984) , 62. 13. Dore, (1965) , 254 .

14. Sin Yee Chan, (2000 ), 165. REFERENCES Ames, Roger T. , and Henry Rosemont Jr . (1999), The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation . New York: Ballantine Books .

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Philo Press .

Clark, Kell y James, and Wang, Robin (2004), “A Confucian Defense of Gender Equity ,” Journal of the Ameri can Academy of Religion 72(2): 395‒422. Dore, R. P. (1965), Education in Tokugawa Japan . Berkeley and Los Angeles:

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Woo, Terry (1998), “Confucianism and Feminism ,” in Feminism and World Religions , Sharma, Arvind and Katherine K. Young (ed s.). Albany, NY: The State University of New York Press .

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Yin, Jing (2006), “Toward a Confucian Feminism: A Critique of Eurocentric Feminist Discourse ,” China Media Research 2(3): 9‒18.

Luc iana Irina Valutanu graduated from the Japanese and English Department, University of Bucharest. She has more tha n 10-years experience in international relations, working in the Embassy of Japan in Romania. She has been interested in Japanese culture since she heard for the first time about ikebana or no theater and because she wanted to do more than work office, she is trying now to deepen her research that starte d with the Master thesis about The Influence of the Confucian Model in the Japanese Culture . She enjoys chal- lenges and has found one in the study of the relationship between C onfucianism and the didactic literature for women in the Tokugawa period.