What roles for women are supported by the new Chinese government? Where do they contrast with traditional roles, where are they similar?
The Dragon's Village is an autobiographical book that depicts the psychological contention of a young Chinese lady; Ling-Ling who is torn between the Communist ideals and the traditional Chinese values and beliefs. The novel takes place in a chaotic Chinese era where communist ideals have just come into being. During that period, it became clear that the country bound to change from its imperial beliefs and adapt to the communist ideals and beliefs where all persons would be accorded equal status in the society. The imperial setting sidelined women in particular where they were reduced to the least social order in the society. The focus of this paper is to reflect on the changing role of women brought about by the new regime whose ideologies were based on the communism.
The Dragon’s Village as illustrated on page 21 depicts women as submissive creatures in the traditional imperial setting where were bound to obey and submit to their husbands or a male who yielded greater influence in the family or society. The opinion of the woman was not considered in either family or societal matters. Whether the woman was rich, poor, old or young, they were not accorded any special status in the society. Most of them were peasant farmers and domestic caregivers whose roles were mainly restricted around the domestic vicinity. The women had absolutely no influence on policy matters. Gender equality was an intangible aspect in the traditional society. With the new communist system, the role of women changed drastically. With the emergence of young and optimistic women like Ling-Ling, the old system was definitely under threat. Everyone was accorded equal opportunities. For instance, when Ling-Ling and her compatriots were participating in the land reforms revolution, they taught the people of Longxiang about the equal rights that every individual was entitled to (Chen 54). Women were now allowed to own land, participate in voting exercise, and have a say on marriage amongst other civil rights.
Ling-ling and her colleagues did not shy away from teaching the locals of the demands placed by the new social order of communism especially of the need to recognize women as equal members of the society during the land reforms revolution (Chen, 45). The old system where women were ranked as the least social order was being replaced by a new system that accorded more authority to anyone who would be deemed fit to serve the community. This deviated from the previous system where, the men were accorded all privileges while women were oppressed by the society norms. Ling-ling’s election into the village council provides a great illustration of the changing society.
Despite being a woman and the society still enshrined in traditional beliefs where the woman had no role her election reflects the changing society. While there was quite a feeling of rebellion from within the society members, especially men, this could not be wished away as everyone was conditioned to a system that found no pace for women. The general teaching was that “The sovereign guides the subject, the father guides the son, and the husband guides the wife” (Chen, 24). This was coming to an end and communist party was now trying to entrench new ideas by empowering women. Using figures like Ling-Ling to take certain responsibilities in the society, the communist party was teaching the lowest social order, the women, that change was in the air and they had the opportunity to take their rightful place.
Another change in the gender roles of women that was brought about by communism was the involvement of women in politics and a growing interest in the ongoing of the political arena. The communist government particularly became supportive of women joining politics. This is a feature that was previously unheard of and women were expected to be fully submissive to their male counterparts as mentioned earlier. In the Dragon’s Village, Xiu Ying who is a young female activist runs for a political office and is subsequently elected (Chen, 64). Although the government was fully supportive of this new role assignment to women, the same could not be said about some chauvinistic characters in the Chinese society. The communist equality ideas were very hard to enforce or even promote. This is because of the fact that the traditional Chinese patriarchal tendencies and ideas are deeply engrained into the minds of the society and altering these ideas or disorienting them is an enormous task that more often than not may not yield fruits. For instance when Xiu Ling and her fellow carders arrive at Longxiad, the male elders are at first resistant to alter their ideas and beliefs (Chen, 58).
Apart from Xiu Ling’s boldness, the elders are also surprised by the confidence of the young adolescent girl Ling-Ling because it essentially clashes with the Confucian ideals that they deeply believe in and it is here that it becomes clear to them that change is imminent in terms of the society’s gender roles (Chen, 33). This new role of women is a stark contrast to the roles accorded to them in the previous administration systems. For many years, women were not allowed to be in any leadership position and were in fact taught from an early age to be fully submissive and subjective to the male figures in their lives including their fathers, their husbands and later in life, their sons. Therefore, the fact that the new system government supported the new leadership roles of women is a clear sign of change. The women would obviously not have to rely on the social ranks of the male figures in their lives but would have an opportunity to build their own social status as a result of the new power accorded to them.
However, in spite of the modified attitude of the Chinese regime towards the roles of women, there appeared to be a rift between the positive ideals and reality in the enforcement of Communist ideas. Equality seemed to be nothing more than subjective idea in the first few years of communism and as Ling-ling puts it, ‘it is the hard life realities that essentially scare back women into demeaning and oppressive marriages” (Chen, 71).
In spite of the above hiccup, it cannot be denied that the emergence of communism marked a definite turning point in the designation of women roles in China. Women acquired a new set of roles that were less a demeaning and oppressive and as result, the entire gender became more empowered.
Works Cited
Chen, Yuan-tsung. The Dragon's Village. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980. Print.
