Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

56 Teachings II: The Foundation of a Good SocietyA clever man builds city walls,A clever woman overthrows them …Women with long tonguesAre just cruel and violent.Chaos is not sent down from Heaven.It originates in women …Women should have nothing to do with public affairs,But keep to spinning their silk. 24These characterizations of women as bringing disaster to governments andfamilies can be found throughout the histories of the time.We saw an example of this in chapter 1 in the story of the Duke of Weiwho had two sons with his daughter - in - law and was part of her evil plotto kill her husband. In the histories especially we find a number of storiesmodeled in the same ways. In them, the evil, sexually attractive woman, thewife or concubine of the ruler, seduces him into making fatal mistakes ingovernment. The loyal minister warns the ruler of the terrible consequencesbut the minister is not listened to, is fired, or is even executed. The ruler, inhis besotted state of mind, rules badly and the state is conquered by another.During the Warring States period, the status of women continued todecline. While some upper - class women were wealthy and politically powerful,inheritance had become almost entirely patrilineal. This meant thatmany women were less in charge of their own wealth and did not inheritequally with their brothers. The secondary status of women is seen mostclearly in a passage from The Book of Poetry :When a boy is born,He is laid on a bed,Robed in a gown …Lords or princes come from this family.When a girl is born,She is laid on the floor,Robed in rags …She will do nothing bad,Nor anything good either.All she does is to carry wine and plates of food,And is no trouble to her father and mother. 25This attitude can be found echoed in later Confucian texts. Confucian ritualtexts contain regulations for men and women: they are not to sit on thesame mat, or to use the same rack for clothes, or to touch when handingone another something. 26 This lack of direct contact was meant to lessenthe possibility of sexual arousal. To further this aim, the ritual texts alsocontain rules for the separation of the sexes: “ Ritual begins with the correct