Throughout history, women were typically ranked at the lowest status of the social hierarchy. They were deemed inferior to men and most times suffered oppression as result of a long standing ideology of patriarchy. Societies where there is a patriarchal structure, women are subordinate to men; before the republic era in china, the culture was no different. The beginning of the republic era marked the period where Chinese leaders were breaking away from western ideologies. This breakaway led to Chinese elites embracing a new social order which created a shift in women’s status in Chinese society. This impacted all spectrums of daily life including culture, politics, and economic changes.
One of the most gruesome and heinous practices in Chinese culture is the binding of women’s feet. This practice started during the 20th century. There was an emperor who was captivated by dancers with small feet and he saw this as a symbol of beauty. From then, young girls in china were required to forcibly bend their toes and tie their feet with lengthy cloths. Their feet were bound and eventually became deformed
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May fourth Feminism movement was the first feminist movement in china. This movement constituted of mostly males who were activists and reformers that were enthused with the idea of women liberation. They wanted to bring change to Chinese society and make China a stronger nation. Hence, they concluded that the source of China’s weakness and problems lie in the Chinese family structure. These women were illiterate and had bound feet which prevented them from reproducing or even raise their family, . Therefore, women liberation was needed to save Chinese nation from disarray. However, they were able to make small effort of progress that impacted a few urban and elite Chinese women but not enough to impact the whole nation. Since, the movement only affect a small number of urban and elite