Honorable Merchants: Commerce and Self-Cultivation in Late Imperial China was written by Richard John Lufrano and documents the culture and lifestyle of mid-level merchants during late imperial China. The book describes the rise of mid-level merchants, who can ultimately be seen as a modern day middle class. During the era of late imperial China, there was an increase in commercialization, which “most members of society…had come to accept commercial activity as a necessary part of life,” causing them to “regard those engaged in commerce as respectable members of society.” With more commerce, Chinese merchants needed to understand how they could operate a successful business, but how would they accomplish a feat like this?
Before Buddhism’s rise to popularity, Han China focused on distinctive practices, such as the Confucian way. This raises the question, how did Buddhism affect the role of women in China after the popularity of the Confucian practices in the Han Dynasty? Ban Zhao’s Lessons for a Woman explain how based on the Confucian doctrines, a woman’s fundamental duty was to serve others by putting others before herself, and this is observed even from their birth, all the way to their duties as a wife. In contrast, Buddhism, would change women’s role positively because they were regarded as equals to men, and they had agency, as illustrated in the Buddhist Doctrines and Practices by Wei Shou et al. However, some scholars may argue that Buddhism did not
Men were required to provide, while women submitted under their authority (15). Although they assumed this would allow for a happy marriage, this ideal was rarely upheld and led to many arguments within the household (15). Influenced by their upbringing, most women married despite these
In the Chinese society men were to be respected and held dominance over women. Men performed tasks to provide for their families and the duty of women was to remain at home and care for the children.
Family by Pa Chin is a captivating novel that describes what life in China was like in the twentieth century. Confucianism, a big religion in China at the time, was heavily focused on filial piety. Filial piety is the relationship of obedience, in which the elders are to be respected by the younger generation (Wu, lecture notes, 2015). This religion was one of the main structures on how the society was ran. Chin represents how the younger generation was upset with how the old traditions of the Confucian system were ran and that they were ready to change it.
“Now of happiness there is none greater than the confirmation of one’s line, of unfilial conduct there is none worse than childlessness. The monks forsake wives and children, reject property and wealth, Some do not marry all their lives.” In China, having a family is crucial. To the monks, family is just another pleasure that they do not need. “Wives, children, and property are the luxuries of the world, but simple living and inaction are the wonders of the Way.
Many people have mistaken Confucianism as a religion. However, it is a system of belief, a philosophy. This belief emphasizes on respect and harmony of relationships. Moreover, it pushed for a well-ordered society by accentuating human relationships, a righteous leader and a good education. Confucius, a philosopher and a teacher, founded Confucianism.
Throughout our ancient history, women have portrayed various different roles in different ancient civilizations. Whether it was taking care of their children and men at home, working in the fields, or doing hard labor, these women shaped the way women act, and the roles they portray today. The Han Dynasty was one of those ancient civilization where women portrayed different roles. During the Han Dynasty, which lasted from about 206 BCE to 220 CE, women led very limited lives as compared to men, similarly to many other ancient civilizations (Bowman). They were viewed as the bottom of the power hierarchy in addition to the gender hierarchy.
There are two major types of marriages in the world, arranged and love marriages. An arranged marriage is when a partner for one of the individuals is chosen by their family, and no love is usually involved. A love marriage on the other hand is when two individuals choose to marry each other because of the love they share for each other. A successful marriage is when both individuals can love, care, trust, and are happy with each other even through the ups and downs. Even though arranged marriages have their pros such as lower suicide and teen pregnancy rates, love marriages are more successful than arranged marriages because the individuals actually love each other from the start, there is the freedom of choosing their own spouse, and there
Confucian ideas highlight the need to have a heir, thus the Emperor need to be sexually active, which explains the very large number of women in the inner court. However, according to Confucian ideals, the Emperor was not supposed to retain any pleasure from this encounters. therefore leading to a paradox hard to overcome by the Emperor and even harder to enforce by the outer court officials depute their moral concerns. Song women were also granted for the first time considerable legal rights. In fact, Song Dynasty is seen as a high point for women property point in China, further challenging Confucian traditional patrilinality.
According to the society norms, it was very rare that a married couple were actually attracted to each other. The individuals couldn’t have gone against the society expectations so, without caring about what they really want, they followed the expectations and married whoever. This shows they could not make any individual life choices without thinking of what everyone else would have done. Not only are the social expectations based on love but also small, foolish details.
We shall begin the paper with defining what progressive and regressive tax systems are. A progressive tax is one which places a larger percent on the high-income segment of earners than what it does from the low-income segment of earners. This form of tax depends upon how quickly a change arises in the tax rates in comparison to an increase in income. Regressive tax system on the other hand, which is not as popular as the former, is a tax that takes an increased percentage of income form the low-income earners than what it does from the high-income earners in an economy. Progressive Tax:
The Three Obediences and Four Virtues still have an effect on modern Chinese society. Traditional Chinese society is polygamy family that men have
Religion in Classical China Since human’s earliest years, we have relied on religion to guide us in countless situations; it influences almost everything we do. During the Classical Period in China, religion played large roles in many significant decisions. The three most prominently displayed religions at the time were Legalism, Confucianism, and Daoism. Though their unique teachings separated them from each other, each had equal impacts in the shaping of early Chinese civilization and culture.
The family plays a huge role in the wedding ceremony and as such, the bride and groom are described as part of their families coming together and accepting one another. Cultures that are high in institutional collectivism try and make decisions that is best for the group rather than the individual person (Lustig & Koester, 2013). Since the marriages are often arranged by the families, they make decisions that are in the best interest of the family. This is different from when an individual choices for themselves a spouse because they do so based on their own interest, not often taking into account the interest of their
