Masculinity In Imperial China

348 Words2 Pages
Male masculinity is an important concept around the world because it demonstrates and justifies the male authority over female. Throughout history the concept of polygamy is not uncommon in many cultures, and while the elite class in imperial China might have practice polygyny, several wives sharing one husbands, something that was consider as normative, it has brought to my attention that the lower class was involved in what society deemed as taboo, polyandry, the act of one wife with multiple husbands. Although polyandry bring shame and dishonor to the husband’s family, as implies in Matthew Sommer’s Polyandry and Wife Selling in Qing Dynasty China: Survival Strategies and Judicial Interventions, it seems like these husbands were forced to