A Fudan University scholar's book focuses on women's position in both the family and law in Chinese history, Zhang Kun reports in Shanghai.
A 27-year-old woman, surnamed Zhang, in Anyi county, Shanxi province, was cooking when a man broke into her house, stabbed her from behind and killed her. The murder case in 1749 prompted Zhao Liuyang, a scholar of Fudan University, to turn his research on old legal practices to focus on marriage and women's status in Chinese history.
Zhao's new book, Women, Family and Legal Practice, was published by Guangxi Normal University Press in February, to public acclaim, and landed on lists for recommended books nationwide.
Literary critic Liu Yisi wrote about it for the "top 10 books of March" on Chinese technology company Tencent's website.
"Starting from the legal archives, the author explores women's legal status in Chinese family life from the Qing Dynasty onward," Liu wrote.
"He brings to light the stories of Zhang and other unknown women long buried in history," Liu added. "Instead of building a cliched discussion on historical anecdotes, the traditional social system and abstract theories, he presents the process of Chinese women from bearing heavy pressure to being liberated, and then he steps into a turbulent period of legal rights, illustrating the challenges and preciousness of the fight to protect women's rights."
Zhao, 35, writes in his book that the victim of the murder case from more than 250 years ago was married to a merchant named Cui Erheng for no more than four months when she was killed. Cui had paid 41 ingots of silver to Zhang Shizhen, the woman's father, who claimed his daughter was a widow and was ready to remarry. "Cui was quite satisfied because the 'bride price' was OK, and the young woman was capable of bearing children." However, it later turned out that she was not a widow and sold by her ex-husband Yan Hongting, the murderer. Yan killed her because she refused to run away with him as they had agreed beforehand.
Zhao says he was heartbroken after reading about the incident. "They sold women for money, bought them for their fertility to keep the clan going, and women showed absolute obedience to men's lust."
The death of Zhang also encapsulates women's status in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Despite laws that forbade forced marriages or the sale of women, the lease or sale of women widely happened, especially among the poor, Zhao says.
He cites research by Matthew H.Sommer of Stanford University, in California, the United States, which shows a similarity between the transaction of women and land in ancient China. Even the same terms and definitions were used in trading contracts. More pathetically, Zhao says he found "many women were voluntarily, or knowingly involved in these transactions, just like the victim in this case. If Zhang didn't change her mind after being sold to the second husband, I think this 'deal' would not have left any trace for us to find".
He says he found records of suicides among women during the Qing Dynasty, a majority of which had to do with a woman's determination or need to preserve her chastity after her husband's death. Such suicides were "honored" by the imperial court, which encouraged more women to do the same.
"With few opportunities for an education or a career, women hardly had channels to achieve anything on their own. Being 'honored' for their chastity could at least get their families dozens of silver ingots, and more benefits could follow," he says. "Eventually the social custom developed that emphasized chastity while neglecting life."
With the end of the dynasties in 1911, China stepped into a transitional period for women. After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, new laws were introduced that broke the traditional hierarchy system that placed women at the bottom.
Zhao points to the changes: first, the idea of personal rights, which is a fundamental element in modern lawmaking; second, China's traditional emphasis on and protection of families; and third, special emphasis for the protection for women, a practice that evolved with the Chinese revolution. "The three ideas have run through our current legal form, protecting women's personal rights, property and reputation."
From his field research, he says he found rural parts of China "are getting more and more the same" as urban areas in such aspects. He says husbands are putting less pressure on their wives, and society is becoming "more tolerant". Also, women's careers and income are improving their family status.
Women having a greater say in family life also means they have gained more freedom to change their marital status.
China is seeing a rapidly growing divorce rate in the past few years and according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, more than 70 percent of the divorce cases were proposed by the wife. At the beginning of last year, China modified the legal clauses about divorce, requiring all couples to have a 30-day cooling-off period before their divorce became finalized.
The new regulation sparked heated discussion, with many believing such legal intervention violated personal freedom, and was actually against the protection of women's right, but Zhao doesn't believe this is the case.
He suggests judges in dealing with divorce cases should combine moral concerns with consideration of pragmatic solutions. They should, he says, treat each case according to the specific facts, because overlooking the moral principles in lawmaking, or simply using legal avenues as a "one-size-fits-all" remedy is likely to cause more pressure on the vulnerable party in the case.
In his book, Zhao also shares his observation that many marriages in modern day China have become somewhat of a contractual affair, and that this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
"On their first date people exchange information about their jobs, how many apartments they own, whether they own a car and so on. You have to admit that such 'contract relations' often create stable families, because everyone gets what they want."
However the scholar holds that such a pragmatic approach is not helpful if you are looking for beautiful aspects of marriage. "At the end of the day, marriage and family are the most intimate relationships between people. You need to understand, trust and tolerate each other."
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