East Asian History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

East Asian History - Essay Example A man is allowed to marry if his wife fails to give birth to a baby boy. People use to sold their daughters if they want to work in the lands of rich land lords. The subject of this paper and my ancestor is one of those poor women who struggled hard to live her life, the one who loved her daughters and value them. She had to bear pain of foot binding and post marriage customs but she didn't give up and continued to work hard and serve her family and children. I was glad to know by my mother that my ancestors lived in song dynasty as I was very fond of knowing about ancient China specially song dynasty. My ancestor was born when the country was under Confucius rule, so according to the traditions she was named "daughter no 2" as she was the second daughter of her parents Her father was a farmer and she daily saw her mother working harder than her father and other males. Her mother loved her a lot as she had to sell her elder daughter (daughter no 1) to a rich land owner in order to earn bread and butter by farming on their land. It was one of the happiest days of her life when she takes the first step and gets clothes to wear and straw shoes by her mother first time since she was born. It was made up of hemp (the cheapest material). While playing with her friends in the land, she was deeply impressed by the silk material wore by the daughter of the land lord and wishes to express her desire but was scared as she never saw her mother expre ssing anything My ancestor loves to play with children's living in the vicinity " such as flying kites and sliding down a stairway railing, to activities meant to emulate the adult males around them - playing the zither, writing poetry, and enacting a ritual washing of the Buddha."1 . As she grew up she had to wear old clothes of her mother. She always wore her hairs in two coils. She was amazed one day when unexpectedly her father took her to the market and was excited to see shopkeepers as' "one merchant is raising banners above his shop, another is supervising the unloading of grain sacks from transport boats on the Canal. Another individual is getting dressed, and the establishments, many of which seem to be for eating and drinking, seem on the whole relatively deserted2 . She looked strangely when she saw a person walking with them with his young son and another man came and did a strange practice. She asked her father what the man did and he replied that this is a tradition: "When a father goes out The son must follow behind If on a road he meets a senior He puts his feet together and joins his hand In front of a senior, He does not spit on a ground"3 She became happy as she thought his father will ignore her question now she expected something more from he father and thought he might buy something for her but her excitement comes to an end when her feet were binded. When my ancestor grew up she thought that it is said that Confucius tells us how to"act in accordance with the principle of humanity"4 then why she and other girls have to face this inhuman act of foot binding. When my ancestor turns 19 her mother told her that the greatest duty of women is to have a son. On one morning