The Origins of Separation of the Sexes in China

Bibliographic Data

ID5159643
AuthorsBret Hinsch (corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume123
Issue3
Pages595
Publication date2003-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Oriental Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0279 • E-ISSN: 2169-2289
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3217752
OpenAlexW2074654281
LanguageEN
Citations received8

In recent years the study of the paired concepts zhen __ and jie rp, regularly compounded as zhenjhie .i j, has emerged as a prime research topic in all eras of Chinese women's history. Although zhenjie is often called chastity in English, this interpretation is inadequate. The rhetoric and behavior associated with zhenjie were far broader than chastity, which is primarily sexual. In contrast, zhenjie ideals were extremely wide-ranging and touched on virtually all the major realms of female life in imperial China, including selfimage, family, labor roles, education, and religion. Liu Xiang's IJ [fi (79-8 B.C.) Biographies of Women (Lieniizhuan 7IJf]O) includes two sections describing women who exemplify the paired virtues zhen and jie. Even at that early date, the subjects of Liu's biographies embody numerous virtues that go far beyond sexual fidelity.1 Liu saw zhenjie not just as physical chastity, but more generally as behavior that prevented sexual and social improprieties. Measures that helped ensure sexual fidelity and family harmony became identified with zhenjie, including separation of the sexes, widow fidelity, wifely obedience, physical purity, education of sons, remonstration with errant husbands, and service to senior in-laws.2 Devotion to the ideal of zhenjie was even said to have motivated some women to mutilate themselves or commit suicide

Ancient history · Archaeology · China · Separation (statistics) · Statistics · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Mathematics