Chinese Imperial Women

1. How did the Heqin Policy shape the life of the princess?

Princesses were merely political tools that arise due to the emergence of the Heqin policy. As political “scapegoats”, they had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of maintaining peace between two countries. Princesses had little control over their lives, with their marriages and futures being unilaterally determined by emperors. They could only escape the fate of being married off to a foreign land by seeking refuge in religious outlets, requesting to be ordained as Daoist priestess. For those who eventually became part of the Heqin policy, they led a life of uncertainty as they moved to a foreign land without knowing who their future husbands were and went with the mindset that they may never return to their homeland. Returning back to their homeland seemed to be an uphill task due to political implications. Taihe’s poignant story showed how some of the Chinese officials had initially denied her entry back to China even after she made the perilous journey back to China, as Chinese were at hostilities with the Turkish.

Princesses were also lonely and unhappy most of the time, longing for their homeland as they adapted to a drastically different culture, lifestyles and climate, mostly without the company of their closet kin.

However, princesses probably enjoyed an elevation in their social status as a consequence of the policy. Not only were they seen as national heroes in their home country, sacrificing their happiness for the sake of their people, they also played a more vital role in the foreign courts. As their position shifted from being a princess to being an empress, they wielded more power in the political scene. This is further enforced with the fact that women outside China enjoyed a better social standing in general, as they were less restricted by cultural and social constrains. An exemplification of their political power is seen in Taihe’s case where she held power in the Uighur court and was allowed to establish her own quarters and had the company of the Chinese ministers for close to a year. Furthermore, they gained considerable economic independence and freedom. As empresses, they could decide which of the precious items were to be sent back to China.


2. In what aspect and to what degree did the Chinese life differ from the Turkish one?

The differences in practices between Chinese and Turkish life can be broadly classified into the social and economic aspects. An intriguing point to note in the social aspect was that although Chinese were generally considered more constrained, traditional and conservative in thinking as compared to the Turkish, the circumstances were very different during the Tang dynasty. The peculiarity of the Tang dynasty was the openness of it. During this period, Chinese appeared to be more receptive to foreign ideas and were expressive in their literatures. In the Tang dynasty, Buddhism and Daoism flourished as the core ideology while Confucianism prestige dipped. As a result, women’s social standing amplified during the Tang dynasty.

Despite the increased status for women then, Chinese women still faced more restrictions in their conducts as compared to their Turkish counterparts. Though Imperial princesses were active within the domestic sphere and were exposed to foreign imports, such as polo, they still left the palace infrequently. In comparison, Turkish princesses could accompany several of the embassies to China, showing that they enjoyed a relative high level of autonomy.

The diet of the two differs greatly as well. Chinese meals were made up of mainly fresh fruits and food, with rice and wheat as their main staple. As Turkish had less access to fresh supplies, their staples were mostly meat, dried fruits and fermented foodstuff, such as mare’s milk. Dressing was another point of dissimilarity between Chinese and Turkish. During the Tang dynasty, their dressing emphasized on the impossibly wide sleeves which used as much silk as the rest of the robes. Taihe’s Chinese dress was worn so as to reveal considerable décolleté. In comparison, Turkish dressing sported a more modest, plain round neck with narrow sleeves.

Chinese and Turkish had divergent religious ideology and beliefs as well. As mentioned, Buddhism and Daoism formed the main pillar of ideologies in Tang China while majority of the Turkish were Muslims. There were also conflicting beliefs and customs concerning the treatment of widowed imperial ladies. For the Turkish, at the death of the Tukish Kaghan, the wives could either commit suicide so that she could be buried alongside her late husband or slashed their face with a knife as a sign of mourning. In comparison, Tang Chinese were more liberal in its treatment of widows.

Geographically, the greenery, verdant river valleys and lush spectacular mountain scenery made the Chinese landscape one that is something to marvel at. Turkish did not offer such luxuriant and extravagant landscapes as they suffered from harsher weather, making their land unsuitable for agricultural purposes.

Economically, their core competencies in trade differ. Chinese relied on their treasured silk as their main trading tool. The demand for silk came from their neighbouring countries, such as Burma and Vietnam, and silk was sought after even in the far west. Due to their nomadic links, Turkish depended more on their cavalry ponies/horses as their main trading tool. As their horses were of superior quality, it could entice the Chinese to carry out trade with them.


3. What were the major differences among the elite men and women in terms of their life course?

The most fundamental difference between elite men and women was the significance of the life markers in their lives. The passage of life’s’ markers held out growing promise for elite women, as the passing of each life markers means an improvement in their domestic status and that they were a step closer to realize their eventual passing of their burdens on to the next generation. The main goal of an elite woman was to supply male progeny for the family line that they were married to. Thus, as long as they provide a heir for the family, they were relieved of their most pressing burden and would be able to enjoy greater spiritual and emotional autonomy as they aged. However, the passage of elite men’s life markers did not look as promising as the women. For men, each marker was an ominous sign of potential failure and signaled the possible struggles to be faced ahead. This was true for the men as they faced unusual amount of stress because they were expected to strive for both career success and moral self- realization simultaneously when both were increasingly exclusive, thus increasing their chances of failure as they aged.

The other issue on the life markers was that it passed more rapidly for women as a girl’s life was measured in 7 years while a boy’s life in 8 years. This resulted in a different prime and decaying period for the two genders. For example, at age 50, it signaled the start of the final stage of women’s life course while men’s official career supposedly only peaked at 50 sui.

Elite men also enjoyed a more vibrant social life as compared to their women counterparts. Elite parents indulged their young sons in their mid twenties and thirties, giving them much freedom and allowing them to engage in extramarital dalliances. Elite women on the other hand were expected to remain faithful to their spouse once they were betrothed, even if their intended spouse died before the wedding. Thus, elite women’s miseries in arranged marriages were much more prevalent than the men, since men can afford to seek solaces in other women.

Elite women faced much restriction socially and physically. Gender segregation for elite women was strict and they lived in rear apartments where they could be shielded from the gaze of outsiders. Besides the domestic seclusion, they also had to abide to strict rules that governed their contacts with outsiders and men. The fact that foot binding was seen as a necessity by elite families meant that virtually all of the elite women had their feet bounded. Consequently, their actions were pretty much limited and they had to depend on others in order to move around. However, such restrictions being imposed on them also protected elite women from the material corruption of the society that elite men were subjected to daily, due to the men’s multiple interactions with the society.

After marriage, elite women were seen as members of another family and their status of would then be dependant on her husband’s status. Married women were formally expected to mourn for their own parents for 1 year and their parental mourning obligations were transferred to their in-laws. This showed the detachment of elite women to her natal family once they were married. Elite men however did not face such issues and they would have the continued responsibility of caring for the well – being of the same family.


4. What were the roles of female rulers in imperial China?

As there was a clear lack of sole sovereign female rulers in China, the exception being Empress Dowager Wu Zetian, we define female rulers as empresses, empress dowagers and regent empress dowagers. Although they do not have direct influence over major decisions, they can wield tremendous influence on the emperor, thus indirectly influencing state policies. The empress dowager, as the mother of the Son of Heaven is widely revered by the Emperor and court officials. This has to do with Confucius’ idea of being filial towards one’s father-mother (fu mu). And thus being someone of intimate relations with the Emperor, female rulers have the ability to influence, advice or even subtly rebuke the Emperor and court officials should they not agree with a certain issue. We think this is very like the role of Minister Mentor currently in Singapore, where the opinions of Lee Kuan Yew are still sought although they are not necessarily followed.


5. In what kind of circumstances did they emerge?

These influential female rulers emerged due to the strong Confucianist idea of filial piety towards ones parents. Also, these female rulers were able to stay relevant, influential and powerful because for a woman to have outshone other women to gain the emperor’s favour and be made empress is not easy at all. Thus naturally, these female rulers all have certain traits which enable them to survive criticisms by court officials and palace intrigues. These women were strong, determined and intelligent. On certain occasions, a regent empress dowager is appointed when the emperor is too young, ill, dead or through a posthumous edict. In extreme circumstances, when the present emperor is deemed weak or ineffective by court officials, the empress dowager becomes regent to mediate the transition of power from dethroning the emperor to enthroning his successor. Also, the empress dowager becomes regent to officially handover state property to a successive dynasty. For example, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Pu Yi of the Qing Dynasty surrendered the state to the Republic of China in 1911.

They occur more often in the Northern Dynasties compared to the Southern Dynasties as perhaps due to their tribal or barbaric influences, Northern Dynasties are found to be more matrilineal.


6. How did they differ from their male counterparts?

Regent empress dowagers were never given the legitimacy nor the Mandate of Heaven to succeed the previous emperor as sovereign ruler by court officials and the people. We think this is due to the patriarchal nature of Imperial Chinese society. They are merely seen as seat-warmers until the next emperor is ready to rule by himself. A compromise was reached in the Song Dynasty in an attempt to institutionalize the regency of empress dowagers. They were seen as joint rulers with the emperor and none of her decisions can be executed without the consent of the emperor. Also, as often the emperor is not ready to rule, the regent empress dowager is also considered “tutoring the emperor in government.” We witness a bid to curb extreme influences of these female regents by institutionalizing the regency.

As they do not possess the legitimacy to rule, they are not allowed to issue decrees, perform imperial ceremonial plowing or offer sacrifices

Regent empress dowagers always had a harder time in court as most Confucian scholar-officials were against the idea of having a women in the ‘outer court’ (wai) and not in the ‘inner court’ (nei).

Historians and scholars also tend to focus on reigns by regent empress dowagers that were bad while the good ones were rarely mentioned. This lent to the argument by the Ming dynasty to prohibit empress dowagers from becoming regents. This was also enforced during the times of Emperor Wei Wen-ti and Emperor Wuti.


7. Although these readings only focus on elite women, could you please discuss the role of women in imperial China in terms of politics, economics, culture and so on?

As mentioned in the first few questions, palace women with the emperor’s favour, especially the concubines, can have significant influence and power over court officials. They can influence policies and appointments to the court. Often times, the emperor is persuaded to promote their male relatives to court over more experienced scholars. Moreover, the combination of concubines and eunuchs is a force to be reckoned with as these are the people that form the inner circle of the emperor whereas important state ministers are often in the outer circle. An extreme circumstance of the over-influence of women in the palace is the downfall of the dynasty, as in the case of the Tang Dynasty blamed on Lady Yang. Some palace women, as mentioned in Q1, are used as diplomatic or political tools to maintain relations or loyalty of vassal states or to secure the alliance of a state within or out of China.

Women were not exactly considered the propagators of Chinese culture due to their lack of education and exposure to works from other culturalists. Nevertheless, women had a lot of impact on the aesthetics aspects of culture. It is considered unmanly for men to be the object of admiration. Thus we often find beautiful lovelorn poems or novels written by men with women as the object of desire. In history, we have the legendary Four Great Beauties of ancient China. These four set the standard for beauty for women of imperial China to strive for, and for men to write about.

Foot-binding was popular among the elite women as it signifies prosperity and beauty. Foot-binding is a status symbol. Only the rich can afford to have their daughters not contributing to the family in labour. It is a sexual fetish that the imperial society unfortunately expected very highly of women to conform to. The ‘lily-foot’ is said to evoke the protective instincts of men when women walk with a swaying and clumsy gait. The Chinese men found this very sexy. It is a double-edged sword as having ‘lily-feet’ fetches one better marriage prospects but confines one to an immobile and dependent lifestyle, while the normal-footed cannot demand the richer men but is able to move about with ease and thus, support oneself.

The social restrictions and women’s subordinate status limited their public life and activities but did not invade into their private life, where they were still deeply respected and regarded by their children. In terms of a wider culture, the mother stands in for the busy father in tutoring the young in Confucian ways. The foundation and continuation of Confucianism in the imperial society depended very much on the support of mothers in China to inculcate these values faithfully into their children.

Although women are said to be confined to the ‘inner court,’ their weaving was very much vital to China’s economy. Women formed the core workforce in what was probably the most important and valuable industry of China: silk-weaving. Without the hundreds of thousands of weavers across China, the empire would never have enough amount of silk to trade with other countries for other necessities (i.e. Ferghana horses). Silk opened up China trade-routes and channels (i.e. The Silk Road), and formed trade-relations with faraway states (i.e. South Asia and the Mediterranean). It expanded the economy and had a domino effect on other local industries as well, causing the local populace to fluorish and prosper well into the Qing period.

Furthermore, in marriages, dowry and bridal gifts often were the single largest expense of any family. To stint on dowry and bridal gifts was considered a letdown to the family’s name and honour. There are many anecdotes of families incurring huge amounts of debt or selling their personal property just to finance the wedding. Indirectly, the marrying off of a daughter or the inclusion of a daughter-in-law into the family incur such an expense that it forms a significant portion of China’s domestic economy.


References

Whitfield Susan. “The Princess’s Tale,” in Life along the Silk Road. London: John Murray, 1999, pp. 95-112.

Susan Mann. Chapter 3: “The Life Course,” in Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997, pp. 45-76.

Lien-sheng Yang. “Female Rulers in Imperial China.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol.23. (1960-1961), pp. 47-61.