The suburban citizen., 1901-04-20
WOMEN OF THE FAR EAST
THEIR SEX IS THEIR HANDICAP IN
The CELESTIAL EMPIRE.


That Betrays Unhappiness.
Woman in China enjoys the distlnc
ton of having escaped the admiration
of foreigners, Her praises are un-
sung in the verses Of other lands; she
! is not enShrined on the canvas of those
whose ideals Of outward being the
! world has adopted; she has flashed no
! wit upon the page of romance or daz-
zled it with her beauty Everybody
has agreed in letting her alone from
the ankles up, as though her only pos
sible claim to consideration lay in her
cramped and tortured feet, which
everybody pties, and about which
nobody ever does anything except to
| pass resolutions,
Even at home she is under initial
disadvantage. She starts life handi-
capped by her sex, No family ever
wants a girl baby. When the women
go to the temples they always pray
for boys and buy hoy images in the
hope that the gods viii remember and
favor them If a girl results, she is
tolerated, rather than enjoyed. While
hardly out of her babyhood her feet
must be swathed, IL she belongs to
a proper family. AS she grows her
liberty Is restrained. She known moth
ing Of life outside the walls Of her
home, except such gllmpses as she
may catch from a window, or from a
covered chair in which she may oc.
casionally be carried to visit families
IL which there are other unfortunates
like herself.
Thus she remains a prisoner until
ready for delivery to a husband she
has never seen, henceforth becoming
the slave of that husband and his par
ents A brood Of her own springs up
about her quickly enough and by the
time that process ends she is a grand
mother. Life becomes easier for her
as the children mature for the wives
of her sons must be her landmarks
and the children are bound to provide
for her comfort as the most sacred OF
their obligations, and to respect her
authority as long as she lives.
Modern credulity is taxed TO recon
cile n life so circumccribed with a con-
ception Of happiness as free agents
understand it. The difficulty lies a
the appreciation of environment. A
Chinese woman knows no life but
this. Her aspirations are restricted
to it by traditions and customs that
seem to her as immovable and as i'm
pentrable as the walls that hedge in
and defend her city. There is no one
TO suggest other thoughts to her. The
minds against which her mind brushes
have limitations as narrow as her
own. She usually makes the best of
her lot cheerfully and turns out a fond
wife and devoted mother. OF her
wifely duty she is rarely forgetful. A
womanly instinct to please prompts
her to make herself attractive to her
husband.
Heartbreakings may not always be
violent when the man strays abroad
and returns with other women for his
household, but they are often pathetic.
Yet custom permits and the wife must
bow, whatever her feelings. Her main
comfort is that additional women can
not be wives. She is alone in that re-
latlon. Secure in her place she has
an innate sense Of its superiority and
Of the dignity that BELTS it. Hence it
happens that wives are tolerant of the
others and often provide for them
when husbands die, and rear the chill
dren they have borne.
This sketch Of life as found among
those of good estate, in character as
well as means, is analogous TO Il sum
mary applying in Western homes
where conscience joins with custom in
regulating social and domestic con-
duct. Crcumscribed though the life
Of Chinese woman may be, and diff
fering so sharply in detail from ac-
ceDted standards elsewhere as 10 make
it seem almost intolerable, it las
compensations Of some weight The
privation, drudgery, and subordina-
tons to which n Chinese woman is
subject come when she has youth and
strength aud buoyant vigor. AS these
depart and she needs relief, social and
family customs provides It, ana with
advancing years her cares tighten, her
comforts increase, and her afternoon
is piilowcd for her.
In spite OF limitations Chinese WON
an is quite human. by foregoing the
pleasures OF courtghp and selection
she does not, as a matter Of course,
shut her heart to romance. When at
her marriage the gctcs Of the world
open q Little wider to her Chan before
she puts her sharp little eyes 10 The
uses Tor which they were intended. II
they are locking for a Prince Charm
ing and they fail ana lin2cr on the
husband TO whom she is introduced,
there Is occasion for Thanksgiving.
1t happens also that mild and yielding
disposition in a newly welded pair Is
not invariably more pronounced in
the woman, When one OF that sex
is asseftivc, the imagination is taxed
TO believe that she Is the subject party.
Man is, Of course supreme, but he not
infrequontly finds it polite to declare
himself only in n fgurative way and
10" practical purposes appear to be
! hn1igGivp