Ancient Chinese women led a very tough life. They had to face discrimination in each and everything. They were ill-treated and embarrassed at every stage of their lives. They were treated differently from men.They were deprived of education. They were humiliated before men everywhere. Confucian principles governed their lives. Confucian had set these rules in his Analects.
As per Confucian women were inferior to men. Men and women were not equal in his eyes. And hence, they were not considered worthy to receive education and to be literate. The ancient Chinese women had led this unbearable life for almost 2000 years.
Their whole life was controlled by the male member of the family. Before marriage, it was the father and after marriage, it was the husband. They were also not given any names. They were called as daughter no1, daughter no2 and so on. On the birth of a baby girl, some humiliating customs were practiced.
Ancient Chinese women had to serve their husbands like slaves. They were not given any freedom to raise their voices. The only job which the ancient Chinese women had was to bear sons and take care of their husband’s houses. Ancient Chinese widows were not allowed to remarry. If they do so they were awarded the death penalty.
However, ancient Chinese men were allowed to have more than one wife. They had no right to express their rights and feelings. Empress Wu was considered to be one of the famous women of ancient China. In such a strict and harsh environment, Empress Wu challenged these norms of the society by becoming the first women to rule the ancient China.
It was during her reign that the position of women in ancient China was elevated. Empress Wu was responsible to set up the matriarchal society in the ancient China. During her reign, the biographies of famous women were written. In her views, it was very important for a ruler to rule his kingdom like a mother who dotes on her child.
Xi Shi was another very renowned woman of the ancient China. She was the daughter of a tea merchant in ancient China. She was the legendary beauty of ancient China. She is one woman of the ancient China who is remembered even today.