Representations of Chinese women in the feudal system in the translated novel "The hundred celebrated Chinese women"

Abstract

This independent research aims to study the representations of Chinese women in the feudal system in the translated novel "The hundred celebrated Chinese women". It was found that there are altogether 3 representations, namely 1) The ideal Chinese women representation, with 56 characters in total, characterized as good daughters, good wives, good mothers, with high moral integrity, loyal to their husbands, dressed neatly and properly, with appropriate manners, proficient in handicrafts or arts. Even in the status of deities, they will have the same characteristics, which conform to the characteristics of the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues" within the ideological framework of Confucianism that is related to Chinese women, educating Chinese women to be women with complete qualities both inside and outside. 2) The representation of bargaining with the ideal Chinese women, with 19 characters in total, characterized as women with behaviors beyond the female ethics of Confucianism, that is, disguising as men, being patriotic and courageous heroic women, following the army to fight, having abilities that society does not expect women to have, seeking knowledge from educational institutions, and loving freedom, which is a group of women whose behaviors do not conform to all the characteristics of the ideal Chinese women, and they are also influenced by or still within the ideological framework of Confucianism. 3) The non-ideal Chinese women representation, with 25 characters in total, characterized as women who are the destroyers of the nation by seducing the powerful to be infatuated, immoral women, autocratic women, thinking of stealing things, having an ambitious mind, fond of imitation, being lewd women, and being women who have fallen into prostitution. This group of women has characteristics that are opposite to the characteristics of good women, which is the ideal Chinese women representation.