How much the missionaries are able to accomplish from a religious standpoint is a question which we do not wish to discuss, but no one who has ever lived among them can deny that the opening of schools and the diffusing of western knowledge are potent factors in the development of the people.  The Chinese were not slow even in the beginning to see the advantages of a foreign education for their boys and now, along the coast at least, some are beginning to make sacrifices for their daughters as well.  The Woman’s College, which was opened recently in Foochow, is one of the finest buildings of the Republic, and when one sees its bright-faced girls dressed in their quaint little pajama-like garments, it is difficult to realize that outside such schools they are still slaves in mind and body to those iron rules of Confucius which have molded the entire structure of Chinese society for over 2400 years.

The position of women in China today, and the rules which govern the household of every orthodox Chinese, are the direct heritage of Confucianism.  The following translation by Professor J. Legge from the Narratives of the Confucian School, chapter 26, is illuminating: 

Confucius said:  “Man is the representative of heaven and is supreme over all things.  Woman yields obedience to the instructions of man and helps to carry out his principles.  On this account she can determine nothing of herself and is subject to the rule of the three obediences.

    “(1) When young she must obey her father and her elder brother;

    “(2) When married, she must obey her husband;

    “(3) When her husband is dead she must obey her son.

“She may not think of marrying a second time.  No instructions or orders must issue from the harem.  Women’s business is simply the preparation and supplying of drink and food.  Beyond the threshold of her apartments she shall not be known for evil or for good.  She may not cross the boundaries of a state to attend a funeral.  She may take no steps on her own motive and may come to no conclusion on her own deliberation.”

    The grounds for divorce as stated by Confucius are: 

    “(1) Disobedience to her husband’s parents;

    “(2) Not giving birth to a son;

    “(3) Dissolute conduct;

    “(4) Jealousy of her husband’s attentions (to the other inmates at his
    harem);

    “(5) Talkativeness, and

    “(6) Thieving.”

A Chinese bride owes implicit obedience to her mother-in-law, and as she is often reared by her husband’s family, or else married to him as a mere child, and is under the complete control of his mother for a considerable period of her existence, her life in many instances is one of intolerable misery.  There is generally little or no consideration for a girl under the best of circumstances until she becomes the mother of a male child; her condition then improves but she approaches happiness only when she in turn occupies the enviable position of mother-in-law.