Judging from the content of ancient women's education, it is mainly a kind of survival education, that is, skill education and moral education, of which moral education is the main one. As early as the pre-Qin period, although there were no special books on women's studies, this kind of content already existed in some books on ethics, such as Yili? The mourning in Xia Zi Zhuan requires women to follow three ways: "Don't marry from the father, marry from the husband, and the husband dies in the child." Ethical women. Book of rites? Naize recorded in more detail: "A child can eat and teach his right hand. There are only women who can talk. What about men? Q skin, female? Q line. Six years, teaching number and name. For seven years, men and women have not eaten together. For eight years, I have to be followed and taught by the elderly when I go in and out of the gate and eat impromptu meals. Nine years, teaching for a few days. Ten years later, I want to be a foreign teacher, stay at home, learn to be a secretary, wear clothes and pants, be polite and handsome, and learn to be a small instrument every morning and evening. Please forgive me ... women are obedient after ten years. , cocoon, weaving? Group? R, learn female affairs and share clothes. Keep sacrifices, collect wine, beans and glutinous rice, and help each other drink. Ten get married in five years and at twenty. There is a reason for getting married for twenty-three years. " It can be seen from this passage that women have to accept completely different educational contents from men from birth. In terms of skills, they should learn to cook, sew, silk and hemp, sacrifice and other daily affairs at home in order to help men. Morally, women are required to have a sense of male superiority from an early age. Q skin, female? Q wire. "Know a series of manners and obey men. From these contents, we can see that the goal of women's education in the pre-Qin period is not to let women know much cultural knowledge, but to cultivate them into "good wives and good mothers", and the education of women is purely "housekeeping". This kind of education has bound the majority of women to housework such as pots and pans, spinning and weaving all their lives, thus losing the opportunity to enjoy the same education as men, and of course it is impossible for them to show their talents in politics like men.
In the Han Dynasty, because this was the gathering and forming period of China's traditional thought, the oppression of men on women had penetrated into the ideology, so special books on women's studies came into being. From the Han Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, there were many books about women's studies. Among them, Internal Training, The Analects of Confucius for Women, The Record of Fan Jielu for Women and Women's Commandments have been compiled into four women's books, which have become required reading materials for women's literacy education. These books on women's studies all emphasize women's moral and ethical education without exception. For example, Liu Xiang's Biography of Lienv systematically and concretely expounded the pre-Qin Confucian ethics and Dong Zhongshu's theory of "Three Cardinals and Five Permanences" by defining the standards of "mother instrument", "sagacity", "benevolence", "abstinence" and "evil". The concept advocated by Liu Xiang has intensified the mental oppression and moral constraints on women immediately after the emergence of civilization.
After Liu Xiang, Ban Zhao made the moral and ethical education in women's education more systematic and complete through Women's Commandments. She expounded the proposition that "men are superior to women" through her own inferiority and weakness. She thinks that women are inherently inferior. "In ancient times, women lived for three days, stayed in bed, made tiles and fasted. Lying under the bed, you should be humble, weak, master and servant. Ceramic tile makers should be aware of their hard work and be on duty. Zhai told the first king, Ming priest. Third, cover the usual way of women and the code of ethics. " [1] Women have to rely on their husbands because of their inferiority, so they should "seriously exercise and take care of their husbands" and "perform their duties" around housework instead of striving for power and profit in society. She expounded the concept of "husband as wife" and the principle of "three obedience and four virtues" through husband and wife and women's morality. Ban Zhao's viewpoint makes women have no will, no hobbies, let alone free action. Women can only live a puppet-like, slave-like life, completely losing their independent personality.
The Analects of Women by the Liu sisters in the Tang Dynasty concretized some principled things put forward by Ban Zhao in the Women's Commandments from the perspective of women's moral cultivation. For example, she put forward in the article "Standing": "Any woman should learn to stand first. The way to build a career lies in chastity. Purity is chastity, and chastity is honor. Don't look back, don't show your lips, don't move your knees and don't shake your skirt. Don't laugh, don't shout. Everywhere inside and outside, men and women are different. No peeking at the outer wall, no appearing in court. You must hide your face when you go out, and you must hide your shape when you peek. Men are not family members, not generic names, and women are not good family members, not blind dates. Only honest people can be human. " The Analects of Confucius Women's History stipulates that its main purpose is to define the norms of women's thoughts and behaviors, to be a virtuous woman with "four virtues" and to celebrate the ages, in fact, to put a spell on women's heads. Therefore, Mr. Zhang Shunhui pointed out: "This clearly draws a circle and teaches women to stand within this range and be human. Otherwise, it was not enough to become a qualified woman and was despised by the society at that time. " [1] During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the influence of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, women's books had higher requirements for women's moral cultivation. For example, The Record of Female Fan Jielu not only emphasizes that women should take the "Three Cardinal Principles and Five Permanent Principles" as the foundation, but also puts forward in the chapter of "The Theory of Great Unity": "The dry elephant is like Yang, the Kun elephant is like Yin, and the general of the sun and the moon is the phase of two instruments. Men are outside, women are inside, and couples make everything. The virtues of the five permanent members are generally based on Dun, the three cardinal principles are just and clear, and human relations are positive. " [3] Moreover, in the concept of chastity, the requirements for women in ancient China have reached an unbounded level. In his "Zhen Lie" article, he said: "Loyal ministers are not two countries, and noble women have no two husbands. So, once you are with it, you will never move again. Men can bigamy, but women are no longer suitable. Therefore, suffering is called chastity, and generous donation is called bravery. Let a woman cut off her ears and nose to hold her body, and let her wife hold her arms to show her ambition. " [3] This is simply inhuman.
In ancient books on women's studies, in addition to moral and ethical education, women's skills were also emphasized, but it was believed that the cultivation of women's skills should focus on housework skills aimed at serving husbands. For example, the Women's Commandment requires "concentrate on weaving, don't laugh and entertain guests" and requires women to "be on duty" around housework. On the other hand, The Analects of Confucius Women's History requires that women should master women workers such as spinning, sericulture, sewing and washing, making soup, feeding livestock, ploughing and sowing. Sima Guang said more clearly in "Family Model": "Her female merits are nothing more than Sang Ma, weaving, making clothes, eating and drinking." [4] Therefore, women's education in ancient China only requires training women who can be diligent, hard-working and be a good husband and wife. This kind of education is undoubtedly the strangulation of women's own talents.
In ancient China society, women's labor was mostly auxiliary, and their income was also a supplementary part of the whole family economy, so the economic power was always in the hands of the clan. This low economic status determines that women have no right to speak in family and society. In order to maintain their political rights and their dominance over women, the patriarchal forces have raised Confucian orthodoxy to an unparalleled height. "Three cardinal guides and five virtues" and "three obedience and four virtues" have become the ropes that bound women in China for a long time. The ancient women's education in China revolved around "three cardinal guides and five virtues" and "men are superior to women". Under the multiple oppression of political power, clan power, theocracy and husband power and the bondage of feudal ethics, ancient women positioned their life value and educational purpose on caring for their husbands and educating their children. Therefore, although ancient feudal women had education, they did not have the right to education. The education received by ancient women, like the "education" of all oppressed groups, is a tool of taming. Results The higher the educational background, the more attached to men and husbands, and the lower the social status. In the end, women lost their independent personality and became slaves of the family and vassals of men. Even in the feudal society for thousands of years, a few outstanding women appeared as accessories of men. It can be seen that under the unique education and training of women for thousands of years, women willingly gave up the social, political and economic stage and became unknown people behind the scenes. In addition, the imperial examination, as the main way for China ancient intellectuals to gain fame and climb up, has not been open to women, resulting in no women in the imperial examination talent team. Therefore, thousands of years of ancient history can only be the history of male elites.
Of course, ancient women's education also has some points worthy of recognition. For example, the content of women's education is easy to understand and easily accepted by women from all walks of life. Persuading women to be modest and respectful, putting others before themselves, honoring their elders and being thrifty and frugal has played a lot of roles in maintaining family harmony and strengthening women's self-cultivation. However, compared with its destruction of women in China, this role is in a secondary position.