Writing Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Writing Women - Essay Example The marriage traditions in China are based on the concept of Yin and Yang, where Yin is the gentle and docile female of the human spirit and Yang is the dominant male. Yin and Yang have to maintain their states at all times in order for the union or marriage to be a peaceful one. As society progressed and women gained more exposure and education a few women writers came forward and expressed their feminist views on the subject through their short stories. These stories have been translated and compiled into a book, â€Å"Writing Women in Modern China† released in 2005. In this essay we will compare some short stories from that book with Zhang Ailing’s â€Å"When Love came to China† (2006) and examine if modernity in China really succeeded in changing the age-old traditions in the country. We will look at the concept of love based on: It was customary in twentieth century China for most men and women to get married or betrothed to someone by their early twenties. This marriage of convenience most often resulted in men seeking love outside of their marriages. This is the beginning of Zhang’s story when the already married Wen and Lo court 20-year-old Chou and Fan. Chou is described as the free spirited woman who is nonchalant and does not look for a commitment from her lover Wen and eventually leaves Wen to marry a man chosen by her family. Although Chou is portrayed as a face of the modern woman she appears here more as someone not brave enough to fight against the norms and old customs of the Chinese society. In this case the freedom she tries to exercise by finding love on her own terms is more of an escape from reality and her inevitable fate. We see a similar plight in Fen Yuan Jing’s â€Å"Separation† (1923) where the girl is locked up by her mother to separate her from her lover and she awaits the arrival of her betrothed Liu Muhan helplessly and with dread. We however see here that love has a deeper meaning, the girl