A WOMAN IN THE TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF CHINA

Abstract

In the article, the authors analyzed the place and role of women in ancient Chinese culture. The article deals with the issues of the position of women in the ancient Chinese sources «Women’s Quaternary», «Conversations and Reasonings for Women» and «Instructions for Women» by Nu Tse. Also, the authors of the most important sources of knowledge for women Liu Shi, Su Ruo-hsin, Xu and Ban Zhao are considered. Special attention is paid to the position of a girl before marriage, a Chinese woman as a wife, the status of a woman as a mother, the status of a woman after marriage, the status of a concubine in the emperor’s palace and in rich houses; their role and place in the institution of family and marriage and in society as a whole. The Analects of Confucius occupy an important place in the traditional education of Chinese women. From content to form, it was strongly influenced by Buddhism, and has a strong Buddhist connotation. As a result, it not only contributed to the expansion and practicality of the thought of women’s education, but also made women’s education in Confucian women’s morality widely popularized in the middle and lower classes of Chinese society during the Tang Dynasty and later.