The Story of Ying-Ying - Essay Example

Asa Chao Essay#3 Mark Halperin December 1st, Hong Yan Huo Shui There is an old Chinese saying that women are the root of trouble, which has been proven right by a lot of stories from different dynasties. Daji from the Shang Dynasty used her beauty to influence King Zhou into doing lots of unacceptable things. Diao Chan from The Three Kingdoms turned Dong Zhuo and his godson Lu Bu into rivals, causing Dong Zhuo’s death at the hands of his own godson. Whether these stories are fiction or not, women remained at the bottom of the Confucian hierarchy for thousands of years and were seen as dangerous. Although these stories were more dramatic in everyday society, some men had been educated to think that women were dangerous to a man’s success because their presence and dependency was a distraction, and their charming appearance was the reason for unfaithful affairs. Beautiful women are desired by men, sometimes the desire turns to distraction, distraction becomes addiction and addiction eventually leads to failure. Women’s appearances can be dangerous for a man. Even in today’s society, people often misplace their priorities and spend excessive time with their partners. Men focus less on their career or education, which eventually leads to failure. In ancient China, women were seen as a sort of distraction as they were desired by men, just like alcohol and drugs. Women served as distractions to many kings in different Chinese dynasties. Consequently, they spent all the time being with their favorite woman instead of managing government affairs. It is similar to what happened in the story, The Pearl-Sewn Shirt, “After the third morning of their marriage, they changed into clothes of lighter hue, and Chiang, paying no attention to outside affairs on the pretext of regulating his household, spent all his time upstairs alone with his wife.”1 Hsing-ko did not care about anything other than his wife Fortune. He was fully distracted by her presence and enjoyed the moments. She also tried to distract Hsing-ko when he was planning to go on a business trip, “That night he talked things over with his wife, and told her he wanted to make the journey. At first his wife agreed that he should go. But then she talked of all the roads he would travel: husband and wife so much in love….and after both of them had grown very melancholy, he gave up the idea. This happened more than once.”2 Hsing-ko could have pursued his business and collected the trading credits, but he chose to stay with his beloved wife instead. The fact that this happened more than once shows how hard it was for Hsing-ko to focus on his business and career while having a beautiful wife. When Hsing-ko finally made up his mind, two years had already passed. Hsing-ko’s desire to be with his wife clogged his judgement, which led to the delay of business trip and proved that Fortune was a danger to his career. A woman should not be blamed for being a distraction or dangerous. Some men have more self-control than others, which can help them manage their behavior and priorities. In fact, success of many men in ancient Chinese society can be attributed to women. When women are mentioned as being dangerous, it does not mean that they are also evil. Dangerous implies that if a man fails to handle his love-life properly, it may lead to other failures. In other words, if a man can manage his choices and be free from distraction, then he will become successful. In The Story of Ying-Ying, Chang made the choice of not seeing her in order to pursue his career. The fact that they were very much in love with each other shows how hard it was for him to make this choice, “It is a general rule that those women endowed by Heaven with great beauty invariably either destroy themselves or destroy someone else….I have no inner strength to withstand this evil influence. That is why I have resolutely suppressed my love.”3 He thought of her presence as ‘this evil influence’, which would have destroyed him eventually. Despite the love Chang had for Ts’ui, he gave up on her as an opportunity cost to save his career future. Therefore, in the story of Chang and Ts’ui, although the woman has been depicted as dangerous, the man was capable of suppressing his feelings and did not let her influence his pursuit of success. In ancient China, men were seen as core of the family, while women played a supportive role, which is true to some extent even today. Women were not allowed to have a career or even go out of the house, promoting absolute male dominance. The society has taken away a woman’s right to be independent, making her dependent on parents in her whole pre-marital life and on husband in post-marital life. This sort of dependency is often seen as a distraction because men are supposed to go out to pursue their careers, which makes them worrisome about well being of their loved ones. In The Story of Ying-Ying, Ts’ui expressed her honest feeling of how much she missed Chang after he left, “Still, it is hard on the person left alone in this far-off place. But such is my fate….In company, I can force myself to talk and smile, but come evening I always shed tears in the solitude of my own room. Even in my sleep I often sob, yearning for the absent one.”4 It must have been difficult for Chang to suppress his feelings and focus on his study while knowing that his beloved cries every night because of his absence. However, being a smart person, she later stated, “When I offered myself in your bed, you treated me with the greatest kindness, and I supposed, in my innocence, that I could always depend on you. How could I have foreseen that our encounter could not possibly lead to something definite?”5 Ying-Ying had predicted that Chang could not return to her, and thus wrote these words to make it easier for him. She later told Chang to not think too often of her, in order for him to focus on his study. As previously stated, beautiful women are desired by men. Beautiful wives could also be desired by other men. Although women cannot be blamed for their appearance, they can attract unwanted attention from men other than their husbands. That is one of the reasons why women were not allowed to go out of the house, and had to wear a veil to in some cultures to hide their beauty. As in the story The Pearl-Sewn Shirt, before Hsing-Ko left for his business trip, he told Fortune, “You must wait for me with patience. The district is full of worthless young idlers, and you are a beautiful woman. Do not stir up trouble with them by standing gazing by the door.”6 Hsing-Ko knew that his wife’s beauty could attract unwanted people and hiding her beauty was the only way to prevent this from happening. Later in the story, just as Hsing-ko was worried, Fortune’s beauty attracted Ch’en Ta-Lang, which led to the affair and the unpleasant ending. Similar circumstances have been depicted in other stories as well. In Jin Ping Mei, Pan Jin Lian and Xi Men Qing are another example in this regard. Once Pan’s beauty was seen by Xi Men Qing, they ended up sleeping with each other and came up with the idea of killing Pan’s husband. All these stories show that women’s appearance can be dangerous not only to a man’s career but also life. Moreover, women can be dangerous and affecting the married man’s family on the other hand. Men who constantly visit brothels and seek affairs often do not have a happy life. In stories, The Pearl-Sewn Shirt and Jin Ping Mei, both men ended up dead, which implies that having an affair with someone’s wife is a bad choice. In conclusion, there was nothing more important for men than pursuit of studies, career and business in ancient China. Everything that hindered these pursuits was regarded as threatening and dangerous, including their loved ones. Women were often blamed for men’s failures, while they had done nothing wrong. Being dangerous doesn’t necessarily mean being evil; one cannot blame video games for distracting someone’s student life nor blame alcohol for someone’s well being. However, men were often being distracted by woman’s appearance and dependency, which directly influenced their focus and ambitions while pursuing their dreams. Women also attracted negative attention from other men, which led to shameful consequences. These were the reasons why men had been educated to believe that women were threatening and dangerous. Bibliography “The Pearl-sewn Shirt.” In Stories from a Ming Collection: The Art of the Chinese Storyteller, compiled by Feng Menglong, translated by Cyril Birch, 37-96. New York: Grove Press, 1958. Chen, Yuan. “The Story of Ying-Ying.” In The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature, edited by Victor Mair, page range of story. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Read More