Chinese Women

Coming back from Bejing for a final presentation to company's pitch to the biggest bank in China, I had some conversation with my colleague about Chinese women (the topic came about because of his first encounter with Chinese women in Beijing - he was very puzzled). I remember I had written something about it before but perhaps it is worth another go after a few years.

How do you describe Chinese women? I think you cannot categorize them as a women in a normal sense. Chinese Women (I am refering to those born and raised in Mainland China) do not considered female as a gender that are inferior to male, it is just a second gender. Being a female just means you are physically weaker than man yet at the same time possessing the power as a female. Of course this might be different in the country side but, in the city, the well-educated women are totally in control. You see them as government officials, successful business women, energetic real estate agents or shop owners.

You might be wondering how this is different from western women who are well respected and go about doing their career (I think glass ceiling is still there, that's another topic). I think the difference is that Chinese women can really forgo the fact that they are female and let go of the sense of being a woman or mothering duties very easily. Remorse and guilt do not bother them too much - or they are forced to ignore them. Living example is my aunt from my father's side - She was going thru a very rough time during great culture revolution. She had to marry a guy much older just to survive (for food). But when opportunity presented itself for her to flee to Hong Kong, she abandoned her 2 young children without hesitation.

My aunt's case might be caused by the distored environment but somehow I think the mentality somehow is rooted in modern Chinese women. Definitely no offense but I think they have to arm themselves with such level of brutality in order to survive. I suppose it is not common in women from other culture/region. Nevertheless, I think Mao Tse Tung had really achieved the gender eqaulity miles ahead of anywhere else in the world 50 years ago.