CHINESE CHARACTERS AND GENDER ROLES IN MARRIAGE

Abstract

To a large extent, Chinese characters reflect the development of various Chinese social patterns in which polyandry or group marriage that prevailed in matriarchal societies gave way to patriarchy where brides could be “robbed” from their families, or where marriages were forced or
purchased. From their previous power position, women became increasingly dependent on men who rose to predominance in both families and society, resulting in women’s lowly roles. Along with advances in human society, there appear in Chinese those expressions and characters that depict gender equality and equal roles in marriages. This paper focuses on analyzing gender roles in marriage as represented in Chinese characters so as to clarify how Chinese society was depicted in the language. This also adds references that can be useful for teaching, learning, and researching the Chinese language and culture in particular, and foreign languages and cultures in general in Vietnam.