The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 384 Gender equality?

January 1737, 1 was the Lunar New Year of the Dingsi Year. Traditional red and gold colors and couplets decorated every temple and home in Daxing City.

The several iron bridges across the Daxing River are also hung with red lanterns and festive banners, and the cheerful sounds of children playing can be heard from the streets and alleys.

Colorfully decorated cruise ships are docked on the river, hosting splendid acrobatics, opera, and dance performances that interact with the countless excited people on both sides of the river. Countless small boats shuttle back and forth, carrying hawkers selling New Year's goods. Their cries and the tunes from the cruise ships on the shore interweave to form a unique festival symphony.

In the theaters in the city, artists dressed in gorgeous costumes and appeared on stage, performing ancient legends against a magnificent background. The audience sat upright on wooden chairs, eating snacks while watching attentively, sometimes exclaiming in amazement and sometimes giving enthusiastic applause.

The streets of the city are bustling with traffic and people. The shop windows are filled with colorful New Year decorations, and vendors are hawking their own New Year goods, from firecrackers to Spring Festival couplets, from candies to New Year paintings. The wide variety of goods is dazzling.

In the Municipal Square, people gathered in front of the Bell and Drum Tower, listening to the solemn bells and praying for peace and good fortune in the new year. The mottled bell tower has witnessed the changes of the years, but it still guards the memory and tradition of the city. On the bluestone road, the footsteps of pedestrians and the echoes of the bell and drum tower intertwined, forming a deep and powerful beat.

"Mom, I want to eat that!" A delicate little girl jumped up and down, pointing to the stall selling candy figures on the street, with a look of desire in her eyes.

"Xiaoyan, be good. The candy man is too sweet. If you eat it, your teeth will get worms." Cao Xi frowned, shook his head gently, and rejected his daughter's request.

"Mom doesn't like me anymore?" The little girl immediately pouted and looked bitter, looking like a pitiful little girl who was about to cry.

"How could mother not like you? But if you eat too much candy, your teeth will grow worms and your stomach will ache. Xiaoyan is the best, let's not eat candy, okay?" Cao Xi squatted down, held her daughter in her arms, and said softly, "Later, mother will buy you beautiful hairpins and hairbands and dress you up like a princess."

"I don't want to be a princess!" The little girl twisted hard in her mother's arms. "Being a princess is not fun at all. There are too many rules. You can't just crawl on the ground or catch butterflies in the grass. Mom, I just want to eat that candy man. ... I promise I won't eat too much. I'll just lick it gently and then hold it in my hand and look at it!"

Cao Xi couldn't help but smile when he heard that.

"Xiaoyan, be obedient. You've already eaten a lot of candy today. Look, your brother didn't even ask for any candy."

"You bought your brother such a beautiful sword, so of course he is embarrassed to ask for candy. In fact, your brother really wants candy, right?"

"I... I don't want to eat." The boy next to him, who looked about six or seven years old, looked at Cao Xi and said in a low voice.

Seeing the boy's timid look, Cao Xi couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He took the two children, one in each hand, and walked to the candy figure stall, and bought an exquisite candy figure for each of them.

"Thank you... mother." The boy took the candy man, but did not lick it impatiently like his sister. Instead, he bowed respectfully to Cao Xi.

"Well, eat slowly." Seeing his reserved look, Cao Xi's heart softened. She touched his head and said softly.

"Mom, didn't you say daddy would be back soon?" The little girl licked the candy man happily, glancing around to see if there was anything delicious on the busy street market. "It's been so long, why hasn't he come back yet?"

"Maybe... he was delayed on the road." Cao Xi couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat when he heard his daughter mention her father.

It has been more than two years, and apart from a few letters that are brought back to her every year, she has no idea what her husband is doing.

It was only heard that he was actively expanding the empire's territory in Yinzhou (now North America), organizing local militia in Xuanzhou to carry out armed colonization to the east, and establishing a series of forts along river valleys and mountain roads. The farthest stronghold had been built to the banks of the Han River (now the Mississippi River in the United States), and he ran head-on into French colonial forces and some pro-French local indigenous tribes.

Of course, with Qi's strong power in the Yinzhou area, there is no need to worry about being driven back by the French. Even if an armed conflict breaks out, it will be small-scale and low-intensity, and the risk of war is not too great.

However, Yinzhou's harsh environment, changeable climate, and various water and soil problems still made the colonization operations full of huge risks.

Although her husband was the commander of the Xuanzhou garrison and the commander-in-chief of the local militia and did not need to be in danger personally, she was still very worried.

Yinzhou, except for some fully developed coastal areas, is mostly a wilderness with extremely poor medical conditions. Life and health cannot be guaranteed at all. Their second child unfortunately contracted a disease there and eventually died.

It was for this reason that she returned to her homeland of Hanzhou with her children.

More than two months ago, she received a letter from her husband saying that he would end his term in Yinzhou in a few months and return to his hometown to accept a new position, which would give him plenty of time to reunite with his family.

Cao Xi felt inexplicably relieved about this news.

Since she married her husband Li Yanliang ten years ago, she has been constantly traveling and spending less time together. The two first came to Qin with the royal delegation, one followed the military observation group to investigate the geography and customs, and the other followed the Qi Qin medical exchange group to diagnose and treat diseases and collect folk medical skills and prescriptions.

Later, her husband was ordered to transfer to Yokokan, Japan (now Shimonoseki), but because she was pregnant again, she had to stay in Nanjing to give birth, so she was unable to go to Hengguan to reunite with her husband.

When the child was just three months old, her husband was notified by the military and punished for "starting a war without authorization" and interfering in Japan's Southwest War. He was then "exiled" to Yinzhou and appointed as the acting commander of the Xuanzhou Governor's District.

As a result, the eldest son was just over one year old, and the second son was only a few months old. They were unable to travel long distances and had to continue staying in Qin.

Three years later, when the children were a little older, Cao Xi and the wet nurse sent by the Prince of Lu's Palace took the two children on a Pacific Shipping Company ship to Yinzhou to reunite with her husband.

However, she never expected that when her husband left Japan, he actually brought a woman with him, raised her in Huaiyuan City (now San Francisco), and had a child with her.

Cao Xi was a noble lady of the Prince of Lu's Mansion, and was granted the title of Princess Wen'an by Emperor Taiping before marrying her husband. She was a true royal family member. Even if she was gentle and virtuous, how could she tolerate her husband having a mistress behind her back!
In anger, Cao Xi pretended to take a boat back to Qin, ignoring the two dogs.

Li Yanliang naturally could not allow his wife to be so willful. On the one hand, he tried his best to explain that the woman was given to him by a local prominent figure in Hengguan and it was difficult to refuse. On the other hand, he kept comforting and persuading his wife to stay in Yinzhou. The situation became very chaotic for a while.

While the couple was arguing, the mistress from Japan showed her unique determination and fortitude. After she kowtowed to her husband and mistress and admitted her fault, she took a knife and stabbed it directly into her heart. Since she was not tolerated by the mistress, as a concubine, she had no face to stay by her husband's side. However, as a woman favored by a noble man, it was impossible for her to marry another man. It was better to die in front of the master.

Cao Xi was shocked by the resolute Japanese woman's suicide, and hurriedly tried to rescue her with her husband. But it was too late, the knife tip went straight to her heart, and she died in front of them.

After this incident, Cao Xi was filled with remorse. She hated her husband for being unfaithful, but also felt pity for the woman's strong will and determination. When she saw the child who was less than two years old that she left behind, she gave up the idea of ​​leaving for a moment.

In fact, in Qi, it was common for powerful families and wealthy merchants to marry multiple concubines or keep many beautiful concubines. If you were a local official or a wealthy merchant with a net worth of hundreds of thousands of yuan, but your inner house was deserted and you were alone, you would be laughed at and ridiculed by others, who would think you were not masculine.

Although the royal family was influenced by Emperor Taizu and only had a few concubines, everyone loves beauty, so how could the emperor be an exception?

Since Emperor Taizong, successive emperors have accepted a number of "suitable women" outside the palace to varying degrees in order to enjoy temporary sexual pleasure.

Although Qi was very open-minded and provided education extensively, women also went to school and received new-style education like men. There were even quite a number of women who were admitted to universities to receive higher education. This greatly broadened the horizons of women in Qi and their status was slightly higher than that of women in other countries.

In addition, many domestic jobs allow women to work, such as textiles, food, clothing, tobacco packaging, telegraph and telephone services. Women not only have relatively equal rights in education and society, but also gain a certain degree of economic autonomy, allowing countless women in Qi to look at men with a more equal eye.

However, due to the strong inertia of traditional concepts and customs, it is impossible for women to obtain absolute equal status. In society, they are still regarded as vassals and subordinates of men.

Therefore, many women who have received higher education and enlightened people in society have begun to call for the elimination of the decadent and declining custom of "polygamy" in the country, prohibiting men from taking concubines and realizing true monogamy.

However, this proposal was strongly opposed by the upper-middle class people in the whole society, who believed that it was contrary to tradition and etiquette, and even subverted the "normal order" of society.

In terms of social status and economic ability, "polygamy" symbolizes an invisible privilege of the upper class and is an outward manifestation of strong political status and economic ability.

Haven’t you seen that in a group of chickens, most of them are hens, and the one with the highest status is the rooster with a beautiful comb?
On the African savannah, a male lion will be followed by a large group of lionesses, and each of them will willingly reproduce for him.

Oh, speaking of passing on the family line, polygamy cannot be prohibited. Otherwise, if your wife is unable to give birth and you are not allowed to take concubines or mistresses, wouldn't you be facing the risk of your family line being cut off?

The powerful and wealthy in the country can have concubines and be surrounded by beautiful women, while we middle-class families can rely on the powerful influence and deep pockets of the Great Qi to hook up with women overseas, enjoy all the happiness, and at the same time, have more children to carry on the family line.

In short, there are many reasons why "polygamy (actually one wife and multiple concubines)" has been passed down for thousands of years, including social status and economic ability, the pressure to pass on the family line, the traditional concept of favoring boys over girls, and social and cultural factors. It cannot be easily eliminated from society by just receiving a little more education and gaining a little more economic ability.

Of course, there are also knowledgeable liberal scholars who have pointed out that European countries generally practice monogamy. Even kings and dukes have only one legal wife. It is not like in Eastern civilized societies where they can keep concubines without caring about the feelings of their wives.

However, these remarks were scoffed at by businessmen who were familiar with European customs, saying that these scholars only looked at the surface and had never explored the essence of society.

The barbarians in Europe spend much more money than we in the Eastern world!

Although they were restricted by religion to only marry one woman as their legal wife, they had many concubines and mistresses.

For example, Louis XIV of France, known as the Sun King, had more than forty public lovers, more than twenty of whom gave birth to his children.

Some people even counted on their fingers and estimated that the number of Louis XIV's lovers might be more than one hundred, and many of them were wives of noble ministers.

As for the nobles and wealthy businessmen in European countries, they are almost the same and have varying numbers of lovers.

What's more, those shameless nobles and businessmen actually have the bizarre hobby of sharing lovers, which will absolutely shatter your three views!
In addition, many noble women were shameless and made friends with many people for the sake of pleasure.

Comparing the two, our Eastern world and our Chinese nation are indeed the most civilized and polite nation in the world.

In this case, the educated women and enlightened people in our Qi State should not take too big a step and should not always advocate the implementation of strict monogamy and prohibition of concubinage. This is so disharmonious and irrational for the entire society.

However, Cao Xi is obviously deeply influenced by the arguments of gender equality, freedom and progress. Moreover, as a doctor, she treats everyone from the royal family to the common people equally, and everyone has the same fate, including birth, aging, illness and death.

Therefore, she was very dissatisfied with her husband's behavior of "keeping concubines".

However, she still felt a little guilty because she accidentally forced her husband's mistress to death due to her "willfulness".

This mistake should not be borne by a lonely and helpless woman.

It's all men's fault!
What made her even more sad was that in the second year in Yinzhou, because she was pregnant again and gave birth, she temporarily neglected to take care of her other two children, which caused her second son to unfortunately fall ill and die. This made her heartbroken and to some extent increased the conflicts and estrangement between her and her husband.

So, when his youngest daughter turned three years old, he resolutely returned to Hanzhou with the children.

Now, two years have passed, the children have grown up healthily, and the resentment I had towards my husband has gradually subsided.

After all, it’s always wonderful to have a family reunion.

I just hope that after my husband comes back to report on his work, he can stay in Hanzhou for a longer time, and it would be best if he is not transferred overseas.

But, can everything in the world go as we wish?

(End of this chapter)