Oriental Women

by Edward B. Pollard

Contiguous in territory and closely related in manners and customs to the Chinese are the Coreans. The Corean ruler, though in his own country an absolute monarch, was for several centuries a vassal of the Chinese Empire, and the educated class continue to employ the Chinese language in literary and social intercourse. In 1894, Corea having repudiated the suzerainty of China, war ensued between Japan and China, and as a result Corea has since been largely under Japanese influence.

The native Coreans fondly call their country "the Land of the Morning Calm." Its people are of the Mongolian type, and are therefore closely allied in sympathy to the Chinese and Japanese, with whom they have had social and political kinship and contact from time out of mind. The moral status of the women may be surmised when it is remembered that woman is regarded as without moral existence. It is not to be understood, however, that she has no name. When a very little girl, she receives a temporary surname by which she is known to her relatives and intimate friends. When she reaches the age of puberty, this appellation is no longer used by her friends. When she marries, her parents cease to call her by her childhood's name. She is now known to them by the name of the district into which she has married. Her husband's parents, however, speak of her as the woman of the place from which she came.

In Corea there is no family life in our true sense of that term, for the men and the women live in separate apartments. The husband is seldom seen in conversation with his wife, whom he looks upon as absolutely beneath him. The male and the female children are separated. When they reach the age of nine or ten years the girls are sent to the women's apartments; the boys take refuge with the men. The boys must not set foot upon the territory assigned to the women, and the girls learn that it is disgraceful to be looked upon by members of the opposite sex; so they hide at the approach of a boy or a man.

The Corean women have little or no legal standing. They are absolutely in the power of their husbands, who may not sell them, however, nor should their lords be too brutal. Percival Lowell, in his Land of the Morning Calm, puts it strongly when he says: "Mentally, morally, and socially, she (the Corean woman) is a cipher." But there are exceptions. In fact, we are not to infer that throughout the entire Orient the subjection of women is universally so complete as it is sometimes pictured by writers upon the social life of the East. Campbell, in his Journey through Corea, gives the following incident, showing how women may be very influential at times: "To make matters worse, the head man upon whom I had relied for assistance in hiring the men I wanted was absent, but his wife proved a capable substitute and seemed to fill her husband's place with unquestioned authority. Between bullying and coaxing, she rapidly pressed twenty reluctant men into service. The subjection of women, which is probably the covenant of accepted theories in the East, receives a fresh blow in my mind. Women in these parts of the world, if the truth were known, fill a higher place and wield a greater influence than they are credited with." Nor is it to be supposed that there is no respect shown to the women of Corea. The men give them at least an outward show of deference. They will step aside to allow a woman to pass in the street, regardless of her social position, and the ladies are often addressed in phrases of a most polite character. Children are taught respect for their mother, though they are enjoined to give more to the father. When a mother dies, her children are expected to mourn at least two years; for the father the period is longer. Someone has said that "there are three classes of Corean women; first, there are the invisible,--those who are always in their apartments, or, when out of them, ride in a closed palanquin. Second, are the visible invisible, who, possessing less wealth, must walk when they go out upon the streets, and yet are seen only as a mass of clothing moving before the eye. Third, there are the invisible visible class, the poor, who are seen, to be sure, but not noticed,--working women, whom etiquette prevents one from seeing."

The women's apartments do not greatly differ from the zenanas of India. In the interior of their apartments, screened as far as possible from publicity, the unmarried women may receive their parents and friends, with whom they chat and gossip upon matters of common interest, or while away the hours with games. After marriage, the confinement becomes still more secure, and the woman is inaccessible. "So strict is the rule," says Griffis, "that fathers have on occasions killed their daughters, husbands, their wives, and wives have committed suicide, when strangers have touched them even with their fingers." Woe unto the Corean wife who is not above suspicion in the eyes of her husband.

In the "Hermit Nation" one is accounted a boy until he is married, no matter what his age may be; but public sentiment prevents a young man from remaining long without a spouse to enrich, or at least to share, his life. The woman is a child till she is married, and sometimes long afterward.

The women of Corea usually marry outside of the village in which they are brought up. They have nothing whatever to do with the match that is to be made. Negotiations are carried on by the parents and a middle man. The bride, indeed, must be silent all through the nuptial ceremony. The marriage festival and the funeral are the two great events in Corean social life. When the festivities of the wedding are at an end the bride is conducted to her husband's home--in a palanquin, if the parties be well to do; on horseback, if they be poor.

There is but one true, or legal wife, but often many concubines, the number being determined largely by the wealth of the husband. Children of the true wife are the legitimate heirs. The other children, though not disgraced by their position, have no legal standing as regards the matter of inheritance. Children of concubines, however, may be legitimized, in case there are no lawful descendants.

The following interesting story, taken from Ballet's History of the Church in Corea, will not only illustrate certain customs in Corea, but show upon what a low plane the marriage relation moves in the Hermit Nation: "A noble wished to marry his own daughter and that of his deceased brother to eligible young men. Both maidens were of the same age. He wished to wed both well, but especially his own child. With this idea in view he had already refused some good offers; finally he made a proposal to a family noted alike for pedigree and riches. After hesitating for some time which of the maidens he would dispose of first, he finally decided in favor of his own child. Three days before the ceremony he learned from the diviner that the young man chosen was silly, exceedingly ugly and very ignorant. What should he do? He could not retreat. He had given his word. In such a case the law is inexorable. On the day of the marriage he appeared in the woman's apartments and gave orders in the most imperative manner, that his niece and not his daughter should don the marriage coiffure and the wedding dress and mount the nuptial platform. His stupefied daughter could not but acquiesce. The two cousins being about the same height, the substitution was easy, and the ceremony proceeded according to the usual forms. The new bridegroom passed the afternoon in the men's apartments, where he met his supposed father-in-law. What was the amazement of the old noble to find that far from being stupid and ugly, as depicted by the diviner, that the young man was good-looking, well formed, intelligent, highly connected, and amiable in manners. Bitterly regretting the loss of so accomplished a son-in-law, he determined to replace the girl. He secretly ordered that instead of his niece, his daughter should be introduced as the bride. He knew well that the young man would suspect nothing, for during the salutations the brides are always so muffled up with dresses and loaded with ornaments that it is impossible to distinguish their countenance. All happened as the old man desired. During the two or three days which he passed with the new family, he congratulated himself upon having so excellent a son-in-law. The latter, on his part, showed himself more and more charming, and so gained the heart of his supposed father-in-law, that in a burst of confidence, the latter revealed to him all that had happened. He told of the diviner's report concerning him, and the successive substitutions of niece for daughter and daughter for niece. The young man was at first speechless, then recovering his composure said: 'All right! and that is a very smart trick on your part. But it is clear that both of the young persons belong to me, and I claim them. Your niece is my lawful wife, since she has made to me the legal salute, and your daughter, introduced by yourself into my marriage, has become of right and law my concubine.' The crafty old man caught in his own net had nothing to answer. The two young women were conducted to the house of the new husband and master, and the old noble was jeered by both parties for his folly and his bad faith."

As in other parts of the Far East, the life of widows is exceedingly harsh. They may not marry again. Indeed, second marriages are never looked upon with favor, except among people of the lower classes who generally disregard the etiquette and ideas which prevail among the nobles and the rich who imitate them. A widow of high standing is expected to show grief for her husband not only by weeping over his death, but by wearing mourning as long as she lives; and children of widows born after widowhood are looked upon as illegitimate. Often, however, being debarred from lawful marriage, widows become victims of lust and violence. If, however, they are determined upon preserving chastity, they will frequently resort to suicide if their virtue be threatened. The method of self-slaughter among women is cutting their throat, or piercing the heart.