Keeping the Nation’s House: Domestic management and the making of Modern China
- Diplomania
- Feb 21
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 23
By: C Shraddha
"Looking back, however, we can see that by promoting the idea of gendered responsibilities for family management, intellectuals created an unequal expectation for women", this quote perfectly encapsulates the journey the book takes us on.
"Keeping the Nation's House" is a book that explores how society entrusted women with specific responsibilities solely based on their gender and linked it with the fate of their nation. The book delves into how females were encouraged to manage the inner (nei) workings of the house by invoking a sense of nationalism in them, forcing them to adhere so that they can produce good 'quality' Chinese citizens. However, this entrapment has its roots in history, starting from the Qing dynasty and ending in the republican period. Helen talks about how every single aspect of a female's life was scrutinised, constantly dictated and amended according to the laws and opinions of the court. Often, society's value of women was based on their reproductive functions, making their entire lives revolve around their ability to care for a family.
In the opening chapter, the author outlines approximately 20 responsibilities that married women had to shoulder, responsibilities seen as vital to the preservation of the nation's future. "The idea that women serve as moral arbiters in order to ensure the continues, or improved, success of the family remained important". The wife had to create a pleasant atmosphere in the house and ensure the emotional stability of all its members, especially the husband. They were encouraged to be patient with their husbands and to serve their husbands and children as much as possible; it also warned them not to praise another man's ability to make money in front of their husbands. Her failure to do so would sabotage the emotional well-being of the husband, thus affecting the foundation of China. Intellectuals of the time believed that the wife should be a rational and nationalistic consumer who neither worked outside the home nor relied upon their husband financially. Through this book, we realise how publicised the inner workings of the household were, with everyone having an opinion on what was right and wrong, criticising and commenting on each step taken by the wife, to the extent that household management was directly linked to the fate of the Chinese state.
These chapters not only invoke our sympathy for the Chinese women of the past but are also a tale of how they successfully manipulated the system in their favour. Home economics, which started off as a way to confine women into domestic spaces, slowly transitioned into a way for women to step out of their houses. When educators made their choice to educate women to become better mothers, it inadvertently acted as a catalyst for women to break free from the stipulated traditional norms and enrol in public institutions where they could acquire commercial skills. They cleverly turned domestic responsibilities into marketable skills, leading to careers in healthcare, chemistry, academia and other professions.
Although it was a ticket to freedom for some, this was not the reality for all; this freedom was the exception rather than the rule. The author highlights the intersection of privilege and freedom, emphasising that only women from the middle and upper classes had the autonomy to make such decisions. Though these women could pursue education and take advantage of universities at home and abroad, such opportunities largely bypassed those on the periphery, who remained trapped by gender bias and financial constraints. The book ends with how this freedom and the lack of it collapsed when the Communist Party of China came into power. From the author's perspective, although the communist policies were free of gender bias, they completely dismantled the institutions and the hard-earned credibility that the women of the past had established.
While Helen M Schneider accurately portrays the thorny path of women- empowerment, the book leans towards being a factual compendium rather than her personal interpretation of the issues. Somewhere along the lines, her own voice on the subject became somewhat muted. The language used in the book leans more towards the academic side, which may compel the reader to revisit the chapters several times to grasp the intensity of the text completely.
Drawing on her expertise as an associate professor of history, Helen walks us through an extensive expedition of women's past, offering us a plethora of astonishing historical events that would have otherwise been forgotten, the very events which moulded the journey of home economics in China. One notable example is a "test for good wives" published in Jiating niankan (Family Almanac), which encouraged women to answer questions and score themselves, and strive to be a better wife if their scores fell short. Another mind-boggling incident involves an author who implored women to stop wearing sleeveless garments, claiming that such attire binds the chest. The author drew alarming parallels to "committing genocide", the rationale behind this extreme comparison was the belief that sleeveless clothing ceased the biological development of the breast, potentially leading to malnourished and weaker offsprings, thus threatening the very existence of the Chinese race (Finnane, 2007). Helen M Schneider has done an admirable job compiling such incidents, making readers feel highly grateful for the strides made in feminism and the pursuit of equality.
In conclusion, "Keeping the Nation's House" is a well-researched exploration of the connections between gender, politics, domesticity and freedom etched in the veins of China. Schneider's analysis forces us to introspect the privileges we enjoy in comparison to the characters of the book. It reveals how women's roles as partners were entangled with their identity as citizens and how failing to be an "ideal wife" meant failure as a patriotic citizen. "These women managed "domestic" spaces in the dual sense of the word: they improved both their own homes and the national space of China"- Helen M Schneider. The book summarises the delicate intersectionality that challenges women every step of the way, from the way they dress to how they express themselves - often censored to protect the feelings of everyone but themselves.
References
Finnane, A. (2007). Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation. Columbia
University Press.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author (s). They do not reflect the views or opinions of Diplomania or its members.
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