ACTO ÚNICO DE SOBRES SEPARADOS CON APERTURA DIFERIDA PROCESO Nº A-012-09-057

If you go to the Confucian temple in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, in the main section you will see an enormous plaque with a quotation from Confucius that says, “ Education without distinction. ” People will tell you that this means that education is open to everyone and that Confucius was the fi rst to offer education to all.

It is not actually that clear that this is what the passage means. We fi nd this saying in the Analects where Confucius says, “ In education there are no different kinds. ” 19 _{There are problems around what is meant by “ different}

kinds. ” Some argue that this has nothing to do with public education, but is simply Confucius saying that, no matter if one is a bit slow or almost a sage, we must all start out to be educated in the same way.

Others read this passage as saying that there are no different kinds of people when it comes to who can be taught. Confucius was open to teach- ing everyone, no matter who they were in terms of social class or wealth.

Confucius often talks about how poor some of his students were, especially his favorite student, Yan Hui (or Yan Yuan). Confucius was not impressed by rich students arriving in their carriages and offering substantial school fees, saying that even if a student came on foot and offered only a package of dried meat, he should be taught.

What we know about Confucius ’ students, however, is that they were all upper - class: some of them, like Confucius and Yan Hui, were relatively poor, but we do not know of any of Confucius ’ students who were from the common people. It would be surprising to fi nd commoners among Confucius ’ students. At that time, ordinary men had only a very limited opportunity to become literate. Without basic literacy, it would have been impossible to study any texts that Confucius taught, like The Book of

Poetry . As well, we fi nd Confucius saying things like: while one can lead

the common people in the right direction, it is not possible to make them understand it. 20 _{So it is not clear that Confucius believed education should}

be extended to all classes.

Women

Nor is it evident that he wanted education to be extended to women. Confucius rarely had anything to say about women in the Analects , and that may be just as well. The one time he says anything about women, he says, “ It is always diffi cult to deal with women and servants: if you are too close to them, they become insolent; if you keep them at too great a distance, they complain. ” 21 _{Confucius also said that he had yet to meet a}

man who is as fond of virtue as he is of beautiful women, and Confucius ’ students were warned to guard themselves against female beauty when young.

The only woman named in the Analects is Nanzi. She was the wife of the Duke of Wei and, according to the sources, both politically powerful and promiscuous. Confucius is said to have met and spoken with her, something his students disapproved of. Confucius had to defend himself against their criticisms, saying he had done nothing wrong. 22 _{Like many passages in the}

Analects , there is no context here to tell us what Nanzi or Confucius said in the conversation or why he was talking to her.

All Confucius ’ students were male. Confucius ’ concerns are male con- cerns: getting a post in government, being a fi lial son, and so on. Women also do not fi gure in what we know about the lives and conversations of Confucius ’ students. 23

Texts from Confucius ’ time and later Confucian texts were especially critical of women in positions of power. Wives and concubines were seen as the source of political troubles. The Book of Poetry says,

A clever man builds city walls, A clever woman overthrows them … Women with long tongues

Are just cruel and violent.

Chaos is not sent down from Heaven. It originates in women …

Women should have nothing to do with public affairs, But keep to spinning their silk. 24

These characterizations of women as bringing disaster to governments and families can be found throughout the histories of the time.

We saw an example of this in chapter 1 in the story of the Duke of Wei who had two sons with his daughter - in - law and was part of her evil plot to kill her husband. In the histories especially we fi nd a number of stories modeled in the same ways. In them, the evil, sexually attractive woman, the wife or concubine of the ruler, seduces him into making fatal mistakes in government. The loyal minister warns the ruler of the terrible consequences but the minister is not listened to, is fi red, or is even executed. The ruler, in his besotted state of mind, rules badly and the state is conquered by another. During the Warring States period, the status of women continued to decline. While some upper - class women were wealthy and politically pow- erful, inheritance had become almost entirely patrilineal. This meant that many women were less in charge of their own wealth and did not inherit equally with their brothers. The secondary status of women is seen most clearly in a passage from The Book of Poetry :

When a boy is born, He is laid on a bed, Robed in a gown …

Lords or princes come from this family. When a girl is born,

She is laid on the fl oor, Robed in rags … She will do nothing bad, Nor anything good either.

All she does is to carry wine and plates of food, And is no trouble to her father and mother. 25

This attitude can be found echoed in later Confucian texts. Confucian ritual texts contain regulations for men and women: they are not to sit on the same mat, or to use the same rack for clothes, or to touch when handing one another something. 26 _{This lack of direct contact was meant to lessen}

the possibility of sexual arousal. To further this aim, the ritual texts also contain rules for the separation of the sexes: “ Ritual begins with the correct

relations between man and wife. … In the home, there is a division between outside and inside; the man lives in the outer, the woman in the inner ” ; and “ men should not speak about what belongs to the inside of the house, nor women to what is outside. ” 27

Women were to provide a harmonious household, while the man ’ s role was outside the home. Men dealt with the public issues and everything outside of the household, while women were to deal with the domestic and the private. 28

Rules for domestic rituals, such as ancestral veneration, included women. When a woman married, she left her parents ’ house and went to live with her husband ’ s family. In the ancestral veneration ceremonies, the fi rst wife of the primary descendent of the ancestors (the eldest son) led the other women of the household, just as her husband led the other men. Both participated in the rituals. This has led some commentators to argue that women and men had complementary responsibilities. They point out that women are not labeled as the source of all evil, as they are in other tradi- tions. They quote from the Book of Rites to argue that women were as valued as men: “ The emperor and empress are necessary to one another, and through their interdependence they are able to complete all things. ” 29

Others point out that however balanced the ritual of ancestral venera- tion may be between the actions of men and women, the ancestors being venerated are the man ’ s ancestors and the children who carry on the family are his sons. 30

Given this background and later Confucian texts, it is not at all clear that Confucius meant to extend education to women or to lower - class men. While the scope of his beliefs about education is not clear, it is clear that he believed that one should be educated, and not just educated to get a good job. Education was important because it had moral, social, and political goals.