Page:The Spirit of the Chinese People.djvu/124

78 ideal is always the Hausfrau, the house wife, la dame de menage or chatelaine.

But now to go more into details. The Chinese feminine ideal, as it is handed down from the earliest times, is summed up in three obediences (三從) and Four Virtues (四德). Now what are the four virtues? They are: first womanly character (女德); second, womanly conversation (女言); third, womanly appearance (女容); and lastly, womanly work (女工). Womanly character means not extraordinary talents or intelligence, but modesty, cheerfulness, chastity, constancy, orderliness, blameless conduct and perfect manners. Womanly conversation means not eloquence or brilliant talk, but refined choice of words, never to use coarse or violent language, to know when to speak and when to stop speaking. Womanly appearance means not beauty or prettiness of face, but personal cleanliness and faultlessness in dress and attire. Lastly, womanly work means not any special skill or ability, but assiduous attention to the spinning room, never to waste time in laughing and giggling and work in the kitchen to prepare clean and wholesome food, especially when there are guests in the house. These are the four essentials in the conduct of a woman as laid down in the "Lessons for Women" (女誡), written by Ts'ao Ta Ku (曹大家) or Lady Ts'ao, sister of the great historian Pan Ku (班固) of the Han Dynasty.

Then again what do the Three Obediences (三從) in the Chinese feminine ideal mean? They mean really three self-sacrificesself sacrifices [sic] or "live for's?" That is to