Social Sciences in China, 2020

Vol. 41, No. 1, 2020

 

Theorizing the Gendered Patriarchy of the Huaxia: Constancy (jing)/Expedience (quan) and Continuity (yin)/ Change (bian)—From Male/Female Distinction to Inner/Outer Distinction in the Context of the Order of Family and State

(Abstract)

 

Du Fangqin

 

The gender-based patriarchy of the Huaxia people, consisting of family and state order, inner/outer distinction and gender-based hierarchy, took shape in the period of radical transformation when the Zhou dynasty replaced the Shang dynasty and reached maturity in the Han dynasty, which had been established in the wake of the radical transformation conducted by the Zhou and Qin dynasties. On the basis of the principles of male/female distinction and the integration of family and state, Western Zhou aristocrats abolished the state structure the inner and outer governance systems (nei/waifuzhi 内外服制), carried on in part the main patrilineage and surname exogamy of the Shang dynasty, and established the Huaxia patriarchal system. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the patriarchal system evolved into family and state isomorphism characterized by power-sharing between the royal house and its officials and by a two-pronged kinship system in which the male line was inner and the female line was outer. The system thus evolved into the Huaxia gender-based patriarchy, which covered spatial spheres, division of responsibilities, the kinship system, values and ethics, and codes of daily interaction and conduct. The distinction between the inner and the outer was not only a core value of the gender-based patriarchy but also its operational strategy. It also engendered such inter-related sub-systems as human functions, ethics and gender and such philosophical systems as the unity of heaven and man and the cosmic binaries of yin-yang (阴阳) and qian-kun (乾坤). The constancy (经 jing)/Expedience (权quan) and Continuity (因 yin)/Change (变 bian) of the gender-based patriarchy, the jing/ quan at the heart of the basic system and governance strategy within its constraints jointly ensured the stability and dynamism of the gender-based patriarchy of the Huaxia people.

 

Keywords: Huaxia, gender-based patriarchy, theorizing, family and state structure, inner/ outer distinction, Constancy (经 jing)/Expedience (权 quan) and Continuity (因 yin)/Change (变 bian)