好
hǎo
It's composed of the radicals 女 (nü = female) and 子 (zi = son).
So the word for "good" is really made up of two words: female and son.
I looked at the word and it made me wonder what the Chinese thought about gender back in those times. Did they consider it ideal to have daughters as well as sons? The word for "daughter" is written 女儿(nü er).
Or did the ancients think that it was ideal for a woman to bear a son (female + son)?
You would know that preference for sons in Chinese society is endemic and son preference is usually attributed to "Confucian values". But Confucius' ideas predated the Qin dynasty (in 221BC) and I don't believe he wrote anything specific on male gender preference. But of course Confucian texts (the Analects and other conversations) were interpreted by scholars as defending the male as supreme authority within the family.
So why is the Chinese word 好composed of these two other words, and more puzzling, what do they really say about Chinese society back then?
I really don't know, but I'd love to find out.
So the word for "good" is really made up of two words: female and son.
I looked at the word and it made me wonder what the Chinese thought about gender back in those times. Did they consider it ideal to have daughters as well as sons? The word for "daughter" is written 女儿(nü er).
Or did the ancients think that it was ideal for a woman to bear a son (female + son)?
You would know that preference for sons in Chinese society is endemic and son preference is usually attributed to "Confucian values". But Confucius' ideas predated the Qin dynasty (in 221BC) and I don't believe he wrote anything specific on male gender preference. But of course Confucian texts (the Analects and other conversations) were interpreted by scholars as defending the male as supreme authority within the family.
So why is the Chinese word 好composed of these two other words, and more puzzling, what do they really say about Chinese society back then?
I really don't know, but I'd love to find out.
1 comment:
I guess it's something to do with the virtue of having descendents , both male and female since traditionally, it's good to have a big family, especially to have descendents to be present at your funeral ie to "song zhong".
Besides the pro-creation of a human being requires the unity of both male and female.
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