Women in ancient and imperial China

Pre-modern Chinese society was predominantly patriarchal and patrilineal from at least the 11th century BCE onwards. The freedoms and opportunities available to women varied depending on the time period and regional situation. The status of women was, similar to men, closely tied to the Chinese kinship system.

Sons were preferred to daughters, and women were expected to be subordinate to fathers, husbands, and sons. Far fewer women were educated than men, and many of their readings consist of book such as Nü Xun (, Advice for Women) and Lienü zhuan (, Biographies of Notable Women), which instruct them to be subjects of men. Bound feet, which were customary even for peasant women, symbolized the painful constraints of the female role.

Received Chinese historiography about ancient China was edited heavily by Confucian scholars in the 4th century BCE, who aimed to show that the dynastic system of government extended as far back into the past as possible. These texts, like the Zuo zhuan and Classic of Poetry, focus on male nobles and scholars, with infrequent references to women. One exception is Biographies of Exemplary Women, compiled in the 1st century BCE as a collection of cautionary tales for men, highlighting the advantages of virtuous women, as well as the dangers posed by loose ones. All women included in this biography were and were generally depicted as passive, with their male guardians (husbands or fathers) controlling their actions. In contrast, archaeological remains from pre-Confucian periods show that women played active roles at all levels of society.

Neolithic society in China is perceived to be matrilineal, with patrilineal societies becoming dominant later with the rise of pastoralism and the first social division of labor. This originates from Marxist theories of historical materialism, which argue that social structure is determined by the economy. The fact that burials of both women and men of the Yangshao culture have grave goods, even though each had different types of items, was used to show that Marx's first great social division of labor had not occurred, thus the Yangshao culture is presumed to have been matrilineal. This assumption continues to be influential in modern archaeology.

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