Page 181 - Chinese Woman Living and Working

168 ANNE E.MCLAREN
Serving the patriline
In this section I will discuss four case studies based on recent fieldwork that illustrate the
intersection between oral arts, ritual culture and the daily tasks defined as ‘women’s
work’ in rural China. The first two examples are of ritual practices widely prevalent in
pre-1949 China but which exist now only in the memories of the elderly. These examples
offer insights into how women’s domestic labour was perceived before the establishment
of the People’s Republic. The second two case studies, however, are examples of the
reinvention of women’s ritual culture in the new economic conditions of the reform
period.
The first case-study discussed here is based on my fieldwork into the oral and ritual
culture of the women of Nanhui County, located south of the Pudong region of Shanghai.
In pre-revolutionary China, bridal laments (‘weeping on being married off’ or kujia) were
known over broad regions of the country. Laments mark the rite of passage as the bride
leaves her family to live in the household of her husband, subject to the governance of her
parents-in-law. This was a traumatic time for the young bride, who had little say in the
choice of bridegroom. As she departed, the bride took with her a dowry painfully
acquired by her family over many years. On the size and quality of the dowry hinged the
sort of welcome accorded to the bride by the husband’s family. Although the dowry
included items purchased in village shops, the bulk of the goods were textiles made by the
girl and the women in her family, such as bedding, coverlets and bolts of cloth. In the
Nanhui bridal laments, which took place in stages throughout the three days before she
departed her home and were observed by both male and female family members
(McLaren and Chen 2000), the bride often refers to her dowry in terms of great anxiety.
She also refers to her own skills for weaving and household management in terms of
hyperbolic selfdeprecation. It is in these two aspects of the laments that one can find
striking examples of how the bride constructs her own perceptions of ‘women’s work’
and women’s talent and skills. The laments also project a clear sense of the scope of the
female domain of labour and the importance of the governance of that domain by senior
women.
In the lament called ‘Thanking the Sister-in-law’ (Xie Saosao), the bride bids farewell to
the wife of her older brother, who may have lived in their household for several years. In
Nanhui, the oldest brother and his wife (saosao) are accorded particular power in the
household and the oldest brother has the authority to approve the size of the dowry In her
address to the sister-in-law, the bride thanks her for teaching her the finer techniques of
spinning and weaving cotton and for her generosity in providing cloth for her trousseau. As
for the perceived value of the women’s labour, it lies clearly in the ‘face’ it gives the family
—that is, the display that can be made of the finely crafted dowry items:

Thanks to you, many thanks.
It is you who, setting store on our relationship, have given me much,
Valuing our relationship, you have given me many favours…
You gave me indigo printed cloth to add to my trousseau,