600-1450+-+East+Asia+-+Theme+5


 * Theme #5 - Development and Transformation of Social Structures**
 * Gender Roles and Relations
 * Footbinding for high class females; tight wrapping of young girls feet with strips of cloth that prevented natural growth of the bones and result in tiny, malformed, curved feet
 * Husband's family had to produce a dowry for a new bride
 * Women's right:
 * had inheritance
 * property rights
 * retained control over their dowry after divorce or husband's death
 * Women's right in Vietnam:
 * dominated local and regional markets
 * participated actively in business ventures
 * Family and Kinship
 * Marriages were arranged; according to groom's benefit
 * Racial and Ethnic Constructs
 * During Silla Dynasty; the Koreans recognized the Chinese as overlords
 * Chinese self-perception of superiority over foreigners
 * Japan adopted foreign ideas but created a unique ethnic culture
 * Viets (Vietnamese) were subordinate to Chinese for a time; Chinese tried to absorbed them into their society.
 * Viets were freed when Tang fell.
 * Social and Economic Classes
 * Patriarchal society
 * Women's social position: Second class