User:AnniePJordan/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Suicide in China

 * The article appears to be cohesive
 * The citations seem to be correct and properly formatted
 * over all organization is clean and easy to follow
 * I feel like this article is definitely concise but I almost wish it would elaborate a bit more on some things mentioned, yes there are link to Wikipedia pages with more information on said topics but i still feel like this page could include a bit more details to some of these rushed over topics
 * I think this article really was missing a piece in failing to mention the of young female widows suicide in order to preserve chastity in pre-modern China

Article Selection
Article: Suicide in China - I want to edit this article to allow it to include a broader range of information including the phenomenon of youth from rural areas committing suicide and other sub topics.


 * http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.albany.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=12&sid=5150be45-9a80-45a9-9a31-a69dca40cee8%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=112812905&db=rzh

Article: Widows in China Committing Suicide To Preserve Chastity- This was a prominent practice that came from the confusion principle of chastity.


 * http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.albany.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=5150be45-9a80-45a9-9a31-a69dca40cee8%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=509751945&db=hus

Article:Young Rural Chinese Suicides- This appears to be a growing occurance and there is plenty of scholarly articles written about this but no Wikipedia page.


 * http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.albany.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=5150be45-9a80-45a9-9a31-a69dca40cee8%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=S016503271100276X&db=edselp

Work to be Added to Suicide in China
Source: Passionate Women: Female Suicide in Late Imperial China—Introduction* By Paul S. Ropp. pages 1-9 doi:10.1163/156852601750122973.


 * One Qing law stated that widows could inherit there late husbands land and wealth but if she remarries she loses all claims to property and dowry, this led to in-laws in many cases encouraging widows to remarry so the clan could regain the late husbands land. The law was intended to support the Neo-confusion principle of chastity but due to pressure to re marry from in-laws and desire to preserve chastity many widows would commit suicide to preserve their chastity.(history)
 * laws were put into place that highlighted puritanical confusion practices one even made rape and lewd comments equivalent if the woman the comment was made to later took her own life. It was illegal to cause someone to commit suicide, Qing times (legality section)
 * the act of suicide was viewed as a way for woman to assure glory.
 * suicide was admired when it was seen as a tool to preserve chastity and prove loyalty
 * it was viewed as the only tool many woman had to fight back against injustice and other cruelties

Source: Rebellion and Revenge: the Meaning of Suicide of Women in Rural China. page 1-3 doi:10.1111/1468-2397.00239.


 * China is one of the few countries where not only is the male suicide rate not much larger than the female but actually less than the female suicide rate(demographics)
 * The main cause of suicide in china has been found to be family conflicts
 * Despite efforts by the new government women are seen as inferior to men, wives are seen as property and often face domestic violence
 * in cases inferior wives or concubines were encouraged to commit suicide in order to commemorate the death of a more highly respected individual such as the husband(history)
 * suicide of a daughter was considered a noble act if it was to preserve her chastity, the lose of a daughters chastity would bring shame upon the whole family.
 * if without proper justification suicide was seen as a great offense against ones parents as our bodies and life itself was seen as the most precious gift from parents, therefore bringing harm to yourself was seen as disrespectful to ones parents with out proper cause.(history)

Source: MANAGING MARTYRDOM: FEMALE SUICIDE AND STATECRAFT IN MID-QING CHINA pages 1-6


 * The Qing claimed to be against suicide but they made frequent exceptions to this stance for many different reasons(legality)
 * The female martyr committing suicide to preserve chastity was an emblem developed in Ming times that carried over to Qing dynasty peaking in the very early years of the dynasty. Therefore this was a Han Chinese tradition living in a Manchu ruled society.
 * The Qing dynasty also had Manchu traditions of wives following their husbands in death, so yet another trend of female suicide presenting itself during Qing times.
 * female suicide was originally outlawed and the act of suicide would bar you from receiving any rewards or honors but female suicide in rebellion to preserve chastity was seen as a completely separate event(legality)

writing for page
legality

The Qing dynasty tried to crack down on female suicide and put into effect laws that were especially harsh. One of these laws made making lewd comments towards a woman equivalent to rape if she later committed suicide due to this comment. The Qing dynasty did make it illegal to commit suicide which meant if you did commit suicide you wouldn't be able to receive any awards or special honors. The Qing had an official stance of being against suicide but would frequently make exceptions to this when it was believed the act was done to preserve a woman's chastity.

Demographics

China is one of the only countries in the world that has a higher suicide rate by women over men.

statistics

Family conflicts are the number one cause of suicide in China other common causes include poverty, disease of the body and mind.

History

Towards the end of the Ming dynasty the practice of female suicide in order to preserve chastity began to be a common practice. This trend later hit its height during the early Qing dynasty. An array of different ideology and social circumstances led to this spike in female suicide. Females committing suicide in order to preserve their chastity was a Han ethnic group practice. This is not to say the Manchus didn't have practices of female suicide, there was a practice of wives committing suicide to follow their husbands into death. The loss of a woman's chastity was viewed as shameful to the family so the act of suicide to preserve chastity was seen as a heroic act. Contrary to this the Chinese have historically seen it as a great act against filial piety to commit suicide because our bodies are gifts from our parents therefore we shouldn't be able to bring our selves physical harm without our parents permission. It was decided that the principle of preserving chastity was more important than preserving life and was considered exempt from this criticism. Chastity was greatly valued but often after a woman was widowed especially if she didn't produce a son her in-laws would likely force her into a new marriage. This would force woman to chose to either lose their chastity and potentially shame their family or taking their own lives. Eventually this ideological thinking got to the point that some woman felt their only option to obtain glory was to kill themselves and become a martyr. The Qing government passed a law attempting to help preserve female chastity by allowing widows to inherit their husbands wealth and property, unfortunately this led families to want to marry off their widowed daughter-in-laws so that the fortune would be returned to the clan.