ABSTRACT
Most historians of China have heard the charge that the revival of Confucianism in the Song period initiated a decline in the status of women. The principal accusations are that Neo-Confucianism fostered the seclusion of women, footbinding, and the cult of widow chastity. It is widely recognized that these constraints on women had become more oppressive by the Qing dynasty, but their roots are traced back to the Song period.1 Cheng Yi’s (1033-1107) statement that “To starve to death is a small matter, but to lose one’s chastity is a great matter” is commonly blamed for much of the misery of women in late imperial China.
