Religion, law and tradition
A major theme in the book is the way religion and the human laws intersect with one another. The author presents many laws from the period he describes and talks the way they were affecting a person’s life. Religious aspects and certain traditions are analyzed as well and what it becomes obvious is that in certain situations, the traditions and the religion beliefs are more important than the general laws. This is obvious in the case of the story about Woman Wang where we see two people affected by traditions and religion. First of all, Jen does not receive the death penalty because he is the only surviving male child of his father and thus he is the only one capable of carrying the family name. He is also the only surviving member who can take care of his elder father and because of this he does not receive the death penalty. The religious aspect applies to Woman Wang who is given a good funeral just to avoid having her spirit haunt the living world. In this sense, the law had no say when it came to dealing with her body and instead the magister decided to do everything he could to avoid having problems with her in the afterlife.
Women and society
The majority of the people analyzed in the book are women and the author focuses on their struggles. In the 17th century in China, women were generally regarded as being property and they could be bought and sold over and over again. Women had no power of their own and if their husband wanted to, they could make the women become prostitutes. When a woman decided to run away, she was risking her life as her husband had the right to kill her if he chose to. A woman was considered worthy if she was a good wife and if her husband was alive. If she remained a widow, she faced a whole plethora of new challenges and hardships. In this situation, many women decided it was better to take their own lives rather than live oppressed and be constantly humiliated. The author focuses on the hardships these women had to endure and analyzes how many of them chose to react and deal with uncomfortable situations.
The rich and the poor
The author also focuses on the dynamics between the rich and the poor and the problems each of them faced. The poor struggled to stay alive as their crops were usually destroyed by flooding or by other natural disasters. In these cases, the poor people had little to no options and they would often die during periods of famine. The rich had to face other problems as they were the first one to be attacked when bands of bandits came in the area. They were often the first ones to be killed in these situations as they had more valuable things that could be stolen. Despite this, the rich did had a better life as they were not forced to live in one area and they could afford food even during the most though periods.
