The Woman's Story

I love watching historical dramas from China. I appreciate their attention to details to build up the atmosphere in every scene and the very professional acting skills. The currently running serial "Voyage of Admiral Zheng He" is one example. In one recent episode I was almost brought to tears in a scene which showed the empress visiting a widowed palace maid who had earlier became the concubine of the emporor's rival in a political move. In a very touching scene, the empress whilst fighting tears shared with the maid her own heart rending worries about her two sons feuding against each other for the position of crown prince. She reminisced the happy days when they were young and described how all her life she had worked tirelessly for the family to be happy. Whilst both women wiped away their tears she stoically said that perhaps that was every woman's "ben fen" (responsibility and duty).

This is a common story that is ingrained in many women, especially Asian women. Is it really "nu ren de ben fen" to work tirelessly to ensure happiness amongst all her family members? Isn't that a tall order? There is also a common quote that "You can only be as happy as your unhappiest child". As long as women hold this belief and abide by the story that their happiness can only be achieved through the happiness of their children, it will be a long tough perilous road.

I went on to research a bit into history on what historically took place. Apparently the eldest son, Hongxi became the next emperor but did no harm to his brother. However it was Hongxi's son, upon succession tortured his uncle to death. Of course the empress had passed on by then, as much as she tirelessly wanted to do "nu ren de ben fen" in her own lifetime.