A Novel by Lisa See
A Woman's Worth
Today in America, we talk a lot about pay inequality between women and men. We've listened to stories of the "Me, Too" movement and lamented that the status of women hasn't yet achieved the equality it deserves. But if you want a different perspective, read Lisa See's novel, Lady Tan's Circle of Women.
Travel to a faraway culture in a faraway time
Reading allows us to time travel, to experience places far beyond our reach, to learn attitudes and be immersed in exotic cultures. Lady Tan's Circle of Women does exactly that. 15th Century China comes alive in the story of Tan Yunxian, a girl from an elite family who becomes a doctor for women under the tutelage of her strong, skilled, smart paternal grandmother.
Tan Yunxian's family are the highest level of Imperial scholars, presented to the Emporer and rewarded for their intellectual achievements. Tan's grandfather and then her father are revered. Tan's mother is a classic Chinese beauty with bound feet. Her sole purpose in life is to have a male heir, which she does, but tragedy intervenes.
Tan goes to live with her paternal grandparents and begins to study medicine from her Grandmother Ru, a doctor for women
How much do you know about Chinese medicine?
I was lucky enough to study in China for more than six weeks during the 1990s. One memorable experience was visiting a Chinese Medicine Market where humongous piles of different colored spices, herbs, and ground materials were displayed under outdoor tents. Everywhere were booths, sometimes with a little table and chair where you would sit, explain your ailment, and let the doctor prescribe a brew that would cure you. There were animals, snakes, and hundreds of unidentifiable substances as far as the eye could see.
We watched "cuppings" and acupuncture and heard lectures about the "qi." But even with my first-hand experience, I knew very little about Chinese medicine and struggled with the continual descriptions of ailments and treatments included in Lady Tan's Circle of Women even while I appreciated the concept of finding "balance" in all aspects of our lives.
So many aspects of treatment in the mid-1400s of China are unfathomable to our modern Western minds. Male doctors could not see female patients directly. Doctors were not allowed to touch or see blood. Midwives, while essential, were looked down on as inferior beings who did the "dirty" work.
When reading, don't get bogged down by the constant references to ailments and treatments. Instead, focus on the story of Tan whose grandmother purposely arranges a friendship between Tan and the midwife's daughter, Meling. It's a friendship that weathers tragedies, triumphs, and the passage of time.
Wives and Concubines
If a wife does not produce a male heir quickly enough, families turn to bringing in concubines who CAN. Giving other women - never with as much status as the wife but still with prestige and power - permission to have sex with a husband creates tense interpersonal dynamics depicted in Lady Tan's Circle of Women.
It's a complex plot dealing with a social structure we don't understand. EVERYTHING is based on producing a male heir, and the idea of one wife and multiple concubines to satisfy the physical urges of one man is foreign to us.
One of the joys of reading Lady Tan's Circle of Women is that another culture and another time comes to life. I have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture than I did before, even though I had traveled there.
The Gruesome Practice of Foot Binding in Lady Tan's Circle of Women
Excruciatingly painful. Horrific. Cruel. Demented.
The gruesome practice of foot binding pervades the novel and causes us to question the pursuit of a cultural idea of beauty.
In ancient China, tiny feet were prized as a thing of beauty. The wealthy upper classes did whatever it took for their daughters to be perceived as beautiful, hence "marriageable," which meant that their feet should be three inches long! Beginning at the age of four, mothers would bend the little toes back toward the heel, bandaging them tightly and changing the dressings every four days. The bones would break. The skin would be lacerated. The feet would smell. The effects of the foot binding were devastating. Women couldn't take steps of more than a few inches, shuffling to keep their balance.
The brutal act of foot binding emphasized the submissiveness of women, their willingness to obey and please men, and their dedication to bearing children. The thinking was that foot binding increased the flow of blood upward to the sexual organs, enhancing fertility.
Embroidered slippers and special leggings covered the mutilated appendages and were perceived as part of the beauty of bound feet...along with the smell, believe it or not, which the husbands embraced as part of their wives' unique beauty, according to Lady Tan's Circle of Women.
At the start of the novel, Tan's mother tells her, "to live is to suffer." Footbinding is an obvious manifestation of that suffering. Thankfully, the close relationships with other women give them the strength to survive the physical atrocity they are subjected to.
Circle of Women
Love and friendship weren't any different in ancient China than they are now in 21st-century America. The relationships between the women make this book "sing." Tan's Grandmother Ru acts as a mentor and mother to her beloved granddaughter, and their relationship is steadfast and loving. Tan and Meiling, best friends, have personalities that complement each other. Even though Tan is from the elite class and Meiling is from the working-class, they love each other, and their friendship endures through tragedy. Tan's father's concubine, Lady Zhao, becomes a wise substitute mother and friend over the years.
Women with different backgrounds and different stories united in love. The "circle of women" is what upholds and strengthens Lady Tan. This same bond between women exists in all cultures and all eras. Lady Tan's life differs from ours, but the fundamental connection with other women doesn't change and resonates with us as we read.
Meling, as an old woman, remembers the words of Lady Tan's grandmother:
"Friendship is a contrast between two hearts. With hearts united, women can laugh and cry, live and die together."
Indeed.
Time Travel for Understanding
If you want to experience another culture and another time...
If a glimpse into a world foreign to our sensibilities...
If you want to be immersed in Chinese culture...
Read Lisa See's Lady Tan's Circle of Women.
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