“Chastity Plaque”
2 min readA household in Yangjiayu still conserves a “Chastity Plaque” dating to the 19105. It isa wood, horizontal plaque, and on the black lacquer background is engraved four goldencharacters in praise of woman’s virtue, written with forceful strokes.
On the corner above is a vertical engraved praiseful inscription granted by the thenGreat President, and on the corner below are vertical inscriptions reading “For Yang—Li ofWanping” and “By Village Sodality in June of 1918,”respective1y. In the upper central partof the plaque is an obvious square hollow, which once held an engraving of a 100m x 100mofficial seal. It is said that the seal engraving was excised during the Culture RevolutionPeriod (1966—1976), leaving only the dented square space. According to the villager possessing the plaque, it fits the bed size of her home and was hence allocated to her familyduring the Land Reform period.
It is said that the original holder of this plaque, known as Yang—Li, lost her husband atthe age of 18. She fulfilled her pledge of not marrying again and worked by herself to raiseher child. Her son studied hard and finally entered a college in Beiping (present—day Beijing),and later he became an official in Wanping County.
Clearly verified on this plaque is the fact that during the 19105, in this remote mountainvillage, feudal ethical codes, represented by the “three obediences” imposed on women(obey her father before marriage, her husband when married, and her sons in widowhood),were still dominant. But no one could truly understand the pain and suffering behind, exceptfor the holder of the plaque.
