Essays for My Daughters - Works by Bi Shumin

Author: Bi Shushu / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Bi Shushu's essays are highly favored by a broad readership for their healthy tone, sunny quality, thought-provoking wisdom, and elegant writing style. In her garden of essay writing, there are some particularly bright and captivating works that focus on women. Here, whether it's the exploration of women's status, destiny, and characteristics, including certain ultimate questions, or the sharp touch and examination of women's individual living conditions, including love, marriage, and family—topics of public concern—these works are imbued with the unique insight and delicacy of women, reflecting the author's distinctive thinking and reflection, shining with philosophical light, and permeating a gentle and tactful warmth that gives readers a fresh and startling sense, leading to enlightenment and inspiration, thereby elevating the realm of life...
The famous "Thinker" statue, that of a nude young man, supports his elbows and gazes into the distance, pondering something. Thus, "thinking"—this abstract activity—is given a visual form: a man uses his strong arms to hold up his wise head, lost in thought. It embodies and reinforces a conventional concept—that when people talk about "thinking," they first imagine a man. But what exactly is the man thinking about? No one knows. There's a joke that says, he's thinking—well, where did my clothes go? When men think, what are women doing? Although no one dares to openly say that women cannot think, traditional culture so dismissively ignores women's thinking. As if women don't use their brains but only their hair, nails, stomachs, and feet to daydream. Therefore, women's thinking is inferior and secondary, and their voices need not be heard in important matters. This discrimination in thinking is endless, like an omnipresent wind—you can't grasp it, but you can feel its pervasive influence at every moment.
New research shows that human intelligence is primarily inherited from the mother, while the father is more inclined to pass on the emotional bond. An injustice has been overturned. Before, people generally believed that intelligence came from men and emotions from women. The idea that women lack wisdom or that their intelligence is inherently inferior to men's has completely collapsed at the biological level. Intelligence does not equal wisdom, but they are closely related. Those with wings may not fly—for example, chickens and ducks. But those who fly must have strong wings—for example, birds and swifts, swans and giant storks. Since women are the vast ocean of intelligence, they will also be, and must be, powerful thinkers of wisdom.
We think about mountains and oceans because women's lives and development are closely tied to nature. We think about war and peace because women participate in the entire process of human civilization. With women's compassionate guidance, the smoke of war will fade and dissipate. We think about science and technology because they are essential for human prosperity and the signal connecting the Earth to the universe. We think about family and children because they are the sacred garden and the sparkling buds. We reflect on our own bodies and souls because they are the anchor of women's journey and the boundless sky for their flight.
The Thinker, women, the world will listen to your great voice. P9-10