Autum (cont)

For Chinese scholars in the old times, autumn indeed was a sad time. For the single ladies or the widows it was time for them to feel sad or sorry for themselves and for thier time. The fallen leaves, the running water and etc, these all reminded some young wives of their misfortunate and loneliness. They had been waiting for thier husband who went to the battle field right after their marriage year after year. It was hard to hear from thier husbands. They projected their solitude on everything. What made autumn so special and popular for this kind of emotion? My own opinion is originally it is the season for harvest and family re-union. Everybody else was celebrating and cheerful. Others' happiness contrasted these women's sad situation. They tended to feel more emotional and miserable than usual. The sad feeling for spring is another case, yet also popular. Spring has a traditional meaning for young single lady's sexual desire. I am impressed that back in that conservative time people were actually willing to write these down in thier peoms, articles, dramas and etc. Especially in Yuan dynasty, which was at least among those darkest time for scholars, they felt left behind and expelled from the central society like the prostitutes did. Thanks to this not highly developed culture of Mongolian, they had more freedom to express themselves in different forms. ALthough they were not preserved well, from their work remained, we found a lot of talented, knowledgable prostitutes' images. But they were different from the prostitutes we refer to today. Usually, these ladies were more like a lady from a respectful family. They were supposed to know how to draw, write a peom, play instrument, dance, sing and play chess. That is kinda goddish! In fact, even in premodern period of China, prostitutes were good at writing articles. Reading their love letters, u might think that's from some female scholars or writers. I'm afraid I cannot go farther into this phenomen. I believe this unique relationship between scholars and prostitutes was built upon historical and culture ideological elements.