college after her father has passed away and becomes Zuoquian Chen’s fourth wife. When Songlian, who chooses to walk from her house to Chen’s house instead of riding in the wedding carriage, arrives at Chen’s house, there is no sign of a celebration, an omen of things to come. Bound by tradition and inflamed with jealousy, none of the three wives come out to greet the new bride. An old housekeeper welcomes and acknowledges the arrival of Songlian, and he guides her to her new room through the house’s elaborate structure. To her surprise, in a long walk from the front door to her room, she doesn’t see a single person. The lack of human presence couples with the absence of a wedding reception to create an impersonal atmosphere that prevails throughout the film.Songlian must as Ward mentions in her book, “swallow such customs as breaking and binding little girl’s feet.” Every evening, a red lantern is lit in front of the courtyard of the wife Chen chooses to sleep with. Contrary to it’s traditional symbolism red is anything but festive. There is no love among the wives only hatred. The relationships between Chen and his wives are purely sexual. Rather than helping each other out and raising their status within the family, the wives are constantly fighting among themselves to win favors from Chen. The wives who live in separate houses must compete for the affections and privileges of the master in accordance with his customs. Jealousy abounds between the wives and the scheming keeps the tensions high. Each night a lantern is lit in favor of whom the master will be with. Shortly afterwards all the lanterns of the wife’s home and courtyard are also lit and the privileges begin.In all human cultures most women marry and bear children regardless of what women personally want to do. Ward states, “We live our lives against a backdrop of the social structures, rul...
