Chu 朱 on Nostr: Until Western influences and complaints about the inability to translate "she" into ...
Until Western influences and complaints about the inability to translate "she" into Chinese, the Chinese language did not have a gendered pronoun.
他 was used for male, female, and even animals and objects. It was simply a generic 'it'.
Then Westerners came in and insisted that the patriarchy get even more so and eventually the word 她 started to come into use (but with much debate and some resistance).
Today as we celebrate our non binary friends and as the English language struggles with having a non gendered pronoun, there is a movement to ditch the 她 and go back to simply using 他 for everyone.
Another thing Western colonialism ruined
Happy pride month!
https://www.harvard-yenching.org/research/cultural-history-of-the-chinese-character-ta/
他 was used for male, female, and even animals and objects. It was simply a generic 'it'.
Then Westerners came in and insisted that the patriarchy get even more so and eventually the word 她 started to come into use (but with much debate and some resistance).
Today as we celebrate our non binary friends and as the English language struggles with having a non gendered pronoun, there is a movement to ditch the 她 and go back to simply using 他 for everyone.
Another thing Western colonialism ruined
Happy pride month!
https://www.harvard-yenching.org/research/cultural-history-of-the-chinese-character-ta/