Watching this show currently. This show being set in the 1920s which makes it a period drama. Period drama does not quite appeal to most people. Especially after the highly rating Heart of Greed.

But this show titled The Silver Chamber of Sorrow has its own appeal, at least to me. It has its own set of family and business feuds. But it evokes a lot of thoughts for me actually. For me, the biggest take away is actually the traditional and conservative mindsets that was present back then.

We the Chinese can be considered one of the more conservative folks around, even up to present day. In the show, back in the 1930s, it was considered normal to drown those committed adultry, and marriages were decided by parents, while the bride and bridegroom had never seen each other before. Women's status back then was to make men happy, to assist in household affairs and to produce offsprings.

Times certainly have changed for the last 70 years. Society has become much more liberal (i am so thankful for that). We certainly have more choices in life and women's status has been elavated by leaps and bound.

It also set me thinking that we are still unchanged in many areas. We still have yet to overcome the difference in status. The "bamboo door to bamboo door, wooden door to wooden door" mentality is still pretty much entrenched in our belief. And in many, the attitude that wives have the responsibility of producing offsprings (preferably males which carry the family surname) is still alive.

What happens now is most of us are more discrete in expressing our conservative stance. Though society is constantly evolving, some of views are just difficult to change :)

keetzai blogged at 4:00 PM