Pictured above is an iron wrought painting framed in dark wood with a beige border. Within the painting, a woman wearing loose, flowing clothing leans on a rock formation that stands among large leaved plants and flowers. The woman in the pictures seems to be the same woman from the previous painting, however based upon her pose and her saddened look, the mood of the painting here seems quite different from the first.

While the first painting was likely emblematic of Confucius expectations of women, here the subject of the painting, the woman, seems to be much less content. Though she is still standing among flowers, because her head is lowered and her gaze is averted to the ground, she seems sad. The absence of the flowers that had been so plentiful within the first painting causes one to consider the possibility that she doesn’t want to be a flower, but perhaps a normal plant.

If it is possible that this could be true, the meaning of the painting would be the realization of women’s dissatisfaction with their social and political status within China. Much like “the problem with no name” within American history, it would symbolize the beginning of a shift within women’s lives, and a shift towards gaining equality with men. Though the woman within the paining is still standing among some flowers, I think the surplus of normal leaved plants might symbolize her want to be independent, or at least her want to no longer be seen as someone (or something) to be coddled and cared for.