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In the history of the family, the shifts are more difficult to trace,
given the major regional and community variations.
The emergence of a new ideal of the "willow-waisted woman,"
a stronger advocacy against widow remarriage, the presence of some
bound feet in Southern Song all suggest a decline in status of women.
However, the control women gained over property, their ability
to inherit, their control of family budgets, and of their children's
education show that older women were not without authority.
The Song appears to have been the age of the discovery of childhood
as a distinct phase of human life. At least the literature and art
seem to suggest. The toy peddler in the scroll is only one of a
number of figures to have survived, and there are other paintings
showing children.
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