Three Obediences and Four Virtues

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The Three Obediences and Four Virtues (Chinese: 三從四德; pinyin: Sāncóng Sìdé; Vietnamese: Tam tòng, tứ đức) is a set of moral principles and social code of behavior for maiden and married women in East Asian Confucianism, especially in ancient and imperial China. Women were to obey their fathers, husbands, and sons, and to be modest and moral in their actions and speech. Some imperial eunuchs both observed these principles themselves and enforced them in imperial harems, aristocratic households, and society at large.