It is without saying that Chinese literature is as complex as the country’s evolution. The Classic Poetry, one of the most important recollection of poetry, songs, and ballads, contains the voices of the people from those generations.  It is interesting to see how we can find some similarities on core values, specifically how young women used to behave with their pretender.  In the poem Zhongzi, Please, we can infer the importance of family moral values as well as perceive the image of how adventurous their youth used to be.

“Zhongzi, please don’t cross my village wall, don’t break the willows planted there. It’s not that I care so much for them, but I dread my father and mother; Zhongzi may be in my thoughts, but what my father and mother said- that too may be held in dread.”(Classic of Poetry, pg 1326-7)

This fragment of the poem illustrates a constrained behavior which would have been the result of a rigid conduct her parents would have imposed on her.  Also it is clear that by letting him know her indifference to any material damages of his intrusion act, she steers his attention to what really matters – her parents finding out. It is also implied that she is trying to appease him by reminding him that he is in her thoughts. This poem inspired a sense of mischief, and it revealed that the constant battle between following rules as opposed to disobeying them were a predicament in all societies.