In the past there were no psychiatric hospitals and mad people were often locked up by their family often only give them food. In Taiwan there is a folk story the Mad woman's 18 Years that some popular films were produced about it.
Mad woman (瘋女十八年) (1957) Xiao Yan-Qiu (小艷秋) acts a poor woman marries a rich man and become mad. Her son raised up by the succeed wife and recognize her after 18 years. This film was unlike the other products, not in Mandarin, but in Taiwanese Hokkien.
The Mad Woman's 18 Years (瘋女十八年) (1979) Ouyang Ling-long (歐陽玲瓏) acts a poor woman marries a rich man and pretend to be mad. Her son raised up by the bad succeed wife who made her pretend to be mad and recognize her after 18 years. This film was produced by the same company of the Mad woman.
My beloved/Mother Love Me Once Again(媽媽再愛我一次/世上只有妈妈好) (1988) Li Xiaofei(李小飛) acts a young psychiatrian meet his lost mad birth mother in the hospital. This film is produced in Taiwan and became popular in Mainland China.
Yun Niang (芸娘) (2008) is a Chiung Yao style 32 episodes Television series produced in Mainland China. An Yixuan acts a daughter whose poor mother is locked by the other wife of a rich man as mad. The bad woman adopts a son. The daughter not known her real life, become the wife of the son. Lastly everyone find the truth and recognize the mother. The bad woman kills the mother and becomes ill and mad. She was locked up.
Famous quotes containing the words mad, woman and/or years:
“If someone does something we disapprove of, we regard him as bad if we believe we can deter him from persisting in his conduct, but we regard him as mad if we believe we cannot. In either case, the crucial issue is our control of the other: the more we lose control over him, and the more he assumes control over himself, the more, in case of conflict, we are likely to consider him mad rather than just bad.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“The world has already learned that woman has other virtues than meekness, patience, humility and endurance. She possesses courage above all fear, and a will that knows no obstacles; and when these are called forth by some great emergency, false modesty is trampled in the dust, and spheres are scattered to the winds.”
—A. Holley, U.S. women’s magazine contributor. The Lily, p. 38 (May 1852)
“In former years it was said that at three o’clock in the afternoon all sober persons were rounded up and herded off the grounds, as undesirable. The tradition of insobriety is still carefully preserved.”
—For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)