The embodiment of male power in the ancient institution of marriage

**Or do you have to write it yourself! But you still have a little bit of information. In ancient times, it was polygamy, starting from a patrilineal society until before the reform and opening up!!

There is no practical age regulation, and women must follow three virtues and four virtues (three subordinates are 'unmarried to the father, married to the husband, and the husband to the son'. The four virtues are 'women's morality, women's speech, women's appearance, and women's work' (women's morality, rhetoric, manners, and women's work). ）

1. Underworld marriage: a heterogeneous type of marriage in ancient China: Yin marriage is said by "ghosts" Yin marriage is also called underworld marriage, which is to find a spouse for the dead.

Some young boys and girls died for some reason before they could get married. At that time, the old people believed that if they did not marry them, their ghosts would make trouble and disturb the family.

Therefore, it is necessary to hold a yin marriage ceremony for them (her), and finally bury them (her) together, become husband and wife, and bury them together. lest there be a lonely grave in the fields of the men and women.

There are also some minors who have died in the world, and their parents or elders in the family, out of love, think that they have not been able to choose a mate for them (her) during their lifetime, and they must marry them (her) after death and fulfill their responsibilities. In fact, this is the sustenance of human feelings.

In addition, in the old days, people generally believed in the feng shui of the cemetery, believing that the appearance of a lonely grave would affect the prosperity of the descendants of the family. At that time, some feng shui masters (known as Kanyu in ancient times) tried their best to encourage this kind of yin marriage in order to earn a little more money. Yin marriages are mostly found in aristocratic or wealthy families.

Historical Development Yin marriages existed before the Han Dynasty. Because yin marriage consumes manpower and material resources in society and is meaningless, it has been banned.

2. Three wives and four concubines:

Three wives and four concubines refer to "many wives and concubines", according to the records of Zhangjiashan Han Jian's "Two Year Decree", in addition to "concubines", Han people also have "partial wives", "lower wives", "imperial maids", etc., it can be seen that the custom of "three wives and four concubines" has a long history.

The "wife" in the three wives and four concubines includes the wife, the partial wife, the lower wife, etc., and is not limited to the main wife. In anthropological terms, monogamy does not encompass what is commonly called"Monogamy and polygonal concubinage"These two are actually different categories of languages, the former"Monogamous"It refers only to the uniqueness of the female spouse, and is generally so-called"Monogamy and polygonal concubinage"It belongs to the concept of anthropology"Polygamy"。

Men are inferior to women, and women can only be attached to men according to numbers, which is the result of the social system, and this result has exacerbated the hierarchical differentiation between men and women, so there are groups of male wives and concubines, and women can only end up from the same.

3. Foot binding: It is a bad habit in ancient China, which refers to women wrapping their feet tightly with cloth to make their feet deformed and smaller, which is beautiful. Generally female, from.

From the age of four or five, he began to bind his feet, until the cloth belt was untied after the adult skeleton was set, and Zheng Bishan also had lifelong wrappers.

According to the research of modern scholars, foot binding began in the late Northern Song Dynasty and arose in the Southern Song Dynasty. The foot binding of the Yuan Dynasty continued to develop in the direction of slenderness. The wind of foot binding in the Ming Dynasty entered the prosperous period, and there was a "three-inch golden lotus" saying, which required the feet not only to be as small as three inches, but also to bow and bend, but the unearthed female corpses before the Qing Dynasty had not yet found those with foot binding, which showed that foot binding was not very common at that time.

In the Qing Dynasty, the trend of foot binding spread to women from all walks of life, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, they all bound their feet, but there were not a few who did not bind their feet.

You can take a look at the book "Perspectives on the Modern Japanese Family", because there are very few records of the ancient marriage system in China, so you can refer to it for easy understanding. Available online.