The concept of ancient marriage
Among early primitive people, the sexual relationship between men and women was messy. With the evolution of human beings, the dawn of morality and rationality appeared in the relationship between the sexes. The formation of the incest taboo and the implementation of extra-ethnic marriages marked the beginning of the subordination of sexual needs to "human" needs. The marriage system evolved with the development of primitive economy, the increasingly widespread human mutual assistance, and the clarity of kinship relationships. gradually built up. In ancient China, the marriage system was an important social norm and was included in the category of etiquette. Weddings are a tangible part of Chinese culture. "Book of Rites" says: Etiquette "begins with food and drink" and "originates with marriage." "Food" includes the production and distribution of materials, and "marriage" refers to the production of people themselves, including the way men and women interact and get married. Marriage communicates materials and ideas, morality and law, and reflects social fashions and etiquette.
1. The concept of marriage
There are roughly three interpretations of the meaning of "marriage" in ancient books: First, it refers to the title of husband and wife. Zheng Xuan notes in "Book of Rites? Jingjie": " The son-in-law is called marriage, and the wife is called marriage." The second refers to the marriage ceremony. Kong Yingda Shu in "The Book of Songs? "Marriage" refers to the marriage when they are well together. "Marriage" refers to the way of marriage. "The third one refers to the in-laws." "Marriage" says: "Marriage is the wife's family" and "marriage is the son-in-law's family". "Erya Shi Qin" makes it more clear: "The son-in-law's parents are the wife's parents, and the wife's parents are the marriage." ... A woman’s party is a brother-in-law, and a son-in-law’s party is a brother-in-law. "Although the above three statements are not the same, they have touched on the basic characteristics of marriage. First, it shows that marriage is a social relationship, which is a sign of the marriage relationship between the two parties. Second, it shows that marriage is based on etiquette. It is an integral part of the etiquette system.
Marriage is essentially a relationship between people, the union of the two sexes, and reflects the requirements of social and economic life and the characteristics of social culture. In Confucian classics, marriage is regarded as a major event in the family and society. First of all, the wedding is regarded as the beginning of human relations. The "Book of Rites" says: "The ritual of marriage is the reason why men and women are distinguished. If the rituals of marriage are abolished, the relationship between husband and wife will be miserable, and the sins of adultery will be many. "Secondly, weddings are regarded as the foundation of etiquette. "Book of Rites? Hunyi" says: "Respect, prudence, uprightness, and then kissing are the general principles of etiquette, and they form the distinction between men and women and establish the meaning of husband and wife. Men and women are different, and then the husband and wife have righteousness; the husband and wife have righteousness, and then the father and the son have kinship; the father and the son have kinship, and then the king and his ministers have righteousness. Therefore, it is said: Those who fail to pay attention to etiquette are the foundation of etiquette. "Thirdly, the marital status of society is also related to social chaos. "New Book of Tang? Biography of the Concubines" says: "Rituals are based on the couple,...the governance of chaos is related to the rise and fall of the society." "Confucianism regards the union of the two sexes as husband and wife as a cultural and social phenomenon. This is a civilized understanding. Ancient marriage etiquette was gradually formed based on the Confucian concept of marriage. It must be pointed out that Confucianism emphasizes marriage What Confucianism focuses on is "the beginning of human relations" and "the righteousness of husband and wife", that is, the "three cardinal principles and five constant principles", "three obediences and four virtues" and other social norms. Confucianism relatively ignores "emotion" and "love" and uses marriage as the starting point to derive the concepts of father and son, father and son. The hierarchical relationship between monarch and minister, therefore, the marriage relationship became the basis for the hierarchical relationship between superior and inferior.
2. The meaning of marriage
In ancient patriarchal society, marriage was not personal to the parties involved. Behavior is a major matter related to the interests of the two clans. Therefore, a man marries a wife for the clan rather than for himself. As far as the purpose of marriage is concerned, the first thing to do is to form a family and create relatives. Basically, the primary purpose of marriage under the control of patriarchal concepts is to expand the family and procreate descendants. "The Book of Rites? Hunyi" says: "The person who is marrying will marry the best of the two surnames, to serve the ancestral temple, and to inherit the descendants. . Confucius said: "The great dusk is the heir of all ages." "After a couple has children, the eldest son born from a legal marriage is the legitimate son. In a patriarchal society that implements the eldest son inheritance system, the inheritance of the family is related to the continuation of the family. "Succession to future generations" naturally becomes the primary purpose of marrying a wife.
The second is to worship ancestors. Patriarchal societies attach great importance to blood relations and regard the continuity of the ancestors' blood as the top priority of the family. Ancient weddings were often held in front of the ancestors' memorial tablets, which were called "temple meetings", indicating that the newlyweds inherited their ancestors. "The White Tiger Tongyi? The King is Not a Submissive" says: "The wife is one with herself and respects the ancestral temple...her ancestors from above, and from generation to generation below." "Tang Lu Shu Yi? Household Marriage" also said: "The wife is responsible for passing on family affairs and carrying out sacrifices." "The couple's worship in the traditional wedding ceremony includes worshiping parents-in-law, worshiping heaven and earth, and worshiping ancestors.
The third is to increase labor. Since entering the patriarchal society, it is regarded as a matter of course that men are superior to women. "Book of Changes" "Ci Shang" said: "The heaven is superior and the earth is inferior, the universe is determined; the high is the high, the high and the low are the same." There are internal helpers, but women can only "concentrate on weaving, not joking, and prepare wine and food for the guests." "According to the provisions of feudal etiquette: "The wife has no selfless goods, no selfless savings, and no selfless weapons. She dares not take private leave, and dare not take private possessions.
"The wife takes care of the housework, serves her uncle, and supports her parents-in-law, but she has no economic status.
The fourth is to prevent sexual immorality between men and women. "Book of Rites? Fang Ji" says: "The husband rites the people who commit adultery, and he rules the people. Differentiation is to make the people have no suspicion and to serve as a discipline for the people. Therefore, men and women will not make friends without a matchmaker, and they will not meet each other without money, for fear that men and women will become indistinguishable. "Marriage is used to distinguish men and women to prevent promiscuity, with particular emphasis on women's need to abide by chastity, which essentially complies with the needs of the patriarchal system to ensure the purity of the blood of the children born to women. However, the feudal concept of chastity has many restrictions on women. Men's fornication is rarely binding.
The Changes of Ancient Marriage
The famous American scholar Morgan wrote about the evolution of marriage and family in his book "Ancient Society". After dedicated research, he made the following summary of the evolution of human marriage: first, people in a state of incest marriage; secondly, blood families based on group marriage replaced this group of people; thirdly, Punalua families practiced The first is intermarriage between two groups; then it transitions from group marriage to pair marriage, which is based on monogamous marriage, but is not exclusive cohabitation; and finally it transitions from pair marriage to monogamy, which is monogamy. System. In his book "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" published in 1884, Engels absorbed Morgan's research results and mapped the changes in human family and marriage to the three stages of development of human society. He summarized it succinctly: “Group marriage is adapted to the savage era, pair marriage is adapted to the barbaric era, and monogamy supplemented by adultery and prostitution is adapted to the civilized era. "Based on the above discussion, the changes in ancient Chinese marriage can be divided into five stages.
1. Primitive group marriage
Primitive group marriage is a sexual coupling relationship practiced by human ancestors , it appeared in the childhood of human beings. At that time, "the people lived together in the wild, knowing their mothers and not knowing their fathers, and there were no distinctions between men and women, brothers, husbands, and wives." There are no customs or rational restrictions on the relationship between the two sexes, so it is impossible to form a family. There is no distinction between men and women, and there is no prohibition on coupling. The relationship between the sexes is purely natural. There are records about miraculous births and aliens. Marriage legends, for example, "The Emperor's Family" contains: "The Shennong family also has the surname Jiang. The mother's name is Ren Si, and she has a daughter of the Yu clan, whose name is Deng. As a Shaodian concubine, she traveled to Huayang, where she had the head of a divine dragon. She felt that her daughter had ascended to Changyang, and she gave birth to Emperor Yan. "According to "Historical Records? Zhou Benji" records: "Zhou Houji was named Qi, and his mother had a Tai daughter, named Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was the imperial concubine of Emperor Jiao Yuan. When Jiang Yuan went out into the wild, he saw a trace of a giant and said in his heart that if he wanted to trample on it, if he trampled on it and his body moved as if he were pregnant, he would give birth to a child. "The Book of Songs? Ode to Shang" also has a description of "the destiny black bird descended and gave birth to Shang". These legends of strange births should be a reflection of the twists and turns of chaotic marriages in ancient times, as Mr. Guo Moruo inferred: "Since the Yellow Emperor, the Five Emperors and the Three The births of the emperor's ancestors were all "born in response to nature, knowing that they had a mother but not knowing that they had a father." This shows that it is a hybrid era of wild union or a matrilineal society of blood group marriage. "
2. Blood marriage
With the slow development of the primitive economy and the accumulation of life experience of primitive people, especially when they learned how to use fire, "primitive groups must Divided into cliques, it had to be divided into blood families. "Within consanguineous families, marriage prohibitions began to arise, which excluded intermarriage between parents and children, and only allowed sexual relations between men and women of the same generation (brothers and sisters). This kind of consanguineous marriage of the same generation is often recorded in ancient Chinese literature. For example, "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Nanman Biography" records the legend that the daughter of Gao Xin married Panhu and gave birth to six boys and six girls, and their children married each other. "Customs" said that Nuwa was Fuxi's sister, and the Han Dynasty unearthed it in later generations. On the tombstones, Fuxi and Nuwa are in the shape of "a human head and a snake body, with two intersecting tails". The "two intersecting tails" are also a symbol of husband and wife, indicating that Nuwa and Fuxi are both brother and sister, and they are also the couple gods of my country's ethnic minorities. In the folklore of the Miao people, stories of intermarriage between brothers and sisters are also widely circulated, such as the Miao people's "Fuxi sisters make human smoke", the Yi people's "Meige", the Buyi people's "Sisters get married", the Zhuang people's "Pangu", and the Naxi people's "Genesis". "", there are descriptions of intermarriage between brothers and sisters. Although these legends are mostly subjective and fictional, they reflect the common phenomenon of blood marriage in primitive society.
3. Marriage in partnership
Partnership marriage is also called sub-consanguinity marriage, and partnership marriage is also called Punalua family. The biggest difference between partnership marriage and consanguinity marriage is that there is a new prohibition in the relationship between the sexes, which does not allow biological siblings to have sex. Marriage relationship. The characteristic of the partnership system is that a group of brothers marries another group of women who are not their own sisters. Brothers have wives and sisters have husbands. According to "Historical Records of the Five Emperors", men and women are each other's "close partners". According to "Ben Ji", Shun married two of Yao's daughters, Ehuang and Nvying. From this legend, we can get a glimpse of the characteristics of sisters' husbands under the partnership system.
The characteristics of the partnership system. The emergence of consanguineous marriage is more important than the replacement of primitive group marriage by consanguineous marriage. The principle of natural selection plays a major role in replacing consanguineous marriage. The quantity and quality of the population are significantly improved, Engels said. In "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State" Morgan is quoted as saying: "Marriage between clans without blood kinship created a race of people that was stronger physically and intellectually.
" It is based on this fact that the ancient Chinese people had the understanding that "men and women with the same surname will not be born together." The historical role of the partnership system is also to promote the emergence of the clan system. Due to the existence of brother-sister relationships and even collateral brother-sister relationships, Due to the prohibition on marriage, all men and women must go to other blood groups to find their spouses, and the children born to them belong to the female lineage group, which eventually led to the emergence of matrilineal clans: "It seems that the clan system has never existed. Most of the time, it happens directly from Punalua families. ”
4. Pair marriage
Pair marriage is characterized by an unstable relationship between a man and a woman over a long or short period of time. Compared with Group marriage is an individual marriage; compared with monogamous marriage, it is a fragile and unstable relationship between husband and wife. It is a transition from group marriage to monogamous marriage, and the children still belong to the maternal line.
Pair marriage originated in the alternating period between the savage age and the barbaric age. Its emergence was firstly due to the development of primitive economy, which made surplus products available for division and exchange. Secondly, the restrictions on intermarriage between relatives were becoming more and more widespread. It has become difficult to maintain group marriages or partnership marriages, "and women are eager to obtain the right to maintain chastity and marry only one man temporarily or permanently as a rescue method. "The method of forming a pair marriage is generally that the mother negotiates and concludes a marriage contract, achieves marriage through the exchange of goods, or uses force to snatch spouses from other clans. Therefore, the two parties in a pair marriage are not based on feelings, but on "convenience and need" "As the basis". Because men died in large numbers in the wars of the barbaric era, resulting in a surplus of female surnames, and men bear the main responsibility for obtaining food within the family, this makes men still enjoy polygamy and accidental marriage in the form of pair marriage. The privilege of adultery. Divorce between couples is not restricted by clan customs, and the marriage relationship is not strong.
New social factors have emerged in the development from partnership to couple marriage. In couples' families, it is possible to identify the biological father in addition to the biological mother. Secondly, men's responsibilities in productive labor have become increasingly important, making the husband's status increasingly dominant in the family economy. An unprecedented contradiction occurred in the system. The only way to solve this contradiction was to calculate the lineage according to the male line, which led to the abolition of matriarchy and the establishment of patriarchy, "one of the most radical revolutions that mankind has ever experienced." Men in the family. As a result, the intermediate form of patriarchal family emerged. This form was the transitional form from the dual marriage family to the monogamous family. Especially in the later period of the dual marriage system, the advancement of labor tools promoted the development of production. With the development of society, individual families have become independent economic units, and tools and products have gradually become privately owned, which has contributed to the emergence of private ownership and slavery, thus "dealing a powerful blow to the society based on pair marriage and matriarchal clans." The emergence of patriarchal families and private ownership will inevitably require a new type of marriage and family that is compatible with them, that is, the monogamous marriage family will replace the pair marriage family. This new marriage family has been conceived in the pair marriage system.
5. Monogamous marriage
Monogamous marriage is commonly known as monogamous marriage. The establishment of monogamous marriage replaces matriarchy with patriarchy and the means of production. Based on this fact, Marx pointed out: "The driving force leading to monogamy is the increase of wealth and the desire to transfer wealth to children, the legal heirs, the true descendants of the mated pair." Therefore, , "The main purpose of marriage is to have legal children." In a monogamous family, the wife, property and children are all privately owned by the husband, and the wife's main function is to give birth to children and continue the patriarchal line.
Since its inception, the monogamous marriage system has shown the characteristics of male supremacy. As far as the status of husband and wife is concerned, since the husband has gained control over the family economy, he has also gained the right to rule over his wife. "Jiao Te Sheng" says: "Men are handsome and women follow men." The proverb goes: "The wife buys a horse and is ridden by others." These are all portrayals of women's humble status. As for the marriage relationship, monogamous marriage is much stronger and more durable than monogamous marriage. Under normal circumstances, it cannot be divorced. Confucianism emphasizes the permanence of the relationship between husband and wife from an ethical perspective. The so-called "the relationship between husband and wife cannot last long." Therefore, it should be accepted with perseverance." "Etiquette begins with a sincere husband."
From the perspective of the evolution of marriage, it is reasonable to use "constancy" to clean up the legacy of the couple marriage system. But as Engels pointed out: "Monogamy has had its special nature from the beginning, making it monogamous only for women and not for men." As early as the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor's wives and concubines The number is astonishing. According to the "Book of Rites? Hunyi", the system of the Zhou Dynasty was "the emperor established six palaces, three wives, nine concubines, twenty-seven wives, and eighty-one royal wives." In the entire feudal society, aristocrats and bureaucrats They usually have many wives and concubines. As far as kinship relationships are concerned, the establishment of monogamous marriage makes kinship relationships clear and complete, and the relationships of blood relatives, in-law relatives, direct descendants, concubines, etc. are all clear, thus forming a kinship network with the father-in-law as the clue.
The development from primitive group marriage to monogamous marriage is a sign that ancient society moved from ignorance and barbarism to civilization.
Engels pointed out: "The scope connected by the same marriage bond was very wide at first, and then became smaller and smaller, until finally only the dominant pair of spouses remained." As the marriage bond continues to connect With the narrowing of scope, marriage etiquette and customs have become more complicated and regulations have gradually been formed.
Ancient Marriage Policy
Marriage policy in ancient China refers to the basic policies and principles on marriage pursued by the governments of past dynasties. It reflects the Basic attitude toward marriage. To sum up, ancient marriage policies have never gone beyond the norms of etiquette. Within the framework of etiquette, the laws of the past dynasties have made a series of provisions on marriage based on the economic and political needs of each period.
1. Guiding people in marriage
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were already officials such as "Da Situ" and "Matchmaker" who managed marriages. According to "The Rites of Zhou? Local Officials? Situ", the great Situ "teaches relatives the Yin Rites, so the people will have no resentment." Zheng Xuan notes: "The Yin Rites refer to the etiquette of men and women. If the marriage is timely, there will be no resentment." This. It means that the duty of the great situ is to educate the people with marriage etiquette and help them get married in time, so as to reduce the number of resentful daughters and absent husbands in society. In ancient times, a man who was twenty and a woman who was fifteen would undergo a coming-of-age ceremony, indicating that they were adults and could get married. If a man is 30 years old and a woman is 20 years old and is not yet married, the government will urge them to get married. "Book of Rites of Zhou" says that one of the responsibilities of a matchmaker is to "write down the year, month, day and name of every man and woman who has become famous. Order the man to marry when he is thirty and the woman to marry when she is twenty. "Most ancient rulers were concerned about the important impact of male-female marriage and population growth on the country's prosperity, and therefore pursued national policies to encourage marriage and childbearing. "Han Feizi? Wai Chu Shuo You" records: "(Qi Huangong) issued an order to the people: a husband will marry at age twenty, and a woman will marry at fifteen." In the sixth year of Zhenguan (632), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict stipulating: "The people If a man is 20 years old and a woman is over 15 years old and has no husband, the prefecture and county will marry her according to the rites. "This means that for those who cannot marry according to the "six rites" due to lack of financial capacity or other restrictions, the local government will do so. The government must provide them with funding. The ancient rulers had two main motivations for promoting marriage among the people and encouraging early marriage: the first was to maintain social stability and reduce resentment of women and absent husbands; the second was to encourage breeding of the population to ensure sufficient sources of labor and labor and to increase taxes, thereby enhancing national strength. .
2. Marriage with a matchmaker
Parents’ orders and the matchmaker’s words are the necessary conditions for feudal betrothal marriages. "Book of Rites? Qu Li" says: "Without a matchmaker, men and women are not known to each other; they do not receive money, and they do not make friends or get close to each other." "The Book of Songs? Binfeng? Fake" says: "What about Fake? You can't do it with an axe. How about marrying a wife? You can't get it by a matchmaker." The important principle that there is no marriage without a matchmaker is mentioned here. Zhu Xi said: "A matchmaker is a person who understands the words of two surnames." The role of a matchmaker is originally entrusted to the parents of the parties to the marriage to facilitate the establishment of the marriage through communication between the man and the woman. In ancient times, "men and women were not intimate with each other". They did not sit at the same table, did not walk together, and the boundaries between the two sexes were clear. Therefore, as a matchmaker who "understands the language of both sexes", he naturally became an indispensable person in society. The role of matchmaker , this is beyond reproach. The problem is that feudal betrothal marriages regard the matchmaker's word as a necessary condition for the establishment of a marriage. It stipulates that "a man does not ask for a kiss, and a woman does not agree to a kiss." Anyone who marries on his own without communication with a matchmaker is illegal and will not be recognized by society. , and were even denounced as "eloping" and "promiscuous", which restricted the free love and independent marriage of men and women. In particular, the feudal government made strict regulations on the performance of matchmaking in the form of law, which gave it a coercive effect. For example, "Laws of the Tang Dynasty" stipulates: "The law of marriage must have a matchmaker." After being made absolute and mandatory, "matchmaker" is combined with the orders of parents and becomes the free love of young men and women. of Chuewu. Mencius said: "If you don't wait for your parents' orders, and the matchmaker tells you, if you look into each other's holes and follow each other across the wall, then your parents and the people of the country will be despised." said. The ban on "self-media" is essentially to ensure the implementation of parents' orders and maintain the order of the patriarchal society.
3. Do not marry with the same surname
The ancients have long recognized the harm of same-blood marriage to the reproduction of offspring. It is based on this understanding that exogamy replaced blood marriage. "Surname" was originally a symbol of blood relationship developed from the matrilineal clan society. After the establishment of the patriarchal system, "surname" became a symbol of the clan system. The patriarchal system established in the Western Zhou Dynasty included the system of establishing sons and daughters, the system of numbering temples, and the system of non-marriage with the same surname. Non-marriage with the same surname became an important marriage policy in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The first purpose of its implementation is to ensure the clarity of patriarchal hierarchical relationships and prevent confusion in the inheritance and attribution of power. The second is out of eugenic considerations. "Zuo Zhuan? The 23rd Year of Duke Xi" says: "If a man and a woman have the same surname, their birth will not be Fan." "Guoyu Jin Yuzhong" also has a similar statement: "If you don't marry with the same surname, you will not be evil. "Reproduction." Marriage with the same surname is not conducive to eugenics, which is the common sense of society. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Shiqing and Shilu system gradually collapsed, but the etiquette and custom of not marrying with the same surname was still passed down. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, it was clearly stipulated: "Those who get married with the same surname will be considered adulterers if they are married for two years and above the age of 10 years old (in mourning for the great-grandparents of the same clan)." The so-called "same surname" in the Tang Dynasty refers to the descendants of the same great ancestor, that is, People with the same surname, the *** clan, have similar blood relationships and prohibit marriage, which has a positive effect on eugenics. The laws of the Ming and Qing Dynasties also strictly prohibited marriages within the same clan, but those with the same surname but different clans were not prohibited.
4. Acceptance of concubines
The marriage policies of past dynasties have been based on the principle of consolidating monogamy under the patriarchal patriarchal system, but at the same time, they have allowed men to "polygamy". Therefore, monogamy Monogamy is only a marriage norm for women. For a small number of men, polygamy is practiced in the name of monogamy and expressed in the form of concubinage. Before the Qin Dynasty, the concubine system was prevalent among aristocratic men. "媵" refers to the dowry woman. "Gongyang Zhuan? The 19th Year of Duke Zhuang" says: "Who is the concubine? When a prince marries a country, the two countries will go to concubine and follow him as his nephew. Who is the nephew? He is also the son of the elder brother. Who is the concubine? He is also the younger brother. The princes hired nine daughters at a time. "Liu Xi's "Shi Ming" said: "The nephew Di is called Yi." Lu Deming's "Shi Wen" said: "The wife's daughter brother is Di." From this, it can be seen that when princes marry wives, the women are often called brothers. The bride's daughter and the bride's sister are married off, and these dowry daughters are called "媵". In the Zhou Dynasty, the concubine system was very popular in the upper class society. "The Book of Songs? Daya? Han Yi" wrote: "The Marquis of Han married a wife who was the nephew of the King of Fen and the son of his father. The Marquis of Han greeted her and stopped in the midst of her disgrace. A hundred taels of Peng. Peng, the eight luan clang, don't show their light. Zhu Di follows it, Qi Qi is like a cloud. Han Hou looks at it, and the gate is filled with death. "In the poem, the scene of Han Hou welcoming his wife, and the bride's bride accompanying her like clouds. A vivid description. The concubine system is actually a relic of the ancient custom of marriage between sisters and husbands. After the Qin Dynasty, the concubine system disappeared, but the concubine system is still prevalent. The difference between a concubine and a wife is that the wife is married to a matchmaker and has a much higher status than the concubine; secondly, the concubine can be bought, sold, given away, exchanged and rewarded like ordinary items. Under the guidance of the social concept that men are superior to women and that "there are three types of unfilial piety, and the worst is not having children", the concubine system has endured from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Republic of China, and everyone from high-ranking officials to ordinary people can have concubines. The "Tang Code" clearly stipulates that it is legal to take concubines, and the "Ming Huidian" also stipulates: "A commoner who is over forty years old and has no children is allowed to marry a concubine."