There is a simple ceremony that does not require a matchmaker to get married, three books and six etiquettes, and no need to worship in the hall. Just sit in a small sedan and set up a banquet.
Concubine, also known as concubine, concubine, side wife, side room, concubine, also commonly known as little wife, mainly refers to a woman whose status is lower than that of the head wife in a monogamous polygamy structure. spouse.
If you hire someone, you will become your wife; if you run away, you will become your concubine. - "Book of Rites·Nei Principles" and "Chun Qiu Zhuan" say: "A woman is a concubine, and a concubine is not a concubine." - "Shuowen" is a concubine. - "Yi·Shuo Gua Zhuan"
A concubine is generally a man who marries a woman whose status is lower than his own. He does not go through three books and six rituals, but takes a simpler ceremony as his spouse, which is called concubinage. Concubines could be bought and sold, but wives could not. Before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, concubines could not be wives, otherwise the man might be sentenced to one and a half years in prison. From the Song and Yuan Dynasties, some men established their concubines as their first wives after the death or abandonment of their first wives, which required a ceremony called Fu Zheng. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the distinction between concubines and concubines was no longer strict, and it was more common for concubines to be straightened up, and there were also cases where men bought and sold their wives.
Although a concubine is hired by a matchmaker, she can only enter the house in a small sedan, and is controlled by the eldest wife and despised by others. Although monogamy was stipulated during the Republic of China, various forms of polygamy still existed on the basis of private ownership of the means of production. When officials, eunuchs and wealthy families see the daughters of poor families with a little bit of beauty, they take them as their wives and concubines. If you can't accept it clearly, you will entangle with others, rob, marry, and provide for their sexual pleasure and pleasure. You will never give up until you achieve your goal. For example, Liu Moumou, a rich man from Jiajia Village in Jianyang, had 7 concubines. The last concubine was taken in a certain place with 300 silver coins when Liu was 78 years old. She was only 18 years old. In the old society, most of those who voluntarily took their daughters as concubines were extremely poor, or were unable to do so due to the lust and power of officials, officials, rich, and wealthy people. Nine out of ten rich families have to keep concubines, while some poor families have children who have been single all their lives.
When aristocratic women in the Zhou Dynasty got married, they needed sisters of the same race or aunts and nephews to marry them, called concubines. The concubines would become concubines and had a higher status than concubines. In later generations, concubines and concubines gradually became indistinguishable.
"Book of Rites": "The emperor has a queen, a wife, a married woman, a concubine, a wife, and a concubine... The emperor's concubine is called "the queen", and the princes are called "the madam" and the official It is called "ruren", scholars call it "wife", and common people call it "wife". The prince has a wife, a wife, and a concubine. "The emperor has a queen, three wives, nine concubines, and twenty-seven wives. , Eighty-one Imperial Wife.
After the Han Dynasty, ordinary scholar-bureaucrats and common people had only one head wife (major wife) and could have multiple concubines at the same time. Most head wives are their husband's first spouse. However, there are also examples of "taking concubines first and then marrying wives". For example, Zhang Taiyan took a concubine named Wang in 1892. After Wang's death, he married Tang Guoli, but only called Wang his concubine.
Most dynasties prohibited having multiple principal wives at the same time (the emperor's principal wife was the queen, and the commoner's principal wife was the wife). Rarely, there are multiple equal wives. Therefore, strictly speaking, in Chinese history, polygamy has almost always been unreasonable and rarely happened. In fact, China has a "monogamy and multiple concubines" system.
Due to the development of society, the evolution of China’s slavery system, and the emergence of the good and bad system, concubine began to refer to a semi-free person: she was born in a good family and became a member of her husband’s family through purchase. This behavior is called "concubinage", but she is not entirely a slave, she is still a good citizen. Although the laws at that time prohibited maids (young female slaves, untouchables) from becoming concubines, and concubines from becoming wives directly, in fact these laws were often violated. After the death of the principal wife, if a concubine wants to become a stepmother, she must go through a ceremony called strengthening. For example, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Li Rizhi, who was famous for his filial piety, "after his death, his youngest son Yi Heng took his concubine as his wife." Li Qiyun, a minister at the time of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, "made his concubine Wei the main wife."
In Chinese history, children born by concubines are called concubines, and children born by the principal wife are called legitimate children. Generally speaking, unless the principal wife has no children, children born by concubines have no inheritance rights. In Lee's Joseon, the children of concubines were required to serve their father, aunt, and siblings as their masters.
Under normal circumstances, in a polygamous family, a man can only have one main wife, called his first wife. Before the Song Dynasty in China, only Jia Chong and a few others had equal status with the permission of the emperor due to special circumstances. lady. The head wife has equal status with her husband and enjoys the same treatment in terms of clothing, car and other etiquette systems. For example, the queen's coat and the emperor's twelve chapters have exactly the same accessories such as belts, New York jackets, pendants, and ribbons. . In most dynasties before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, those who had two head wives without special permission would be sentenced to more than one year in prison and corresponding rod punishments, and were forced to divorce. However, later generations gradually became more relaxed. , during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many men had equal wives. When a man gets married, he usually needs to marry a woman with a similar background. When getting married, the family status, concubine, age and other information of both parties are stated in the marriage letter. In some dynasties, such as the Tang Dynasty, if someone cheated and married an unsuitable woman, regardless of whether the woman's status was higher or lower than the man's, the marriage would usually be forcibly dissolved, and the cheating party would be held legally responsible.
The ceremony of marrying a wife was very grand. In the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor of Zhou Dynasty took more than a year to marry his wife, and the princes took more than half a year.
Although the marriage ceremony in later generations was simplified, it still included three documents (three documents) such as the letter of appointment, the letter of ceremony, and the letter of welcome. There are six steps (called begging day) and wedding (or wedding) (six rites). Sometimes men had to shoot geese in person for the goose laying ceremony. In some dynasties, men had to prepare poems to serve as reminders.
A principal wife cannot be reduced to a concubine, and can usually be abandoned only if she commits seven crimes. Some dynasties also stipulate that even if she commits seven crimes, but meets any of the following three conditions, she can be abandoned. Cannot divorce (three reasons): First, if you have experienced or presided over the funeral of your father-in-law or mother-in-law; second, if the man’s status was not high when you got married, but he later became rich, that is, the so-called "husband's wife" who does not divorce; Third, the wife's family is scattered, and if the wife is divorced, she will be homeless. .
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the distinction between concubines and concubines gradually weakened, and it was common for people to raise their concubines to become step wives after the death of the main wife.
In addition, there are also some women who have not gone through formal marriage ceremonies. They are mostly untouchable women such as maids or prostitutes. They are similar to modern mistresses and are sometimes called concubines or concubines. .
Maids are women of low status that men accept, such as maids at home or purchased singers and prostitutes. Due to their status, these women belong to the untouchable class and cannot be concubines of scholars, but can only be maids. Or doting on a concubine, similar to a lover or a wife. There is a difference between a concubine and a maid. Their statuses cannot be interchanged. It is also against the law to treat a maid as a concubine. Only after the maid gives birth to a child can she be made a concubine. Concubines such as maids were often bought, sold or given away to others. For example, Su Shi once gave away two unofficial concubines who were pregnant. However, after the death of his step-wife Wang Run, his official concubine Wang Chaoyun had the same status in the family as the head wife, but did not have the title of head wife. In addition, there are also people who raise good women outside their homes, called "waifu" or "stay-at-home wives."
The name of concubine was first seen in "Book of Rites·Quli": "The emperor has a queen, a wife, a wife, a concubine, a wife, and a concubine."
There are many other names for concubine: Xiao wife, lower wife, second wife, concubine, side wife, mistress, concubine, such as madam, mistress, side room, side room, small star, cangjian, vassal wife, captured wife, auxiliary wife, Second wife, mistress, etc. In addition, because ancient emperors and princes had many concubines, they had many names indicating different levels. For example, in the harem of Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty, in addition to the queen, there were also Zhaoyi, Jiehao, Ronghua, Meiren, Chongyi, Liangren, Eighth Son, Seventh Son, Long Envoy, Young Envoy, Wuguan, Shunchang, Wujuan, and ** * There are various names for the fourteen levels such as He, Yuling, Baolin, Liangshi, and Nighter. In addition to his wife, the prince also had concubines of different ranks such as Liangdi and Meiren. ("Book of Han·Biography of Wife's Wife")
The emperor's concubines and concubines usually referred to are just general terms for the emperor's concubines. Named concubines are also called side concubines or side wives. Their existence is recognized by the family and society, but their status is far from that of the main wife, whether it is reflected in the family, society or the treatment after death.
While alive, they must carefully serve their husbands, his legitimate wives, their children, and even their own children (just like Aunt Zhao in "A Dream of Red Mansions" in front of Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang, looking at herself The born Tanchun is still sitting, but she has to stand and hold the curtain for Jia Baoyu). In society, they have no chance of getting the title that comes with their husband's official status, and they cannot show up at weddings and birthday banquets. After death, they could not be buried with their husbands, and their tablets could not be entered into the ancestral temple (the patriarchal laws of the Ming Dynasty were particularly strict. Even concubines who gave birth to an emperor and were honored as queen mothers after their death could only enjoy "sacrifice, sacrifice, farewell, and palace". "The treatment of being included in a separate volume).
If the honorable concubines who are respectfully called "Madam Ru" are like this, then those maids (also called "Ji") who have no title and are just for the master to enjoy, play and play with are like this. , called in the Dream of Red Mansions "the big girl in the house"
There is also a kind of domestic prostitute who is kept by the noble gentry for the sound, sex and entertainment, which is also included in this category), whose status is One can imagine. In history, there were not a few scholars who gave bedside concubines to others as gifts, and there were also those who saw the beauty of other people's concubines and took them away from them. Shi Chong of the Western Jin Dynasty lost his life because he refused to give the green pearl to Sun Xiu as a favor. When Su Dongpo was banished to the south, he gave away many concubines to others, and many people later claimed to be the posthumous children of his concubines. Wei Caozhang's "favoring concubines and changing them for horses" is actually regarded as a romantic story of "sexuality, stubbornness and suaveness". From this and so on, we can see that the concubine's social, social, status and low status are no different from the chariot and horse utensils.