I borrowed money from Brother Kong to bury my father, and met the Fairy Fairy on the other side of the road. Weaving love repays creditors, filial piety moves the sky. This poem tells the story of a filial son. In the past, Dong Yong sold himself to bury his father. In order to obtain a burial place for his father, he took the initiative to work as a servant in other people's homes. Many people find it strange that they can bury their father in a random place. Is it so difficult?
In ancient times, burying one’s father was not as simple as everyone imagined, and there were still many rules. If you "sort out" the social background at that time, you will find that burying your father is more difficult than you imagine.
Selling one's body to bury one's father often happened in ancient times.
The story tells that Dong Yong's family was very poor. After his father died, he could not bury his old father, so he had to sell himself to a wealthy family. It was agreed that he would be free after working for three years. Because of his filial piety, he was moved by heaven and received help from the seven fairies in heaven. Convert the three-year period into a hundred days to gain freedom in the future. Selling one's body to bury one's father is an ancient tradition, and it often happens.
" Water Margin " Song Jiang married a wife Yan Poxi , who sold himself to bury his father and followed Song Jiang, which was considered a guarantee. At that time, there were not many rules, and my father's body was placed in the street with a straw in his head. There is no need to shout at that time, the parties involved will understand what it means anyway, and if you meet a good person, the trip will go smoothly.
The most intuitive reason is lack of money, and they need to buy land to bury their parents. In ancient times, land always had an owner. For poor people, they simply cannot afford this money and can only rely on the help of good people. If you randomly find a piece of land to bury your father, the owner will never agree to it and go directly to the government to sue you.
Most of these people who sold their bodies to bury their fathers fled from other places and had almost no one to help them. A large amount of money needs to be prepared, in addition to purchasing land, there are also funeral ceremonies. Even if the family is extremely poor and cannot be buried hastily, it must be buried generously. For a person who migrates or escapes war, there is no money to take care of these things. You can only sell your time and youth. This is a solution and is very common for the parties involved.
If buried casually, you will be punished.
The Chinese nation values filial piety as the first priority. In ancient times, people were very filial to their parents. Even if their parents are partial, they must still be filial. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many foolish and filial people. The society will reject some children who do not support the elderly. If the parties concerned sue the government, they will be sentenced to serious crimes. In the end, it will make it impossible to survive in the local area, and there will be no one to cooperate in doing business. Therefore, even if some people are not convinced, they can only bite the bullet and support the elderly. Such people are still "morally kidnapped" by some people.
At that time, there were laws that stipulated that the elders must have descendants to take care of their affairs, and there was no way to avoid it. In other words, there is no way for the children to avoid arranging funeral arrangements for the old man. Even if the old man was unkind during his lifetime, he still has to hold a grand funeral. If he refuses to do such a thing, the crime is more serious than being unfilial to the old man. The ancient people made this arrangement based on the principle of "death is the most important thing", which can be regarded as a perfect "explanation" for the deceased.
In ancient times, due to natural disasters, people often chose to flee elsewhere in order to make a living. Children's household registration usually follows their parents. Even if the parents' household registration is cancelled, as long as they have ancestors' household registration, they can still apply for it. But it is difficult for outsiders to do so. The daughter’s household registration is the same as that of her parents in the place of birth. After his father passed away, he was faced with two choices: either transport it back to his hometown for processing, which would not affect his household registration. Taking into account the practical problems, it is difficult to complete this method, so we can only give up the decision.
If the father dies away from home and the children have no way to prove their identity, they will become black households. The Shang Dynasty had the household registration management system , and the population in various places was managed by the local yamen. Without a way to prove your identity, you lose the country’s legal protection. To save trouble, you buried the old man secretly, but you couldn't bear it if you were found out. He might even be regarded as a thief. That is difficult to achieve, and some things simply “can’t be done”.
By the way, solve the household registration problem
The most critical issue is household registration. Although there was no ID card in ancient times, household registration was very important. These people do not have local household registration, so they are naturally ostracized and will be kicked out if they are not careful. Maybe they won't even be able to save their lives. If the local government finds out that they are not locals, they will immediately be "ferocious" and expel these people.
Boys may still survive and earn a "way out" by selling themselves as coolies or serving as soldiers. As for young girls, life will become very difficult. Some may be sold to brothels and live a life worse than death. Many brothel madams specialize in recruiting girls whose parents have died, and after training, they are released into the courtyard. Considering their future fate, these girls would rather be sold to wealthy families than to brothels.
There is an unknown rule in ancient times. As long as a person has an ancestral grave or the grave of an immediate relative in a certain place, he can settle there. Of course, the premise is that by holding a funeral, you can become a local, and the local government will cancel the girl's parents' household registration in accordance with regulations. Then there is the issue of settling down a household for girls, so selling oneself to bury their father is a major life event for some women. After
is bought by someone, it is equivalent to having a new identity, and the owner will help you re-register your household registration. Although the status is low, in the long run, even if you get an ID card, you can start over in another place. Of course, if you are lucky and can get into a good family, it is considered a blessing. For ancient people, selling one's body to bury one's father was a solution to an immediate problem, and in the long run it was a "good deal."
Their future destiny
In ancient times, people who "sold themselves to bury their fathers" usually signed contracts for several years. If they met a good master, they might give you freedom at that time. Usually after a few years of signing a contract, you will be given freedom. If you are lucky, you can be managed and have a good future. In addition, this kind of "slave" status will not be looked down upon by people in society. On the contrary, it can be respected.
The owner was willing to buy a person who "sold himself" to bury his father. This was largely a social custom at the time and was widely recognized by the world. Since the emergence of Confucianism , this doctrine has been spread in society, emphasizing the idea of "loyalty and filial piety". Filial son emphasizes being filial to one's parents. This idea affects people's attitude towards filial sons and is still very recognized.
Objectively speaking, if you bury your father at will, the follow-up problems will be too troublesome, and you will get a lawsuit if you are not careful. For those girls, there is no other way to sell their bodies to bury their fathers. If they don't do this, the old people will "die in the streets." There is no way to be willing to be a child, so this custom has been carried out, and future generations have followed suit and "learned".
Summary
Regarding the matter of "selling one's body to bury one's father", strictly speaking, it is human trafficking and is not worth promoting at all. The real reason is traced back to the lack of a complete social security system, and poor people are unable to accomplish such a big thing. Especially those foreigners who came to the local area, it is understandable that they mainly sacrifice their human rights. With the founding of New China, this custom has been completely abandoned to objectively ensure people's safety.
