Title/The historical origins of monogamy, did polygamy break the law in ancient times?
Text/有疾
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Abstract:
First of all, it is necessary to make it clear that the ancient Chinese marriage system is the system of polygamy and multiple concubines, which is a variant of polygamy, and the two are the relationship between inclusion and inclusion. Therefore, it is often inaccurate to say that China was polygamous and three wives and four concubines.
But why was there a system of polygamy and multiple concubines in ancient China? It is related to the development of productivity.
In primitive society, human beings could not talk about transforming nature at all. Living a life of hunger and fullness, finding food is often a problem, let alone marriage. Humans at this time can only live in groups, and acting alone often means death.
Later, when productivity develops, individual labor becomes possible, and the means of production belong to the family. But during this period a large amount of labor was needed, so polygamy emerged.
(group life in primitive society)
Why should primitive society marry more wives?
To put it bluntly, polygamy is to ensure multiple babies, produce more labor to ensure the surplus of production materials, and ensure that your family will not be hungry. But this brings another problem: Absolute freedom often means the exploitation of the weak by the strong.
This period is like this.
The strong may be the leader of a tribe, or the father of seventeen or eight children. In short, there are more people than you and stronger than you. In this way he can use force to occupy your food and wealth, and even treat you as free labor to satisfy his unearned income.
So slave society and feudal society came into being.
(Slave Society)
Slave owners and feudal lords in order to ensure their dominance and sphere of influence, he must ensure that his family members are prosperous. How to guarantee it? It's simple, marry more wives and have more babies.
But this is another problem. When the slave owner or the feudal lord dies, you will find that you don't know which son to assign your property to. So many sons have inheritance rights, no matter who they are assigned to, the others will definitely not agree and will have opinions. So the clever ancients came up with a way.
This method has affected the later generations of China for thousands of years. It is the patriarchal system.
(Qin Shihuang founded China’s first unified feudal social state)
patriarchal system
Someone is about to ask, the core of the patriarchal system is not Is the eldest son inherited? What does it have to do with monogamy and multiple concubines? It's a big deal.
The first thing to understand is how the title of eldest son came from. The so-called eldest son refers to the first son born to his wife. Such a clear relationship can ensure the orderly progress of the inheritance system, without chaos, and avoid a lot of bloody competition that may occur.
(Western Zhou patriarchal system)
and the orthodox wife here is the "monogamy" in the "monogamy and polyconcubine system", which is the queen's seat in the emperor's home.
Therefore, "polygamy and multiple concubines" and "eldest son inheritance system" are the two foundations for the effective operation of the patriarchal system. Without these two escorts to the patriarchal system, the patriarchal system is almost like empty talk, which is not convincing at all.
Except for the regular wife, the sons of the remaining females can only be called concubines, and the status of the concubines is totally different.
(Even the emperor can only have one wife, that is the queen)
Strict regulations under the patriarchal system
In the past dynasties, regarding the "monogamy and multiple concubines" "There are also strict regulations. Because this can avoid chaos in the family and the country, under a strict hierarchical system, distinguishing between wives and concubines, and concubines and concubines can ensure the smooth operation of the feudal system.
(title under the patriarchal system)
Just like in the Han Dynasty, Fu Yan, the Marquis of Kongxiang, was exempted from the title of "chaotic wife and concubine." It is expressly stipulated that “marry if you have a wife” and “taking a concubine as your wife”; even some dynasties have regulations on accepting concubines, just like in the Ming Dynasty, officials were strictly prohibited from accepting prostitutes as concubines, or they would have to be dismissed.
In the final analysis, this is still a series of regulations established by the ruling class in feudal society for their own ruling needs. With a clear hierarchy, the emperor's position in people's minds will become taller and more conducive to his own rule.
(You can see some doorways in Uncle Ge’s "Concubine")
However, there were exceptions, Jia Chong of the Jin Dynasty was specially approved by Sima Yan. "Left and right madam", but his predecessor, Li Wan, was killed because her father was unfavorable to the Sima family. She was sent into exile and she was inferior to Jia Chong’s newly married niece of Cao Wei’s riding general Guo Huai. Guo Huai.
Of course, in the homes of the rich, these rules are not ignored. Anyway, I have a lot of possessions, and there are no more children. This is another situation.
(Jia Chong in the TV series)
Monogamy in the true sense
The Qing Dynasty may be special among the various dynasties in China. Before it entered the customs, it was pursuing the "polygamy and concubine system", which means that there can be many regular wives. However, after entering the customs, influenced by the Han culture, gradually there was a clear distinction between concubines and concubines.
But in Qianlong, the TIU system was legalized.
The so-called "TIU" means that one son has two families. If only one brother in a family has a male offspring, this male offspring can marry two to three wives, and at the same time continue the blood of several other families.
(Portrait of Qianlong)
This is actually a "flat wife" in the actual sense, and many people marry a wife under the name of "TIU".
finally saw the chaos of the patriarchal system, and the Qing government had to respond by treating the wife he later married as a concubine. Officially it is a concubine, but in real life it is not the case at all.
The TIU of the TIU, the wife of the wife, and the baby of the baby are not affected at all.
(Old photos of wives and concubines in the late Qing Dynasty)
is like the famous Peking Opera artist Mei Lanfang, first married Wang Minghua, but because Wang Minghua later had birth control surgery and both children died Mei Lanfang married Fu Zhifang in the name of "TIU" in 1921 and gave birth to nine children in total.
But then, Mr. Mei Lanfang fell in love with Meng Xiaodong again, and got married two years later. It is still in the name of "TIU". However, this marriage was not recognized by Fu Zhifang and outsiders. Of course, the two finally broke up peacefully.
It was the Republic of China when Mr. Mei Lanfang married his wife in the name of TIU. The Qing government has been dead for more than ten years, but the custom of TIU is still popular. Even if Mr. Mei Lanfang is like this, it can be imagined in the folks.
(Mr. Mei Lanfang’s family)
Conclusion
In the history of China, “monogamy” in the modern sense was truly established in the Republic of China.period. However, at that time, various thoughts emerged in an endless stream, and naturally included the idea of equal rights for men and women. But mankind has a huge historical inertia, and the habit of accepting concubines really cannot change for a while.
In 1930, monogamy with equal status of men and women was first written into the law, but there was no explanation for the issue of "concubine".
It was not until 1935 that the criminal law stipulated that the act of accepting concubines without the permission of the wife was regarded as illegal. But the words "permitted by the wife" are too moist. To put it bluntly, they still acquiesced in accepting concubines.
(Well...Wei Xiaobao need not say more)
In the true sense of China, the legal and daily ban on "concubine" was still after the implementation of the "Marriage Law" in 1950. But in real life... you also know...
To put it bluntly, the act of marrying multiple wives is actually a kind of oppression and exploitation of women by the patriarchal society, even in modern society, it is truly realized Gender equality is also a long way to go.
But the light will always be ahead.
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