[Text/Observer Network Columnist Paul]
In recent times, with the popularity of the costume TV series "Menghualu", discussions about the surnames of ancient women have emerged on the Internet. One of the focus of the debate is: In ancient China, did women have to change their surnames after marriage and give them their husband's surname? Whether it is a TV series or a novel, they can only depict stories from a specific era. To truly explore this historical issue involving the entire ancient Chinese, one must have two clear understandings.
On the one hand, China has a long history. In the process of thousands of years of civilization development, there is almost nothing that has everlasting, and the same is true for surnames. On the other hand, since there is a change, it is necessary to discuss why it changes. The evolution of history is traceable, with causes and effects, and the same is true for the changes in surname names. This article attempts to briefly sort out the changes in the surnames of ancient Chinese women and talk about the author's understanding of the reasons for the changes.
Father's surname is from the husband, and has been a long time since
In the development of human civilization, surnames have appeared very early, but they are not stable at first. As a symbol that reflects blood ties and social relations, in the pre-Qin era where old customs still existed, "who is the surname and whose name" can often be adjusted. Even important people will have several combinations of names based on different choices.
It was not until the Qin and Han dynasties that surnames gradually became the title of "family". Within a family, surnames continued in the form of father and son, becoming the most important common point of family members. This stable family surname inheritance structure has continued to this day.
Since it is "father-son passed down", it is obvious that the focus of surname inheritance is on men. As an overlooked link, how do you determine the last name of a woman? Looking through common historical documents of the Qin and Han dynasties such as "Records of the Grand Historian" and " Han Shu ", you will see important female figures such as Empress Lü, Concubine Qi , Lady Li and so on. From this point of view, it seems that the surname of a woman in the Qin and Han dynasties has nothing to do with her husband. But in fact, this is a common prejudice in reading official history.
Most of the women who appeared in history books come from the upper class of society, or even the upper class. Although these people are famous, they are actually very small, and their status is very special. It is obviously unreasonable to use them to represent women in the Qin and Han dynasties.
According to scholars' statistics, if royal women such as concubines and princesses are excluded, among the other women in the Western Han Dynasty that appear in history books, only seven people do not have their husbands' surnames, which account for a very low proportion. In fact, even in the upper class, most women still follow their husbands' surnames. For example, the mother of Han Gaozu , Liu Bang was named Liu Ma, and obviously followed the Liu family, and did not change it after Liu Bang became emperor in . There is also the power of the government and the country, Huo Guang . His wife is called Mrs. Huo, which obviously follows Huo Guang's surname.
In the folk, it is more common and common for wives to take their husband's surname. Liye Qin Slips found that there are household registration documents of the government. Each family only has the male surname of the head of the household. The wife has no surname at all, but is just listed behind the husband. It is likely that she will follow her husband. The Han Dynasty bamboo slips have been more numerous, and they also provide us with more information. For example, in , there are many women whose names are generally named after their husband's surname, or simply called "Some Wife", and there is no trace of their identity from their parents' home.
Liye Qin Shop. Pictured from Wikipedia
The names such as "Queen Wei" and "Madam Li" are probably not actually used names, but names from later generations. Qing Dynasty historian Zhao Yi raised a question in "Notes on Twenty-Two Histories": "In the Han Dynasty, princes were mostly named after their mother's surname." For example, the Prince Li of Emperor Wu of Han was originally called Prince Wei, and he followed his mother Wei Zifu 's surname. The prince does not have the surname of the emperor, obviously it is not because the Queen's Guards have a greater reputation, but more likely to distinguish the princes from this. Similarly, the names of Mrs. Li, Mrs. Zhao, etc. are more likely to be to distinguish their identities. They were born out of later generations rather than used at that time.
Under the ethics of "marrying immediately and following the husband", it is reasonable and natural for a woman to call her husband's surname.Although other situations exist, generally speaking, during the Qin and Han dynasties, the surname of the wife was a common social phenomenon and a product of cultural development during the Qin and Han dynasties.
What is the surname and whose name changes
Women in the Qin and Han dynasties generally followed their husband's surname, but since , the situation has gradually changed. Among the existing Northern Dynasties household registration fragments, the surnames of the wife and husband are no longer exactly the same. Similar situations can be seen in official documents since the Jin Dynasty . A married woman no longer remembers to be a certain wife, but uses her mother's surname and is called a certain family.
In the household registration documents of Tang Dynasty , it became more common for women to use maiden surnames. Whether it is the "hands-made" household registration form reported by the public or the "books" made by the government to check the household registration, the women in it have their own surnames. If a woman is the head of a household, she has a name and a surname. The names of folk women such as "Chen Sixiang" and "An Shengniang" appear in the Turpan documents. Various historical materials have also proved this point. In the Tang Dynasty, from concubines to folk women, they often used their mother's surnames, had their own names, and were called by people at that time. Compared with the Qin and Han dynasties, the situation in the Tang Dynasty was significantly different.
It seems that from the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, women seemed to "break free from the control of their husband's surname. But this is just a process of historical evolution. By , in the Song and Yuan dynasties, new changes have occurred in the name of women. In the contract documents and judgment files of the Song Dynasty, many married women in the folk were called "A Mou", and the word "A" was added to the maiden name. At first glance, you may think that "A" is a spoken word, but the spoken word that is popular across the country is obviously not that simple.
In the Yuan Dynasty documents, in addition to the titles "A Li", "A Zhang", etc., women also have titles such as "Zhang A Li" and "Wang A Zhang". For example, in the Yuan Zaju trial, there is a complaint of "Li A Chen". The front Li is the surname of A Chen's husband. Scholars believe that this structure of "Some A's" may be a simplification of "Some A's wife". The husband's surname appeared in the front again, and the surname Guanfu came into being.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many women had names from their mother's home. Even among the people, they had titles such as "Li Sanniang" and "Zhang Wusao". But in formal documents, such as contracts for buying and selling land and houses, from , to the mid-Qing Dynasty, most married women were named "Wang A Li" and "Chen A Zhang", which had the husband's surname first and the maiden surname later. Only when a woman is named "mother" is the unique identity, will the names " Zhang's " and "Wang's" appear, which have only maiden surnames.
roughly since the middle of the Qianlong Dynasty, new changes have occurred in the title of folk women. The form of "Wang A Li" is no longer common, and it is replaced by the husband's surname first and the mother's surname later, namely "Wang Li". From the middle of the Qing Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, this title of "Xiao-Shi" was widely used and people gradually became accustomed to it.
The game between husband's power and patriarchal power
From ancient times to the present, "what is surnamed" has always been something that many Chinese people attach great importance to. From a certain perspective, "the son takes the father's surname" has become an important manifestation of patriarchal society, and "the wife takes the husband's surname" is even more a suppression of the status of women. It seems that from the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, women have taken a big step to freedom from their husband's surname.
But in fact, the changes in the surnames of women in ancient China are not much related to the feminist rights people are talking about today.
On the one hand, the surname of the mother's family is actually "father's surname", and it is still a family label dominated by men and patriarchal rights. During the Qin and Han dynasties, a woman took her husband's surname after she got married, which meant being alienated or even splitting her relationship with her father's clan, which was closely related to the etiquette culture at that time.
In the "White Tiger Tong" clan chapter, women in the family who have married each form a family and are no longer in the same family as the father's surname. In other words, although they are daughters and sisters in the family, they become "different surnames" of their fathers and brothers after getting married. The woman belongs to her husband's family and is out of touch with her father's family.
But this concept did not last long. With the strengthening of patriarchal ethics, in the subsequent history, female members of the family were no longer allowed to be abandoned at will. Therefore, since the Jin Dynasty, the father's surname began to appear stably among the titles of women. By the Tang Dynasty, the father's surname became the title of women.
After the Song and Yuan dynasties, with the emergence of "Xiao A" and "Xiao Sect", it became a new trend to precede the husband's surname before the father's surname. It seems that this is a comeback of the husband's surname, but in fact, the "Guanfu surname" after the Song and Yuan dynasties is not exactly the same as the "Captainfu surname" in the Qin and Han dynasties.
If you talk about the connotation, there are big differences between the two. The only name of the husband's surname in the Qin and Han dynasties was the husband's surname, which showed the complete replacement of the husband's family over the father's family. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, although the husband's family was still in a strong position, the strengthening of patriarchal ethics was a foregone conclusion, so two surnames from the husband and father appeared. This form takes into account both husband's power and patriarchal power, and adapts to ideas such as patriarchal , etiquette and ideology . The changes in female surnames in history are ultimately a battle between "husband's power" and "patriarchal power". Women are just passive recipients, and there is no "feminist power" to speak of.
On the other hand, "who is the last name" is difficult to have a direct relationship with women's power and status. There is a view that the early Tang Dynasty was an era with relatively high status in Chinese history.
Also in the Tang Dynasty, women followed their fathers but not their husbands. It seemed that the two were mutually reconciled, but they were not. The improvement of the status of women in the Tang Dynasty was to a large extent related to the introduction of customs in the Northern Dynasties. The change in the title of women is the result of the changes in Confucian etiquette and law concepts since the Western Jin Dynasty. It originated from the social ideological atmosphere of the Southern Dynasties. The two are one in the south and one in the north, and they are in a coherent manner, which is really difficult to connect. And even the most liberating woman in the Tang Dynasty had never thought about making a fuss about her surname. The only queen Wu Zetian made a name for herself, but she never thought about creating a unique surname.
It is worth mentioning that in the Civil Law of the Republic of China promulgated by Nanjing National Government , Article 1000 stipulates: "Wife uses her original surname to her husband's surname", which seems to recognize the inheritance of history and does not give women independent power and status.
In fact, in the process of formulating this law, people at that time seriously considered the issue of equality between men and women. The result of the discussion is that the law adds "the husband uses his original surname to his wife's surname". Through this "mutual reform", the seemingly equality is achieved.
Puyang, Henan: The 22nd Chinese Zhang family ancestor worship ceremony was held. Source: Visual China
In today's people's opinion, such "equality" may be a bit boring, but at that time it was really exhausted, which shows the powerful influence of China's traditional "husband's power", "patriarchal power" and the social relationship between men and women over the past thousands of years.
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