China has profound cultural heritage, complete institutional system, and rich historical experience.
By Dr. Yilong Su, Dr. Xinrui Fu, and Dr. Dianyi Chen
Zhejian Normal University
Abstract and Introduction
Early Chinese society went through a transition from a primitive society to a slave society and then to a feudal society. Early marriages in ancient China essentially formed a relatively stable marriage process and marriage principles. Early marriages were heavily influenced by etiquette and social hierarchies, and as a result, different marriage patterns emerged, including mixed marriage, polygamy, dual marriage, and monogamy. The pattern of marriage changed iteratively during different social periods, but the stabilizing effect of marriage on society and its oppression of women remained unchanged. The comparison of marriage patterns at different stages is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of marriage patterns and the historical development process.
As a unified multi-ethnic country with a long history of five thousand years, China has profound cultural heritage, complete institutional system and rich historical experience. Marriage is an important part of human social relations, and its emergence and development have been influenced by social systems and history. The following mainly explains the basic definition of marriage and the meaning of marriage.
Marriage Basics
Basic Definition of Marriage
Scholars at home and abroad have different opinions on the definition of marriage. “Shuowen Jiezi” explains the word “marriage” as follows: marriage refers to the wife’s family. When a woman is comatose when she is married, she is yin, so it is called marriage. Marriage: son-in-law’s family. The reason for being a woman is called marriage.1 “Erya” has a similar explanation on this: marriage is to the son-in-law’s father, and marriage is to the wife’s father.2 Finnish scholar E∙A∙ Westermarck gives the following definition of marriage: a relationship recognized by custom or law between one or more men and one or more women, and includes the mutual qualities they had during their early marriage and their Certain rights and obligations towards the children born to them. At the same time, he also pointed out that if the union of a man and a woman does not meet the conditions required by custom or law, it will not be regarded as a couple.3
The above three people all have similar definitions of marriage. Based on this and combined with other materials, the author summarizes the connotation of marriage.
Marriage is a relationship, and it is mainly expressed as a contractual relationship between a man and a woman. This is at the basic family level. This relationship can also include relatives, friends, and clans. After a man and a woman enter into a marriage, their relatives, friends, and clans also become connected. From a social level, the relationship between different clans has been established. It can be seen that the relationship contained in marriage is broad.
Basic Stages of Marriage
Similar to modern marriage, ancient marriage also had three stages, namely preparation for marriage, marriage preparation, and marriage termination.
In the preparation stage for marriage, you will go through processes such as engagement and gift giving. In ancient times, marriage focused on “the orders of parents and the words of the matchmaker.” The two elements here are parental consent and matchmaking. Parents have the right to educate their children and also have the right to decide life events for their children. Therefore, without the consent of the parents, even if both parties are willing, marriage cannot be established. Therefore, there were some cases of “elopement” in ancient times. At the same time, the status of matchmakers was very important in ancient times. “Shuowen Jiezi” explains “matchmaker” as follows: Matchmaker is also a person who conspires to unite two surnames. “妁” means “zuo”, which means “we should consider those with two surnames”.1 If both parties have not been introduced by a matchmaker, they cannot form a legal marriage.
Conducting a marriage includes the etiquette at the time of the marriage and the stage of the marriage. The conduct of marriage needs to be in compliance with etiquette, and the maintenance of marriage also needs to be in compliance with etiquette. Different dynasties and generations are different. Here we mainly introduce the stages of marriage without going into too much detail on the specific content.
Ending a marriage, that is, divorce. In ancient times, divorce needed to follow certain rules, which resulted in many systems. For example, “seven out and three out”, the harmony and divorce system, the righteousness system and the petition for divorce system. The “seven outs and three no-goes” system of the Zhou Dynasty is divided into two parts. The “seven outs” describe the conditions for divorcing a wife, and the “three no-goes” describe the conditions for not divorcing a wife. The specific contents of the seven are: the wife is unfilial to her parents, fails to produce heirs, is sexually immoral, jealous, suffers from serious diseases, gossips a lot, and steals. Anyone who is above will be divorced. The specific content of the three no-go clauses is: the wife and her husband must mourn for their parents for three years; the wife shares the joys and sorrows with her husband at the beginning and then has a good family background; the wife cannot divorce without her natal family and other dependents.4 If “seven outs” constitute the basic content of the divorce system, Yijue shows the ancient system of forced divorce. Once there is behavior in a marriage that harms the relationship between husband and wife, such as one spouse committing infringement on the relatives of the other party or infringement between relatives of both parties, it means that the relationship between husband and wife has been severed and the marriage should be dissolved, that is, the couple must divorce.5 Heli is a system for voluntary divorce between husband and wife. The premise is that the relationship between the husband and wife is not harmonious and they cannot live in harmony, and the two parties agree to divorce. Chen Guyuan pointed out: Regardless of the reason, as long as the man and woman agree to separate, they can divorce.6 Petition for divorce is a form of divorce decreed by the government for special reasons. Generally, there needs to be a specific reason, such as the man committing adultery, the woman cheating, etc.
Main Purpose of Marriage
The emergence of marriage is the comprehensive result of many aspects. At the same time, people as the main actors must also have many demands for marriage, so that such a form exists and continues to this day.
First, original demand. As an animal, humans must have their own natural attributes. The more important natural attributes are reproductive and sexual functions. The gender complementarity between men and women leads to attraction between the two parties, and the existence of primitive desires prompts both parties to communicate with each other. At the same time, the long-term existence of a species requires reproduction from generation to generation, and reproduction requires the existence of a blood bond between both parties, which makes the existence of marriage a necessity. In ancient China, there was a very strong need for the inheritance of the family line. “Confucius’ Family Tradition” lists having no children as one of the seven conditions, and “Mencius” lists three types of unfilial piety, and having no children is the major one: both are based on the concept of passing on the family line through the generations.6
Second, psychological needs. Human psychological activities are more complex than those of ordinary animals. People in certain social relationships need to build an intimate relationship in marriage to satisfy their inner needs. “The man is the master of the house and the man is the master of the house” is a common family structure in ancient China. The functions of the husband and father in the family are not only limited to sexual life and reproduction of offspring, but also include the responsibility of supporting and protecting the wife and children. This is recognized by the world This is proved by a series of examples of ethnic groups at different stages of civilization development in various places.3 The husband gives his wife psychological security and necessary protection. At the same time, the wife plays the role of a helpful wife in the family, giving her husband psychological comfort.
Third, social needs. People in a certain social structure also have certain social needs for marriage, and the social needs that marriage can meet mainly focus on the two aspects of clan and etiquette. The specific content of this aspect will be elaborated in the next section.
Basic Procedures for Marriage
The establishment of a marriage relationship in ancient China generally required two procedures: engagement and marriage. Engagement means confirming through certain procedures that a man and a woman have the qualifications and willingness to enter into marriage. Marriage generally refers to the process of getting married, or simply called “fainting”.
In the engagement process, etiquette is the main part and a mandatory part. In the final analysis, it is the externalization of the principle of etiquette and law, so the “six etiquette” are particularly important in this process. The “six etiquette” include accepting gifts, asking for names, accepting gifts, accepting invitations, asking for appointments, and personally welcoming. Chen Guyuan pointed out: If we do not understand the relationship between the six rituals in the ritual system, then there is no way to understand the legal issue of engagement.6 In the marriage ceremony, the “approval” and “welcome” ceremonies among the “six rites” are used. Figure 1 involves some rituals of “welcoming” in the “Six Rites”. On the day of the wedding, the man goes to the woman’s home to welcome her, pays homage to the ancestral temple of the woman’s family, pays homage to wild geese, and other rituals. The picture shows the sitting direction of the owner and the positions of the waiters and geese. The picture on the right shows the final step for a newly married woman to confirm her identity in the man’s family, called “temple meeting”, which means she has to log into the man’s family ancestral hall to worship. The picture shows the position of women in the temple.8 It can be seen that the marriage procedure is very strict.
Basic Principles of Ancient Marriage
Overview
Social existence determines social consciousness, and social consciousness will react on social existence. Ancient China has long been an authoritarian and centralized country. Even early civilizations were affected by clan relationships, which led to the formation of certain basic principles for ancient marriages. The basic principles of marriage in ancient China can be roughly divided into the principle of clan observance and the principle of etiquette and law observance.
Clan Abides by Principles
As a unique product of human society, marriage has social attributes. In ancient China, the important social attribute given to marriage was the patriarchal attribute.
From a small micro level, ancient Chinese society was a patriarchal society based on blood relations. The conclusion of marriage was not only a matter between the male and female parties and the two families, but also the union of the two clans.7 The blood ties between the two clans were established through marriage, which expanded the clan’s sphere of influence and consolidated the hierarchy within the clan.
From a macro level, marriage also plays a role in maintaining political blood ties, stabilizing rule, and maintaining unity. The introduction of the concept of the integration of family and country has created a connection between the macro-whole of the country and the micro-whole of the family. Therefore, the formation of national political structure based on kinship ties is also a significant feature of early politics. In addition, governing the country and bringing peace to the world by harmonizing the family is closely related to the relationship between husband and wife, which has always been valued by sages. Therefore, marriage is also regarded as the basis of social organization, which is one of the so-called purposes of establishing human nature.6 Therefore, from the beginning of early politics, rulers of all dynasties have attached great importance to the fundamental role of marriage, and have given marriage the name of etiquette and law to strengthen their rule.
For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period, when princes were at war, political marriage became one of the means of restriction and balance. Chen Peng pointed out: Zhou Qi was married in this world, so he called Qi the country of his nephew and uncle. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes have married each other and formed allies to provide financial support. For example, Lu Zhi and Xue, Song Dynasty and Qi Dynasty were the most authored.7 Zhang Xiaobei divided the marriages in the Spring and Autumn Period into the following types: marriages to cling to the other party; active marriages for one’s own benefit; marriages to each other for their own benefit. These marriages all show the characteristics of stability and mutuality, and have the effect of strengthening connections between places.8 In subsequent dynasties, marriages such as “Zhaojun left the fortress” and “Princess Wencheng entered Tibet” further demonstrated the role of strengthening border or ethnic minority rule under political unification.
Follow the Principles of Etiquette and Law
Marriage follows the principle of etiquette and law, which is first reflected in the choice of marriage partner. China has also had corresponding etiquette and law regulations since ancient times. The most common one is that people with the same surname do not marry. As the saying goes, “If a man and a woman have the same surname, their birth will be different.” The avoidance of families with the same surname is not only due to genetic reasons, but also due to etiquette and legal regulations. Marriage between people with the same surname can easily lead to name confusion, and it can cause problems such as difficulty in distinguishing elders from younger ones.
In terms of the marriage process, marriage in ancient China needs to be implemented according to the established process, which also leads to the “formalistic” characteristics of marriage. “Formalism” here does not mean that one-sided pursuit of superficiality and neglect of its core means, but that it emphasizes the order and etiquette of Chinese marriage. Since the establishment of the etiquette system in China, those who do not follow the etiquette are not regarded as marriages, that is to say, it cannot be said to adopt the principle of de facto marriage… In China, those who only follow the etiquette of marriage are actually another form of formal marriage.6
In the Zhou Dynasty, the form of “six differences in Jiali” had been determined and had a profound impact on later generations. Chen Guyuan pointed out: Although the details vary not only from time to time, but also from place to place, if we take a general view, it is indistinguishable from the so-called nacai, asking for names, naji, nazheng, and inviting in “Yi”. The scope of period, personal greeting and husband’s meal or offering of food is also the scope.6 As shown in Figure 2, these are two copper coins printed with the second of the six rites of marriage. The text on the left is “Wen Ding Jue Xiang” and the one on the right is “Buyun Qi Ji”. These two copper coins embody the content of the six rites. The ceremony of auspicious and accepting levies.
It should be pointed out that marriages that do not follow the etiquette and laws such as not marrying with the same surname, parents’ orders, and matchmaking instructions, fall into the category of indecency and illegality, and are “illegal” marriages that are not recognized by clans and families.
Basic Concepts of Ancient Marriage
The Concept of Unity between Man and Nature
The characteristics of a high degree of combination of divine power and royal power have already appeared in early Chinese politics. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the idea of obeying God’s will already appeared. Similarly, by analogy to marriage, as a social custom, it will naturally be affected by the entire social consciousness. Yi Ri: ‘There is heaven and earth, and then there are all things. There are all things, and then there are men and women. There are men and women, and then there are couples. There are couples, and then there are fathers and sons. There are fathers and sons, and then there are kings and ministers. ‘If so, the various forms and variations of human society all originate from the union of men and women. It is said that social organizers must start with men and women.9 The ancients emphasized the “combination of yin and yang” and the “complementation of yin and yang”. This simple dialectical thought was a conclusion drawn by the ancients after observing nature. Men and women, as natural complementary objects, are also included in this scope.
The marriage between a man and a woman is a combination of the yin and yang nature of heaven and earth. This theory was exaggerated by later Confucianism and regarded marriage as the “foundation of human relations” and consistent with the “way of heaven and earth”.7 It can be seen that in ancient social concepts, the marriage of men and women echoed “heaven and earth”. This concept of “unity of heaven and man” and “relationship between heaven and man” widely existed in ancient society. The ancients would use natural phenomena to explain human affairs, and in turn use human affairs to fit nature. Heaven and earth would fit together to produce all things, and the same goes for marriage between men and women.
Concept of Social Origin
Ancient China was a society that paid great attention to rules and hierarchies. Under the constraints of certain rules, the relationships and boundaries between people were clear, which made what Confucius said a society in which “the king, the minister, the father, the son, the son” became a possible. This stable social structure requires basic relationships and rituals to lay its foundation. Marriage, as a new iteration of establishing relationships and hierarchies, was seen as the origin of society and was highly valued by the ancients. Chen Peng pointed out: Basically, marriage is the origin of social occurrence and organization. Therefore, Han Confucianism went further and said that the rise and fall of a country and the ups and downs of politics are closely related to marriage.
Marriage is based on the natural nature of yin and yang in heaven and earth, and is the foundation of human relations. The family begins with this, the country begins with this, and all systems in society begin with this.7 From the perspective of social origins, marriage is regarded as the foundation of all systems and disciplines, and the foundation of political nation-building. Therefore, it is not surprising that ancient people attached great importance to this “founding” important matter.
Early Marriage System
Overview
The ontology of the ancient Chinese marriage system occupies an extremely important position in history and lasted for about four thousand years. The early types of marriage originated in the Xia Dynasty, developed in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, were completed in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and wavered in the Spring and Autumn Period. . Since China had not yet established a unified system of authoritarianism and centralization during this period, the marriage system was tinged with slavery and early mythology.
Marriage System in the Primitive Stage
In “History of Chinese Marriage”, Wang Dingling roughly divided early marriage forms into five types according to the development process of family marriage, namely primitive mixed marriage, consanguineous marriage, polygamy, pair marriage and monogamy. At the same time, according to the process of productivity and social development, these marriage forms can be classified into three periods, namely matrilineal society (miscellaneous marriage, consanguineous marriage period), transition from matrilineal to patrilineal society (polygamy, pair marriage period) and patrilineal society (polygamy, pair marriage period) monogamy).10 According to this classification basis, the characteristics of marriage at different stages will be introduced below.
The more obvious characteristics of marriage in the matriarchal society period are heterogeneous marriage and consanguineous marriage. Among them, mixed marriage is the most primitive form of marriage, and it is not even related to marriage. It emphasizes the promiscuous sexual relationship between animals. This kind of mixed marriage does not establish the so-called contractual relationship in the civilized period, and is dominated by animal instinct, that is, sex. Li Hengmei interpreted the sentences in “Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals: Depend on Junlan” and mentioned: “Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals: Dependent on Junlan” said: “In ancient times, there was no king. The people lived in groups and knew their mothers but not their fathers. There are no distinctions between relatives, brothers, husbands and wives, and there is no distinction between superior and inferior.” Note that “relatives” are “parents”. This kind of marital status, which has no distinction between parents, brothers and sisters, and no distinction between husband and wife, is obviously a mixed marriage system.11 Typical representatives are the “Singding Cave Man” from Longgu Mountain in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, the “Lantian Man” from Shaanxi and the “Yuanmou Man” from Yunnan. The unearthed human fossils and stone tools can illustrate their worship of women.
In the process of transformation from matrilineal clan society to patrilineal clan society, polygamy and pair marriage gradually emerged. Polygamy is still a type of group marriage, but compared to consanguineous marriage, it is more advanced and orderly. Morgan called this marriage pattern Punalua marriage in his book “Ancient Society”. The distinctive feature of polygamy is that it not only excludes intermarriage between parents and children, but also excludes intermarriage between sisters and brothers, and group marriages are carried out between sisters in one row and brothers in another row.11 It can be seen that compared with the blood marriage in the previous stage, the biggest improvement of polygamy is that brothers and sisters of the same blood will not intermarry, thus avoiding the internal digestion of the group and realizing the expansion of the clan. At the same time, because we are in the transitional period between the two lineages, the subjects of polygamous marriages have also migrated. The initial polygamy was polyandry, and later it tended to be polygyny, which means a transition to a patriarchal society.10
The development of productivity will affect production relations. When traditional agriculture and animal husbandry develop and tools appear, men’s status in production will be improved because men can play a more productive role than women. When the means of production and other powers are further placed in the hands of men, society further establishes patriarchy. Exclusive marriage, that is, monogamy, has actually become a system for women. It should be noted that monogamy here still cannot be considered monogamy in the strict sense.
At this point, the marriage system in the primitive stage has evolved and influenced the marriage system of future generations.
The Marriage System of Xia, Shang, and Zhou
From 2070 BC to 1600 BC, it was the first dynasty of China’s five thousand years of civilization. Different from the primitive barbaric civilization mentioned above, the Xia Dynasty was the product of the development of productive forces to a certain stage, and private ownership had emerged.
As mentioned in the previous section, primitive society has completed its evolution into a patriarchal society, and theoretical monogamy has been established. However, the marriage system of the Xia Dynasty did not implement strict monogamy. In the early Xia Dynasty, tribal leaders occupied social resources and became slave owners, resulting in the formation of two major classes in society, slaves and slave owners. For the slave-owning class, “monogamy” alone cannot satisfy their desires. Therefore, the Xia Dynasty implemented a polygamy system, and the slave-owning class expanded its partner reserve by purchasing female slaves. Lin Ying mentioned: “Yu Bei’s palace, hanging down from the ditch, was made from hundreds of grains. The dragon came, the turtle was dressed, the jade girl respected and raised him, and the concubine was given by heaven.” ‘It can be seen that Yu had more than one wife, and his polygamy was for political purposes, to unite the tribes from all directions and consolidate his authoritative position in the tribal alliance.12 Xia Dynasty marriages had obvious characteristics of political marriage and slavery.
Marriage in the Shang Dynasty still went through a complex process of evolution. In the early Shang Dynasty, there was a system of group marriage outside the ethnic group. The phenomenon reflected in the titles of relatives was that due to the sharing of wives, uncle, father, and uncle were not distinguished, but were collectively called father; son; There is no distinction between nephew and nephew, but they are collectively called sons. Since they share husbands, aunt, mother and aunt are not distinguished and are collectively called mother.13
It is worth mentioning that although group marriages outside the clan occurred in the early Shang Dynasty’s marriage system, the entire Shang Dynasty’s sacrificial system reflected the hierarchical marriage system of concubines. Some scholars consider this system to be “one man with multiple concubines” and “one wife with multiple concubines” or collectively referred to as the “polygamy system”. However, these statements do not reflect the hierarchy of different women in the sacrificial system. Simply calling it “polygamy” does not reflect the distinction between concubines and concubines, and the use of “concubine” does not reflect its power over wives. Therefore, the hierarchical marriage system of concubines includes the legitimacy of concubines, covers the “many” number of wives, and reflects the fact that one wife is more prominent than the other wives in terms of status, power, property, and even social image. exists.13
Compared with the Xia and Shang dynasties, the Western Zhou Dynasty ruled in a new political style. The feudal system and patriarchal system were clearly established. At this stage, new elements also appeared in the marriage model. The introduction of the concept of the integration of family and country established the eldest son inheritance system, and men became the rulers of the country and family. This also led to the emergence of the ideas of male superiority and female inferiority and son preference. The more famous one is the statement in “The Book of Songs, Wei Feng, Meng”: “I am a wife at the age of three, and I am working hard at home. I work hard and sleep at night, and I have a court. Once the words are fulfilled, it will be violent.”.14 It can be seen that , women’s weak status has become apparent at this time. Since the eldest son inheritance system was established, marriage in the Western Zhou Dynasty paid more attention to inheritance and the birth of children. The reason and purpose for Zhou people to marry multiple wives and take concubines was to have more children, especially more boys. Many poems express this wish.
Comparison of Early Marriage Systems
Comparison of Marriage Forms in the Original Stage
As mentioned above, there are five types of marriages in the primitive stage: mixed marriage, blood marriage, polygamy, pair marriage and monogamy. Based on different evaluation indicators, these five marriage models can be compared from different perspectives. Table 1 provides a horizontal comparison of the five types of marriages in the original stage. Based on the analysis of literature descriptions and relevant historical materials, we selected three perspectives: “object certainty, etiquette and legal constraints, and freedom of choice” to horizontally compare different types of marriages, and conduct quantitative analysis using numerical values. The value from 0 to 4 represents the score of this type of marriage in the corresponding angle. The value gradually increases from 0 to 4, representing the enhancement of its degree. The rest of the tables also adopt this comparison method.
Through table comparison, it is found that the five marriage models have their own characteristics. In terms of object certainty, humans have become more civilized in the transition from a matrilineal society to a patriarchal society, getting rid of the “hybrid” model of the animal stage, making the marriage object more certain. At the same time, the inevitable result of the evolution of civilization is that it becomes more orderly. People are bound by social contracts, and therefore are increasingly bound by etiquette and law. What follows is a narrowing of choices, and people can only choose a fixed partner. However, the transformation process of the original stage is a circuitous process, and the various stages are not simple substitutions, but a situation where several marriage models coexist.
Comparison of Marriage Patterns between Xia, Shang, and Zhou
After the establishment of civilization, the form of marriage was basically established, and the marriage system based on “monogamy and multiple concubines” became the mainstream. Throughout early civilization, the influence of clan and ritual systems continued to increase. Table 2 makes a horizontal comparison of marriages during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.
During the Xia Dynasty, the clan connections between tribes were not so strong. During the “concession system”, the impact of marriage on the change of power was not so strong. Yao, Shun, and Yu passed on power in accordance with the evaluation criteria of “selecting talents and promoting talents.” But when Yu’s son Qi succeeded to the throne, the hereditary system replaced the abdication system. Of course, the inheritance at this time has not yet been determined as a clear eldest son inheritance system. At the same time, the idea that men are superior to women has always existed in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and has been continuously strengthened. The formation of a patriarchal society has put women in a relatively weak position, and most women have become “tools” to carry on the family line and satisfy slave owners.
The Impact of Clan Marriage
Overview
The political system of ancient China became complete and mature earlier, and was influenced by obvious clan blood relations. In the marriage system, patriarchal system is also the core system that affects its development. In terms of gender, men and women are in relative positions and are affected differently under the patriarchal system. The following is an overview of men and women under clan marriage.
Men in Clan Marriages
The most famous political manifestation of the patriarchal system is the enfeoffment of princes by the Emperor of Zhou. Men, as the subjects who hold political power, distribute political power according to blood and clan relationships, maintain political ties, and the emperor of Zhou enfeoffs various princes, and each prince is in a dependent position with him. But when the princes became large clans in their own country, their power could continue to be divided. As a result, a hierarchical relationship such as “Emperor? Princes? Ministers, officials, and scholars” was formed. In such a clan relationship system, men are dominant, women are in a weak position, and women are not allowed to have heirs. Today, it is particularly limited by customs, and there are reasons for the formation of customs. …Women are not as strong as men. If you hold the door alone, you will find it difficult to defend yourself. Because of this position, I don’t want to give it to my own daughter, but I would rather give it to the person who entrusts me to succeed me.9
Women in Clan Marriages
In a patriarchal society and a social atmosphere where men are superior to women, women’s social status is not high. In addition to the above-mentioned rule that women must abide by the rule of “seven out and three out” and have children for men, there was also a special system in the Spring and Autumn Period: the concubine system. Sun Xiao explained the concubine system as follows in “The History of Chinese Marriage”: At that time, when the princes wanted to marry a woman from a country as their wife, the woman’s daughter (brother’s daughter) and Di (sister) had to accompany her as a dowry. There are two countries with the same surname as the woman who send their daughters as dowries, and they also use the name “Di”. These are collectively called “媵.15
It can be seen that the restrictions on women in the ritual system are very serious. There are many reasons for this phenomenon. First of all, in the society at that time, objectively speaking, due to the numerous wars, men mostly went to battle to kill the enemy, resulting in heavy casualties. In an early society, manpower accounted for a large proportion of productivity. This will consume a large number of men. If things go on like this, it will indeed lead to a situation where there are more women and fewer men. The number of men is greater than that of women. The so-called “rare things are valuable”, which is also the objective reason for the low status of women. Secondly, even though women make up the majority of the population, they do not control most of the means of production, so it is difficult for them to have an absolute voice in society. Women’s rights have been lost, and they rarely participate in public affairs such as politics in society.
On the other hand, the rituals prescribed under the patriarchal system are, to some extent, a confirmation that women are in compliance with the rituals. Among the “six rites”, there are some rituals such as “welcome in person” and “meeting in the temple”. The above materials all show from the side that under the patriarchal ritual system, women’s status is still affirmed, but they are still in a weak position compared to men.
Conclusion
Looking at the thousands of years of Chinese civilization, the influence of the patriarchal system is extensive and far-reaching. In later generations, the evolution of the marriage system embodied in the patriarchal system is more complicated. This article explains the early marriage system, including the original stage and the marriage in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. model, and briefly analyzed the embodiment of China’s two core principles of marriage – clan observance and etiquette and law observance.
The innovation of this article is that clan and rituals are taken as the main thread of the early marriage system throughout the text, highlighting the main characteristics of early marriage. We also used quantitative analysis to conduct horizontal comparisons of different marriage models in the early stages, and intuitively demonstrated the performance of different models on relevant scales.
The shortcoming of this article is that although the early marriage system was selected for elaboration, the relevant historical materials selected are still not diverse enough and some physical historical materials are lacking. In the evaluation scale, the method of quantitative evaluation based on the description of historical materials is still lacking. To achieve a certain degree of scientificity and credibility, it is necessary to further find scientific and logical evaluation scales and scoring models for comparative analysis.
Endnotes
- Xu Shen. Shuowen Jiezi[M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2013.
- Guan Xihua, translator and annotation. Er Ya[M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2014.
- EA Edward A. Westermarck. The History of Human Marriage[M]. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2002.
- Xu Huiting, Su Dan. A brief analysis of the impact of the marriage system of the Western Zhou Dynasty on traditional Chinese marriage customs [J]. Zhejiang Social Sciences, 2012(10): 58-64+157.
- Guo Chengwei, Cui Lanqin. Balance and balance: the systemic characteristics of the ancient Chinese divorce system [J]. Journal of China University of Political Science and Law, 2010(4): 92-99+159-160.
- Chen Guyuan. History of Chinese Marriage[M]. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2014.
- Chen Peng. Draft History of Chinese Marriage[M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2005.
- Zhang Xiaobei. Research on the Marriage System of the Qing Dynasty[D]: [Doctoral Thesis]. Beijing: China University of Political Science and Law, 2003.
- Lu Simian. Chinese Institutional History[M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Joint Publishing House, 2009.
- Wang Dingling. History of Chinese Marriage[M]. Wuhan: Wuhan University Press, 2013.
- Li Hengmei. Research on marriage patterns in primitive society in my country [J]. Historical Research, 1986(2): 95-109.
- Lin Ying. Comparison of the marriage system in China during the Xia and Shang Dynasties and in Athens during the early Greek period [J]. Journal of Sun Yat-sen University (Social Science Edition), 1998(1): 37-44.
- Gao Bing. Research on the Marriage System of the Zhou Dynasty[D]: [Doctoral Thesis]. Jilin: Jilin University, 2004.
- Liu Yuqing, Li Qi, translation and annotation. The Book of Songs[M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2011.
- Sun Xiao. History of Chinese Marriage[M]. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1937.
Originally published by Open Access Library Journal 10:4 (April 2023) under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.